Going Offline
China’s app crackdown removes 370 livestreaming apps
Major players like Douyu and Huya also under investigation
Count On It
Konami readies Castlevania mobile game in Japan
Grimoire of Souls will host a closed beta ahead of its launch on iOS later this year
Tech Line-up
Line launches new mobile games developer tools to combat clones and track player behaviour
Also includes automated QA and testing platform
New Studio
Former Scopely and EA execs head up new narrative-focused studio Ordinal Games
Start-up wants players to create stories and take a share in revenues
Legal Investigation
Report: South Korea’s FTC investigates Google Play over claims it abused market leading position
Storefront accounted for 60 per cent of all mobile app content sales in 2017
Mobile Games Trends
Singapore snapshot: Mobile Legends and battle royale games lead the way
Niko Partners Analyst Daniel Ahmad on what the charts tell us about the local games industry
Impact
New mobile RPG Honkai Impact 3rd racks up 35 million downloads
Players who download the game will earn launch rewards and bonuses throughout April
You What?
Tencent introduces social credit score system to combat cheaters and reward good behaviour
Game Credit currently only available to Chinese users
Boycotted
Report: China still refuses to license new South Korean-developed games
Tensions originated with South Korea’s THAAD missile defence system which led to China’s unofficial license boycott
Instant Gaming
Tencent opens up WeChat mini-games platform to external devs
Chinese publisher expects significant share of sales
Looking East
Unity to open Centre of Innovation for games developers in Malaysia
Tech firm will team up with Malaysia’s Digital Economy Corporation to open the facility
Going Public
Chinese livestreaming platform Huya files for $200m IPO in US
But no date set
Education
Chinese developer NetDragon buys online learning community Edmodo for $138 million
Deal paid via a combination of cash and shares of an affiliated education company
Crack Down
South Korea’s FTC deals out fines to Nexon, Netmarble and NextFloor over misleading loot box promotions
Nexon Korea hit by $887,000 penalty
Investment News
New VC fund Altered Ventures plots $36 million investment focusing on emerging markets
Fund works by revenue share, rather than equity stake
Rad
The Witness developer Thekla puts up $100k for underrepresented developers
RAD Game Tools' Jeff Roberts matched the initial $50k to double the prize pool
Partners In Education
Tencent partners with Age of Learning to bring ABCmouse English curriculum to China
Consists of more than 5,000 learning activities, including games, puzzles and books
Mixed Picture
2018 so far for mobile game company stock
Winners and the losers
What's Trending?
The must know Japan mobile games trends for 2018
AppLovin's Johannes Heinze on what's hot in one of the world's most lucrative mobile markets
Clone Dinner
PUBG developer sues NetEase over mobile 'clones' Rules of Survival and Knives Out
Lawsuit demands removal of titles
Joining The Band
Publishing giant Netmarble picks up stake in K-pop label Big Hit Entertainment for $190m
Becomes the second largest shareholder
Shrinking Marketplace
Google Play continues to grow while number of App Store releases shrinks for the first time
There were 755,000 titles released on iOS in 2017, a drop of 29 per cent
Co-op
Crunchyroll launches its first anime-based mobile game Memoria Freese in the West
Company has partnered with Gree and Sumitomo Corporation for release
Group Up
China’s Shanda Games invests $9.4 million in Kakao Games
Kakao Games received a $131.6 million investment from multiple investors in February
Esports Royale
World's top esports teams flock to Supercell's Clash Royale League
$1 million World Finals takes place at the end of the year
Big In China
How Mobvista's UA campaign for Marvel: Contest of Champions led to better conversions and engagement in China
NativeX's Joyce Ye deals out the advice
Stats Royale
NetEase’s Knives Out pulled in more than 50 million monthly active users in January
According to Newzoo, the battle royale genre may just have something going for it
Business News
ALAX signs blockchain games distribution deal with OEM Gionee
The deal will also see the ALAX app store available as an update for older Gionee phones
Coin Offering
South Korea's Reality Reflection launches ICO for AR game Mossland
Moss Coins can now be purchased
Skills Development
Google puts up 15,000 online scholarships for new and experienced African developers
10,000 of the scholarships will go to beginners while 5,000 will go to those with over one-year of experience
Crypto Korea
South Korean cryptocurrency operator Dunamu to invest $93 million in blockchain technology
Dunamu to spread investment over three years
Unleashed
Vungle launches global self-serve platform for advertisers
New platform gives advertisers access to its audience for video content
Fit For A King
Honor of Kings helps double Tencent profits to $3.4 billion last quarter
56 per cent of third-quarter growth came from the success of mobile titles such as Honor of Kings
Road To China
Ubisoft partners with Tencent to release games in China
Strategic partnership sees the French firm's titles move into the territory
Indie Publishing
Habby: We don’t believe in copying like other publishers
Start-up wants to help guide indies onto the global stage
Get Published
New mobile publisher Habby on the hunt for indie games
Profiling Habby - the hot new games publisher from Asia
Job News
QA and localisation firm Testronic journeys east to set up first office in Asia with new Bangkok set up
Lily Gavin-Allen to take charge of business development in the region
Playable Ads
How Synative’s streaming tech aims to fix mobile’s UA challenges through playables
How short game trials can grab new users
Good Gamee
Gamee teams up with Viber to bring social gaming to 1 billion users
The new partnership will see over 70 of Gamee’s titles brought to Viber’s 1 billion users
Glorious
Super Evil Megacorp partners with Alibaba to bring Vainglory to World Electronic Sports Games
MOBA joins the likes of Blizzard’s Hearthstone and Valve’s Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
Looking East
Flaregames sets its sights on solving China's publishing problems with Yeahmobi partnership
German publisher rebrands as it continues to expand its operations
Moving Day
Outsourcing specialist Virtuos eyes acquisitions after raising $15 million
The development studio also hopes to double in size over the next three years
Top Dogs
Mobile games spending one-third higher than on PC/Mac, handheld and console combined in 2017
Mobile gaming continues to grow thanks by and large to growth in Asia-Pacific territories
Big Moves
Lords Mobile generating up to $50 million a month
I Got Games also managed to snag $603 million in revenue for 2017
Breaking Japan
“The Japanese games market has come out from its closed-off period”
Yengage chief operating officer on the opportunities that await developers in Japan, and how to break in
Competitive Gaming
Alibaba backs non-violent video games at the Olympics
“In our communication with the Olympics committee, we’ve come to have a better understanding of their values, which is to promote peace"
Redundancies
Report: Fruit Ninja developer Halfbrick lays off half its team
The number of employees laid off could push past 30 before the end of the week
Money Stream
Tencent pumps $632 million into Chinese online games streaming platform Douyu
Follows $462 million funding in rival Huya
Big Deal
Chinese games livestreaming service Huya picks up $462 million funding from Tencent ahead of IPO
Tencent has rights to up stake to controlling 50.1 per cent of shares
Copycraft
NetEase rushes to beat Epic’s Fortnite to the punch on mobile with FortCraft
This chicken dinner smells familiar