Glu's problems in one graph, Zynga on getting its mojo back, and Summoners War is getting an MMO
Summoners War is a big money-maker for developer Com2uS, having surpassed $500 million in revenue despite it being a relatively niche RPG title.
But it's not too niche that the studio isn't looking to spin-off an MMO, cartoons and movies from it though, and its clearly not too niche for our audience, which read the news of its expansion more than any other article last week.
Second on the list is our interview with Zynga CEO Frank Gibeau about how the company is "getting its mojo back" despite the fact it's still loss-making.
Glu, Big Fish and Wooga
Third is Contributing Editor Jon Jordan's single graph about all the problems currently facing Glu Mobile.
And finally, Big Fish Games talks about the game it launched before Gummy Drop that no one heard about and Wooga CEO Jens Begemann offers some advice to future company founders.
Click the link below to find out more about the stories that caught our reader's attention over the last week.
#5: Wooga CEO's advice to founders: Prepare to unlearn what you know
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Wooga CEO's advice to founders: Prepare to unlearn what you know »Wooga's Jens Begemann has been around in mobile for years - he jokes that he's been around in games since 1987 when he got his first Apple II.
As such, he's got more than a few pieces of advice to offer new company founders, chief among them being to "unlearn what you know".
"You have to be open to change, because the world changes," he said. "Even the big companies. Even companies where you think "they're established", the successful ones are extremely adaptive to change.
"I think the best example of that, actually, is Facebook. When Facebook saw the threat of Twitter, they changed their platform."
#4: How Big Fish Games built F2P hit Gummy Drop on the back of a major failure
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How Big Fish Games built F2P hit Gummy Drop on the back of a major failure »Big Fish Games might be known for its premium games, but it also has the hugely successful Gummy Drop in its roster that's still generating revenue.
It hasn't always been this way though - the studio had previously suffered a massive, six-figure failure just before launching its match-3 title.
"Called Zombie! Zombie! Zombie!, it was a game for which Big Fish Games had high hopes. The result, however, was an average return of only $0.68 per user and $38,000 total revenue. It was pulled from the app stores in May 2014," wrote our Features Editor Matt Suckley.
It didn't deter the developer, however - it brushed itself off and got straight onto the next title, the far more successful Gummy Drop.
#3: Glu Mobile's problems in one chart
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Glu Mobile's problems in one chart »Some of us at PocketGamer.biz are big fans of Glu Mobile's games, but its declining sales and profits suggest that the wider audience is not as enthusiastic.
Contributing Editor and data lover Jon Jordan aimed to clear up what all the studio's financials really say, and in doing so has created the ultimate graph to show all of its problems.
"Glu predicts it will increase its losses in 2017 compared to 2016, when it spent $20 million of its cash pile in operations. It also says it hopes to end the year with between $50 to $60 million in cash," he wrote.
"And that's the backdrop for Nick Earl's new strategy: another year of slow decline - maybe with a Hail Mary from its Taylor Swift game - and hope for radical and rapid change come early 2018."
#2: CEO Frank Gibeau on how Zynga is regaining its mojo through live operations
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CEO Frank Gibeau on how Zynga is regaining its mojo through live operations »It's a fact that Zynga is loss-making, but it's also a fact that the company has $850 million in cash in the bank - not an unsizeable sum by anyone's measures.
That's probably one of the reason why CEO Frank Gibeau is still enthusiastic about the success of the company, and claims that it's going to spend 2017 "getting its mojo back".
"Our performance is payback from the investment we've been making in live operations," he said.
"We needed to invest in live ops. Every dollar spend in live ops, whether that's R&D or marketing, provides us with our best return on investment."
#1: Summoners War is getting an MMORPG spin-off, cartoon, movie, and more
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Summoners War is getting an MMORPG spin-off, cartoon, movie, and more »Summoners War is Com2uS' biggest game yet, so it's no wonder that the developer is looking to pour more resources into growing it out into a brand.
To that end, the game is now getting an MMORPG spin-off, alongside cartoons, films and any other merchandising opportunities that the team can come up with.
"We plan to further develop Summoners War as an IP so that it can live as a brand outside of just games and introduce new ways for users to engage with the brand," said Casey Lee, CEO of Com2us USA.
"The release of Summoners War MMORPG marks the first step in building up the IP and we plan to continue investing into the initiative going forward."