EA soft-launches The Sims Mobile, Honor of Kings goes West as Strike of Kings, and Hearthstone's resurgence
When you think CCG, your mind probably jumps straight to Hearthstone, Blizzard's masterful digital card game based on its Warcraft IP.
It's three years old now, so we decided to take a look at how it was performing on mobile at this point in its life - something it seems our readership was also interested in, as it was our most read article of last week.
Second on the Hot Five list is the news that Tencent's Honor of Kings is finally making its way West, only it's been renamed Strike of Kings and now includes Batman as a playable character.
Sims, poker and super mobile gamers
Third up is the soft-launch of EA's next big mobile game, The Sims Mobile, which looks like it has a lot more in common with its PC counterpart than The Sims FreePlay.
And finally, we chat to Frank Gibeau about how Zynga Poker has continued to survive almost ten years after first launching, and Verto Analytics says that the "super mobile gamer" is a 39-year old woman who loves Pokemon GO.
Click the link below to find out more about the stories that caught our reader's attention over the last week.
#5: Today's "super mobile gamer" is a Pokemon GO-loving 39-year old woman
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Today's "super mobile gamer" is a Pokemon GO-loving 39-year old woman »The typical "super mobile gamer" is a 39-year old woman who spends an average of 14.9 hours across 127 gaming sessions a month, according to Verto Analytics.
The analytics firm revealed this profile as part of its new "Who is the Cross-device Consumer?" report, which studies users with multiple devices and the apps that are most popular among them.
These "super mobile gamers" were found to spend the most time per month on Pokemon GO, Candy Crush Soda Saga and the original Candy Crush Saga.
For the top apps in terms of number of sessions a month, Pokemon GO won out again, followed by Words With Friends and Candy Crush Saga.
#4: Why Zynga Poker’s success is the tail wagging the Zynga dog
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Why Zynga Poker’s success is the tail wagging the Zynga dog »Zynga Poker is one of Zynga's key performers at the moment, having had one of its best quarters yet for revenue despite being nearly ten years old.
And Zynga's CEO Frank Gibeau is pretty pleased about that, saying that he's "feeling really good" about the company's performance at the moment.
How has Zynga Poker kept its popularity? It's all down to updates - the game now has a smoother UX, new daily and weekly challenges, and an enhanced VIP program to keep players coming back.
It's the same kind of success that the developer is hoping to gain from the rest of its games and through a similar practice of keeping them updated and the best possible version of themselves.
#3: EA soft-launches potential big hitter The Sims Mobile ahead of FY18 release
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EA soft-launches potential big hitter The Sims Mobile ahead of FY18 release »Everyone loves The Sims - that's a fact that you cannot dispute me on - so it's always nice when a new Sims game finds its way to mobile.
And it's even better when said game looks like it'll have all the customisation and interaction of its PC counterpart, as is the case with soft-launched title The Sims Mobile.
Due out at some point in the next year, The Sims Mobile will have you finding love, jobs, and numerous ways to murder the life you created while also building homes and buying clothes.
It's all free-to-play with ads and IAPs to support premium purchases, and hopefully there's enough fun to be had while freeloading as there is if you're willing to drop cash on the game.
#2: Tencent's megahit mobile MOBA Honor of Kings soft-launched in the West as Strike of Kings
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Tencent's megahit mobile MOBA Honor of Kings soft-launched in the West as Strike of Kings »Name changes between countries happen - it's unlikely you'll reach the largest audience in the US if your game's title is in Japanese, after all.
That said, it's still a little strange that Tencent has decided to re-launch its hugely-popular mobile MOBA Honor of Kings in the West as Strike of Kings - maybe to avoid spelling issues between US and UK English?
Either way, it's in soft launch now in a number of European countries and appears to remain largely intact from its original Chinese launch.
The one major addition is the inclusion of Batman in an partnership with DC Comics, which will likely draw in a few comic fans to the game.
#1: Still collecting Gold: Hearthstone at three shows no signs of slowing down
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Still collecting Gold: Hearthstone at three shows no signs of slowing down »Hearthstone remains the king of CCGs - it was the first one to really "make it", and it's the only one (at present) to draw in huge crowds at its eSports tournaments.
Yet it's mostly the PC edition that gets the attention, so what's happening with its mobile editions? We decided to take a closer look and find out for ourselves.
The answer is that Hearthstone is doing, well, OK. It hangs around the top 100 grossing ranks pretty consistently in the US on both iPad and iPhone, rising higher at the start of a new expansion or other major event.
There was that one enormous dip it took in February 2017, largely due to the fact players hated an update pushed out for the game and walked away until it was fixed.