Each weekend we'll be rounding up a selection of the most interesting articles related to mobile and the games industry at large.
This week Immortals head of mobile Jeff Chau looks at the reasons behind the success of the world's most popular free-to-play games and why it's not just a culture thing.
Elsewhere there's a look into Tencent's new $600 million HQ, an opinion piece on why the games industry shouldn't be so defensive over the World Health Organisation's classification of gaming addiction, and why big data is the future of esports.
See an article you think we should share? Email PocketGamer.biz Craig Chapple at craig.chapple@steelmedia.co.uk to add it to our weekly round-up.
You can find previous editions of The Weekly here.
The success of multi-billion dollar free-to-play games isn’t culture
"For gaming startups, looking at past patterns to connect the dots backwards so you can then connect dots forward is critical. Games like Candy Crush, Monster Strike, Honor of Kings, Clash Royale, and Fortnite have shown us that leveraging key technology to put your users’ social interests at the center of what you are creating can lead to massive success."
Inside Tencent’s insane new Google-like headquarters
"We visit its massive indoor rock climbing station, currently kept out-of-bounds while the safety equipment waits to be installed. Later, we find ourselves on a 300-metre indoor jogging track that runs a full circle around the bridge, connecting the North and South towers."
It's time to stop running from gaming addiction
"Underneath it all, I think the reaction to the WHO's gaming disorder is about the fear of facing up to uncomfortable truths about game design. We celebrate games that are addictive but we refuse to call them addictive, even though they have been designed to be exactly that. Developers want you to become addicted to their games, which is understandable because if people are hooked on your game it suggests it's really fucking good."
Big data is the future of esports
"Just as it did with traditional sports, the collection, analysis, and use of all kinds of data is beginning to change the way that competitive games are played and understood. But while many scenes like Dota 2, League of Legends, and Overwatch are coming around to the value of statistics, the breadth and sophistication of statistical coverage in general is still in its beginning stages."
The inside story of Microsoft's surprising Gears of War 5 reveal
"It's not [us] re-creating Gears as a third-person shooter on a phone," [Rod] Fergusson says. "This is a MOBA rush, authentically mobile-first genre, for the mobile audience. Again, it's not about just porting something over and getting it running on a new platform, it's actually saying, 'What are the strengths of that platform, and how can we make a Gears experience for those players?'"
"People make the mistake of saying, 'This is what you really want'"
"Game designs on mobile are starting to mimic more and more what we deem to be console-based," said [Patrick Söderlund]. "The work Epic has done with Fortnite... I didn't think that would work, to be honest. I was super skeptical, yet I see my daughters playing it on their mobile phones while I play on my PS4 or Xbox or PC. I think they've shown the world that's possible. You can replicate a high-definition game onto a mobile phone and that works. The fact you can play against each other is also cool."
'I don't like the stress of dying': the game for people who don't want to fight
“This game is an escape from the rotation of email, social media and chat that you get into on your phone,” says [Eve] Thomas. “It’s a tool to break it. You are still using your phone, but in a way that is relaxing. After getting angry about something on the internet, I would play the game for a while, until I forget what I am angry about. That, to me, is probably the most valuable thing a game can do for me: make me forget why I’m angry.”
How classic games make smart use of random number generation
"Most of the time, what we have to work with in entertainment software are pseudo-random number generators, which are well-understood, supplied with most compilers through standard libraries, and if need be, can be implemented yourself. And yet, particularly enthusiastic users, especially in the speedrunning community, have drawn attention to these lowly workhorses. They're well worth studying if you're a game maker thinking about how (or if) to implement RNG in your own game."
Nintendo's Reggie Fils-Aimé on accessibility, what's next, and, uh, Waluigi
"In the end I believe the reason that the independent developer is saying that their games are selling best Switch is because of, in total, that environment we're creating. Consumers are highly engaged. Consumers are looking for this content. And the activity that we're doing and will continue to do to help consumers find this great content."
Tencent: Mobile esports is the next big thing
“It got me very excited,” said [Tencent America’s director of esports Ramon Hermann]. “We have this new platform that’s so much more accessible. We’ve seen how crazy it’s gotten in Asia and China. They fill huge stadiums around mobile games around this game. And that’s what we’ve seen in the west around traditional esport titles. The opportunity I have is to bring that interest in mobile esports to the west and help Tencent lead the way.”
How a Diablo expansion led to behind the scenes trouble
“When they finally agreed to take things out, they didn’t follow through, and the situation got pretty ugly,” Dave Brevik said. “There were lost jobs. It was not a fun time for anybody. It was frustrating for us that Diablo was our IP and they did whatever they wanted to. In the end, we didn’t have final say or creative control. And at the same time, it was sad because those guys at Synergistic were really passionate about it. It’s just that we never saw eye to eye. It just didn’t go right.”
