Oh No
Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney dubs Google ‘irresponsible’ over Android bug row on Fortnite
Google had made it public knowledge that hackers could hijack the game's installation software and load it with malware
Triple
Speaker spotlight: Pablo Fraile, Arm
Pablo Fraile will be talking about bringing AAA-console quality to mobile at Pocket Gamer Connects Helsinki on September 11-12
Influence
Speaker spotlight: David Kim, nevaly
David Kim will be speaking about influencer marketing in the games industry at Pocket Gamer Connects Helsinki on September 11-12
Publish
Speaker spotlight: Oliver Kern, Lockwood Publishing
At Pocket Gamer Connects Helsinki on September 11-12, Oliver Kern will be part of a panel discussion about the gold standard for Live Ops
Building A Blockchain Strategy
Animoca Brands acquires The Sandbox dev Pixowl for $5 million
Betting on blockchain user generated content
High Reward, Higher Risk
The dangerous allure of F2P mobile Star Wars games
Playing Russian Roulette with a poisoned chalice?
Diamond
Speaker spotlight: Tim Shepherd, Wooga
Tim Shepherd will be talking about seven years of lessons learned and mistakes made with Diamond Dash at Pocket Gamer Connects Helsinki
Fishing
Speaker spotlight: Kimmo KARI, FakeFish
Kimmo KARI will be giving a talk at Pocket Gamer Connects Helsinki on September 11-12
China
Speaker spotlight: Mikael Leinonen, MyGamez Ltd
Mikael Leinonen will be part of a panel discussion with leading Chinese Android game platforms Oppo and Vivo at Pocket Gamer Connects Helsinki
Learn
Speaker spotlight: Mikael Haveri, Housemarque
Mikael Haveri from Housemarque will be giving a talk at Pocket Gamer Connects Helsinki
Alive
Speaker spotlight: Rose Thomas, King
Rose Thomas will be giving a talk called 5 Years and Counting: Keeping Our Pet Alive at Pocket Gamer Connects Helsinki
Test
Speaker spotlight: Vera Rabkina, Gismart
Vera Rabkina will be talking about playtesting for indies at Pocket Gamer Connects Helsinki
Gone In An Instant
“The goal really is for developers to be able to build and scale games profitably”
Facebook director of games partnerships in Europe, the Middle East and Africa Bob Slinn on ditching the revenue split on Android
Traffic
Crossy Road celebrates over 200 million downloads
Hipster Whale’s classic continues to break records five years post-launch
Pitch
Speaker spotlight: Walid O. El Cheikh, Aalto University Executive Education
Walid O. El Cheikh will be hosting a Pitching and Networking workshop at Pocket Gamer Connects Helsinki
Movie
Monument Valley has landed a film adaptation
Paramount Pictures and Weed Road Pictures will be producing a movie tie-in to the mobile puzzler
Expansion
Jam City to set up shop in a new studio in Culver City
The new location is double the size of Jam City’s existing space, setting it up for expansion
Speak Up!
Pocket Gamer Connects Helsinki conference schedule revealed
Amazing roster of talent on show as Europe’s biggest B2B mobile games industry event unveils its full speaker schedule for September
Jobs Jobs Jobs
Hutch bolsters work force with new senior designer and client engineer
Mark Bridle and Martin Pane join from Marmalade Games and ALPixel Games respectively
Tindered
HBO and Nerial partner for Games of Thrones Reigns spin-off
Reigns: Game of Thrones will land in October for mobile and PC
A Polished Gem
How does Legend of Solgard engage, retain and monetise?
Analysing King’s new midcore matcher
Star Wars
Zynga stock soars 11 per cent after securing a deal to create licensed Star Wars titles
Farmville creator partners with Disney for a mobile title, with potential for a second in future.
Revenue
Game of War’s spoils surpass $2.8 billion revenue worldwide
MZ’s flagship hits the milestone just after its fifth anniversary
Jobs In Games
Jobs in Games: Jam City's Brooke Costa on how to get a job as a lead engineer
"Everyone makes mistakes, but being able to take responsibility for them and learn from them is not a universal skill"
Merges And Acquisitions
RuneScape firm Jagex on eye out for mobile games acquisitions
CEO Mansell says the historically PC-focused company is looking to expand its PC expertise.
