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
Partnership
My.Games partners with iDreamSky for mutual global expansion
“For us, this deal represents a valuable opportunity to engage with players in the Asian market”
European Expansion
Interview: Hyper-casual specialist Voodoo opens new Istanbul studio
“The move to Istanbul follows recent studio openings and that growth really demonstrates our drive to develop the sector and expand the hyper-casual market”
Sensor Tower
India tops worldwide mobile downloads for Q2 2019 with 5.4 billion
13 per cent increase from Q1 2019
Job News
Xbox co-creator Nat Brown joins Apple
“I’m looking forward to continuing to work on my obsessions by focusing on all applications of graphics”
Mobile Here
EA confirms Apex Legends is on track for mobile
Battle royale on course to arrive in China too
Financial Results
Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes nears 80 million players but EA’s mobile revenue drops by 16%
The company earned net revenue of $1.21 billion for this fiscal year
Relocation Relocation
Red Kite Games relocates to Leeds
“We’re really excited to take Red Kite to the next level in a city full of talent”
Licence Royale
7% of Games Workshop royalty income comes from mobile
Total War: Warhammer 2 and Warhammer: Vermintide 2 cited for their strong performances in boosting royalty revenue
Frenemies
Epic Games “one of our best partners” says PUBG Corp
“We talk all the time”
Deuces Wild
KamaGames expands portfolio with new social casino title Video Poker
“A core focus for us in 2019 was to create a diverse portfolio of standalone apps that would complement our already existing titles”
Cloud Partnership
Cloud partnership is driven by Sony according to Microsoft CEO
Historically Sony and Microsoft are rivals in the games industry