Quit your job, make mobile games in Europe, and get rich in 2016
It was a busy old week at PocketGamer.biz, thanks in no small way to our team heading to London for Pocket Gamer Connects London 2016 for a couple of days.
You'd think that with 44 articles published about the event that one of them would be our most read of last week, but interestingly that honour goes to Dmitry Terekhin's guest column on 7 mobile trends in 2016 that will help you get rich.
The rest of the list takes a more expected turn, with our second most read article being a talk by London Venture Partner's Paul Heydon on Europe's role in the mobile gaming industry.
Next up is a talk from Square Enix Montreal's Patrick Naud on how the company transitioned from triple-A console development into the developer of popular mobile titles Hitman GO and Lara Croft GO.
And finally, there was Nicoll Hunt's rousing talk on why you should quit your job to be an indie, and Sabrina Carmona talking about why Latin America is a mobile market worth targeting.
Have a click through to the list and see what you might have missed.
#5: Nicoll Hunt on why you should quit your job
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Nicoll Hunt on why you should quit your job »Quitting your job to get started in indie development may seem like something of an extreme proposition, but I Fight Bears founder Nicoll Hunt did just that, and was keen to encourage everyone to do the same.
His advice may not come from the soundest of bases, of course. He regularly hinted that he had offered to give a talk just to get a free ticket to the event, and said "I learned everything about business from Dragon's Den."
He even pointed out reasons why you really shouldn't quit your job, saying that running a business "is painful, and frustrating, and stressful, and painful."
#4: Square Enix Montreal's Patrick Naud on transitioning from triple-A console to mobile dev
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Square Enix Montreal's Patrick Naud on transitioning from triple-A console to mobile dev »"Mobile should be a breeze."
"We just need to not be evil and we'll be fine, right?"
So said Square Enix Montreal's Head of Studio Patrick Naud, in his talk about transition from console to mobile that revealed things might not be so breezy after all.
It's not just the technology that's the issue, but also the people who work on it and their development mindsets that can make things tricky.
"We come from the backround of gazillion million people working on making the biggest game on the market," said Naud.
"Many developers couldn't adapt to the exotic world of mobile."
#3: Sabrina Carmona on why mobile devs not targeting Latin America are missing out
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Sabrina Carmona on why mobile devs not targeting Latin America are missing out »Usually when people talk about untapped markets, it's developing areas like the Middle East and smaller countries in South East Asia that are talked up as the places to be.
But, as Goodgame Studio's producer Sabrina Carmona points out, Latin America is more than worth your while investing some time and money into.
Mexico alone has an estimated value of $1.5 billion in mobile gaming revenue, with 62% of the country's players actually spending money on the games the play.
And while Mexico is an exciting prospect, Carmona also suggests focusing on Brazil.
"They've got the 4G technology already, people [regularly] pay $3,000 for an iPhone over several months - it's more important than having a TV right now," she says.
#2: Europe creates 4 times more mobile gaming value than the US, says Supercell investor Paul Heydon
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Europe creates 4 times more mobile gaming value than the US, says Supercell investor Paul Heydon »While America might be the most tempting place to throw all your money on user acquisition, thanks to its large, connected market speaking one language, but that doesn't mean you should discount markets like Europe.
In fact, as London Venture Partners' Paul Heydon points out, Europe actually creates four times more mobile gaming value than the US.
"Europe has more people than the US, and more smartphones than the US," noted Heydon in his talk at Pocket Gamer Connects London 2016.
He also touched on the bursting VC bubble in the US, saying "If you're planning on raising money this year, things have changed."
"Silicon Valley is waking up."
#1: 7 mobile gaming trends to help get you rich in 2016
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7 mobile gaming trends to help get you rich in 2016 »There's a lot of people out there who really want to get rich, but it can be so hard finding the best way to go about it.
But if you're a mobile developer in 2016, then fear not, because Nekki's CEO, Dmitry Terekhin, has a few trends for you to follow to help you start rolling in the money.
The trends he suggests jumping in on include making use of brand power, employing "soft" monetisation strategies, and, everyone's favourite, eSports.
On the latter, Terekhin writes, "In 2016, expect more mobile titles to rank among the most viewed games online, and expect those titles to be designed from the ground up for an optimized spectator experience."