On Your Marks
Mario Kart Tour beta signups have begun
Nintendo’s financials re-asserted that the mobile racer is still due in 2019
Restructure
Sega restructures its mobile Hardlight studio to integrate directly within Sega Europe
Former development director Neall Jones takes on a new role as Hardlight’s studio director
Speaker Spotlight
PGC Seattle Speaker Spotlight: 12traits CEO Joe Schaeppi to discuss how psychometrics can power up retention and monetisation
Pocket Gamer Connects Seattle 2019 will take place on May 13th to 14th
Dream Start
Angry Birds 2 and Dream Blast drive up Rovio games revenue to $74m in Q1
Angry Birds Dream Blast is already the games division's second-biggest revenue driver
$$$
Xbox Live monthly active users dropped to 63m in last financial quarter
Revenue up five per cent for Microsoft's games business
Overtime
Fortnite devs speak out about constant crunch
"The company gives us unlimited time off, but it’s almost impossible to take the time. If I take time off, the workload falls on other people, and no one wants to be that guy"
Temporary Freeze
Facebook halts reviews of new Instant Games
Temporary freeze as Facebook looks to fix the issue
Network Effects
How hyper-casual games use network effects to supercharge growth
Tenjin CEO Christopher Farm discusses the attention economy and how publishers attract returning users
Indie Spotlight
Frogmind on going from a team of two working on premium games to the new F2P Rumble Stars
"There have always been thousands of games competing for attention but it has increasingly become harder as every day there are more"
Event
Meet the great and the good of the games industry next month at Pocket Gamer Connects Seattle
EA, Tencent, NetEase, Unity, Epic Games and more join us for the two-day B2B conference
Revenue
King of Avalon and Guns of Glory rake in over $1.3 billion in revenue for Funplus
Funplus wants both games to rake in a combined $1.5 billion by the year's end
Revenue
Star Trek Fleet Command is making a stellar $13.7 million in monthly revenue
Licensed stargazer has hit lifetime revenue of $40 million and four million installations.
Crunch
Chinese activists 996.ICU blast Tencent and NetEase for intense overtime policies
But some leaders have fired back, claiming workers who don't put in their 12-hours-a-day are unambitious
Digital World
Tencent’s Perfect World was the top grossing mobile game globally in March 2019
Honor of Kings follows in second place
Project Imagination
Qualcomm partners with Tencent and Vivo to create new AI game experiences on mobile
Optimise experience in games including Honour of Kings
Moderating Partner
European Esports Federation set to be formed with 12 countries
Representatives from Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Hungary, Russia, Slovenia, Serbia, Sweden, Turkey, Ukraine and the UK
Company Map
Here is who is working on Google's Stadia games streaming platform
PCGamesInsider.biz has dug through LinkedIn to find the people behind the search giant's big games play
Real-money Competition
Indian esports platform Mobile Premier League raises $35.5 million
Series A to fuel product and user growth
Jobs In Games
Jobs in Games: Voodoo’s Wesley Clarke on how to get a job as a technical lead
"Finishing projects should be your goal"
Court Order
Nepal Supreme Court suspends PUBG ban
Ruling intervened with Article 17’s freedom of expression
Super Safe
Supercell partners with Internet Matters to help improve online safety
Two to provide families with advice and resources for keeping children safe online
Apple Arcade
Apple’s transformation into an entertainment streaming service: Is a virtual Blockbusters for mobile games really the future?
