Time To Upgrade
Update: Niantic holds off on dropping Pokemon GO support for 32-bit Android phones
Originally expected to start dropping support in August
Big Money
The App Store generated $458 billion through physical sales and advertising in 2019
$63 billion was generated through digital sales
Heading To China
Evoland developer Shiro Games teams up with Tencent Cloud for technical solutions when launching in China
11 per cent of Northgard's playerbase are Chinese
Popularity Contest
ASMR Slicing cut through the most downloads in May 2020
It got 36.5 million installs
Loot Boxes
Apple is being sued for having games with loot boxes on the App Store
"A large percentage of Apple's revenues from App Store games come from the in-game purchases"
Jobs In Games
Remote Working: Jessica Sundell on her journey from Angry Birds to The Walking Dead to Hatch Kids
"The lockdown and its limitations have challenged us to be extra creative in addressing issues"
Investment
SockMonkey Studios secures a £250,000 investment to launch its first game
It's expected to have 50 employees by 2021
Gotta Help 'em All
Niantic is looking to support 1000 business through Pokemon GO advertisements
Nominations can be made in the US, UK, Japan, Canada and Mexico
The Precious
NetEase teams up with Warner Bros for The Lord of the Rings: Rise to War
A mobile strategy game set in J.R.R Tolkien's fantasy world
Event Latest
Pocket Gamer Connects Digital #2 smashes its debut records with over 1,400 attendees from 68 countries
Representatives from almost 680 companies witnessed over 200 expert speakers and organised 3,000 virtual meetings throughout the week!
Rock And Troll
Huuuge Games teams up with Universal Games for a Trolls game
DreamWorks Tolls Pop is available on the App Store and Google Play
Heroic Cloud
The Heroic Cloud - Hosted games infrastructure at scale
Heroic Labs VP of Product Alim Jaffer announces the public release of Heroic Cloud
Test Your Might
Report: AT&T is looking to sell its Warner Bros games arm
US giants like EA, Take-Two and Activision Blizzard reportedly interested, firm valued at $4bn
Game On!
PUBG Mobile announces $850,000 esports competition known as Season Zero
40 teams to compete for a share of the prize money
Oh Dear
Google mistakenly uploads Ubisoft's God & Monsters E3 demo build to Stadia
Gamers could play an in-development version of the new IP
Still Streaming
Stadia exceeds one million downloads on Android devices
The platform has been made available to more phones
Welcome To Mena
Tamatem forms strategic partnership with Tilting Point to bring its games to the MENA region
Languinis and Food Truck Chef to be localised
Most Read
Hot Five: Brawl Stars heads to China, Wooga offers a murder mystery and Zynga plans more acquisitions
The hottest stories from the mobile games industry over the last week
This Week In China
This Week in China: Brawl Stars takes China by storm and Tencent gears up for its Spark More conference
The biggest stories straight from Beijing
Takin' Care Of Business
Mobile games jobs weekly: Spotify ad boss joins Activision, Rovio's Jakob Longer promoted, Ubisoft RedLynx vacancies aplenty
The movers, shakers and job opportunities in mobile gaming
Oh Snap
Voodoo signs a new deal with Snapchat
Will bring one game to Snap Games and Bitmoji
#blacklivesmatter
The Black Girl Gamers online summit is taking place on June 13th
It features keynote speeches and panels
Social Games
Zynga signs multi-game deal with Snapchat
"Snap Games is such a unique and exciting platform"
My Talking Tom Friends
Interview: How Outfit7 started a virtual pet revolution with its new game
"What's been wonderful is that the final product is actually very similar to our first concepts"
Welcome Aboard
Spotify's content and ad boss Dawn Ostroff joins Activision Blizzard board
"Throughout my career, I've always been drawn to companies willing to shift the paradigm of entertainment and media"
Careers Week
How to get a job at Trials developer Ubisoft RedLynx
Part of our careers week at Pocket Gamer Connects Digital #2
Pgc Digital
PGC Digital: How the industry can become greener
"The global spread of gaming makes it not just a North American opportunity but a global one"
Pgc Digital
PGC Digital: A Thinking Ape's Tayber Voyer on implementing psychological safety into your live ops production
Be clear about your risks and make life easier for everyone
Penalty!
FIFA Mobile scored 1.2 million downloads a day after launching in South Korea
Nexon signed an agreement with EA to launch the game
#blacklivesmatter
Riot executive on leave after George Floyd remarks
Consumer products boss Johnson under investigation for saying Floyd's "criminal lifestyle" played a role in his death
Tales Of Memo
Indie Spotlight: How a school maths assignment inspired Tales of Memo
"The game originated from a conversation I had with my daughter"
Impressive Numbers
Google had the most downloads of all mobile publishers in May
Voodoo and Crazy Labs cracked the top five
Game On!
My.Games is hosting its own Hypercasual Game Jam
A chance to win $2,000 and a contract worth $50,000
Money Money Money
Report: NetEase raises $2.7bn in Hong Kong IPO
Trading started today
Pgc Digital
PGC Digital: MyTona's Cooking Diary serves up more than 10 million downloads
One million daily active users
Pgc Digital
PGC Digital: Cooperative Innovations on launching Spaceteam VR
"A lot of people mentioned that they enjoyed the social VR angle"
Pgbiz Roundtables
Join us on June 12th for FOUR free RoundTable sessions at PGC Digital #2
Completely free to all, even those without a PGC Digital ticket
Eat Or Be Eaten
Despite $1.8 billion Peak deal, Zynga isn't 'acquisition-ed out'
President of publishing Bernard Kim on a hungry beast
Pgc Digital
PGC Digital: Sega Europe's Bobby Wertheim wants to know if you are Sega's next big hit
"Our absolute focus is on building new and original IP"
Pgc Digital
PGC Digital: Lessons to learn for working with independent developers
"It is business and nothing personal"
Pgc Digital
PGC Digital: King's Zoe Williams discusses the differences between live ops
Reoccuring versus Unique versus Uppercase
Hypercasual Domination
Hypercasual app installs more than doubled between December 2019 and March 2020
China saw a 300 per cent rise in downloads
Pgc Digital
PGC Digital: Kast's Max Sjöblom on understanding and working with influencers
Learning their shtick and being transparent
Money Money Money
PUBG Mobile was the top-grossing mobile title in May 2020
It generated $226 million
On The Rise
Installs by mobile players have increased by 84 per cent according to Unity
Ad impressions have increased by 50 per cent
Pgc Digital
PGC Digital: ESL UK's James Dean on running esports events without a physical audience
"Embracing change is absolutely imperative"
Gaming's Image Change
InnoGames CEO Hendrik Klindworth on how Covid-19 might change the image of gaming
"Although these are unpredictable times, they have also been times of growth and learning."
Got A Clue?
Rovio launches its new murder mystery puzzle game Small Town Murders
"A fantasy world featuring a cast of unique and quirky characters"
Mental Health
Jagex and its players are donating $250,000 to mental health charities
CPSL Mind, The Prince's Trust and Rise Above the Disorder
Jobs In Games
Remote Working: Pixel Federation co-founder Lucia Šicková on the "rollercoaster of Zoom"
"I discovered that the [gaming] space is a perfect mix of creativity and structure where I can make the most of my skill set."