Hard Gate
The key to Mario Kart Tour's success (or failure)
Doing things the Nintendo way
Go Low, Go Big
Why tens of millions more Android gamers are playing PUBG Mobile than Fortnite
New number from Newzoo
Play To Win
Research: How playable ad optimization can double ad performance
Smart data from Playable Platform
Read 5 Now
Hot Five: Mario Kart Tour's FTUE, Call of Duty Mobile's fps, and Apple Arcade's obscuration
The hottest stories
Speaker Spotlight
PGC Helsinki: Anette Staloy will be presenting a joint session of postmortems, as well as talking on a panel about making teams work
"We need a variety of skill sets and backgrounds"
Speaker Spotlight
PGC Helsinki: Cuneyt Unar will be hosting a session about using blockchain technology in mobile gaming
"This is an ever-evolving and growing industry"
Event
Special thank you to the sponsors for this week’s Pocket Gamer Connects Helsinki
The companies supporting the sixth edition of the two-day B2B conference in Finland
Speaker Spotlight
PGC Helsinki: Zsuzsa James will be on a panel discussing funding strategies at the show
"We are truly spoiled for choice these days"
Speaker Spotlight
PGC Helsinki: Rosemary Lokhorst will be presenting a session called Leveling up to remission - A clinical study of playing toward your strength
"I hope that there will be more focus on serious games and alternative uses for gaming"
Speaker Spotlight
PGC Helsinki: Alexey Sazonov from Panzerdog will be part of a panel discussing mergers and acquisitions
"The time to enter can't get any better"
Speaker Spotlight
PGC Helsinki: Thomas Kriebernegg will be leading a session about using Apple search ads to increase paid and organic installs
"Gaming is going to integrate itself into the least expected corners"
Speaker Spotlight
PGC Helsinki: Luai Mahjneh will be discussing the problems that game companies face, and how to overcome them
"We are inspired by our mission: to make the best real money games in the world!"
Speaker Spotlight
PGC Helsinki: Alina Gribanova will be on a panel discussing trends in global publishing and business
"It remains my favourite industry in the world"
Speaker Spotlight
PGC Helsinki: Emilia Machuca will be part of a panel discussing being a foreign employee in a new country
"We need to improve diversity and inclusiveness within the games industry"
Fourth Year Running
Rovio, Seriously, Supercell and more unite for SpecialEffect's One Special Day 2019
Games developers far and wide will donate all UK revenue made on October 4th to the charity
Event
Everything you need to know about Pocket Gamer Connects Helsinki 2019
Here is all the essential info for those attending the two-day B2B games industry conference next week.
Pole Position
Mario Kart Tour races to 20 million downloads in 24 hours
Nintendo's best-ever launch on mobile to date
Speaker Spotlight
PGC Helsinki: Sami Liukka will be part of a speed panel discussing the potential pitfalls game studios face
"Be ready to learn a tremendous amount of new information"
Analytics Report
Niko Partners: Asian cloud games market to reach $3 billion by 2023
An increase of more than 10 times is predicted in the next four years.
Expansion
Ubisoft opens new mobile studio in Vietnam
Recruiting over 100 new employees
Apples & Oranges
Why Google Play Pass is orthogonal to Apple Arcade
Different strokes
Level Up
App Annie acquires mobile analytics firm Libring alongside rebrand
“The most successful companies find a way to capitalise on mobile”
Beta Max
A beta for Madfinger's Shadowgun War Games is on the way
Players can sign up for now though spaces are limited
Speaker Spotlight
PGC Helsinki: Marek-Martin Matyska will be talking about game design for competitive gaming and more
"Smaller indie studio are actively thinking about how to make the game better post-launch by utilising analytics"
Bit Of A Gamble
KamaGames is now letting users bet on esports events
Slots revenue has increased by 69 per cent in the first half of 2019
Funding
London Venture Partners raises $80 million to fund game startups
"Our Fund III will allow us to continue to bring our deep backgrounds as game entrepreneurs and executives"
Speaker Spotlight
PGC Helsinki: Gustavo Viegas talking about Strategies for Dealing With an Ever More Expensive UA Funnel at the show
"Time flies when you're having, and making, fun"
Keep Out
Mario Kart Tour: the worst First Time User Experience ever
Does Nintendo even want to succeed on mobile?