App Annie MD EMEA Paul Barnes offers his opinion on Apple Arcade
Interview
V&A curators weigh in on getting gaming on the museum floor
We speak accessible development and bringing games to the masses at the Design/Play/Disrupt exhibition's Dundee opening
First Wave Of Speakers
Tencent, NetEase, Giant Interactive and Super Evil Megacorp head first wave of speakers at Pocket Gamer Connects Hong Kong 2019
Expect 120 speakers sharing 55 hours worth of cutting edge content on July 17th to 18th
Korea
South Korean FTC will carry out an “extensive review” of consumer regulations
The antitrust body wants to combat games taking advantage of children spending money they don't have
Charts
Weekly global mobile games charts: Tencent’s Let’s Hunt Monsters storms China’s free downloads rankings
Charts from April 8th to 14th
China Regulations
China’s games regulator resumes new submission approvals as it continues through backlog
The State Administration of Press and Publication details the new regulatory landscape for games developers and publishers
Soft Launch
Playrix soft-launches new match-three puzzler Wildscapes
Available in Australia, Canada and New Zealand
Cash Royale
Mobile picks up $65m of PUBG Corp's $920m sales in 2018
Mobile likely low due to Chinese approval freeze
Going Public
China's biggest live-streaming platform Douyu files for $500 million IPO in the US
The company is backed by Tencent and is considered China's answer to Twitch
China
Tencent extends its digital lock age cap to 16 in China
Under-16s will now require parental consent and be limited to two hours play a day
Roundup
Games industry roundup: Why Dodge Roll has parted ways with Enter the Gungeon, and Tencent does its own blockchain-based Pokemon Go
15 articles from PCGamesInsider.biz, InfluencerUpdate.biz and BlockhainGamer.biz
Acquisition News
Keywords snaps up work-for-hire mobile development studio Wizcorp for $1m
Service provider expands footprint in Japan
East Meets West
East Meets West: Tencent could be launch a gaming phone, and how China and South Korea are driving Eve online into the future
Keeping up with the news from the world's most influential games market
Hot Five
Trouble at HQ Trivia studio, Oculus staffing up for AR Glasses, and Clash of Clans a US top grosser thanks to Gold Pass
The hottest stories from the mobile games industry over the last week
Special Offer
One SWEET Easter offer - 20% off ticket prices for Pocket Gamer Connects Seattle
Save up to $140 this weekend on May’s two-day games industry conference
Indie
Google’s Indie Games Accelerator is back, and now open to 37 countries
Google opens up its indie program to developers in the Middle East, Africa, and Latin America
Office
Top Eleven developer Nordeus scores a new eight-storey office in Belgrade
Nordeus promises a people-first building with family, accessibility and ecological concerns in mind
Live And Kicking
Four years on: Dodreams CEO Erik Pöntiskoski on why Drive Ahead is showing no signs of slowing down
"We realised that it's not about how much content the game has but how you combine it into fresh experiences"
Access
AbleGamers launches new community-driven resource site Accessible.games
AbleGamers is putting together a knowledge base of accessibility tips, as well as connecting disabled players with developers
Event
Pocket Gamer Connects Seattle tickets full price from midnight
Mid-term offers savings of up to $150 - today only!
Money Money Money
Newzoo: Tencent responsible for 15% of 2018's global games revenue
Chinese tech and entertainment giant saw close-to $20bn coming in last year
Still Going Strong
Stillfront Group plots further M&A as profits double in 2018
"We are staffing up for more M&A activity and remain as confident as ever in our screening process and post-acquisition strategies"
Crowdfunding Milestone
$1 billion pledged to Kickstarter game campaigns
More than 17,000 games projects have received donations
Competitive Investment
Will Smith headlines $46 million funding round for esports group Gen.G
Funding to go toward global expansion, youth development and new LA HQ
Cafe Bazaar
How to succeed in Iran on Cafe Bazaar
A partnership with Bazaar can easily put products within a finger’s reach of 40 million consumers
Event
Pocket Gamer Connects Hong Kong - what's it all about?
Two-day games industry event features 15-track conference schedule, Big Indie Pitch, Investor Connector, networking and more
Location
Scopely’s recent success is bringing the publisher a new Culver City headquarters
An 80 per cent annual revenue increase has pushed the publisher into opening new doors
Event
Facebook, Roblox, Riot Games, Hyper Hippo and DoubleDown to speak at Pocket Gamer Connects Seattle
West coast games industry event adds amazing new speakers to two-day conference schedule
Indie
Family-focused publisher Natsume debuts its new indie program with Cosmic Defenders
"We are proud to support and collaborate with inspiring developers who are building the future of video games"