Office Expansion
Scopely is expanding its offices in Barcelona and Dublin
The company is looking to expand its team
Job News
Finnish developer Dodreams makes two key hires to strengthen its management team
Two industry veterans from EA and Rovio Entertainment join the company as head of product and CFO
Huuuge Deal
Traffic Puzzle generates $1m in revenue in first eight weeks powered by Huuuge Publishing
First title published by the new division
App Store Optimisation
How can I determine the relation between organic and paid users?
LabCave analyses the data
Gamescom
Cyberpunk 2077, Orcs Must Die 3 and Watch Dogs: Legion lead Google's Gamescom Stadia Connect
“It's kind of the same feeling I got when I saw the iPhone coming and what I thought that would mean for games”
Adult Games
Gamescom 2019: Adult games platform Nutaku closes in on 40 million registered users
Platform picks up 130 million visitors per month
Global Charts
Weekly global mobile games chart: Tencent titles take up half the chart in China
Mr Bullet remains the top free game in the US and UK
Gamescom 2019
Superhot and Ori and the Blind Forest: Definitive Edition headline Nintendo Direct indie game reveals for Switch
Supershot and the Hotline Miami Collection are available for purchase from today
Streaming
Devcom 2019: “Cloud gaming will begin with families”
PlayGiga director of product Juan Carrillo shared how the technology will take over in three phases
Hot Five
Dr. Mario World makes $1.4m in first month, Loot Crate goes bankrupt, and JaffaJam wants to shake up hyper-casual
The hottest stories from the mobile games industry over the last week
Finland Report
Finland's transformation from games start-up capital to mobile heavyweight
Ahead of Pocket Gamer Connects Helsinki on October 1st and 2nd 2019, we take a look at the current state of the Finnish games industry and how it's changed
One In Four
Devcom 2019: 26% of the US has a disability that affects them playing games
46 million players across the country
Live Ops
Devcom 2019: InnoGames has 35 people maintaining the €500 million revenue Forge of Empires
Stefan Walter discussed the details surrounding live ops for the strategy title
Narrative Design
Devcom 2019: Why mobile game narrative design is more than text and plot
King Berlin studio narrative designer Valentina Tamer offers her advice
Devcom 2019
Devcom 2019: “The best way to get a successful outcome of a publisher signing you is by letting them know your gaps”
Maximum Games CEO Christina Seelye details key elements of obtaining a publisher
Story Tellers
Devcom 2019: Gamebook’s design and monetisation tips for interactive fiction
Gamebook's Nico Nowarra delves into a few key design decisions it's made and shares some stats from its own soft-launched title
Devcom Kicks Off
Devcom 2019: “Let’s use the power of games to make this world a better place”
MD Stephan Reichart kicks off Devcom 2019 with another speech railing against populism and the far right
New Partnerships
Seven new partners brought in for the first $1m Auto Chess Invitational tournament
The final is being hosted from October 25th to October 27th in Shanghai
Npd Numbers
Nintendo Switch remains the best-selling console of 2019 in the US
Fire Emblem: Three Houses was the highest selling game on the Nintendo Switch in July
Job News
Activision Blizzard recruits new chief marketing officer and chief people officer
Firm brings new chief people officer and CMO on board
Partnership
Animoca Brands and Winfinite firm Versus Systems sign $500k mutual investment deal
Hong Kong publisher may leverage ad tools through its existing partnerships with other firms
$$$$
GPU revenue down 20% year-on-year at Nvidia
While games revenue saw a 27 per cent drop from 12 months ago
$$$$$
Investor bails Loot Crate out after company goes bankrupt
Money Chest chips in up to $10m to keep the firm afloat
Global Game Jam
Global Game Jam names Kate Edwards as executive director
Edwards will lead fundraising and community outreach
Ua Partnership
Tilting Point partners with Slyon Studios on P2R Power Rev Racing UA campaign
Deal is part of the publisher's $132 million annual UA Fund
Event
Four brand new tracks for Pocket Gamer Connects Helsinki
Bringing you widely requested content for October’s two day B2B games industry conference.
