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.
Drawing a blank: Draw Something 2 struggling to monetise, says BTIG Research
Given Zynga reportedly set out with the intention of serving up a 'stickier' Draw Something with the sequel to the original release that is, a game likely to command gamers' attention for a somewhat longer period it'll dismay the social giant that it appears to be failing to achieve said goal.
An account published by BTIG Research last week suggested that Draw Something 2 is failing to connect with gamers as expected, monetising at a far poorer rate than the original.
"Success is often fleeting on mobile," detailed BTIG.
"Some game genres on mobile are easier to monetize than others. The company has improved its mobile advertising and raised download pricing. Yet, as evidenced by Draw Something 2's grossing performance, Zynga is struggling to find a mobile financial 'hit' game."
Making a splash: The making of Fish Out of Water!
Fish Out of Water! began life as a surfing game. Then it became a stone skipping contest.
Finally, in a bid to introduce some character, Australian developer Halfbrick added fish, and most importantly some highly amusing crabs.
"Originally, the game was literally just a single stone that you would skip across the water, and that's it," detailed chief creative officer Luke Muscat.
"I remember showing it to my partner at one stage and her impression was basically 'I'm playing with a rock? Really?'
"After this, we spent some time giving it a rethink, and ended up coming up with the six fishy characters, as well as the crabs for the judging panel."
Vlambeer: Free-to-play is teaching gamers to 'pay not to play'
"There are lots of ways to implement free-to-play, and most of them are detrimental to the core game design," said Vlambeer's head of business and development Rami Ismail, following up on claims the studio had previously dubbed free-to-play "evil".
"People thought our store was broken because they couldn't buy more money. That was surprising to us, because the values to Ridiculous Fishing are set to such a way that, without a sense of grind kicking in, you can go through the entire game.
"But they can't pay to not play that's an option we intentionally avoided.
"The fact that people are so used to games being built in such a way that their optimal enjoyment comes from paying not to play is something that we worry about. We consider that a bad thing, I guess."
Ouya is beautiful and cheap, but who cares? It's about the games
Why did the people behind Ouya set out to make Ouya? Last week, we got an answer.
"Gamers want choice, cheap. Developers want freedom," said Ouya CEO Julie Uhrman at Nordic Game in Malmo.
"Developers like mobile because it's open. And the free-to-play business model is about incentivising your players.
"These themes were lacking in console. We saw a big void in the market, which is why we developed Ouya."
Unity goes free on Android and iOS
Who needs Xbox One when Unity's ready to drop a bomb on the development world?
Last week saw CEO David Helgason announce the news that the basic version of the development engine is now free on Android and iOS.
"We were able to make Unity free for the web and for desktop computers a while ago, but have been dreaming of doing the same for mobile for what seems like forever," said CEO David Helgason.
"Mobile games development is possibly the most dynamic and exciting industry in the world, and it's an honour to be able to help so many developers be so successful in fulfilling their visions and in building their businesses."
Helgason later revealed to PocketGamer.biz that developers who have paid for any basic plugins during the last 30 days will be offered a discount on future purchases.
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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