Viel Geld
German mobile games studio Sviper raises nearly $3 million in funding
Investment lead by Modern Time Group
Interview
MapleStory M director on the challenges of bringing a 15-year-old MMORPG to mobile
Nexon's mobile MMO helped drive the Japanese publisher to one of its strongest years yet
Surprise Surprise!
Tencent and Intel partner for Instant Play streaming service
Details are scarce, but we'll likely know more at GDC
Job Losses
Brighton developer Wish Studios closes affecting 13 full-time employees
Known for PlayLink title That’s You
Reignited
Com2us launches Skylanders Ring of Heroes worldwide
Available in 120 countries
Tech For Change
Alibaba’s Tech for Change initiative aims to tackle global social and humanitarian challenges
A collaboration with iamtheCODE aims to support one million women coders by 2030
Jobs News
Riot, Amazon, PlayStation, EA and NaturalMotion vets join RuneScape developer Jagex
New executive producer, director of community, head of CRM and player engagement, RuneScape technical director and senior director of game engineering
Indie Publishing
US publisher Versus Evil starts 2019 with five new games and an indie fund
Versus Evil has also launched an indie development fund for
Bidding Battle
Report: EA, Amazon and Comcast all submit acquisition bids for publisher Nexon
New challengers join a growing collection of suitors
Teen Titans Goal!
Cartoon Network launches new games app Cartoon Network Arcade
Largest library of Cartoon Network games in one place
Sword And Shield
Pokemon Sword and Shield coming to Nintendo Switch in 2019
Launching worldwide later this year
Sweet Victory
Candy Crush Friends Saga passes $50 million in revenue globally
Slower pace than predecessor Candy Crush Jelly Saga
Funding Reality
Helsinki start-up Hipfire Games raises $205k for debut VR and mobile cross-platform title Fail Space
Studio focused on creating multiplayer experiences in virtual reality
The Hungry Caterpillar
Epic Games faces another Fortnite lawsuit over Running Man dance
Former Maryland basketball players Jared Nickens and Jayen Brantley front the claim
But Why?
THQ Nordic hosts AMA on infamous message board 8chan then clarifies it "does not condone child pornography"
PR and marketing director Philipp Brock claims to have no knowledge of site's history
Show Me The Money
10 videos from Pocket Gamer Connects London 2019's Show Me The Money track
Track sponsored by Braavo
Kingdom Cards
Disney collaborates with Glu Mobile on new card game Disney Sorcerer’s Arena
Mickey Mouse, Sully, Ariel and more feature
Money, Money, Money
Streaming toolkit Lightstream raises $8 million in initial funding
Chicago firm has accrued $9.8 million overall to date
Stretch Those Shoulders
OliveX raises $1 million to turn getting fit into a game
Funding comes from the likes of Alabaster and Antanas Guoga
The Road Ahead
Monetizer Mavens discuss the future of innovation in the maturing mobile games sector
Changing trends
Insert Dr. Evil Quote
Interactive trivia title In or Out offering prize pool of $1 million
$100,000 available in weekly competitions
Britain Bound
Nintendo’s Dragalia Lost launches in UK across iOS and Android
Ireland, Canada, Australia, Singapore and New Zealand see release too
Monetiser
10 videos from Pocket Gamer Connects London 2019's Monetiser track
Track sponsored by Bango
Hatching A Partnership
Hatch partners with network operator Sprint for 5G game streaming
Sprint hopes Hatch's game streaming will prove the potential of its new 5G network
Revenue Dropping Boys
Fortnite revenue declines 48% month-on-month in January
Peak month in december though
Warfare
Microsoft workers demand stricter ethics as HoloLens prepares to kill
Open letter calls for the cancellation of a recently-signed army IVAS contract
Fold Wars
Huawei’s Mate X is a competitive foldable phone to Samsung’s Galaxy Fold
Huawei keen to compete with South-Korean rivals
China
Tencent and NetEase see non-China mobile game revenue soar 500%
China's biggest publishers look abroad as the nation's market remains unpredictable
Event
Blockchain Games Next - Free Half-Day Mini-Summit During GDC - 19th March
Presented by Tron in association with Cocos BCX and brought to you by the team behind Blockchain Gamer Connects
Big Indie Pitch
Mousetrap Games feel the rhythm as Run The Beat races to first place at The Big Indie Pitch at White Nights Berlin 19
The Big Indie Pitch goes on the road and crowns its second winner of 2019
Playable Demos
Delving under the hood of Synative's Try Now demo tech as it partners with Google Play
Synative gives us the lowdown
Enterprise Ar
Microsoft unveils $3,500 HoloLens 2 headset
Epic's Tim Sweeney praises tech giant's open approach to development
Dragalia Won
Dragalia Lost outpaces Super Mario Run and Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp with $75m lifetime sales
Still a way off of Fire Emblem Heroes
Ka-ching
Activision Blizzard and EA bosses Kotick and Wilson appear on Top 100 Most Overpaid CEOs list for a second time
Third year that games industry execs have shown up in this ranking
Roundup
Games industry roundup: Wargroove recovers dev costs in three days, GDAC partners with Enjin, and the death of the MCN
15 articles from PCGamesInsider.biz, InfluencerUpdate.biz and BlockhainGamer.biz
Hot Five
Coin Master rakes in the cash, Brawl Stars a worldwide top grosser, and Activision Blizzard is stuck between a rock and a hard place
The hottest stories from the mobile games industry over the last week
Global Charts
Weekly global mobile games charts: Matchington Mansion a new US top 10 grosser as Fortnite and Dokkan Battle dominate
Charts from February 11th to 17th
Interview
How hard is it to bring a PC hit like Human: Fall Flat to smartphones anyway?
We speak to 505 Games’ Steve Woodward and Thomas Rosenthal to find out more about the wobbly platformer’s port
East Meets West
12 videos from Pocket Gamer Connects London 2019's East Meets West track
Track sponsored by JoyPac
Fiscal
Netease ends 2018 on strong footing with almost $3 billion in Q4 revenue
Lifetime successes and strong newcomers drive Netease to a job well done this year
Investment Reality
Mixed reality technology firm Cooperative Innovations secures $650k in funding
Leeds-based outfit raises $652.741 to bring on more staff and find licensing partners for its animation tool
Trade Trends
9 videos from Pocket Gamer Connects London 2019's Trade Trends track
Track sponsored by GameAnalytics
Imagination Has No Limit
Roblox players amass more than one billion hours worth of engagement each month
Platform engagement has increased by 20-times in six years
Good News
Goodgame Studios names new CEO and CPO
Developer promotes from within for top jobs
Where We Dancing Boys?
Fortnite’s DJ Marshmello concert surpasses game’s concurrent record with 10.7m players
Tilted Towers was rocking
Super Smash Brawl Stars
Brawl Stars becomes first new mobile game to break into top 10 worldwide revenue chart since June 2018
Fighter has generated $110 million in two months
Job Losses
Huge layoffs strike staff at Australian studio EA Firemonkeys
As many as 50 staff could be affected
Goodbye Reggie
Nintendo of America president and COO Reggie Fils-Aime to retire
VP of sales and marketing Doug Bowser to succeed him in role
International
Chinese publisher East2West opens its USA branch in San Francisco
"Our current lineup, which will be announced shortly, is already impressive"
Tencent Rules
Tencent brings in new broadcasting rules to police hurtful content across its products
These updates prohibit discussions or behaviour that could cause offence to the company’s home market of China