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.
Paying players spend more on Android than iOS, reports TinyCoFlying in the face of previous analytics, the San Francisco-based social outfit published a series of stats detailing the rise of Android as a revenue raiser when compared to iOS.
According to in-house numbers, games designed around Android's userbase can deliver higher average revenue per paying user (ARPPU) and longer retention rates than equivalent games on Apple's platform.
"In our game Tiny Village, ARPPU on iOS and Android are the same, and later in the product lifecycle we are seeing weeks where ARPPU can be between 25 percent - 40 percent higher on Android," detailed TinyCo in its report.
"This will shrink as more players become payers on Android as platform experience improves - and hopefully the overall balance of a average revenue per user (ARPU) and ARPPU begin to look closer on each platform."
Adjusted App Store algorithm impacting app search results, claim iOS devsApple itself may have given no forewarning - what's new but developer accounts suggest the firm has altered the App Store's algorithm for search, impacting on the kind of results delivered by the marketplace.
The suggestion is the App Store now places priority on context and download volumes, moving away from simply searching for keywords.
It's a change many believe could have a major effect on developers, with a search for 'traffic', for instance, now serving up navigation apps first rather than previous results topper Traffic Panic.
DeNA's Rage of Bahamut estimated to be grossing $2.6 million a month
DeNA may not have released the figures, but the suggestion card-battler Rage of Bahamut may be grossing up to $43,000 a day outside Japan will do its social gaming platform Mobage no harm.
The numbers, released by Nikkei, caused gaming consultant Serkan Toto to speculate that the game's worldwide monthly revenue across iOS and Android could be as much as $2.6 million.
Epic brands Infinity Blade the 'most profitable game' in company historyContinuing the money matters theme, last week also saw Epic reveal that Infinity Blade is the most profitable game in the firm's history.
The developer was keen to stress that it's the most profitable release in terms of the amount of 'man years' spent developing the game when compared to the revenue it raised, rather than as an actual lump sum.
Either way, Epic CEO Tim Sweeney branded the game as "more profitable than Gears of War" - the kind of statement that was always likely to lead to headlines the world over, and repeated almost panicked clarifications about just what it meant over Twitter in the hours that followed.
Casual developers can 'make millions' on Android, says G5 CEO SuglobovFor those looking to follow Epic and, in G5 Entertainment CEO Vlad Suglobov's words, "make millions", Android is the OS of choice.
That's based on G5's own experiences on Google's platform, with the PC turned mobile developer suggesting that, while iOS is on top at the moment, developers will lose out if they only focus on Apple's platform in the years ahead.
"Some publishers only focus on casual games for iPad, but its wrong to ignore the rest of the market, which includes iPhone and, of course, Android devices," commented Suglobov.
"In the long term, analysts expect iOS to hold only about 20 percent of the market, so bringing your games to Android is very important. And G5 achieved outstanding success in monetising casual games on Android."
Hot Five
With a fine eye for detail, Keith Andrew is fuelled by strong coffee, Kylie Minogue and the shapely curve of a san serif font.
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