Time To Hunt
New AR title The Witcher: Monster Slayer hunting its way onto mobile devices
Being developed by Spokko Games
It's A Battle
World of Tanks Blitz battles its way on to Nintendo Switch
"World of Tanks Blitz is the very first Wargaming title to launch on a Nintendo platform"
Talking Heads
King, Paradox Interactive, Jam City, DECA Games and Jagex all confirmed to speak at Pocket Gamer Connects Helsinki Digital 2020
With just one month to go until our online-only conference goes live, find out who you will be learning from digitally
Big Better
Zynga on the post-IDFA value of hypercasual mobile games
President of publishing Bernard Kim on market dynamics
For Charity
YouTube Gaming is hosting a mobile games tournament with a $50,000 prize for charity
Features Clash Royale, Brawl Stars, and PUBG Mobile
Team Work
Anzu teams up with Veritas Entertainment for real-life brands ads
"Anzu is always looking to push the limits of what was considered possible"
Busan B2b Bundle
G-STAR confirms digital event and Pocket Gamer Connects partnership
The biggest games conference in South Korea, taking place in November, will be accessible online to everyone (and you can save 20% with Pocket Gamer Connects ticket bundles)
Strong Team
Adjust makes three key hires as it continues to expand across the Americas
"We're in a strong position to build on the exponential growth we've seen in mobile-first markets like the US and LATAM"
Night And Day
Indie Spotlight: Why Cleaversoft founder Rich Siegel thinks going console first is the best route to mobile
"If we had finished one year later, E3 would have been cancelled and EarthNight would not have reached even a fraction of its current audience"
All About Survival
New studio Colossi Games raises $650,000 for a mobile survival game
"Colossi Games is building the next generation of mobile survival games"
Awards!
Hear the best in the business speak at next week's Top 50 Mobile Game Makers 2020 - all online and totally FREE!
Tune in this Tuesday September 1st to see which studios, creators and publishers are making waves in mobile games
Catch Em All
Pokemon GO could be getting a subscription service
"A subscription category has been added in this version"
Walk Away
Lab Zero loses numerous employees following reports of inappropriate behaviour by its studio head
"He threatens and insults people and our partners, both directly and in public"
Walk This Way
Square Enix experiences strong start to financial year, generating $818.2 million
Dragon Quest Walk was a key part of its growth
New Identity
Exient rebrands Sad Puppy and Donut under Exient Publishing
"The success we've experienced with Lemmings Puzzle Adventure has given us the confidence to double down on our publishing activity"
Unmissable!
The speakers you won't want to miss at next month's PGC Helsinki Digital
Our most anticipated highlights from the 250+ sensational speakers and 21 terrific tracks, Sept 14-18
Money Money Money
Pokemon Go had its second best month ever for revenue in July 2020
Due to Pokemon Go Fest
Unwanted Attention
Female Scrabble Go players have been receiving messages from "creepy men"
"In Scrabble Go, players are able to access mute and block functions within the chat feature"
Jobs In Games
Remote Working: Marmalade's CEO Mike Willis and COO Cristina Mereuta discuss balancing work and home life
"Last year, we wouldn't have even tried to have a long strategy debate over the phone"
To Battle!
Epic gains temporary protection against Apple for Unreal Engine
Fortnite is still banned from the App Store
Unity Ipo
Unity reveals plans to IPO on New York Stock Exchange
Raising money to pay off a loan and maybe make some acquisitions
Let's Jam
Homa Games is hosting the first IP hypercasual game jam
Begins on September 9th, 2020
Righting Wrongs
Apple Korea is providing $84 million in support programmes for small businesses
$33.6 million will aid South Korean manufacturers
Pgbiz Roundtable
Join us on August 25th for our next PocketGamer.biz RoundTable session
Focusing on the importance and growth of online events
Master The Meta
Master the Meta: Understanding Epic Games' app store crusade
News and insights from the Master the Meta team
Got Your Back
Microsoft gives its support to Epic in its ongoing feud with Apple
"Developing a game using different game engines for different platforms may be prohibitively expensive and difficult"
Possible Acquisition
Report: Tencent closing in on Leyou Tech Holdings acquisition
Follows a long list of suitors for the Hong Kong company
See You In Court
TikTok is taking Trump and his executive order to court
The US president wants the app banned
Celebrate
Fate/Grand Order's English version exceeds 11 million downloads
It broke $4 billion in lifetime revenue this year
Sour Apple
Apple insists that Epic deliberately chose to "cheat" the company after being denied a special deal
Tim Sweeney claimed he asked the change to be for all iOS developers
Meet The Investor
SEGA Europe’s head of content Bobby Wertheim on the advantages of working with SEGA and the potential they bring when raising investment
“Games that have a social element that will allow forging of new relationships as well as deepening existing relationships will likely help people with shielding from the pandemic.”
