Hot Five

Snapchat snaps up PlayCanvas, PUBG and Fortnite mobile games face off, and Marvel Strike Force launches

The hottest articles of the last week

Snapchat snaps up PlayCanvas, PUBG and Fortnite mobile games face off, and Marvel Strike Force launches

One of this week’s big releases was the long-anticipated squad-based RPG Marvel Strike Force from Twentieth Century Fox’s games division FoxNext.

The project certainly boasted ambition upon its announcement in 2016 with console quality said to be on the way to mobile (something long oft-touted by various developers over the years). Meeting such aspirations would take time, and our look into that three-year journey was one that held our readers' interest to become the hottest story of the last week.

Second on our Hot Five is a real clash of the titans. With both PUBG Mobile and Fortnite Mobile introducing themselves to Western audiences to a lot of fanfare, we decided to take a peek at who is winning the fight in the charts.

Monetisation, recruiment and engines

Elsewhere, the week's other big release came from Madfinger with the launch of the equally anticipated Shadowgun legends. Such a launch was met with our usual cause of celebration which was a visit from our IAP inspector to run the rule over how the title monetises.

Also on our Hot Five was the news of Gameloft's new vice president of marketing hire along with Snapchat snapping up PlayCanvas


Click here to view the list »
  • 5 Snapchat snaps up UK cloud-based HTML5 game engine PlayCanvas

    Snapchat snaps up UK cloud-based HTML5 game engine PlayCanvas logo

    UK outfit PlayCanvas has been around for a few years now offering its unique cloud-based game engine technology.

    Just last week though it came to light that Snapchat parent company Snap Inc has acquired it for an undisclosed fee.

    The toolset has proved popular with major publishers including King, Disney and Nickelodeon.

    Now in the hands of Snap, it's unclear what the mutli-billion dollar valued company plans to do, though PlayCanvas may power more augmented reality features or perhaps even provide the tech for a new Snapchat games platform.


  • 4 Gameloft hires new vice president of marketing

    Gameloft hires new vice president of marketing logo

    Mobile games publisher Gameloft has appointed Damien Marchi as its new vice president of marketing.

    He'll be responsible for marketing and communications strategies and will collaborate with local teams in the 40 countries that the company is active in.

    Marchi joined from Vivendi sibling company Havas where he served as global head of content. Before that he served for 20 years in marketing at various positions in the TV industry and was involved in growing the US adaptations of The X Factor, Britain's Got Talent and Big Brother.

    Alongside that he has also handled marketing for brands such as Red Bull, Air France and L'Oreal.


  • 3 How does Shadowgun Legends monetise?

    How does Shadowgun Legends monetise? logo

    Last week's addition of the IAP inspector took a look at Shadowgun Legends, the latest in Madfinger's sci-fi FPS series on mobile.

    When the original Shadowgun launched in 2011 it did so with a premium price tag, as was standard for mobile games at the time. But the series took the leap to free-to-play with Shadowgun Deadzone in 2013.

    And now Madfinger is keen to put another new spin on the series with Shadowgun Legends, a persistent-world FPS that invites comparisons with console looter shooter Destiny. And like the original Shadowgun in 2011, the game is very much at the forefront of mobile visuals. 

    It's also looking to do things a bit different when it comes to monetisation, which our IAP Inspector wholeheartedly approved of.


  • 2 PUBG Mobile versus Fortnite Mobile: Which is performing better?

    PUBG Mobile versus Fortnite Mobile: Which is performing better? logo

    The battlefield on which battle royale titles duke it out on is one that has been well trodden in the mobile scene. Especially in the Asia market. 

    NetEase was first to the party with Knives Out and Rules of Survival in November, but Tencent wasn't far behind with their duo of Playerunknown's Battleground licenced ports in February. 

    It was perhaps inevitable then that Epic Games' Fortnite would join in and take the stage. Both it and PUBG Mobile have now received Western releases and are duking it out on the charts.

    It's still very much early days for the pair on mobile but they have wasted little time in introducing themselves to the top of the download rankings.


  • 1 Superhero hot: The making of Marvel Strike Force

    Superhero hot: The making of Marvel Strike Force logo

    This week players were treated to the sight of Marvel Strike Force touching down in iOS and Android app stores. 

    And for developer FoxNext that treat is arguably very sweet as full development for the title began in early 2016. 

    Perhaps most interesting here is that FoxNext's games division was only announced in January 2017 when Fox acquired Kabam’s LA studio (amongst other parts of the publisher), which post-Netmarble’s acquisition of its Vancouver operation had been renamed Aftershock.

    That's just one of the fascinating glimpses into the development of a title that could be set to fire up the charts.


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Staff Writer

Iain is a freelance writer based in Scotland with a penchant for indies and all things Nintendo. Alongside PocketGamer.Biz, he has also appeared in Kotaku, Rock Paper Shotgun, PCGamesN and VG24/7.