Live And Kicking
Three years on: Bandai Namco on the evolution of Dragon Ball Z Dokkan Battle
"That pure fanboy spirit is something I believe I share with our users and something I take into my work on the game"
Bloody
Bloodstained cans Vita port as Sony “plans to discontinue” the handheld
Sony’s handheld has stopped producing physical copies and the end of crucial store features
Report
Liftoff reports women are buying in-app purchases 79 per cent more than men
The report also finds iOS users are harder to acquire but more valuable to get on board
Indie Spotlight
From assassins to companions: Brie Code on travelling, stress and #SelfCare
“Let’s create deep, heartening connections that we all deserve”
Revenue
Fortnite swoops past $200 million revenue on iOS five months after launch
Rapid success puts the battle royale on equal footing with Clash Royale’s performance
Limitless
Hatch is offering Deutsche Telekom subscribers in Germany limitless gaming data
Mobile provider's StreamOn program expands to include Hatch's streaming catalogue of games
Take A Xhance On Me
Adrealm’s general manager for Europe Mei Li-Berlit talks Xhance and tackling fraud
"it may be true that cryptocurrencies are a temporary hype, but we don’t think that the underlying technology itself is a fad"
Best Of 2018
The Top 50 Mobile Game Developers of 2018
Revealed: the movers, shakers and moneymakers!
Spot On
CD Projekt Red's new studio Spokko to create mobile titles for the Polish giant
The studio will be creating an “advanced and ambitious” mobile title for the Cyberpunk 2077 developer
Partnership
Ad network ironSource is now available on Google’s AdMob mediation platform
Developers using AdMob can now gain access to Ironsource’s existing marketplace
Jackpot
"KamaGames committed to embracing new tech": Studio CEO talks blockchain, Instant Games and player appeal
"New players simply have nothing to lose if they want to give any of our games a try"
Partnership
Gismart partners with Appodeal to publish casual and hyper-casual games
Developer will also utilise Appodeal’s extensive ad platform to push music, entertainment and utility apps
Speeding
Crossy Road speeds past in-app purchase revenues of $10 million
Multi-million milestone doesn’t even account for sales made through advertising in-game
China Lockdown
What the hell is happening to games in China?
Conspiracy or cock-up?
Snapchat Memes
How memes helped one app get a six-times cheaper CPI on Snapchat
Fanbytes offers key lessons on marketing your app
Devcom 2018
Devcom managing director Stephan Reichart calls for video gamers to be a force for good
Devcom head Stephan Reichart has called for video games to be a force for good in the troubling times we live in.
Early Bird Gets The Worm
“In 2030 the market will be in the top five economies in the world” How to get into Indonesia’s mobile market early
Agate’s Shieny Aprilia gave a talk at Devcom on how to get into the industry
Devcom 2018
What can indie developers learn from the music industry?
"Do crazy shit"
Acquisition
Game of Whales acquires tracking app Appstatics
AI-powered tool acquires tracking app on its way to becoming a fully automated management platform
Worldwide
How Chorus Worldwide helped indie developers to release mobile games in China
"As I’m sure everyone knows, the Google Play store is not a big player in the market. Instead, the area is dominated by local Chinese app stores"
Privacy Regulations
Life in a GDPR world: How the new rules are changing app development, publishing and advertising
WEQ's Steffen Wachenfeld discusses what's next
Not So Angry
Angry Birds 2 bookings grow 44 per cent to reach a record $33.9m in Q2 2018
But Rovio’s financial report sees a slump in the wake of last year’s movie successes
Android
App Annie: Fortnite will push Android apps to over 170 billion downloads in 2018
Users to spend over $50 billion on the platform this year
Spending Spree
US Librarian spends $89,000 of public money on Game of War
Adam Winger sells his home and drains retirement fund to pay back the appropriated funds
Dinners On Them
Tencent’s PUBG Mobile racks up over 100m downloads
The mobile iteration of the popular battle royale game launched four months ago