Up In The Cloud
Microsoft's Azure cloud tech venture set up shop in the Middle East
Big M beats both Amazon and Google to the region
Data
Cultist Simulator generates $226,000 on mobile in less than two months
61,671 downloads across the App Store and Google Play
Peacekeepers
Tencent’s battle royale hit Game for Peace could reach $1bn in first year
Niko Partners claims high sales for recent release; speculates on a partnership with Nintendo to release mobile games in China
Engine Trouble
Report: Amazon is letting its dev teams use game engines other than Lumberyard
Developers say firm is struggling with maintaining the middleware
Wands At The Ready
Harry Potter: Wizards Unite launches in the UK and US this week
Niantic CEO John Hanke confirmed at a press event in Los Angeles
Forever Franchise
Empires & Puzzles racks up 34 million downloads
New update led by 20-year old Sofia Vanhanen adds base updates and Hunter's Lodge
Instant Demos
Synative Playable Studio now lets devs create Google Play ‘Try Now’ demos for free
, Google Play’s instant games are designed to be available instantly, without the need for a download
Lot Of Bottle Caps
Fallout Shelter accumulates $100 million in player spending on mobile
63 million downloads across the App Store and Google Play
Tagged In
How Tag Games balances work-for-hire development and live ops
CEO Marc Williamson reflects on the company's history and his year in charge
Acquisition
Niantic acquires tabletop games creator Sensible Object
The office will become part of Niantic London alongside AI technology firm Matrix Mill
The Doctor Is In
Dr. Mario World drops worldwide in July
Game will be available on both iOS and Android from launch
Growth Track
User acquisition, marketing and app store optimisation: Inside The Growth Track at Pocket Gamer Connects Hong Kong
Pocket Gamer Connects Hong Kong will run from July 17th to 18th
Jobs In Games
Jobs in Games: Outplay Entertainment’s Riccardo Tramma on how to get a job as an engineer
"The advances in technology and the quality of the games have contributed to creating completely new professional fields of expertise"
Event
Come and see Pocket Gamer Connects Helsinki’s 12 conference tracks!
Check out the two-day B2B expo tracklist here
Job News
Nintendo promotes Zelda series producer Eiji Aonuma
Splatoon producer Hisashi Nogami and Animal Crossing’s Aya Kyogoku see job boosts too
Gotta Hack ’em All
Niantic looking to catch Pokemon Go “hackers” with lawsuit
Firm seeking an injunction to prevent PokeGo++ and other apps from being distributed
Live Ops Landscape
Engagement, retention and player feedback: Inside Live Ops Landscape at Pocket Gamer Connects Hong Kong
Pocket Gamer Connects Hong Kong will run from July 17th to 18th
Job Losses
Dozens struck by layoffs at Amazon Game Studios
Development teams have release one title since 2015
Weekly Charts
Weekly global mobile games charts: Dragon Ball Legends enters top 10 grossing rankings in the US and UK
Rankings from June 3rd to June 9th
Roundup
Games industry roundup: The big trends at E3 2019, Dr Disrespect banned from Twitch, and blockchain's increased E3 presence
15 articles from PCGamesInsider.biz, InfluencerUpdate.biz and BlockhainGamer.biz
Event
Jam City, Ogury, Super Evil Megacorp and East Side Games feature in the first wave of speakers at Pocket Gamer Connects Helsinki 2019
Two-day games industry conference shaping up to make an incredible return this October
East Meets West
East Meets West: China region focus, Nintendo's mobile business analysed, and some Switch production leaves China
Keeping up with the news from the world's most influential games market
Hot Five
Nintendo's Doug Bowser talks crunch, E3 2019 mobile roundup, and Call of Duty: Mobile soft-launched
The hottest stories from the mobile games industry over the last week
Big Indie Pitch
The bumper Very Big Indie Pitch heads to Hong Kong
The Big Indie Pitch follows the success of Seattle with a trip to the bustling metropolis that is the Pearl of the Orient
E3 2019
E3 2019: Mobile gets a fair shake as the lines between platforms blur
From mobile to cross-platform streaming, all kinds of games were welcome on the big stage
Communication
