Interview

GameRefinery's Joel Julkunen on 2019: the year mobile gaming got more IPs and went more core

Let's stop playing around

GameRefinery's Joel Julkunen on 2019: the year mobile gaming got more IPs and went more core

As 2019 begins to fade into memory, we're taking a look back at the events that have dominated the last 12 months in mobile gaming.

As such, we've asked the industry's great and good to give us their take on the year, as well as predicting the trends that will dominate in 2020.

  • Joel Julkunen is head of game analysis and a co-founder at GameRefinery

PocketGamer.biz: What do you think was the biggest news in 2019?

Joel Julkunen: There were a lot of big things that happened this year, especially when it comes to product launches.

Call of Duty Mobile and Mario Kart Tour are two titles I'd like to pick up here, because both are examples of big PC/console IPs brought to mobile successfully with a big bang.

This might be the beginning of a larger trend, as we've already heard about Apex Legends, Diablo and League of Legends making their way to mobile as well.

What's the thing you're most proud of during 2019?

We were able to multiply our business and introduce lots of new tools and datasets for our clients. We also started a new business track focusing on mobile advertising by introducing a tool for building high-affinity ad targeting campaign data sets for mobile games.

Archero's smooth flow, design, and fiendish difficulty curve makes me pick it up again and again.

Most importantly, we’re really proud of our super talented team, who has been working hard on making GameRefinery the market leader in feature level mobile game data and analytics globally.

Which mobile games have you most played/enjoyed during 2019?

I have to say Archero is something that caught me by surprise. Even though in general, I'm more into mid-core games, Archero's smooth flow, design, and fiendish difficulty curve makes me pick it up again and again.

Another game I've been spending time on this year (again) is Hearthstone. The Battlegrounds update was great because it was able to bring a totally new core game experience to the table.

What do you think will be the biggest trends in 2020?

Casual games are going to continue adding "midcore-ish" features, such as Battle Passes and guild mechanics to beef up the overall gaming experience and social aspects.

Another big one I see coming is the PC/console IP migration to mobile in growing numbers.

If you had one New Year's Resolution for the mobile game industry, what would it be?

By treating our colleagues and industry peers with respect and collaborating with each other we can achieve great things.

You can check out all our 2019 in Review articles here


Contributing Editor

A Pocket Gamer co-founder, Jon is Contributing Editor at PG.biz which means he acts like a slightly confused uncle who's forgotten where he's left his glasses. As well as letters and cameras, he likes imaginary numbers and legumes.