Takin' Care Of Business
Mobile Games Jobs Weekly: PlayStation mobile push, Apple engineering head moves to mysterious project, and Jagex gets acquired again
The movers, shakers and job opportunities in mobile gaming
Pgc Digital
Learn more about Live Ops at Pocket Gamer Connects Digital #5
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Bebo
Social network Bebo is making a comeback - but it's now owned by Amazon
The site is set to relaunch in Feb 2021
Popping Off
PopScreen Games has ambitions to develop the CCG-RPG genre and expand studio, supported by strategic investment by Garena
French studio hopes to expand significantly with help from the Free Fire publisher
Inclusivity
Activision Blizzard claims it is "committed to inclusive hiring" after describing practice as "unworkable"
Publisher was reportedly trying to get out of putting diverse hiring proposal to shareholders
Data Protection
Apple rolling out privacy changes in "early spring"
"Privacy means peace of mind, it means security, and it means you are in the driver's seat when it comes to your own data"
Poc In Mobile
"It's never been easy for international talents to obtain a work visa in the UK - and now we’re seeing the impact of Brexit"
Marmalade Game Studio's Mathilda Ho speaks on why the government plays an important role in improving diversity.
Investment
Tencent backs Life is Strange maker Dontnod
French firm issuing $60.6 million in new shares to fund self-publishing dreams
Fringe Events
Time is running out to sign up to the fringe events at Pocket Gamer Connects Digital #5 - don’t miss out!
Registration for Investor Connector, Big Indie Pitch, Publisher SpeedMatch, Games Jobs Live and IGDA Mentor Café closing soon - sign up now!
Money Money Money
Brawl Stars shoots past $1 billion in lifetime revenue
Aided by its launch in China last year
Wanna Play
Slay the Spire hits Android devices on February 3rd
It came to iOS devices last June
A Good Deed
Moon Studios, iam8bit and Skybound Games raise $58k to protect rainforests
Through sales of the Ori games on Nintendo Switch
Meet The Investor
Makers Fund’s Archie Stonehill on what they expect from founders on their first meetings
“What makes a first meeting great is all the stuff around that basic information. For example, when founders tell a story of how they got to where they are.”
Speaker Spotlight
Speaker Spotlight: Google Firebase Patrick Martin on why developers should consider 'mobile first'
PGC Digital #5 kicks off on February 8th
Treasure Hunting
Tomb Raider becomes the latest games IP to come to Netflix as anime
Will follow the rebooted trilogy
New Partnership
AdInMo partners with globle mobile ads firm InMobi
"It's fantastic to be collaborating with the team at InMobi to grow demand for InGamePlay brand advertising"
Pgc Digital
Get invested with Show Me The Money at Pocket Gamer Connects Digital #5
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Mobile Game Funding
UA Managers are Quantitative Traders
At Société Générale, we are convinced that there is enough transparency in the mobile industry to create accurate financial risk models.
Money Money Money
Apple experiences record-breaking quarter as it generates $111.4 billion
“Our December quarter business performance was fueled by double-digit growth in each product category"
Impressive
Mobile users generated 143 billion app installs last year
A 23.8 per cent increase year-on-year
Meet The Investor
EQT Ventures’ Lars Jornow on the types of studios he’s looking forward to meet at Pocket Gamer Connects Digital #5
“I'm primarily interested in mobile gaming or cross-platform studios that have made a playable version of a game with €100m+ annual revenue potential.”
Riding High
League of Legends: Wild Rift is breakout core mobile game
Crunching the data with App Annie
Farewell
Rovio shuts down streaming platform Hatch, but Hatch Kids is still going
Operations ceased on December 31st 2020
Greatness Recognised
Legends of Runeterra up for Mobile Game of the Year at the DICE Awards
Animal Crossing: New Horizons recieved multiple monimations
Switching It Up
Bringing Breath of the Wild-inspired Oceanhorn 2 to Nintendo Switch
"I will always remember the nice email we got from Nintendo"
Discount Ends
TICKETS RISE at midnight tonight! Last chance to save on tickets to Pocket Gamer Connects Digital #5!
