Job News
King CEO Riccardo Zacconi steps down after 16 years
Will move to chairman role from July 1st, 2019
Bytedance Mobile
TikTok parent company ByteDance reportedly working on a smartphone
Sources close to the project have confirmed the plans
Done Deal
Zynga sells off San Francisco headquarters for $600 million
Company will lease space and remain headquartered in the city
Course Correction
Tencent changes Arena of Valor strategy to no longer concentrate on the West
“Letting it live or die”
Creativity Tips
Peter Molyneux on innovation and why he could have been "so much more successful" had he focused on sequels
Famed UK games designer discusses what innovation means and where to find it
Go Jake Go
Subway Surfers dives past 2.5 billion downloads worldwide
Game has just celebrated its seventh anniversary
Job News
Epic Games hires Overwatch League commissioner Nate Nanzer to drive esports
"This has been the toughest decision of my life"
Free Event
FREE London mini-summit - TOMORROW! Join us for an evening of seminars, panels, drinks and nibbles
Hear about mobile games market opportunities in the East from Mintegral, JoyPac, Ubisoft and Outfit7
Days Ahead
Tencent unveils new zombie survival game for mobile
“Code: Life” currently has no release date
Health
World Health Organisation officially recognises “Gaming Disorder” as illness
Motion was passed even with opposition from industry bodies and academics
New Mindset
Playtika opens London studio
New office is part of the newly unveiled Games Lab focused on casual development
East Meets West
East Meets West: Google restricts Huawei Android access, Gravity lifts GungHo, and Netmarble has a new flagship game
Keeping up with the news from the world's most influential games market
Hot Five
Nintendo pulls mobile games from Belgium, Blizzard's Diablo Immortal lessons, and Garena Free Fire makes $90m in Q1
The hottest stories from the mobile games industry over the last week
Event
EA, Unity, Soccer Manager, Huuuge Games and RiseAngle join the illustrious speaker lineup for Pocket Gamer Connects Hong Kong
Two-day games industry conference shaping up to make an impressive debut this July
Gotta Go Slower
Sonic the Hedgehog movie delayed
Film given new February 14th 2020 release date
Investment News
Chinese studio Code View raises over $14m for sandbox game Reworld
Title lets players create their own mobile games within it
Market Value
Australia and New Zealand games markets worth combined $3.1 billion in 2018
Former worth $2.8bn; the latter $355.6m
Nwayplay
nWay to launch new backend platform for real-time multiplayer mobile games
Tech supports game development and live ops
Investor Funds
Animoca Brands raises $2.5 million for blockchain games platform The Sandbox
Company also secures deal with South Korea’s Kakao
New Studio
Gismart opens internal hyper-casual game development studio
Studio aims to deliver 10 games within its first year of operation
Superdata
Tencent’s Honour of Kings tops the list for highest grossing mobile game globally in April 2019
Chinese giant’s Perfect Wold ranked behind in second position.
Potentially Huge
Tencent and Riot Games working on mobile version of League of Legends
Game not expected to launch in 2019
Job News
Snowprint Studios appoints Paradox and EA vet John Hargelid as new COO
Brought on to continue the company’s growth
Big Indie Pitch
SIERRA7 hits the bullseye and wins The Big Indie Pitch at Pocket Gamer Connects Seattle 2019
Seattle brings the talent at the inaugural Pocket Gamer Connects Seattle
Not Quite Iron Man
Google updates its Glass hardware with new Enterprise Edition 2
Priced at $999 per set
The Talent Game
The talent game - part two: Selecting and hiring new talent
Games Dragons consultant Philip Oliver delves into the recruitment process
Financials
Gravity and Puzzle & Dragons spur on GungHo sales to $318m in Q1 2019
Developer Gravity riding high on Ragnarok M success
It Has A Crank
Firewatch publisher Panic reveals new handheld video game system Playdate
12 games will be rolled out over 12 weeks.
Event
Pocket Gamer Connects returns to Helsinki in 2019!
Dates and venue revealed for Europe’s biggest B2B mobile games industry expo
Financial Declines
For the first time since launch Lineage 2 is no longer Netmarble’s biggest sales driver
Blade & Soul Revolution generated more revenue than any of the publisher’s other games in Q1 2019
Live And Kicking
Two years on: How Flaregames’ community kept Zombie Gunship Survival alive
"It’s no exaggeration to say that our players kept the game alive during its quieter periods"
No Joke
Blizzard learned a "huge number of lessons" from Diablo Immortal reveal
Developer says it's still focused on PC titles despite partnerhing with NetEase on the new mobile game
Global Top Round
2019 Global Top Round accelerator opens call for applications
Applications are open from May 20th to July 5th
Event
Mintegral, JoyPac, Ubisoft and Outfit7 to speak at London mini-summit
Join us next week for a free evening of networking and expert speakers explaining mobile games market opportunities in the East
Let’s Do This
Activision gives Call of Duty: Mobile the battle royale treatment
Publisher working in collaboration with Tencent on the title
Expansion
Playtika eyes rapid development with new casual games division
The Casual games Lab will be based in Tel Aviv, Israel
A Whole New World
Gameloft reveals two new Disney games for mobile
Disney Princess Majestic Quest and Disney Getaway Blast arrive later this year
Zoom
Hutch’s first Formula One-partnered game is F1 Manager
“We’re excited to bring this mobile-first F1 game to fans around the world.
Indie Spotlight
Indie Spotlight: Ndemic Creations on how games-as-a-service has become the status quo
"One of the things I love about the games industry is that no one really has a clue what is going on."
M&a
Tencent acquires Malmo developer Sharkmob
“We view the future of online gaming the same way and Tencent being a leading internet and games platform gives Sharkmob the reach and resources to be a part of that future"
Interview
Resolution Games on the fresh momentum in VR and AR in 2019
There's a bright future ahead for VR and AR, claims the Angry Birds: Isle of Pigs developer
Job News
Lightstream appoints Major League Gaming co-founder to board of directors
Sundance DiGiovanni will be the company’s fifth board member
Come Together
Gismart partners with Sony to license music for its Karaoke app
Deal includes songs by The Beatles, Queen, The Rolling Stones and more
Sweet Release
Sweet Escapes is the first independent release from Supercell-backed Redemption Games
Puzzle game available in countries such as Finland, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the Philippines
The Bell Tolls
Nintendo pulling Fire Emblem Heroes and Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp in Belgium amidst loot box concerns
Fire Emblem Heroes and Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp will be taken offline in August
Guide To Ua
User acquisition for beginners: A checklist
How to put together your marketing campaign and what to consider
Jobs In Games
Jobs in Games: CD Projekt Red’s Hollie Bennett on going from midwife to head of communications
"Rome wasn’t built in a day. It’s going to hurt. You're going to see rejections, you might not even see responses. That’s okay. It’s not going to happen overnight"
Brazil Tops List
Battle royale Garena Free Fire generated $90 million in Q1 2019
73 million new players have downloaded the battle royale title
Drastic Measures
Report: Nippon Ichi Software unable to pay staff following Disgaea RPG technical issues
Firm looking to sell off stock shares at low price
Magic
Magic Leap snaps up holographic teleconferencing start-up Mimesys
Belgian spatial-presence startup teams up with AR giant Magic Leap