Honor of Kings makes $1.9 billion, Supercell invests in Trailmix, and Will Luton on emotional intelligence
We all know that Honor of Kings makes a boatload of cash, but Superdata Research has now suggested that it made $1.9 billion in 2017 alone.
Shocked? The rest of our readers were too apparently, which may explain why our article on Superdata's study of the top grossing games on 2017 shot to the top of our most read articles list.
Second on our Hot Five is the news that Supercell has invested $4.2 million in London-based mobile games start-up Trailmix, which is headed up by two former King London staff and wants to focus on narrative-led free-to-play games.
Emotions, investment and recruitment
Third up, Rovio London product lead Will Luton stops by to tell us all about emotional intelligence and how increasing your EQ can lead to being a better team member.
And finally, Playtika opens up a $400 million investment arm for already profitable businesses and Game of War developer MZ is looking for 70 new employees across a range of disciplines.
Click the link below to find out more about the stories that caught our reader's eye over the last week.
#5: MZ eyes 70 new staff in big recruitment drive
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MZ eyes 70 new staff in big recruitment drive »Fancy some wild speculation? MZ is gearing up to launch a whole new game. And by whole new game, that likely means another reskin of Game of War, but in a different universe. Maybe pirates this time? Who knows.
What's got us speculating, you ask? Well, the company is currently looking to hire 70 new members of staff across a wide range of departments, which certainly sounds like it's building up for a new game.
The company is looking for new staff in game art, analytics, ad operations and consulting, data science, game design, game engineering, performance marketing and research.
It also has eight positions open for people to work on its live data Satori platform, including for a machine learning scientist.
#4: Social casino firm Playtika establishes Israel-focused $400 million investment arm
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Social casino firm Playtika establishes Israel-focused $400 million investment arm »Playtika apparently has more money than it knows what to do with at the minute, so it's decided to hand some of it out to companies who want some.
Specifically, it's launched a $400 million investment arm called Playtika Growth Investments, which will target companies which are already profitable or approach break-even.
“Playtika’s operational teams oversee hundreds of millions of dollars in marketing budgets, the processing and analysis of more than 6 terabytes of data daily, and more than a billion dollars of revenue,” said Playtika Growth MD Eric Rapps.
“They have been instrumental in Playtika’s success from a 10-person startup to a global market leader with 1,700 employees across 14 offices in 10 countries. For the first time, their expertise will be made available to other companies and will help drive exceptional company performance and investment returns.”
#3: Manage your emotions, get better at your job
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Manage your emotions, get better at your job »In the modern workplace, it's not all about being the smartest person in the room - you've also got to take other people's feelings and emotions into account.
That's what Rovio Product Lead Will Luton discovered, and that's why he's written us an article on becoming more emotionally intelligent to get better at your job.
"You’ve almost certainly worked with someone with low EQ; they have big mood swings and leave a trail of disruption in their path even if they’re technically great (aka Brilliant Jerks). But if you’re lucky you’ve also worked with someone with high EQ," he wrote.
"High EQers know their own strengths and weaknesses, express their feelings without alienating others, always stay motivated and find people willing to help them. In other words, they get things done and people like them."
#2: Supercell invests $4.2 million in new London-based casual mobile games developer Trailmix
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Supercell invests $4.2 million in new London-based casual mobile games developer Trailmix »Clash of Clans developer Supercell has invested $4.2 million in new London-based casual mobile games developer Trailmix.
The new studio was founded in December 2017 by Tristan Clark and Carolin Krenzer. The pair met while working at King's London studio – Krenzer was head of studio and vice president, while Clark was a game director.
"We've been very impressed with the vision that Carolin and Tristan have for Trailmix. They have a true passion to push boundaries in the casual games genre and bring something completely new to the market," said Supercell CEO Ilkka Paananen in a statement to PocketGamer.biz.
"At Supercell, we believe that building great games is all about the best teams and great culture. Tristan and Carolin have already done this once and now they will do it again, just better. They are one of the great examples of why London is such a great city to build games in. We are very happy to be part of this new journey of theirs."
#1: Tencent's megahit mobile MOBA Honor of Kings generated $1.9 billion in revenues in 2017
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Tencent's megahit mobile MOBA Honor of Kings generated $1.9 billion in revenues in 2017 »Do not adjust your computer or phone screen, what you're seeing is real - Superdata Research reckons that Tencent's Honor of Kings generated $1.9 billion in revenue in 2017 alone.
NetEase's Fantasy Westward Journey and Mixi's Monster Strike weren't far behind either, raking in $1.5 billion and $1.3 billion respectively. That's $4.7 billion collectively, between three games.
Want some more wild figures? Niantic's Pokemon Go apparently generated $890 million, despite everyone saying they've not played it in months.
Only one game in the top 10 list of top grossing games saw a worldwide launch in 2017 and that was Netmarble's Lineage 2 Revolution, a game which made $176 million in December 2016. Now it's made $980 million in a year, apparently. Madness.