Halfbrick terminates iDreamSky agreement, Kabam looks to sell off all studios, and how well did Dawn of Titans launch?
Dawn of Titans was supposed to be the big game to end the year - until Super Mario Run came along and stole its thunder.
That didn't stop our readers from taking an interest in its launch however, as our Charticle comparing its launch to that of CSR Racing 2 was the most read article of last week.
Second place goes to the news that Kabam is looking to sell off the rest of its studios after it completes the sale of its highly-profitable Vancouver studio to Netmarble.
Bricks and money
Thirdly, Halfbrick terminated its distribution agreement with China's iDreamSky, taking back control of its Fruit Ninja IP in the region while it looks for someone else to work with.
And finally, SuperData Research looked back on 2016 and estimated how much money the mobile industry had made, and a panel of industry experts debate which company will be the nest Supercell.
Click the link below to find out more about the stories that caught our reader's attention during the last week.
#5: Who will be the next $10 billion games company after Supercell?
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Who will be the next $10 billion games company after Supercell? »As part of Pocket Gamer Connects Helsinki 2016, Oscar Clark led a panel of industry experts in a discussion on which developer will be "the next Supercell" and be worth $10 billion.
Joining him were:
- Daniel Blomquist, Partner at Creandum;
- Jiri Kupiainen, Founder & CEO of Shark Punch;
- Samir El Agili, Chief Product Officer at Tilting Point.
"It's a signal that the market has matured," said Kupiainen on the topic of whether "decacorns" are healthy for the industry, pointing out that it encourages other developers to get involved in mobile as they can clearly see that it will make them money.
#4: Mobile games generated $40.6 billion in revenues from 2.6 billion MAUs in 2016
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Mobile games generated $40.6 billion in revenues from 2.6 billion MAUs in 2016 »Looking back on the year as it draws to a close is a favourite thing to do for anyone in the industry, and SuperData Research is no different.
It predicted that mobile games had generated $40.6 billion in revenue from 2.6 billion MAUs, with Monster Strike raking in the most money worldwide.
Supercell's Clash of Clans and Clash Royale were the second and third-best grossing games of the year, generating $1.2 billion and $1.1 billion respectively.
MZ's Game of War and Mobile Strike took the fourth and fifth spots with $0.91 billion and $0.9 billion.
#3: Halfbrick Studios terminates China distribution agreement with iDreamSky
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Halfbrick Studios terminates China distribution agreement with iDreamSky »If you're looking for some thinly-veiled accusations thrown from a developer at a publisher, then this is right up your street.
Halfbrick Studios recently announced that it was terminating its distribution agreement with iDreamSky in China, which had helped develop a version of Fruit Ninja for the China market.
On the matter, Halfbrick CEO Shainiel Deo said, "We are looking for a partner that can provide greater transparency in terms of reporting and accountability."
Publishers and distributors who can offer this level of reporting and accountability will be given a new Fruit Ninja IP to work with, most like the recent Fruit Ninja: Tournament Edition.
#2: Kabam looking to sell off the rest of its studios following Netmarble sale
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Kabam looking to sell off the rest of its studios following Netmarble sale »When Kabam announced it was selling its Vancouver studio to Netmarble, there was some shock - the studio is Kabam's most profitable, after all.
It may as well have been selling off the entire company, we all thought, right before Kabam announced it was looking to sell off the rest of its studios too.
"Following the close of the transaction with Netmarble, we will explore selling the rest of the company, which includes studios in Los Angeles, Beijing and San Francisco," said a representative from Kabam.
This means that another company may well pick up the rights to the upcoming Avatar game too, since the Los Angeles studio is currently working on it.
#1: How did the launch of Dawn of Titans compare to CSR Racing 2?
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How did the launch of Dawn of Titans compare to CSR Racing 2? »NaturalMotion may have said that Dawn of Titans isn't a make-or-break game for the studio, but as one of the biggest mobile games to launch in 2016, one would still expect it to do well.
We decided to investigate how well the game performed at launch, and compare it with Zynga's other 2016 title CSR Racing 2 to see which is doing better for the company.
In short, it was CSR Racing 2. The game launched at #20 on the top grossing charts on iOS, and peaked at #18.
Dawn of Titans, meanwhile, peaked at #38 after starting out at #318, an impressive growth, but not one it is likely to maintain.