E3 2019: EA held an event about tackling harassment and bullying in games
Research from anti-bullying charity Ditch the Label, 57 per cent of users have been bullied in an online title
The Legend Of Arthur Morgan
E3 2019: Breath of the Wild sequel influenced by Red Dead Redemption 2
Skyrim inspired original outing
Let’s A Stream
E3 2019: Nintendo looking into game streaming technologies
“We’re looking at those technologies and understanding their capabilities”
E3 Mobile
E3 2019: All the mobile game news in one place
The top stories coming out of one of the year's biggest shows in gaming
Stats Royale
PUBG Mobile racks up 50 million daily active users outside of China
Surpasses 400m downloads
£££
Jagex subscription sales up 22.9 per cent in 2018
Offsets declines in microtransaction and advertising revenue
Lineage Royale
Netmarble gives MMORPG Lineage 2 Revolution the battle royale treatment
Up to 25 players can compete to be the last person standing
Fallout Expands
E3 2019: Fallout Shelter coming to Tesla cars; sequel heading for China
Fallout Shelter Online to feature new PvP elements, guilds and character customisation
We Go Again
E3 attendance declines for 2019
E3 2020 will take place between June 9th to 11th, 2020
Knockout
Brawl Stars strikes 100 million downloads worldwide in six months
$275 million accumulated in player spending
Half Measures
E3 2019: After mobile's no-show for Nintendo, is it really all-in on the platform?
If Microsoft, Bethesda, Ubisoft and Square Enix all found time to talk up their mobile plans - why didn’t Nintendo?
Fund Raise
Update: Stillfront Group to raise $53 million from directed share issue; seeks up to $106m from bond loan
Company wants to add cash to its M&A warchest
Live And Kicking
Nine years on: Social casino specialist KamaGames on the evolution of Pokerist
CEO Andrey Kuznetsov gives us the lowdown on how the game has changed over the years and how it stands out in the highly competitive social casino arena
No Code Movement
AppOnboard acquires Buildbox game engine to power codeless development
Buildbox CEO Trey Smith has joined AppOnboard as its chief growth officer and fellow co-founder Nik Rudenko has been named VP of technology
Nice
South Korea reaches one million 5G users in 69 days
Service took 80 days to reach the same number for 4G
74 Per Cent Of Spending
One-third of all mobile downloads in 2018 were games according to App Annie
State of Mobile: 2019 and beyond report published this week
Demogorgon Attack
Next Games partners with Netflix to launch Stranger Things mobile title in 2020
"Our core focus will be to deliver on Stranger Things’ rich and intense themes like friendship and supernatural adventure"
Region Focus
Region Focus: How China’s big game freeze has made local developers more internationally minded
“It has been a battle to survive the approvals drought and studios have had to get creative”
Funding
Adjust raises $227 million in funding to grow mobile measurement and fraud prevention
“The investments we make in our product will further empower our clients to move the needle in their markets”
Epic X Houseparty
Epic Games acquires social network Houseparty
The app will still remain available as a standalone platform and data won't be shared across accounts
Event
Investor Connector at Pocket Gamer Connects Hong Kong - applications are open!
Don’t miss out on the chance to get one-one-one meetings with investors - or games companies seeking funding - at next month’s two day games industry conference
Event
Win FREE space at the Big Indie Zone at Pocket Gamer Connects Hong Kong
You could demo your game to the global games industry FREE this July, worth $650
Available Now
Marvel collaborates with Kuato Studios on new educational storytelling app Marvel Hero Tales
Spider-Man, Ms. Marvel and more appear
Animal Crunching
E3 2019: Nintendo's Doug Bowser speaks out on crunch culture and game delays
“One of our key tenets is that we bring smiles to people's faces”
Retention Guide
The universal guide to retention
Worldwide gaming audiences contain a lot of very different people. The player marketing experts at deltaDNA worked out what unites those players, and how game developers can take advantage