Who's There?
Instant games developer Knock Knock raises $4m
The San Francisco-based studio has raised $6 million to date
Event
One week left to save up to $250 on Pocket Gamer Connects Jordan
Early Bird prices for the two-day B2B conference are set to end next week
Speaker Spotlight
PGC Helsinki: Quicksave’s Elina Arponen to host a talk on the challenges of games as a business
Pocket Gamer Connects Helsinki is being held on October 1st to 2nd
Event
Just one week left to save on the price of tickets to Pocket Gamer Connects Helsinki 2019
Mid-term prices are set to revert to full price for October’s two-day B2B mobile games industry conference next week.
Company Expansion
Keywords expands offices in Poland and Mexico
Services provider set to recruit more staff
Lacking Influence
Futureplay: We blew our brand marketing budget on influencers
"It failed miserably. So we donated $10k to charity instead"
Jobs News
Rogue Games appoints ex-Kabam COO to board of directors
Joins company co-founders Mike DeLaet and Matt Casamassina, and Mail.Ru founder Dmitry Grishin on the board.
Charts
Weekly global mobile games charts: Playrix's Gardenscapes, Homescapes and Township bag top 10 grossing spots
Rankings from August 12th to 18th
Critical Hit?
Pokemon Masters launches globally on iOS and Android
Title had surpassed five million pre-registrations ahead of release
Finding Funding
Cerberus Interactive secures $1.75m for location-based augmented reality games
Debut title Atlas Empires due for a Q1 2020 global release
#metoo
Members of the games industry come forward with allegations of sexual assault
Now survivors from all over the industry are detailing alleged harassment, assault and abuse
Speaker Spotlight
PGC Helsinki: Gametapas’ Juan Gril to host talk on game depth in hyper-casual games
Pocket Gamer Connects Helsinki takes place from October 1st to 2nd
Seed Funding
Hyper-casual competitive gaming platform Ready secures $5 million in seed funding round led by Bitkraft
The money will be used to expand the company’s audience of engaged players
Telling New Tales
It looks like Telltale Games is coming back from the dead
“There is still a huge fanbase of Telltale players and that’s one of the main reasons we decided to make this investment"
Mental Health
New Toronto event to deal with mental health in the games industry
It will take place over World Mental Health Day on October 9th and 10th
Indie Spotlight
Indie Spotlight: Olivér Papp on why it's important to acknowledge your learnings at the end of a project
"You gained so much knowledge and experience during your journey and you should acknowledge it"
Licensing Odyssey
New studio Virtual Realms taps Warhammer licence for mobile MMORPG Odyssey
Yet another developer picks up a licence from Games Workshop
Webinar
FREE player retention webinar TOMORROW!
Learn about the good, the bad and the great of player engagement with deltaDNA
Jobs News
Adjust eyes Israel expansion with new GM
Former Rakuten Viber head of user acquisition Moshi Blum to spearhead the company's planned growth in the local market
Mena Expansion
Tencent Games sets up MENA HQ in Dubai
Chinese publisher set to invest in emerging market
Top Dog
How Zynga used M&A and forever franchises to become the world's number one mobile games company
"Personally, this is actually a quest that I’ve been going after since my days at EA Mobile"
Gamescom 2019
Gamescom 2019 attracts 373,000 visitors
"Gamescom once again impressively continued its success story this year: on-site and online"
Event
Epic Games, Netmarble, Wargaming and Falafel Games join the speaker lineup for Pocket Gamer Connects Jordan
More amazing speakers revealed for November’s two-day B2B games industry conference for the MENA markets
Speaker Spotlight
PGC Helsinki: Homa Games’ Jon Hook to discuss the future of hyper-casual games
Pocket Gamer Connects Helsinki takes place from October 1st to October 2nd
Mario On Mobile
Mario Kart Tour is racing onto iOS and Android next month
People can pre-register on the App Store and Google Play now
New Studio
Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment opens new San Diego mobile studio
"This new studio is a testament to our continued evolution in the mobile games space"
East Meets West
East Meets West: Tencent and NetEase earn $11bn in H1 2019, and how Supercell's games are performing globally
Keeping up with the news from the world's most influential games market
Hot Five
The transformation of Finland's games industry, Nutaku closes in on 40m registered users, and the Top 50 Mobile Game Makers revealed
The hottest stories from the mobile games industry over the last week
Welcome To The Party Pal
Kayleigh Partleton joins PocketGamer.biz and PCGamesInsider.biz as our new staff writer
She'll be reporting on breaking news across the mobile and PC game sectors
M&a
Playtika acquires Best Fiends developer Seriously
Terms of the deal were not disclosed
Super Stars
As Rush Wars hits soft launch, how are Supercell’s other games doing?
We analyse the recent performances of Hay Day, Clash of Clans, Boom Beach, Clash Royale and Brawl Stars
What A Rush
Supercell’s new mobile strategy game Rush Wars soft-launches in Canada, New Zealand and Australia
Gameplay revolves around defeating enemy bases
Rush Wars Reveal
Watch Supercell’s Rush Wars reveal right here
YouTube unveiling set for 9am UK time (BST)
Rush Wars
Supercell teases new mobile game Rush Wars
Rush Wars will soft launch on both iOS and Android, may release on Monday, August 26th
Head In The Clouds?
Razer and Tencent collaborate for cloud gaming standards
"We are delighted that this relationship has gone from strength to strength with a shared commitment to bringing the best experience to the gamer community"
Closed Beta
Minecraft Earth beta is coming to Android devices next week
Players must be 18 years old with a device running Android 7 or above
Chinese Revenue
Tencent and NetEase combined earned $11.1 billion for online games in H1 2019
Mobile games revenue in China grew 13.4 per cent year-on-year in H1
Design Refresh
Google Play rolls out visual redesign to aid discoverability
Two distinct sections for apps and games
Apple Arcade
Apple Arcade subscription could be priced at $4.99 a month
Hidden promotional messages also claims free month's trial for new users
Devcom 2020
Devcom returns in 2020 for expanded three-day event
2019 event attracted more than 3,000 visitors for two days of talks
Event
How to get into Pocket Gamer Connects Helsinki - free!
Here are four different ways for you to get involved with the leading B2B event for the mobile games industry this October without spending a dollar.
Child Friendly
Apple delays rule changes to data tracking and advertisement in children’s apps
"We aren't backing off on this important issue, but we are working to help developers get there"
Cloud Gaming
Vodafone and Hatch team up to bring the first premium cloud gaming service to Germany
There is a three month complimentary period for Hatch premium
New Investment
Nazara Technologies acquires a 67 per cent stake in Sportskeeda
The company is closing in on 100 million active monthly users
Start-up Fund
Play Ventures closes $40m fund to back games start-ups
$10m more than the planned $30m raise
Dig This
Gamescom 2019: New Shovel Knight game to launch on mobile
Announcement could be made at Pax West, according to Yacht Club Games COO James Chan
Cloud Gaming
RemoteMyApp is launching a public beta for a new cloud gaming service
Its own app Vortex.gg has been downloaded 10 million times
Job News
Bidstack welcomes a new vice president of publisher relations as it expands across the US
John Koronaios has over 20 years of experience in the industry
Superdata Chart
Digital revenue driven by mobile to a 5% year-on-year increase to $9.02 billion in July
Honour of Kings was the top-grossing game on mobile last month
Stadia Exclusive
Robot Entertainment’s CEO explains the decision behind making OMD3 a timed Stadia exclusive
The game is released in Spring 2020