Investment News
Avakin Life developer Lockwood Publishing raises fresh round of funding
Sumo Digital studio director Karl Hilton joins as head of studios
New Studio
Epic Games opens new studio in Cologne
The company is currently hiring for 200 positions globally
Interview
“We view our development process more like a marathon than a sprint, so it makes no sense to have a crunch culture”
Future Games of London MD Ian Harper discusses how the studio aims to look after employees and fights off toxicity and crunch culture
Gamescom 2019
PocketGamer.biz's Devcom and Gamescom 2019 party and networking guide
The best parties and events in Cologne
Sensor Tower
Good Job Games’ Fun Race 3D tops downloads for hyper-casual games in July
Voodoo’s Aquapark.io slides to second spot
There Are Dozens Of Us
Pokemon Masters has five million Trainers already pre-registered
Release date tentatively set for August 29th
Event
New B2B games conference for Newcastle Upon Tyne this September
Northern Exposure: a meeting of games industry minds
Cloud Gaming
Head of Xbox Phil Spencer thinks it’s a long while before the cloud replaces traditional consoles
"I think this is years away from being a mainstream way people play”
Top Dog
Dimoso’s Jonathan Lopera joins Zynga to head up London communications team
The team will be responsible for publicising the company’s current and future games, employment opportunities and studio leadership outside of the US
Charts
Weekly global mobile games charts: Fortnite’s mechs send the battle royale hit to number one in the US
Rankings from July 29th to August 4th
Still Got It
Nida Harb 3 helps drive Stillfront revenue up 46% to $50m in Q2
Earnings before tax more than double to $13.3m
Event
Animoca Brands, Nutaku, Pixel Federation and Remedy Entertainment to speak at Pocket Gamer Connects Helsinki
Speaker lineup for the two day B2B games industry conference shapes up to be something special
Lawsuit Dropping In
Epic Games struck with class-action lawsuit over Fortnite account hacks
More than 100 class members have filed the document against battle royale phenomenon
Gun Violence
Take-Two's Strauss Zelnick says it's "disrespectful" to blame entertainment for US gun violence
Games exec says that mass shootings are "uniquely American"
Event
Check out the Big Screen Gaming track in association with Games Helsinki at Pocket Gamer Connects Helsinki
Brand new track featuring PC console, XR and blockchain at the two day B2B games industry conference in October
Trump Tariffs
US video game console and mobile tariff delayed until December
“As part of USTR’s public comment and hearing process, it was determined that the tariff should be delayed to December 15 for certain articles”
Perfect Growth
Honor of Kings, PUBG Mobile and Perfect World power Tencent's smartphone revenue to $3.2bn in Q2
Overall online games business grew eight per cent to $3.9bn
Moving On
Oculus co-founder Nate Mitchell leaves virtual reality company
“Virtual reality is still on the bleeding edge of technology, and this community continues to pioneer the way forward”
M&a
THQ Nordic acquires Milestone, Gunfire Games and Goodbye Kansas Game Invest
Racing specialist Milestone, Darksiders maker Gunfire and investment firm Goodbye Kansas Game join the European publisher firm's portfolio
Storytellers
Swag Masha on why it sold to My.Games and how it's carving out a space in the interactive fiction market
"We’ve learned that interactive story games are not a simple sell and if you are thinking about it as easy money - you better pass!"
Dark Days
Isbit Games closes after running out of funds
“We have been working very hard to fight for the survival of the studio”
Whoops
Twitch CEO apologises to Ninja for pornography recommendation on his old channel
The platform was using the Ninja landing page to push other streams
Cancelled Content
Mojang cans Minecraft Super Duper Graphics Pack
The project was announced at E3 2017
Prize Payment
New esports payment solution Prize Payments launches
Company estimates that $300 million will be paid out in prize money in 2019