The lean approach to game dev, Gamevice raises $12.5 million, and fidget spinners raid the charts
You can't move five feet without seeing a fidget spinner these days, and it's not just in the physical world either - there's already a plethora of mobile games based on the spinners available.
We decided to check out how these games were performing in terms of download and grossing ranks, peaking our readers' interest as the most read story we published last week.
Second up is the news that mobile peripheral manufacturer Gamevice has raised $12.5 million to continue working on its attachable controllers for mobile which take some notes from the Nintendo Switch's set-up.
Going lean, killing zombies, and leaving games
Third on the list is Johannes Heinze's guest article on the lean approach to game development, which studies Gram Games and how it rapidly develops and scraps games until it has something worth releasing.
And finally, we take a close look at Zombie Gunship Survival's monetisation to see if it's up to scratch and report on the news that IQU's co-founder and MD has decided to leave to seek a new venture outside of games.
Click the link below to find out more about the stories that caught our readers' attention over the last week.
#5: IQU co-founder and MD to leave digital media agency for new venture outside of games
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IQU co-founder and MD to leave digital media agency for new venture outside of games »The co-founder and MD of digital media agency IQU is set to leave the company on July 31st 2017 for a new venture outside of the games industry.
Simon Usiskin formed what is now known as IQU in 2008. The firm provides services for games companies in the areas of player acquisition, PR and branding campaigns.
"The decision has been one of the hardest ones I have had to make ever since I left Spil Games in 2008 and decided to start-up and create with Reinout te Brake what is now today iQU," said Usiskin.
"However, I have been offered an opportunity to start-up a new venture outside of the games industry which I did not want to pass on. I am very proud of what the company has achieved over the years and I am leaving behind a wonderfully talented and ambitious team that will continue to propel the company forwards."
#4: How does Zombie Gunship Survival monetise?
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How does Zombie Gunship Survival monetise? »If you've spent any time with Limbic Software and flaregames' Zombie Gunship Survival you'll be aware that it's bloody good, with an emphasis on the "bloody".
If you haven't, you might have a few thoughts around the game - is it fun? Can I shoot zombies? Is its monetisation up to scratch? And the answer to all three is yes, yes it is.
So says our In-App Purchase Inspector anyway, who gave the game a passing grade for its F2P stylings even if some of the base-building is a little familiar.
"A lack of traditional energy gating and intrusive in-game ads - barring the very occasional interstitial cross-promoting other flaregames titles - round off a polished and player-friendly package," he writes.
#3: The lean approach to game development
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The lean approach to game development »Keeping development costs down is key to developers - no one wants to spend years and way too much money building a game that will then flop.
So what should one do? Managing Director for EMEA at AppLovin Johannes Heinze thinks he has the answer: taking a lean approach to game development.
"The Lean Startup methodology was coined by Eric Ries and laid out in detail in his book Lean Startup," he explains.
"The methodology “favours experimentation over elaborate planning, customer feedback over intuition, and iterative design over traditional ‘big design up front’ development” to ultimately reduce risk and enable data-driven decisions."
#2: Gamevice raises $12.5 million to bring Nintendo Switch-like controllers to regular smartphones and tablets
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Gamevice raises $12.5 million to bring Nintendo Switch-like controllers to regular smartphones and tablets »The Nintendo Switch is a darn fine console, it must be said, and it was really only a matter of time before someone tried to replicate it in some way.
Enter Gamevice, which managed to raise $12.5 million in order to develop further on its own set of attachable controllers for mobile devices which look a lot like the Switch set-up.
“The Switch has proven that consumers want a form factor that is portable and mobile,” Gamevice CEO Phillip Hyun told PocketGamer.biz.
“It helps us that Nintendo will also be pushing to bring better content to this type of platform.”
#1: Fidget spinner winners: How the latest playground craze has got the App Store all in a spin
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Fidget spinner winners: How the latest playground craze has got the App Store all in a spin »Love them or loathe them, fidget spinners are still knocking about, and whether physical or digital, they're still drawing people's attention.
And they're drawing the attention of developers too, with numerous games already available based on the weird spinny things. But how well are these games actually performing? We decided to take a look.
The answer is that, for now, games like Fidget Spinner and Fidget Spin are floating round the top of the download charts, in the top grossing rankings they're not doing much at all.
But it's unfair to judge them on their grossing ranks - these games are designed and produced cheaply and often run entirely from ads, meaning they have limited IAPs and they're unlikely to start taking on Clash of Clans in terms of revenue.