Making Of
How SMG Studio fought Animal Crossing and a global pandemic to launch Moving Out
SMG Studio founder Ashley Ringrose speaks on the crazy year of 2020
The Game Awards
Among Us, Genshin Impact and Call of Duty: Mobile are nominees at The Game Awards 2020
Animal Crossing: New horizons is up for Game of the Year
Interview
Fundamentally Games’ Oscar Clark on game monetisation design and building value into your game
"Understanding the Player lifecycle means we understand how their perception of value changes over time and this introduces new opportunities to build ongoing and more sustainable value."
Big Indie Pitch
Rallyallyally takes the crown with its 180 twist on the casual racing genre
We explore the top three games from our recent Big Indie Pitch at Pocket Gamer Connects Digital #4
Catch Em All
Niantic increases the level cap in Pokemon Go
As part of the Beyond update
Be Tactical
Strategy titles hit $2.8 billion in player spending in the US in the first 10 months of 2020
Clash of Clans was the top-grossing title
Splash The Cash
Embracer acquires A Thinking Ape and 11 other games studios
Company now operates 58 developers
Have Some Drive
My.Games partners with Google for a new accelerator programme
Game Drive is aimed at mobile games studios
Widget
How can iOS widgets help games improve their performance on mobile?
Starloop Studios' Pau Bonet discusses how widgets can benefit your mobile game
New Acquisition
Epic acquires facial animation firm Hyprsense
"Joining Epic gives us the opportunity to deliver new solutions and experiences on a massive scale"
I See You
Epic Games brings video chat to Fortnite through Houseparty
Available on PC, PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5
Connects Climax
The last online Connects event of the year was our biggest yet!
More than 2,000 games industry professionals engaged with last week's Pocket Gamer Connects Digital #4 and its two new fringe events
Helping Hand
Apple to aid small businesses by reducing its App Store commission
"Small businesses are the backbone of our global economy and the beating heart of innovation and opportunity in communities around the world"
Down Under
Epic Games is taking Apple to court in Australia
"It's another set of laws under which Apple's practices are clearly in violation. And another chance to get this issue really thoroughly examined"
Remote Working
"The future of remote work is going to be hybrid," says Yodo1 AI team leader Christopher Dossman
"Imagine teleporting instantly from a crowded, busy office to a secluded mountain retreat or an exciting city."
Drive By
Sports and driving games account for 4.5% of iOS games revenue in the US
Japan is the most lucrative market for the category
It's The Law
Media law firm Wiggin acquires digital entertainment practice Purewal & Partners
"We are very excited to welcome Jas Purewal and his team to our digital entertainment practice"
Capture That
Amazon launches mobile games capture app for Android
To come to iOS devices at a later date
Roundtable
Join us on December 3rd for our next PocketGamer.biz RoundTable session
All about the rules of advertising, in association with AdInMo
Under Attack
Capcom hit with a ransomware attack
Past and present employee data is at risk
Beautiful Games
Square Enix Montréal design team on crafting beautiful gaming experiences for small screens
PGbiz chats to the design team behind mobile titles Lara Croft GO and Hitman GO
It's Mario
Nintendo to launch new LEGO Mario sets
Character and power packs will be available too
In The Clouds
My.Games launches a new cloud gaming service
My.Games Cloud is in beta in Russia
Get Hyped
Voodoo selects six winners for its hypercasual competition
They won a publishing contract and $100,000
Braking Out
Why Project Cars is turning to mobile
Slightly Mad Studios' Joe Barron discusses moving to mobile, Fast & Furious and why now is the right time to find a new audience
Money Money Money
Netmarble hit $535 million in total sales for Q3 2020
"We continue to see strong results at the end of our third quarter with significant overseas sales coming from our line-up of existing games"
Switch It Up
Nintendo experiences its best October sales since 2008
"Nintendo Switch and Nintendo Switch Lite continue to provide one-of-a-kind gaming experiences on the TV or on the go"
Going Virtual
Resolution Games secures publishing deal with Odd Raven Studios
“Resolution Games has proven to be a leader in the VR space by providing top titles and being the most proficient studio at multiplayer and cross-platform games"
Shoot Em Up
Mobile studio Lila Games secures $2.8 million in seed funding
"Lila Games is made up of an outstanding founder team, and they are focused on a very sizable genre that has room for innovation on mobile"
Master The Meta
Master the Meta: With $43M, why VENN has a lot to left to prove
The MTM team dives into VENN, which hopes to be 'MTV for gaming'
An Imposter!
Among Us picks up the most downloads in October 2020
Followed by Sybo Games' Subway Surfers
Redforce
RedForce Games founder discusses benefits of partnering with Voodoo
Anand talks RedForce's journey to hypercasual and how Voodoo's support saw the company flourish
Raise Your Game
MunkyFun and Zeeppo accepted into N3twork’s $50 million Scale Platform
League of War: Mercenaries and Chaos Road get boosted
Interview
Elite Game Developers’ Joakim Achren on how to raise investor money for your game
"Since gaming is showing such unprecedented growth numbers, all the world's investment capital is looking to games."
New Studio
Zynga opens new development studio in Austin
"We believe that the Austin talent market is highly compatible with our mission of bringing triple-A console visuals and deep, compelling gameplay to mobile platforms"
Go To G-star
G-STAR Global Game Exhibition 2020 starts tomorrow - don’t miss out and save big now!
Join the most important games show in Asia (100% online) and do business with the big names from the Asia-Pacific games space
Accessibility Awards
Alanah Pearce and AbleGamers host inaugural Video Game Accessibility Awards
The show celebrated the games that give high efforts to improving accessibility and inclusion
Growing Industry
Nearly 80% of UK developers work outside London
"The video games industry can play an important role in levelling up the economy"
Money Money Money
Mobile games saw $58.7 billion in player spending between Q1 and Q3 2020
An increase of 26 per cent year-on-year
Pgc Digital
PGC Digital: Bringing creative media and social media together to create the metaverse
"The metaverse is best defined as a future iteration of the internet, made up of persistent, shared, 3D spaces linked into a perceived virtual universe"
Money Money Money
Unity experiences 53% revenue increase in first quarter since IPO
“We are very pleased to start our public company journey with such a strong quarter"
Pgc Digital
PGC Digital: Forming music and gaming partnerships
"Travis Scott and Fortnite have set the bar quite high for what partnerships can look like"
Make An Impact
Genshin Impact reigns supreme as the top grossing game in October
Tencent had three entries
Pgc Digital
PGC Digital: The importance of diversity and inclusivity in teams
"Protect the culture. Get rid of the bad and grow the good"
Pgc Digital
PGC Digital: Zynga lead game designer Poornima Seetharaman discusses how to balance gameplay
"Don't add complexity for the sake of it."
Pgc Digital
PGC Digital: Working with charities
"The best partnerships are the ones that start with the why. Why should we have this partnership?"
Pgc Digital
Tencent generates $18.4 billion in Q3 2020
Online games revenue grew 45 per cent year-on-year
Sorry
Twitch apologises to streamers over how it dealt with copyright claims
"We are actively speaking with the major record labels about potential approaches to additional licenses that would be appropriate for the Twitch service"
Pgc Digital
PGC Digital: How "testing and tuning" tournaments boosted Wordscapes LTV by 40%
Wordscapes boasts more than five million DAUs
Out The Window
US Judge dismisses Apple's claim that Epic Games is a thief
It "is a high-stakes breach of contract case and an antitrust case, and that's all in my view"