Puzzle & Dragons to go offline in Europe, Subway Surfers gets SYBO TV, and Brawls Stars' Eastern future

Rounding up the hottest stories from the last week

• 5 "I don’t think the Chinese government is ready to lose its title as the world’s biggest games market"

  

  China is the world’s biggest games market, so when the Chinese government makes new rules for the sector, as it so often does, it can affect the entire industry.

  Most recently there has been a freeze on new game licences as the new body running approvals, the State Administration of Radio and Television, restructures.

  This is all coming ahead of a number of new regulations that include limited game releases and gameplay time restrictions.

  Despite the games industry seemingly having a target on its back from Chinese authorities, Taptica division CEO Rivi Bloch says the government won’t want to see its biggest companies fail.

  
  

• 4 Report: Zynga attracts takeover interest

  

  Words With Friends developer Zynga has been busy with M&A activity of its own over the past few years.

  It’s bought NaturalMotion and more recently Harpan Solitaire, Peak Games’ card games and Gram Games.

  But according to a report it’s now thought to be on the receiving end of takeover interest from other developers.

  Sources claim no formal talks have taken place yet, but the company has received preliminary approaches.

  
  

• 3 GungHo to shut down Puzzle & Dragons in Europe

  

  Puzzle & Dragons is one of the highest grossing mobile games ever, generating billions of dollars in revenue.

  Much of that success has largely come from developer GungHo’s homeland, Japan.

  The title has struggled to replicate that performance abroad and now its publisher has taken the drastic decision to shut down the European version completely.

  The server will go offline on December 10th and all support will end by January 21st 2019.

  
  

• 2 Subway Surfers developer SYBO set to tap into video streaming with new platform

  

  Subway Surfers is one of the most recognised IPs on mobile.

  And SYBO is looking to take advantage of its pervasiveness on the platform by extending its reach elsewhere.

  To that end, it’s set to launch a new video streaming, content creation and distribution platform.

  Named SYBO TV, the platform is expected to go live in Q4 2018.

  
  

• 1 Is Supercell's Brawl Stars set to rise in the East rather than the West?

  

  Brawl Stars has been in soft launch for over a year now and all eyes are on whether Supercell will give it a global release.

  On the face of it at least, the brawler hasn’t been a runaway success so far in terms of the Finnish studio’s ultra-high standards, trending down the Western charts. Could it be set to become Supercell’s highest-profile kill?

  Perhaps not. There’s some hope for the title: it could make an unexpected turn and rise in the East.

  We analysed its performance so far and ask what the future holds for a game whose quality is little in doubt, just its revenue potential.