Mid-Term offer ends at midnight tonight, don’t miss out on your chance to save up to $210 for February’s digital conference!
Get Real
Simulation games revenue was up 62% in the US last year
The casino genre was most popular for downloads
Too Much Drift
The European Consumer Organisation launches investigation into Joy-Con drift issues
"Nintendo must now come up with proper solutions for the thousands of consumers affected by this problem"
Talking Heads
Hear from the biggest names in the industry including Facebook, CrazyLabs, MoPub, Google Firebase and more at Pocket Gamer Connects Digital #5
What will you learn from the games industry’s leading authorities? The latest confirmed speakers for next month’s digital conference include ground-breaking names and companies
Pgc Digital
Be in the know with The Developer Toolkit at Pocket Gamer Connects Digital #5
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Making Of
Why Crunchyroll believes now is the right time to bring Princess Connect! Re: Dive to the West
"The team knew it would be a tremendous success and a potentially great fit for the Western market"
Welcome Aboard
Imba Games joins the N3twork Scale Platform
I Am Hero performed well in pilot testing
Marketing
Moloco launches automated buying platform Moloco Cloud
"Programmatic advertising represents the future of the ad industry, and we are very pleased to work with Moloco to help app marketers tap into our world-class supply in an intelligent and efficient way"
Into Mobile
Square Enix Montréal on the rewarding transition into mobile game development
Mobile can seem like a step down in game dev, but the Square Enix Montréal team disagrees
For Freedom
Bollywood star Akshay Kumar teams with nCore for new mobile game
"Join a special unit of FAU-G commandos on patrol in dangerous border territory"
Here's The Facts
Jagex insists Plutos Sama's lawsuit claiming company ownership is "meritless"
Follows the RuneScape maker being bought by private equity giant The Carlyle Group
Mobile Madness
New job listing suggests more PlayStation mobile games on the way
"We're looking for an experienced Executive Producer or very experienced Senior Producer - Mobile who'll report to our Head of External Production"
Going Public
Huuuge publishes prospectus and launches its IPO
"We intend to use 90–95 per cent of the proceeds for acquisitions and investments in other companies or assets of companies which complement our offer or competencies"
Career Opportunities
Steel Media targets further growth and hires in 2021 to support the games industry
The market leader in the mobile gaming space is now part of leading gaming network in North America - and YOU could help us grow even more
Found A Solution
Xsolla launches new mobile game commerce solution
“Our new Mobile Game Commerce solution helps developers overcome these restraints and succeed by creating a seamless experience that drives revenue back to those making the games"
Jobs In Games
How Modern Times Group acquired Hutch in the middle of a pandemic with Arnd Benninghoff
"Just before the travel restrictions kicked in we flew to London"
Top Dog
Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity has become Koei Tecmo's best-selling Warriors game
3.5 million copies have been sold as of December 31st 2020
Pgc Digital
Discover the Incredible Indies at Pocket Gamer Connects Digital #5
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Ludo Ai
Need an idea for a hit new game? Ask Ludo AI
Ludo opens up to the world and early adopters will get an opportunity to access the platform free of charge
Take A Step Back
Dan Riccio steps down as Apple head of engineering
To focus on a new project
We Have Liftoff
Get millions of eyeballs focused on your games with Pocket Gamer LaunchPad #3 coming NEXT WEEK!
The digital consumer showcase event returns to put the spotlight on developers as they present their exciting upcoming titles across multiple platforms - get involved now!
Money Money Money
Video games raised $23.3 million on Kickstarter in 2020
That's a 35 per cent increase year-on-year
Trendy
4 mobile game trends to look out for in 2021
GameRefinery's Erno Kiiski weighs in on the year ahead
Welcome Aboard
Kwalee hires Max Everingham to lead its push into console and PC
"We're delighted to be welcoming Max to the team as we launch Eternal Hope, and we encourage PC and console developers of all sizes to start a conversation with us"
New Partnership
Tencent Games forms strategic partnership with RedMagic
"The in-depth cooperation between Tencent Games and RedMagic has very similar goals"