Bomb Threat
Bandai Namco investigates potential bomb threat at Santa Clara office
This follows recent acts of violence across the US
Hard Pill To Swallow
Dr. Mario World’s first month revenue is Nintendo’s lowest on mobile to date
$1.4 million in revenue places the puzzler last out of all five major releases
Event
Pocket Gamer Connects returns to London in 2020!
Two-day games industry expo featuring Big Indie Pitch, Investor Connector, party and more
Counterpoint
Counterpoint: Offerwalls still deliver enormous value in 2019
As Apple enforces bans on offerwall-based CPI and CPE campaigns, CPA campaigns are still an option for developers
Jaffajam
New Zealand hyper-casual start-up JaffaJam wants to shake up the sector
Studio soft-launches new title Mountain Madness built on its own BubbleGum toolset
Top Publishers
Tencent was the top grossing global apps publisher in July
Tencent grossed $679 million in revenue
Going Mobile
The Chinese Room’s first game Dear Esther is set to hit iOS devices later this year
Over one million units have been sold since its launch in 2012
Os Wars
Huawei unveils new Android rival HarmonyOS
The announcement comes amidst US trade war that has seen smartphone manufacturer banned from working with US firms without government approval
Roundup
Games industry roundup: Hangar 13 wants to "surprise and disrupt", Blockchain Cuties launches, and Ninja hits 1m Mixer subscribers
The biggest stories of the last week from the PC, mobile and blockchain spaces
Legal Advice
Update: Annapurna Pictures seeks bankruptcy protection
The company owns Annapurna Interactive, publisher of indie titles such as Florence and Donut County
East Meets West
East Meets West: US to overtake China as world's most lucrative games market, and PUBG Mobile makes more than Fortnite
Keeping up with the news from the world's most influential games market
Hot Five
Roblox on track for $100m dev payouts, Fyber launches FairBid, and Angry Birds Movie 2 is the highest-rated video game film
The hottest stories from the mobile games industry over the last week
Roblox Developers Conference
$100m dev payouts, 1.2 billion hours of engagement a month: What we learned at the Roblox Developers Conference
The Roblox team discussed the game’s growth, the latest developments on the platform and its predictions for the future
Company Acquired
Animoca Brands acquires digital marketplace Quidd for up to $8 million
$8 million was raised in strategic capital funds
Winner Winner
Sensor Tower: PUBG Mobile is making more money than Fortnite
July saw sales increase by 748 per cent year-on-year
Twitch Studio
Twitch launches first-party streaming software Twitch Studio
Previously, streamers had to use third-party software such as OBS and XSplit to power their broadcasts
Cool
Epic to disclose loot box odds following ESA pledge
Meanwhile, THQ Nordic refuses to put name to list of publishers as it says it has no plans to use this business model
Big Appointment
Bigpoint names Yoozoo Holding Group president Jeff Lu as new MD
Former MD Brian Morrisroe leaves German developer
Event
Discover the secrets of South Korea’s games industry in a FREE games mixer near Gamescom
Speakers revealed from G-STAR, Samsung, Kunlun, Gameforge and Lucrion
Guns Or Games!?
Walmart orders its staff to remove signage for violent video games following mass shootings
But, of course, stores are still selling guns and ammo
Event
Just one week left to save up to $350 on tickets to Pocket Gamer Connects Helsinki 2019
Early Bird prices for October’s two-day B2B mobile games industry conference ends next week.
Market Value
The US will overtake China as world’s most lucrative games market this year
Global games market estimated to be worth $152.1 billion by the end of 2019
Video Game Tax
UK video games tax relief pays out $392 million to devs
Over 1,075 games have made claims since 2014
Event
Take a peek at the first ever Asia Digital Entertainment Summit
Two day event supporting the digital entertainment industry, with companies like Sony, Valve, Activision and more involved.
Meet Mogi
Meet MoGi Group, your new gaming services partner
MoGi Group is taking meetings at Gamescom from August 20th to 24th
Loot Boxes
Nintendo, Microsoft and Sony will now require developers to disclose loot box odds
Agreement has been made for odds to be shown by the end of 2020
Event
Last chance to save up to $310 on tickets to Pocket Gamer Connects Jordan 2019
Super Early Bird ticket prices end tonight at midnight for November’s two-day B2B games industry conference
Under Investigation
Report claims Activision Blizzard has avoided taxes on billions
The Candy Crush publisher moved $5.59 billion to subsidiaries in Bermuda and Barbados between 2013 to 2017
German Games Market
Employee numbers in the German games industry on the decline despite market growth
Number of games companies also rose from 524 to 614 in 2018
Closing Doors
Square Enix shutting down Star Ocean Mobile
Less than two years into game being available worldwide
Red Hot
Angry Birds film sequel currently sits as highest-rated video game movie ever
Rotten Tomatoes critical consensus pegs birds follow up at 82 per cent
Devcom 2019
What's new at Devcom 2019?
Ahead of the Cologne show's third year, we caught up with managing director Stephan Reichart to find out more
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