Stellar
Hugo Games picks up Dawn of the Dragons dev 5th Planet for $737,000
An extra $160,000 will go towards funding a sequel to the studio's Dawn of the Dragons sequel.
Jobs
Sega of America’s Ian Curran and Tatsuyuki Miyazaki take on additional roles as COO and CEO of Atlus USA
Former CEO Naoto Hiraoka bcomes brand owner to promote company's titles worldwide
Off Course
Nintendo successfully sues Tokyo’s unofficial Mario Kart tours for $89,000
Real-life Mario Kart operator MariCar ordered to stop using Nintendo's property immediately
Indie View
The Big Indie Interviews: We talk AR escape rooms with The Pixel Crushers
We talk to The Pixel Crushers who took third place at our E3 Big Indie Pitch
Jobs In Games
Jobs in Games: Rovio's Heini Kaihu on how to get a job as head of studio
"Games have become mainstream entertainment and the more diverse a group of people we have in the industry creating the experiences, the better"
Gearing Up
Amazon partners with Eden for $20k GameOn Masters: Gear.Club esports tournament
Competition gets sports car manufacturer Pagani as sponsor
Expert Advice
IGDA launches Virtual Mentor Cafe in support of recently laid off devs at Telltale, Capcom Vancouver, Big Fish and more
People affected can seek advice from industry experts
International Recruitment
Games Factory Talents aims to showcase global dev talent to Finnish studios
Initiative to focus on Eastern European developers seeking jobs in Finland
Market Data
Analytics firm Appfigures unveils new mobile market intelligence platform
Explorer offers insights into app performance
Business Shuffle
Tencent restructures business for first time in six years as games regulations bite
Publishing giant setting itself up for future challenges
Big Indie Awards 2018
The best of The Big Indie Pitch 2018 - Airheart - Tales of Broken Wings
We take a look back at the winner of our 2018 Big Indie Pitch at Gamescom
Nostalgic Deal
Liquid Media snaps up 65 retro game IPs from Throwback for $1 million
Titles include All Star Baseball, NFL Quarterback Club, NHL Breakaway and College Slam
Global Charts
Weekly global mobile game charts: Snake Vs Colors cracks top spot on US App Store while China's top grossing gets a shakeup
Google Play and App Store rankings in the US, Great Britain and Ireland, and China for the week of September 17th to 23rd
Funding Round
Blockchain outfit ClanPlay secures $2 million for its gamer rewards platform
Company aims to build “the world’s first marketplace for in-game actions"
Blockchain Assemble
Fig, Ubisoft, Alto and more form Blockchain Game Alliance
“Blockchain has all the potential to change the gaming ecosystem, creating one that everyone can benefit from”
Revenue Estimates
The Sims Mobile takes home $20 million
Title said to have made $3.17 million in August alone
Hot Five
Scopely eyes M&A activity, Candy Crush Friends Saga launch closes in, and Big Fish layoffs
The past weeks hottest articles
Big Indie Awards 2018
The best of The Big Indie Pitch 2018 - Pirate Code
We look back on the winner of the second Chinese Big Indie Pitch
Big Indie Awards 2018
The best of The Big Indie Pitch 2018 - Skybolt Zack
The Big Indie Pitch returned once again to Brighton to crown another Big Indie Pitch at Develop:Brighton champion
Tapped Up
Ad tech outfit Tappx names Fernando Saiz as chief marketing officer
Promoted from head of growth
Revenue
Lords Mobile plunders over $825 million in revenue worldwide
IGG's massively-multiplayer strategy game raked in $7 million in one week alone earlier this month
Acquisition News
Chinese tutoring services provider snaps up chidren's apps developer Dr. Panda
Companies to work on "new models for future education"
Charity
Words With Friends 2 launches tile styles alongside breast cancer charity event
Zynga will donate up to $100,000 to Susan G Komen as part of breast cancer awareness month
Vr Versus Switch
Carmack on the Oculus Quest: "Realistically, we're going to end up competing with the Nintendo Switch"
The veteran engineer sees the standalone VR headset as a secondary device for console or PC owners
Found
Nintendo’s Dragalia Lost hits top download spots in four countries and is a top 30 grosser in the US
Those countries being Japan, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Macau
Draw
Flaregames resurrects Games Workshop’s Citadel Combat Cards with Well Played Games
The 1990s Warhammer 40,000 card came to be brought to mobile on November 22nd
Big Indie Awards 2018
The best of The Big Indie Pitch 2018 - Mish Mash
We take a look back at the winner of The Big Indie Pitch at the first ever Big Indie Fest
Sold
Vivendi aims to sell all shares in Ubisoft by March 2019
Fears of a hostile takeover come to an end as Vivendi pulls out of Ubisoft entirely
Closure
Disney Canada layoffs as Club Penguin Island closes
The web version of the social game had shut down the year prior
Indie Mavens
Should indie developers release their games in Asia?
