Event
Supercell, Jam City, SYBO, Riot Games and Nerial join first wave of speakers for Pocket Gamer Connects London 2019
January’s 21-track conference schedule already boasts a plethora of top industry experts
Open Sesame
Fortnite Android beta now open
Title has already grossed more than $60 million, according to Sensor Tower estimates
On Cloud 9
Esports outfit Cloud9 scoops up $50m Series B funding round
Valor Equity Partners leads investment
Studio Profile
NHN Entertainment on dealing with South Korea regulations and topping the mobile charts with a fishing game
Publishing business department director Sang Ho Kim discusses the company's vast operations
Social
At Game Closure the future of gaming is social
The studio's Battle Cats Galaxy and Fishing Star QUICK are currently on the LINE QUICK GAME platform
Breach
Facebook confirms 30 million users had their login details stolen last month
The company is working alongside the FBI to find the attacker
New Shelter
Bethesda opens Moscow sales and marketing branch
Firm announces opening of a studio it didn't already own
Cash Royale
Clash Royale took $46 million in September
Lifetime revenue stands at $2.3 billion worldwide
Business News
Webzen launches casual games publishing brand Appmigos
But stays clear of hyper-casual
Awarding Success
Just one week left to lobby for the Pocket Gamer Mobile Games Awards 2019
Nominations close on October 22nd
Global Charts
Weekly global mobile game charts: South Korea's Line Puzzle tops downloads as Clash Royale makes a comeback
Google Play and App Store rankings in the US, Great Britain and Ireland, and China for the week of October 1st to 7th
Studio Profile
Webzen: "There is a lot of pressure to always acquire a new cash cow"
CEO Tony Kim gives us the lowdown on the company's plans
Summoning A Hit
Com2uS on Summoners War's rapid expansion and applying lessons learnt to Skylanders: Ring of Heroes
"I think that gaming is a hits-driven business in the same way that publishing is a hits-driven business"
Special Focus
Don't miss our South Korea Special covering the country's games industry this week
Interviews, analysis, studio profiles and region focus all dedicated to this exciting market
Hot Five
Puzzle & Dragons to go offline in Europe, Subway Surfers gets SYBO TV, and Brawls Stars' Eastern future
Rounding up the hottest stories from the last week
Seasoned Veteran
Former EA Mobile senior VP Mike Verdu joins advisory board at Boss Fight Entertainment
Developer aims to up its publishing game
Fine Art
Stugan founder to auction off Simon Stålenhag’s Forest Iron Painting to benefit games accelerator
The painting will be auctioned off at Bukowski's auction house on October 23
Finding A Sweet Spot
Etermax on balancing the fresh with the familiar in Trivia Crack 2
Back for another spin
Found
Nintendo’s Dragalia Lost finds $16m in revenue after two weeks
$13.5m of which, comes from the US and Japan
Building Blox
Roblox acquires app performance start-up PacketZoom to boost output on mobile
PacketZoom Co-founder and CTO Chetan Ahuja will join Roblox at part of the deal
Perfecto
Perforce snaps up Cloud-based software developer Perfecto Mobile
The acquisition is expected to close this year
Insert Details Here
Skybound keeps details on The Walking Dead: The Final Season's future vague
“We are doing our best to take care of the people. Our intent is to work with the original team but there are a lot of moving parts"
Jobs News
Blizzard vet Heinecke is Square Enix's new chief marketing officer
Has worked on IP including Overwatch, Hearthstone, StarCraft 2 as well as World of Warcraft
Puzzled
GungHo to shut down Puzzle & Dragons in Europe
Service is set to conclude December 10th
Monetised
Rovio and Hatch join Finnish seminar to discuss how to monetise effectively and ethically
Event taking place in Finland and will be streamed online
Health & Science
Small mobile games start up and healthcare company join forces to raise vaccine awareness
Sweet
King’s Candy Crush Friends Saga lands on App Store and Google Play after global launch
A 3D-focused event to be hosted in New York to celebrate the launch
Catching Season
Niantic’s Pokemon Go catches $84.8m in revenue for September
The location-based AR game also added 8.86m new trainers to its ranks
Acquisitions With Friends?
Report: Zynga attracts takeover interest
Developer has received preliminary approaches but no formal talks have taken place, sources claim
Big Indie Pitch
Enter the Big Indie Pitch at next month’s Jordan Gaming Summit
Indie developer contest lands in Amman for November
Deal
Advance snaps up majority stake in games analytics firm Newzoo
The media company will make a significant capital investment in Newzoo as part of the deal
Hay Maker
Indie darling Stardew Valley launching on App Store later this month
Eric Barone’s tranquil farming RPG hybrid will drop first on the iOS, Android release TBC
Event
Pocket Gamer Connects London to feature an amazing 21 conference tracks
Covering everything from the basics to the future across mobile, PC and blockchain gaming
Clans
Supercell’s Clash of Clans brings in $41m in revenue for September
Supercell’s hit game was also downloaded by over 5.4 million players for the month
Breaking In
Can Snowprint’s Legend of Solgard break King’s midcore curse?
Studio CEO Alexander Ekvall discusses working with the Candy Crush maker as part of the latter’s new publishing initiative
Sweet Business
King’s Candy Crush Saga hits $3.91 billion in lifetime revenues
All-time downloads sit at 823 million
The Big Freeze
"I don’t think the Chinese government is ready to lose its title as the world’s biggest games market"
Taptica division CEO Rivi Bloch discusses market expansion and the big freeze
Jobs In Games
Jobs in Games: SYBO's Amy Kalson on how to get a job as a games lead
"My advice to aspiring game makers is to study psychology. We make things for humans so understanding the human mind is vital for success"
Event
What's on at Pocket Gamer Connects London 2019?
Two-day event features 21-track conference schedule, Big Indie Pitches, investor panels, networking and more across mobile, PC, VR/AR and blockchain
Fore
Playdemic’s Golf Clash gets new clans feature
The new feature allows groups of up to 50 golf clash players to chat, share replays and work together to earn in-game rewards
On The Tube
Subway Surfers developer SYBO set to tap into video streaming with new platform
SYBO TV is expected to land in the fourth quarter of 2018
Ar
Truly Social Games acquires Vancouver AR studio Cooper’s New Reality Garage
Augmented reality specialist will rebrand as Truly Social Games Vancouver
New Digs
Cloud games firm Improbable set for London HQ
Soon to be based in Spitalfields
Data Klaxon
UK economy made $3.8bn from video games industry in 2016
And it provides 50,000 jobs
Audio
Gismart’s Piano Crush becomes No.1 music App on the US App Store
Virtual keyboard beat out Spotify to top charts in multiple regions worldwide
Blast Off
Rovio soft-launches Angry Birds Dream Blast in Finland and the UK
The bubble popper is available on iOS and Android
Offline
Marmalade SDK shuts down citing increased pressure from Unity and Unreal
Unpredictable iOS changes are also stated as causing Marmalade’s developers to close up shop
Busted
Four Thirty Three’s Ghostbusters World lands in Singapore, Sweden, Denmark and New Zealand
The location-based augmented reality game is expected to release October 22nd
Service
Epic Games acquires security and service provider Kamu
Kamu brings its speciality in game security and community building to Fortnite and Unreal developers
Global Charts
Weekly global mobile game charts: Supercell's Clash of Clans shuffles up the top grossing rankings
Google Play and App Store rankings in the US, Great Britain and Ireland, and China for the week of September 24th to 30th