Amber CEO talks creative destruction, China is open for business, and Brawl Stars tops the charts

The top mobile games industry stories from the last week

• 5 The indie spirit behind the rebirth and growth of the Australian games industry

  

  The Australian games industry has faced a rough few years ever since the global financial crisis in 2008.

  It’s been a long road back following various studio closures and hostility from local government toward the sector.

  But things are looking brighter in 2019 for this creative hub thanks to the indie spirit it’s nurtured.

  We spoke to a number of the industry’s leading lights for our region focus on the country’s dev scene and what’s in store for it in future.

  
  

• 4 Activision Blizzard set to fire chief financial officer

  

  Activision Blizzard posted a rather peculiar regulatory filing recently stating its intention to terminate chief financial officer Spencer Neumann’s contract.

  The reason for the out of the blue statement? It claimed it was doing so for “cause unrelated to the company’s financial reporting or disclosure controls and procedures”.

  Reuters claimed that Neumann was set to join Netflix as its CEO and discussions for the position likely led to Activision’s sudden termination.

  It’s since been confirmed Neumann is joining the streaming giant.

  
  

• 3 Speaker Spotlight: Amber CEO Mihai Pohontu on creative destruction, fearless indies and corporate rebels

  

  There are just two weeks until Pocket Gamer Connects London 2019 kicks off on January 21st to 22nd.

  Until then, we’ve been profiling speakers set to talk at the show. One of those is Mihai Pohontu, CEO of Bucharest-based game development agency Amber.

  At PGC he’ll host a session entitled ‘101 Concepts for Games Innovation’.

  We spoke with him ahead of the event to discuss his talk and his thoughts on industry trends.

  
  

• 2 China's games market is officially open for business again

  

  It’s finally over. After nine long months China is granting licences for new games again.

  80 new titles have now been approved for release after the State Administration of Press & Publication completed its reforms and has got work underway on its extensive backlog.

  That could take a while to sift through however, with thousands of games to approve.

  It remains to be seen just how strict new rules will be, with plans to limit the number of new mobile titles released each year in the Chinese market.

  
  

• 1 Weekly global mobile games charts: Brawl Stars fires into US top 10 download and grossing rankings

  

  For Finnish studio Supercell, it's really 'a billion dollars or bust'.

  So all eyes were on how Brawl Stars would fare in its opening weeks. As part of our weekly global charts roundup, the real-time PvP brawler got off to a good start for the week of December 17th.

  It hit the top of the App Store and Google Play download rankings in the US, while also making the top 10 grossing lists. Its performance in Great Britain and Ireland wasn’t quite as good, hitting 10th on the App Store grossing chart but failing to do so on Google Play.

  Overall the top grossers were the typical heavyweights - Candy Crush Saga and Fortnite. Tencent’s Honor of Kings meanwhile held its longstanding top grossing position in China.