Moving Fast
Following the success of Cool Goal, Gismart is looking to partner with more hypercasual game devs
New strategy is paying off
Pgc Helsinki
Explore new platforms such as VR and AR in XR 2020 at Pocket Gamer Connects Helsinki
It is one of 16 tracks to feature at the event
Speaker Spotlight
PGC Helsinki: Joel Julkunen from GameRefinery will be leading a session about getting the most out of third party IP
"Be brave, open minded and do everything you can to get connected"
Mad Numbers
Madfinger Games has accumulated over 250 million downloads
Czech Republic studio formed in 2010 and is best known for its Shadowgun series
Deep Data
Five key takeaways from GameAnalytics H1 2019 mobile benchmark report
Crunching 1.2B MAUs and 100k games
Speaker Spotlight
PGC Helsinki: Nam Dinh Nguyen will be talking about being a foreign employee in a new country
"Catch up with new tech and tools to see how game development processes can benefit from them"
Pgc Helsinki
Learn about user acquisition in the UA University at Pocket Game Connects Helsinki
It is one of 16 tracks to feature at the event
Like Witchcraft
Gwent: The Witcher Card Game has 100 people development team
‘Scaling Up’ session hosted by CD Projekt Red at Unite 2019
Going Green
Game companies look to spark climate change debate by launching Playing for the Planet Alliance
Part of UN Climate Action Summit
Value For Money
Company valuations in North America and Nordics are crazy, says Phoenix Games' M&A chief Mickael Bougis
Gearing up for one or two more purchases in 2019
Microinteractions
Ubisoft's Renaud Forestié on why the small UX things build big
‘Shake it ‘till you make it session kicks off day two of Unite Copenhagen
Speaker Spotlight
PGC Helsinki: Ted Verani from Wappier explains IAP Pricing Optimization: Time & Place
"It is the fastest and most effective way to improve profitability"
Idle Farming Empire
GameTune research shows that the length of game tutorial helped Futureplay find the best performance
"Big numbers are not always the best results"
Big Names
Rovio, EA, Microsoft, Huawei and Facebook Gaming confirmed to speak next week at Pocket Gamer Connects Helsinki
Latest additions to the 16-track conference schedule
Thinking Glocal
Top Tips: How to customize your mobile game design based on geography
Know your customer
Pgc Helsinki
Learn how to build better companies for sustainable game development at Pocket Gamer Connects Helsinki
It is one of 16 tracks to fetaure at the event
Speaker Spotlight
PGC Helsinki: Dean Day will be presenting a session that asks the question To Switch or Not to Switch
"Games have become bigger but buggier"
Pgc Helsinki
Explore what you can do with Unity at Pocket Gamer Connects Helsinki
It is one of 16 tracks to feature at the event
Speaker Spotlight
PGC Helsinki: Dr. Mari-Sanna Paukkeri will lead a session about using AI to keep the gaming community safe
"Increase engagement and safeguard your community through the power of AI"
Paid >< Organic
Paid traffic is just as valuable as organic, says Unity senior marketing manager
Tracy Joseph made the statement during her talk on Busting Mobile User Acquisition Myths
Speaker Spotlight
PGC Helsinki: Jelle de Jong from Game Transactionz will be talking about monetisation through competitive play
"It's a unique way for studios to create an additional revenue stream while offering a new player experience"
Vulkan Technology
Thanks to Vulkan, Call of Duty: Mobile will aim for 60 fps on Android
Breakdown from Unite Copenhagen 2019