Free Falling
Fall Guys is falling onto mobile devices in China through partnership with Bilibili
No word on a Western release
Most Read
Hot Five: Playrix soft-launch, Fall Guys clone removed from App Store, and Take-Two acquires Playdots
The hottest articles of last week
Diversity Matters
POC in Mobile: Facebook director of games partnerships Leo Olebe explains why it's "everyone’s job to find great and diverse talent"
"It’s like the old saying: 'you have to fish where the fish are'."
Going Indie
Pixel Noire Game’s lead game designer Javier Barnes on how you can go indie after the current COVID-19 situation
“In mobile, I believe that it will become increasingly harder to stick great products on top grossing positions, and smaller companies will be absorbed by bigger ones, until there's few fishes in the pool.”
Dropping By
Twitch introduces a new version of Drops
"Now, once the initial integration is complete, anyone on the game developer team can create a Drops campaign"
What About Us?
News publishers are asking Apple to take a lower commission on the App Store
Amazon has a better deal than other companies
Love Not Hate
TikTok is working to fight hate speech on its platform in the US
Amidst its ongoing struggle against president Trump
Takin' Care Of Business
Mobile games jobs weekly: Panzerdog founders exit, Ubisoft fires creative director and former Riot staff establish new studio
The movers, shakers and job opportunities in mobile gaming
Prototype To Hyper Casual
Firescore Interactive’s co-founder Karan Khairajani on the journey of Firescore Interactive and how it went from a prototype to a hyper casual gaming lab
“There is strong potential for innovation with the integration of video chat and games. I also feel a very strong player could emerge in the ‘metaverse’ space.”
Done Deal
Smilegate teams with Amazon to bring one of its games to the West next year
"Amazon Games is uniquely positioned as a publisher to reach entirely new audiences"
Investment
March Capital unveils a $60 million March Gaming Fund
"Gaming has joined the ranks of becoming a mainstream conversation"
Discount Ends
Just one week left to save on the price of tickets for Pocket Gamer Connects Helsinki Digital 2020
Make sure you book your tickets now and save with our Mid-Term prices for September’s online-only conference
Now That's Epic
Epic Games is holding a #FreeFortnite tournament with some interesting prizes
Follows Fortnite's removal from the App Store
Speedway
Horizon Chase races through 50 million downloads as it celebrates its fifth anniversary
"This is only possible due to the awesome support we've received from all of our players"
Helpful Directors
BlockchainPROseed’s COO Yu Ayato on how directors of Japanese blockchain game companies will be helpful for developers
“The blockchain games industry has started developing a new idea of token economy. defi x NFT, ETH L2 is becoming a hot topic.”
Funding
Hiber raises $2.25 million in a seed funding round for its creative platform
"Each of the new investors brings additional expertise and guidance to our business"
Money Money Money
F2P games network Lootcakes raises $2 million in seed funding
"Lootcakes aims to be the leader of a new data paradigm we call 'rewarded data-sharing'"
Young Talent
Pocket.watch is building a new brand and mobile game with YouTube child star Diana
"Diana has been on our radar for some time"
Schedule Revealed
Conference schedule has been revealed for Pocket Gamer Connects Helsinki Digital 2020
Find out what’s happening at next month’s online-only mobile games industry conference