Hot Five: Inside King’s London studio, how h8games reinvented itself, and Sonic Rumble’s rebrand
To help get you primed and ready for another week in mobile gaming, we’ve curated the biggest stories you need to know from the last seven days.
1) From Helix Jump to Little Farm Story: How h8games reinvented itself
From early premium experiments to the hypercasual era, h8games has been evolving with the industry since 2016. Its game Helix Jump has surpassed 800 million downloads since 2018, meanwhile Little Farm Story: Idle Tycoon has grown beyond $1.2m in monthly IAP revenue just one year after global launch.
h8games CEO and co-founder Oleg Batrakov revealed insights into the hit games, inspiration from Monument Valley and more.
2) Quantic Lab exits Embracer Group to operate as an independent company under founder ownership
Quantic Lab is now operating as an independent company separate from Embracer Group.
As of April 1st, the studio is under the direct ownership of founder and CEO Stefan Seicarescu.
3) Coffee Stain Malmö shuts down months after Embracer spinoff
Coffee Stain Malmö has closed less than six months after spinning off from Embracer Group.
The studio contributed to mobile adaptations of established franchises like Goat Simulator 3 and Songs of Conquest Mobile.
PocketGamer.biz was invited inside King's London headquarters to speak with president Todd Green and others about the teams and work centred in the UK.
The Swedish giant opened its London office in 2014. Today, its teams include HR, legal, paid UA, finance and Candy Crush marketing. Green described certain teams as "co-located" across studios.
5) Sonic Rumble rebranded to Sonic Rumble Party as it adds new features and removes game modes
Sega’s Sonic Rumble has rebranded as Sonic Rumble Party following numerous overhauls in its version 1.5 update.
New modes are explicitly designed for "quick and casual play", after the title has struggled to meet expectations across KPIs.
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