Wargaming reaffirms its commitment to mobile, why Egg, Inc is the best idle game, and Clash Royale's monthly revenues halve
It was a week of ups and downs last week as a number of studios let people go or just completely shut down, while others opened new studios and took on new hires.
One thing that was definitely down is Clash Royale's monthly revenues, which were estimated to have halved since launch, as detailed in our most read story of last week.
Second place goes to our deep dive into the monetisation of Egg, Inc, a game that we now believe is the gold standard for idle games.
When one door closes...
Thirdly, WG Cells CEO David Bluhm explains why the WG Cells Seattle studio was closed, and reaffirms Wargaming's commitment to its mobile development.
And finally, we continue our Hall of Fame series with an interview with Seriously's Petri Järvilehto, and we talk to Gram Games about their opening of a new studio in London.
Click the link below to find out more about the the stories that caught our readers' eye last week.
#5: 1010! developer Gram Games on opening a new London studio and developing midcore games
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1010! developer Gram Games on opening a new London studio and developing midcore games »At one point not too long ago, Gram Games wasn't doing very well, and very nearly had to close down - until it had a runaway hit with puzzle game 1010!
Now it's opening a new studio in London and working on midcore titles, as well as launching new puzzle game Six! To catch up with the studio about its latest initiatives, we had a chat with the newly hired Head of Strategic Partnerships Alex Willink about it all.
"I am there with one other colleague at the moment, so it's still very small," said Willink, referring to its London operations.
But Gram Games has major long-term plans to expand the team in London to a full production unit.
"The aim is to grow it out to at least 15-20 strong, so we're going to be moving our headquarters over to London - both financially and in terms of our existing IP," he explained.
#4: Hall of Fame: Seriously's Petri Järvilehto on building big games franchises
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Hall of Fame: Seriously's Petri Järvilehto on building big games franchises »One thing we love at PocketGamer.biz is reminiscing on times gone by, looking back at our lives and the lives of others and thinking, gee, look how far we/they have come.
So much so that we have returned to our Hall of Fame series, which this week featured Seriously's Chief Creative Officer and co-founder, Petri Järvilehto.
Starting out as an artist at Remedy Entertainment, Järvilehto worked his way up through the ranks, landing a role as Creative Director on Alan Wake, before moving to Rovio in 2011.
There he worked his way up to Executive VP for Games, but that wasn't enough. So he decided to set up his own studio, Seriously, known for its charming match-3 title, Best Fiends.
#3: Wargaming reiterates commitment to mobile despite WG Cells Seattle closure
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Wargaming reiterates commitment to mobile despite WG Cells Seattle closure »On Wednesday 24 August, it was unofficially announced that WG Cells in Seattle had shut down, leaving more than 60 people out of work.
Later that day, we finally received official confirmation on the studio's closure from WG Cells' CEO David Bluhm, who explained more about the reason behind the decision to close it.
It appears that Wargaming is now taking its mobile development into its main headquarters in Cyprus. Another "four or less" jobs in Kiev were affected by the move.
And while WG Cell's Smash Squad might be in peril, having underperformed for the studio, its latest release, Operation: New Earth, will remain with a heavy marketing push behind it.
#2: Why Egg, Inc is the new gold standard for idle game monetization
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Why Egg, Inc is the new gold standard for idle game monetization »Idle games get something of a bad rep in the video game world, representing most of the "evils" of free-to-play with a genre that lacks any "real" gameplay.
But, as our own Ric Cowley argues, this characterisation might be more than a little unfair - and one Egg, Inc shows how far idle games have come over the last few years.
Mainly it's down to its monetisation system, which focuses on rewarded video ads, while also providing its own unique IAP system that increases the reward without changing the price as the player puts time into the game.
It's a clever and unique take, and a very generous one to boot, which makes players feel comfortable and more willing to spend than if they were being pressured into it.
#1: Clash Royale now making half the monthly revenue it was at launch
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Clash Royale now making half the monthly revenue it was at launch »It's not a huge surprise when a game with a massive launch has a similarly massive drop in both players and revenues.
But when it happens to someone like Supercell, and when its Clash Royale making half the amount of monthly revenue than it did when it first launched, it's certainly interesting to talk about.
The game had been making an estimated $133 million in its first month, but that number has steadily declined to an estimated $62 million in July 2016.
There are a number of reasons why players might drop out of the game - it's quite grindy for one, and it drew too much on Clash of Clan's players for its initial playerbase.
