Market Value
The US will overtake China as world’s most lucrative games market this year
Global games market estimated to be worth $152.1 billion by the end of 2019
Video Game Tax
UK video games tax relief pays out $392 million to devs
Over 1,075 games have made claims since 2014
Event
Take a peek at the first ever Asia Digital Entertainment Summit
Two day event supporting the digital entertainment industry, with companies like Sony, Valve, Activision and more involved.
Meet Mogi
Meet MoGi Group, your new gaming services partner
MoGi Group is taking meetings at Gamescom from August 20th to 24th
Loot Boxes
Nintendo, Microsoft and Sony will now require developers to disclose loot box odds
Agreement has been made for odds to be shown by the end of 2020
Event
Last chance to save up to $310 on tickets to Pocket Gamer Connects Jordan 2019
Super Early Bird ticket prices end tonight at midnight for November’s two-day B2B games industry conference
Under Investigation
Report claims Activision Blizzard has avoided taxes on billions
The Candy Crush publisher moved $5.59 billion to subsidiaries in Bermuda and Barbados between 2013 to 2017
German Games Market
Employee numbers in the German games industry on the decline despite market growth
Number of games companies also rose from 524 to 614 in 2018
Closing Doors
Square Enix shutting down Star Ocean Mobile
Less than two years into game being available worldwide
Red Hot
Angry Birds film sequel currently sits as highest-rated video game movie ever
Rotten Tomatoes critical consensus pegs birds follow up at 82 per cent
Devcom 2019
What's new at Devcom 2019?
Ahead of the Cologne show's third year, we caught up with managing director Stephan Reichart to find out more
Master Plan
"Even at NASA deadlines aren't always respected"
Gismart's Andrey Mikhlin discusses the planning process, creating estimates and executing on a product
Game Time
Google to share fresh Stadia game details in August livestream
Stadia Connects returns on the opening night of Gamescom
Financials
Animoca Brands posts highest revenue quarter in company’s history
Company took $5.8million in sales during Q2 2019
Indie Spotlight
Platonic Games co-founders on risking it all to form the studio
"It’s going to be our biggest and riskiest project so far"
Esports Park
NetEase plots $725 million esports park investment in Shanghai
The facilities will be located in Shanghai
New Partnerships
Tencent Cloud chases new partners in South Korea and Southeast Asia as it plots international growth
The division has set a goal for five-fold international revenue growth
Joy
Pop-up Pokemon Centre capturing London this October
We hope to see you again soon
Financials
Take-Two wants to increase its presence in mobile as Social Point makes “meaningful” impact on sales
'PC and other' contribute to around 20 per cent of sales for the quarter
Blockchain
nWay launches new blockchain application allowing devs to implement monetisation solutions
“We believe this will allow games developed on nWayPlay platform to run game economies in a far more flexible way”
Charts
Weekly global mobile games charts: Dragon Raja helps Tencent claim top four highest grossing spots in China
Rankings from July 22nd to 28th
Foldable Phones
Fighting the foldable phone design challenge: The impact on games development
Perfecto chief evangelist Eran Kinsbruner discusses QA for foldable phones
Coming To China
Tencent and Nintendo reveal plans to localise Switch games in China
The companies appeared at a conference together in Shanghai
Jobs In Games
Jobs in Games: Futureplay's Chris Wilson on going from food apps to marketing manager
"Though food tech and gaming are very different industries on the face of it, there are many similarities in the foundations of app marketing"
Fair!
"Blaming video games distracts from the broader issues at hand": IGDA and IGDAF react to Trump mass shooting statement
Meanwhile, US trade body the Entertainment Retailers Association remains silent
Game Shut Down
Pokemon Duel is shutting down on October 31st
Gems can still be spent but can no longer be purchased
Milestone
Roblox hits 100 million active monthly users
Over one billion hours of engagement are recorded in the game each month
Indie Mavens
What monetisation models work best for indie developers in the current mobile games market?
The Indie Mavens share their thoughts on the different monetisation models on offer to small studios
Header Bidding
Fyber launches new ad mediation platform FairBid
Marketing tech firm says it's in discussions with all major ad networks about gradually migrating from the waterfall to bidding
Hyper-casual
Voodoo’s ad monetisation and the recipe for hyper-casual success
Thanks to the Mintegral-led campaigns, the ad fill rate for Voodoo’s titles increased from 30 per cent to a high of 75 per cent
Event
Win FREE expo space in the Big Indie Zone at Pocket Gamer Connects Helsinki
Get the chance to showcase your game to the global games industry FREE this October, worth $650
Roundup
Games industry roundup: The future of conversational games, DragonGlass pauses operations, and Ninja drops Twitch for Mixer
The biggest stories of the last week from the PC, mobile and blockchain spaces
Data Leak
E3 organiser ESA leaks contact details of journalists, influencers and analysts
US trade body has apologised for the, er, "inconvenience" that this has caused attendees
East Meets West
East Meets West: Tencent and ByteDance get in the smartphone game, and India tops worldwide mobile downloads for Q2
Keeping up with the news from the world's most influential games market
Hot Five
Apex Legends heading to mobile, EA Mobile's declining revenue, and Nintendo offers free Joy Con repairs
The hottest stories from the mobile games industry over the last week
Actor Playing Games
Zynga brings in Alec Baldwin to celebrate Words With Friends 10th anniversary.
The game launched in 2009
Going 5g
Tencent and Qualcomm team up to work on various mobile technologies
Other projects include the Qualcomm Snapdragon elite gaming enhancements
Ramping Up
Ustwo begins work on Monument Valley 3
New game director needed to lead “creative vision”
Event
Speakers revealed for free mini-summit near Gamescom
Explore the Chinese territory’s potential with Mintegral, Huawei, Xiaomi, iDreamSky, Leiting Games, and Habby Games. PLUS: WIN A SMARTPHONE!
Pr Tips
The beginner’s guide for games trade PR
Raptor PR founder Rana Rahman offers his top tips
Remember To Subscribe
Google testing new Apple Arcade-like Android subscription service Play Pass
Monthly cost of $4.99
Twinkies Sold Separately
Sony Pictures and Tilting Point 'nut up' for new Zombieland RPG on mobile
Company partners with Tilting Point and Metagame Studio on project
Live Ops
A Thinking Ape on inclusivity in live ops content
We’ve spent the last couple of years exploring the impacts and developing our process for creating effective inclusive content.
Event
One week left to save up to $310 on Pocket Gamer Connects Jordan
Super Early Bird prices for November’s two-day mobile B2B games industry conference ends next week.
Financials
Zynga’s strong portfolio gives firm best-ever revenue and bookings for Q2
Empires & Puzzles and Merge Dragons contributed $70 million
Gotta Catch 'em All
Pokemon Go catches one billion downloads
Half of those were picked up in the game's first two months back in September 2016
Having A Blast
Toy Blast dev Peak Games blasts past $1 billion in player spending
Toy Blast has earned 51 per cent of the total revenue
New Company
Bandai Namco opens new mobile games-focused branch in Barcelona
The new company will open its doors in 2020
Event
Tamatem, Zynga, Triple Dragon and iDreamSky feature in first wave of speakers for Pocket Gamer Connects Jordan
Speaker lineup for the two day B2B games industry conference begins to take shape
Acquisition
Ubisoft acquires majority stakes in Green Panda Games
70 per cent stake in hyper-casual mobile specialist