Goodbye Farmville
Down on the FarmVille: The rise of Zynga's social gaming icon
As Zynga closes down the first FarmVille, we take a look back at what made it special
Playables
Is it time for more publishers to add playables to their advertising mix?
Mindworks' Stella Zhu discusses the benefits of including playable ads
Cyberspace
Japanese games firm Koei Tecmo hit by cyber attack
Forums of UK subsidiary breached, user information potentially stolen
Remote Working
"An average programmer with good communication and social skills is easier to train," says CoolGames technical lead Kasper Boonstra
"Working remotely felt like a bigger issue than it turned out to be"
Catch Em All
Niantic offers players chance to be a real trainer in Pokémon Go
"Try giving yourself a theme, like a cool and dynamic Electric-type Trainer or a fluid and powerful Water-type Trainer"
Green Thumb
Ustwo games is planting a new tree for each download of Alba: A Wildlife Adventure
So far 276,490 trees have been planted
Money Money Money
Mobile consumer spending hit $111 billion last year
An increase of 30.2 per cent year-on-year
Hackernom
Cut the Rope star Om Nom gets new soft-launched title with Cybernom
ZeptoLab will be looking to recreate the success of Om Nom: Run
Ninten-yay
Nintendo snaps up Luigi's Mansion 3 dev Next Level Games
The deal is expected to close on March 1st
Rock, Paper, Scissors
Mobile app Roshambo Live picked up by ITV for pilot live TV show
ITV's Studio 55 cited the game as a potential 'media landscape gamechanger'
Investment
Mobile Dev Memo's MDM Investment Syndicate has already made four deals
"The Mobile Dev Memo Syndicate closed its fourth deal just before Christmas, putting it at an investment cadence of one per month since its launch in September"
Homecoming
Epic Games purchases a shopping mall to be its new HQ
Construction will begin this year
Splash The Cash
Nordisk Games acquires 40% of MercurySteam
This is the firm's first investment outside of the Nordic region
Over The Horizon
Animal Crossing: New Horizons closes out 2020 at the top of the UK charts
It experienced a seven per cent increase in sales
Big Spender
European consumers spent $54.6 million on mobile apps on Christmas Day
Globally mobile spending hit $407 million that same day
Getting The Boot
Apple purges 39,000 titles from its Chinese App Store
As a result of apps not having a license
Welcome Back
Huawei returns Tencent's games to its storefront
Following removal due to a revenue share dispute
Rip
Yoozoo Games CEO and chairman Qi passes away at 39
Allegedly due to being poisoned
2020 In Review
"The IDFApocalypse will force developers to rethink ad models," says AdInMo CEO Kristan Rivers
As part of our 2020 in review series
2020 In Review
Gismart VP of business development on company growth, expansion, and juggling hypercasual titles
As part of our 2020 in review series
2020 In Review
Mobile Groove's Peggy Anne Salz on 'the year that forced many to rewrite the marketing playbook'
As part of our 2020 in review series
2020 In Review
Steel Media in 2020: connecting the games industry with 55 events, 7,600 media stories and a whole lot of love
Locked down... but by no means out in 2020
Speaker Spotlight
Speaker Spotlight: "I see a bright future ahead for virtual conferences," says Mowhawk Games CEO Leyla Johnson
PGC Digital #5 kicks off on February 8th
Event Access
Take part in Pocket Gamer Connects Digital #5 completely FREE!
Get involved with our online-only conference in February without spending a single penny!
2020 In Review
CoolGames founder Laurens Rutten on the 'continuing growth of gameplay outside traditional app-stores'
As part of our 2020 in review series
2020 In Review
Why Kolibri Games' Daniel Stammler believes Call of Duty: Mobile's continued success is one of the big winners in 2020
"It's a great display of what our platform has to offer"
2020 In Review
Gameloft CFO Alexandre de Rochefort on the impact of cross-platform games during COVID
As part of our 2020 in review series
Speaker Spotlight
Speaker Spotlight: HipHopGamer on being 'authentic and fearless' in an ever-growing gaming sphere
PGC Digital #5 kicks off on February 8th
Reasons To Attend
17 reasons why you need to virtually attend Pocket Gamer Connects Digital #5
250+ speakers, 14 conference tracks, 1,500+ industry professionals, exciting fringe events - February’s digital conference is set up to kick the new year off in style!
Making Of
How Shadow Fight Arena looks to offer something on mobile that console and PC is lacking
"The main problem was related to human resources as it was a real challenge to find experienced specialists"
Indie View
The Big Indie interviews: Hong Kong indie Trefle & Co Game talk thriving, adapting and succeeding
Billy Hui discusses winning our Digital Big Indie Pitch in November
2020 In Review
Runescape product director Matt Casey looks ahead to 20th anniversary in 2021
"We’re launching it all over again"
Speaker Spotlight
Speaker Spotlight: "staying on top of trends involves being a gamer yourself" says Roundhill Investments' Mario Stefanidis
PGC Digital #5 kicks off on February 8th
Unlimited Networking
Connect with industry professionals around the world with the MeetToMatch platform at Pocket Gamer Connects Digital #5
The meeting platform is a core component of the online conference in February, and it’s free to all attendees
2020 In Review
King CTO Steve Collins: "2020 was made that little bit more tolerable through the power of games"
As part of our 2020 in review series
Indie View
The Big Indie interviews: Baronnerie Games explores building an award winning roguelike deckbuilder whilst trying to survive as an indie
Étienne Ponton-Bouchard and Marc-André Gagnon discuss coming 3rd at our Digital Big Indie Pitch in October
Mtm 2020
Master The Meta: 2020 in review
A lookback of our MTM column this year
One Million
Survival Hunter Games: American Archer achieves over 1 million downloads in five months through AppGallery partnership
The already popular mobile game leveraged AppGallery’s marketing capabilities to boost its growth in new markets
2020 In Review
"Mobile is no longer the only option for people doing commutes or travelling," says Dead by Daylight producer Valentine Dessertenne
Behaviour Interactive launched the horror title in June earlier this year
Speaker Spotlight
Speaker Spotlight: Eaton Smith LLP's Chris Taylor on gaming's endless possibilities
PGC Digital #5 kicks off on February 8th
2020 In Review
Voodoo publishing lead Alexander reflects on a huge year in hypercasual
Part of our 2020 year in review series
What's Next?
After 2020’s boom, how should hypercasual developers prepare for 2021?
Andrey Mikhlin makes some predictions
2020 In Review
Rami Ismail talks 2020 trends, the closure of Vlambeer, and his mobile game of the year
Part of our 2020 in review series
Marketing Types
Mobile marketing creatives in 2020: trends, types, visions
AdQuantum's Pavel Shishkin discusses marketing trends in 2020
Getting The Boot
Apple is preparing to remove more apps from the Chinese App Store
Continuing from the ISBN issues earlier this year
Asynchronous Or Synchronous
Why "2021 will be the year of mobile esports" according to Ryu Games' Nick Contino
"I think we’ll see all of the big players jump into the space"
A Good Deed
The ESA Foundation raises $468k for various charities
It will also be used to fund its scholarship programme
Speaker Spotlight
Speaker Spotlight: Sketchbook Games' Mark Backler on not giving up on getting into games
Pocket Gamer Connects Digital #5 kicks off February 8th
A Dynasty
Yoozoo launches Dynasty Scrolls worldwide
The series has 200 million registered users in China
2020 In Review
Ubisoft Mobile executive director Jean-Michel Detoc on 2020, staying connected, and the evolution of mobile
Part of the PGbiz 2020 year in review series