Gameloft Helsinki is dead, Rovio Stars isn't, and has Pokemon GO peaked?
Welcome to PocketGamer.biz's weekly rundown of the stories clocking up the hits, picking up the click-throughs and generally keeping the advertisers happy by serving up page views.
Or, if you'd prefer, the top five stories currently dominating our readers' attention.
Each week, we'll be counting down the biggest news from the previous seven days, giving just a glimpse of the industry's big issues, from five to one.
Handy for you, each headline in the list also allows you to click through to the article in full, so you can make sure you've not missed out on any of last week's big stories.
#5: Indian Mavens discuss the value of Indiagames founder Vishal Gondal's new early stage game investment fund
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Indian Mavens discuss the value of Indiagames founder Vishal Gondal's new early stage game investment fund »Best known as the founder of Indiagames, which was sold to Disney in 2012 for $100 million, entrepreneur Vishal Gondal is back in the game.
He's announced an early stage investment fund, covering everything from mobile games, to VR, AR, eSports and technology.
So we asked our Indian Mavens if they were interested in the fund and how important Gondal's move could be to take the Indian development scene to the next level.
In a heated debate, there were plenty of arguments on both side, with two of the strongest lines concerning whether developers should focus on creativity or business, or Indian or the international market.
#4: Why CSR Racing 2 won't be the hit Zynga needs
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Why CSR Racing 2 won't be the hit Zynga needs »As the CEO of Creative Mobile, Vladimir Funtikov knows all about successful mobile racing games.
Released in 2010, Creative Mobile's Drag Racing was the grand daddy of the genre, and inspiring games such as NaturalMotion's CSR Racing, itself a very successful game.
Six years on, however, Funtikov points out that times have changed.
In 2010, he says, "Many players didn't care about cars or racing at all, but they were excited to see what their new phones could do - some were still getting their first smartphones and tablets back then. Idle play was also somewhat novel."
Now, however, he warns that "better graphics alone aren't a compelling reason for these players to leave the games they're invested into".
And, more significantly for NaturalMotion's owner Zynga, "Without a sufficient number of players willing to drop $1,000+, it'll be hard to achieve a high ARPU and, subsequently, the revenue it takes to move the needle for a company like Zynga."
#3: Rovio Stars on why it hasn't published a game for over a year
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Rovio Stars on why it hasn't published a game for over a year »Everything has gone quiet at Rovio's publishing arm, Rovio Stars.
It's not published a game for a year, but it's still operational.
Speaking at White Nights 2016 in St. Petersburg, director of business development Matthew Wilson said this was down to a change of direction.
Instead of asking developers to come to it, Rovio Stars now scours app stores for soft launched games.
"Once we find games we think could resonate with our user base we make contact with the developer to see if they are interested in a publishing partner and validate their data," he revealed.
Expected minimum retention metrics it expects from a puzzle game, for example, are:
- Day 1: 40 percent
- Day 7: 20 percent
- Day 30: 10 percent
#2: Three games canned, daily reviews, little freedom: Why Gameloft Helsinki failed
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Three games canned, daily reviews, little freedom: Why Gameloft Helsinki failed »Most of us didn't even know Gameloft once had a Helsinki development studio.
The reason, as explained by one-time head Cyril Barrow is that all three games the studio developed were canned.
As well as competitive pressures from the likes of Rovio and Supercell, Gameloft Helsinki also received a rough ride from Gameloft central.
Barrow spoke of a "cycle of constant review”, ranging from one a week to once a day
“It’s not hell on Earth, but it’s not what I signed up for,” said Barrow, who left in 2015, with the studio finally being closed in January 2016.
#1: Updated: Pokemon GO: The latest bigger numbers
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Updated: Pokemon GO: The latest bigger numbers »Pokemon GO continues to be the game that continues to give.
Our page rounding up the bigger numbers as they are released caught some whoppers last week, including the news that Pokemon GO was the fastest game ever to 10 million downloads.
Although it ended with the first claim of peak Pokemon GO.
