Trends in soft launching, Pokemon GO's relative failure in Japan, and why Ilyon Dynamics releases 10 games a week
You might not know who Ilyon Dynamics are, but that's OK - we've spoken to its CEO about how the company is sustaining constant growth on the App Store with its rapid release schedule.
In fact, a number of our readers already know about the 25-person Israel-based studio, as its our most read story of last week.
Coming in second is a look at why Pokemon GO isn't performing too well in Japan - at least that's "not too well" relative to its performance in other countries.
Jobs, parties, and trends
Third up is the news that ex-Gumi VP of Business Development Matthieu Burleraux has joined Hong Kong-based developer Playlab as its new Business Development Director.
And finally, we list all the parties happening during Gamescom, and we take a deep dive into the data of our Soft Launch list to identify new trends in how developers are testing their F2P games globally.
Click the link below to find out more about the stories that caught our reader's eyes last week.
#5: Ever softer: Trends in the soft launch strategy of F2P mobile games
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Ever softer: Trends in the soft launch strategy of F2P mobile games »One of the main things we like to do is keep an eye on games that are currently soft-launched, so that we know what's happening with their development and have a guess at when we might see them released.
With a huge list at our disposal, it only makes sense to have a look through it and see what trends we might pick out.
Canada is still the leader of the pack in terms of number of games soft-launched there, but there's a number of growing markets in the world that are seeing attention - even the US in one case.
#4: Updated: Pocket Gamer's Gamescom and GDC Europe 2016 party and networking guide
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Updated: Pocket Gamer's Gamescom and GDC Europe 2016 party and networking guide »Gamescom is probably the biggest gaming trade show in Europe, and with a big trade show comes a huge number of parties.
It can be hard to keep track of all these glorious evening events, so we've been compiling a list of all of them and keeping it updated as more pop up.
Now, we may be a bit biased, but we definitely recommend checking out our own Pocket Gamer Party, co-hosted with G-STAR.
We are well known for our legendary parties, so if you need somewhere to grab a drink, unwind, and do some after-hours networking, then it's the place to be.
Or at least, one of many places. But one of the best places, for sure.
#3: Matthieu Burleraux named Business Development Director as Playlab snaps up ex-Gumi trio
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Matthieu Burleraux named Business Development Director as Playlab snaps up ex-Gumi trio »Matthieu Burleraux used to be VP of Business Development at Japanese developer Gumi, as well as a former General Manager of the company's Paris studio.
But now he's moved on to pastures new, having been recruited to Hong Kong-based developer Playlab as its new Business Development Director.
In his new role at Playlab, his focus will be on acquiring new IP and expanding Playlab's co-development business.
The firm aims to release three-to-five co-developed free-to-play games worldwide every year.
#2: Analyzing Pokemon GO's relative failure in Japan
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Analyzing Pokemon GO's relative failure in Japan »You can't deny that Pokemon GO has been going great guns since it came out, although Jon Jordan has a few things to say about its launch in Japan.
Despite a strong start, where it managed to take the top of the grossing charts, it was soon toppled again by perennial #1 title Monster Strike.
This is probably down to the fact that it's an American-developed game with light monetisation - something the Japanese market is not particularly big on.
It's still a success in every other major market, but in Japan, it seems like Pokemon GO will just have to struggle along like the rest of the games.
#1: Why 25-person Israeli studio Ilyon Dynamics releases up to 10 games a week
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Why 25-person Israeli studio Ilyon Dynamics releases up to 10 games a week »Former Israeli army officers tend to go into careers in technology, but generally ad-tech and cybersecurity - not game development.
Not so for the four co-founders of Ilyon Dynamics, who started making games as a hobby in 2010, but now have a 25-person studio that releases 10 games a week.
It's a move that helps the company maintain a 40% to 50% growth without a marketing spend.
"The user base a few months ago was definitely a lot smaller, but as we updated the bigger apps and released new games, we saw growth and opportunities for cross-promotion," explained Yonatan Erez, the studio's co-founder and CEO.
