Hot Five

Hot Five: August 29th. The biggest stories from the last seven days, in a bite-sized digest

The HOTTEST stories on PocketGamer.biz in the last week

Hot Five: August 29th. The biggest stories from the last seven days, in a bite-sized digest

Start your week with a Monday briefing of the most read articles from the global mobile games industry in the last seven days on PocketGamer.biz:

It's always a busy time in the mobile industry, but last week was different for a different reason than usual: Gamescom. I'm sure you saw us there, rushing from booth to booth, or maybe you caught up with us at our Top 50 Awards, Big Indie Pitch, or Metaverse Mixer.

While the mergers and acquisition train did slow down a little, we got to get a peek at a few more financials, spy a few new initiatives, and hear from some great experts from around the industry - and that was just on the website, before we even talk about the event.

Below are the biggest five stories on the site from the last seven days.

1) The Top 50 Mobile Game Makers 2022

Unsurprisingly, our Top 50 Mobile Game Makers article has had loads of eyes on it. It's a celebration of the last year in the industry, all of the M&A activity, new games and deals. Interestingly, this year, we had over 15 companies enter, or re-enter the Top 50 this time, 

2) How level design saved a game with a 20% R1

Dmitry Zusman from Azur Games talked us through how they spun their game from a flop into a title that's remained profitable for over two years. It's a fascinating read about how certain details can shift a game from quick-burn to one with longer audience retention.

3) Cruise to the East: How to successfully localize a game into Arabic

Another kindly guest post. This time Inlingo and Belka Games discussed the challenges and opportunities that come from localising/adapting to the MENA marketplace. An important article on reaching non-sinistrodextral language regions.

4) Amazon is allegedly making an offer to acquire EA

While the story has now spun off, earlier on in the week GLHF received word from their sources that Amazon would be making a move for EA. EA have been repositioning themselves for acquisition since earlier this year, and Amazon was in the running... so it seems like a credible rumour. Still, it seems like it wasn't to be - these things happen.

5) Hasbro digital gaming expansion is on the move to making its own video games

Hasbro's ambitions shift toward gaming in a gesture which seems like there'll be more internal development (and maybe less licensing). It's very interesting and comes at the same time as Mattel moves to expand its digital gaming offering. Could War of the Toys be back on the map?


PLUS

These all-time, all-star stories are some of the most popular articles from our archives:

  1. The latest and most interesting mobile games in soft launch
  2. Mobile Game of the Week
  3. The mobile games that have made more than $1 billion in lifetime sales
  4. All Apple Arcade games available now

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