Our Indie mavens weigh in
Call For Speakers
You could speak at the biggest Pocket Gamer Connects London ever
Open call for speakers from the mobile games industry, as well as PC, blockchain and VR/AR for January event
Lighting The Fuse
"It absolutely puts us on the map": Fusebox's Michael Othen on the success of Love Island: The Game
“These conversations were a little bit harder to have when we were somewhat unproven and making these kinds of games"
Revenue
Toy Blast collects over $440 million in worldwide revenue
With Toon Blast making rapid gains, Peak Games’ previous outing continues to find success
Trivial
Etermax reveals Trivia Crack 2 launch date as original quiz app passes 500 million downloads
Trivia Crack 2 will launch on iOS and Android devices on October 25th
Big Indie Awards 2018
The best of The Big Indie Pitch 2018 - Sticky Pigeons
We take a look back at the winner of our 2018 Big Indie Pitch at White Nights St Petersburg
Data
Tencent maintains a firm grasp on SuperData’s top 10 grossing mobile games chart in August
Publisher dominates a chart virtually unchanged over the last two months
Soft Launch Saga
Candy Crush Friends Saga takes one of mobile gaming's hottest IPs 3D in October
Fourth addition to the franchise launches on October
Aso Case Study
How to win a successful relationship with a gaming client
The ASO & Publishing Agency, Lab Cave, talks about their experience and brings important insights on how to deal with a great mobile games customer
Remote Discovery
Oculus mobile app adds Rift Support so users can find and install VR games remotely
App also lets users find events and connect with friends
Console Switch
Nintendo Switch Online companion app hits five million downloads
The total is 25 per cent of the console’s install base
Lost And Found
Nintendo’s Dragalia Lost launches after racking up over one million pre-registrations
Players will get 2,500 for hitting the milestone should they log into Dragaila Lost
Standalone
Oculus Quest offers all-in-one wireless virtual reality headset for $399
No PC or smartphone required
Potter
Jam City launches Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery in South Korea
Move could prove a lucrative venture in the RPG-friendly market
Sales Of Glory
FunPlus' Guns of Glory shoots past $215 million in first year
Adds to strong showing from publisher's other title King of Avalon
Drop In
PUBG Mobile’s first Star Challenge Champions series launches with a $600,000 prize pool
Mobile esports series kicks off with a focus on putting big names centre-stage
Big Indie Pitch
The Big Indie Pitch finishes 2018 with visits to Poland, Sweden, Jordan and South Korea
The Big Indie Pitch reveals its plans for the remainder of 2018
Saved
Nintendo Switch Online cloud saves will remain 180 days after subscription ends
Fan fears that saves may vanish immediately on a subscription ending are unfounded
Legal
Former employee hits Telltale Games with a class action lawsuit
Redundancies made “without cause” may have broken state and federal labour laws
Cross-platform Royale
Sony relents to enable PS4 cross-play with rival platforms
Starting with an open beta for Fortnite players
More Tales To Tell
AMC and Smilegate backed out of Telltale financing talks day before closure
Source says management painted AMC deal as done