Rebranding
Idle Miner Tycoon dev Fluffy Fairy renames to Kolibri Games
New name is the German word for hummingbird
Voodoo Magic
Voodoo Development Magic: How H8 Games launched Helix Jump, one of the hottest games of 2018
This special series focuses on how developers have built mobile's biggest hits, with help from publisher Voodoo
Speaker Spotlight
Speaker Spotlight: London Venture Partners' Jon Bellamy on industry trends and the differentiation factor
Pocket Gamer Connects London 2019 will take place on January 21st to 22nd
Dunk
Rovio partners with the Chicago Bulls NBA team to create the Angry Birds Eye View Cam
Mobile developer becomes the first Finnish company to sponsor an NBA team
Crushed It
Candy Crush Friends Saga swipes 10 million downloads in its first week
But King’s sweet puzzling franchise is continuing to trend downwards
Banner Up
Unity Ads SDK 3.0 features personalised placements, AR and banner ads
Personalised placements uses machine learning to decide between an ad or IAP promotion
Jobs In Games
Jobs in Games: How Simon Fenton became head of games at Escape Studios and his advice for devs breaking through
"Stay hungry and passionate, work hard and build your experience. You’ll get your chance."
Oh Snap
Tenjin named Snapchat mobile measurement partner
Marketers can use tool to optimise install campaigns through Snap Ads, Lenses and Story Ads
Mobile Games Awards
Game Insight returns as headline sponsor of the Pocket Gamer Mobile Games Awards
Event takes place on the evening of January 22nd after Pocket Gamer Connects London 2019
Just Do It
Nominations for Pocket Gamer Mobile Games Awards 2019 close today
Ceremony takes place on the evening of January 22nd
Hot Five
AppsFlyer's $100m annual recurring revenue, PGC London reveals first speakers, and Com2uS on following up a $1bn hit
The hottest stories from the last week
G-star 2018
Indies: Sign up now to be part of G-STAR's Indie Game Zone in November
Limited space available, register now to not miss out
Play
Google Play improves support for app bundles and subscriptions
It has also launched Academy for App Success interactive courses for developers
Going Up
Marketing analytics firm AppsFlyer soars past $100 million in annual recurring revenue
Mobile attribution and analytics company is reporting 100 per cent growth every 12 months
Esports
Arena of Valor 2018 International Championship sports a $600,000 prize pool
Grand finals will take place in Thailand on December 15th to 16th
Putting The U In Union
Ex-Telltale dev: "Developers deserve a lot better than what this industry is giving us right now"
Former Telltale Games narrative designer Grace Buck gave the illuminating talk at the Sweden Games Conference
Oh
Tencent’s Westernised Arena of Valor takes $15m a year after launch
The US proved to be its most popular region
Region Focus
Region Focus: The opportunities and challenges facing South Korea’s lucrative games industry
In-depth analysis of the sector with comment from executives at Netmarble, Com2uS and Pearl Abyss
Fab
Unity on the long and challenging road to developing workable nested prefabs
"We were building something, not for ourselves, but everybody else"
Just Do It
Only a few days left to nominate for the Pocket Gamer Mobile Games Awards 2019 - Do it now!
Nominations close on October 22nd
Indie Focus
How the Busan Indie Connect Festival is connecting developers with consumers
Event director Dustin Lee gives us the lowdown on the show
Fight
Huawei wants to take on the Switch with a $1,000 phone
Chinese manufacturer wants its new gaming phone to compete with the hybrid console
Nope-mon
Former US president Barack Obama doesn't care for Pokemon
I’d honestly always figured him more of a Digimon fan anyway
Trendy Sector
What's up with the South Korean games market?
Mobile and PC MMOs rule the roost in a sector-defining part of the world
Crunch
Minit developer encourages developers to share games made without crunch
Indies take to Twitter to share games developed without excessive overtime
Narrative Games
Universal is the latest contender in the mobile interactive fiction space with Series Your Story Universe
Game set to tap film and TV IP such as Vanderpump Rules, Saved By The Bell, The Breakfast Club and Law & Order
Mobile's Millions
Popular kids MMO Roblox generates nearly $500m on mobile
UGC-based MMO picked up $92 million in Q3 2018 alone
Ask Me Anything
Skybound Games CEO talks finishing The Walking Dead: The Final Season, bringing back Telltale staff and crunch
"I can say that I would never expect or ask anyone to work what would be considered inhumane hours"
Lineage Of Ips
Netmarble on Lineage 2 Revolution's runaway success and finding the next big hit
Simon Sim talks up the company's global strategy and M&A activity
Apponboard’s Tech Is Taking Off
Google Play’s Try Now demos are boosting retention and monetisation by more than 29%
AppOnboard’s tech is taking off
Play Together
Instant Games comes to Facebook’s 270k Gaming Groups
Groups attract combined 90 million active users each month
Studio Profile
South Korean developer Ekkorr on Endless Frontier making $60m and the importance of sharing ideas
CEO Myeong Yong Shin offers up the details on the studio's work
Winner Winner
PUBG Mobile has scored over 100m downloads on Google Play
Tencent's mobile battle royale reaches Android milestone two months after hitting it across platforms
Meewow
How a Plants vs. Zombies producer and a former NFL team tech lead are shaking up idle games
The bold philosophy of MeeWow Games
New Pad
Lords Mobile developer I Got Games has opened a new office in Indonesia
Company celebrates opening of branch with grand ceremony and orchestral performances
Event
India’s biggest media and entertainment expo is just weeks away
25,000 visitors expected for December’s 15th festival, IndiaJoy
Top Performers
PUBG Mobile and Lineage M top download and grossing charts in South Korea in H1 2018
The top 10 grossers and downloaded mobile games across the App Store and Google Play for the first six months of the year
New Horizons
Animoca Brands' Yat Siu on why mobile games are leading the charge to take blockchain mass-market
Time to gain scale
Alerte D’emploi
Ubisoft promotes from within for chief financial officer
Current CFO Alain Martinez will retire at the end of the year
Cutting Out A Niche
NetEase’s PUBG-like Knives Out pulls in over $370 million
97 per cent of that figure comes from China and Japan
Job News Hype
Finnish studio Seriously adds trio of key hires to its ranks
Sylvain Cunzi joins at VP of games technology, Brian Ru joins as director of strategy and operations while Jamie Samson joins as Legal Counsel
Fiendish
Best Fiends games fetch $150m in lifetime revenue
Titles have been downloaded over 85 million times
Dead On
Chinese outfit GAEA snaps up 20% stake in Fallout Shelter dev Behaviour Interactive
The pair are currently co-developing a Game of Thrones game for mobile
Legal Rift
John Carmack's legal dispute with Zenimax Media ends
But the fight for Oculus isn’t over yet
Jobs News
Sega aims to improve work-life balance for employees
Japanese publisher also interested in addressing addiction
Marketing Fuel
Nitro Games plots share issue to raise over $5m
Funds will primarily go toward Heroes of Warland marketing
Looking Eastward
The quiet opportunity for games developers in Iran
With projected games revenues of 602m for 2018, it could be a fair market indeed
Going Mobile
Facebook tests fb.gg app for Android
The app is currently being tested with a 'limited set of features'
Tech Support
Ubisoft after developers to participate in its third Station F incubator program
AI and Blockchain startups encouraged to take part in the six-month program in Paris
Korea
Expo space at G-STAR sold out!
Asia’s leading games industry conference and expo fills b2b show floor one month ahead of November dates