Competitive Gaming
Amazon’s $100,000 Mobile Masters esports tournament returns in June
Games include Power Rangers: Legacy Wars, Survival Arena, World of Tanks Blitz and Critical Ops
Amazing
Games Week Berlin 2018 brings in 15,000 visitors
The seven-day rendezvous featured over 12 individual events including A MAZE/ Berlin
Indie Spectacle
Develop:Brighton opens submissions for Indie Showcase
10 developers will get a chance to show off their game at the event
Indie Spotlight
Indie Spotlight: Little Lost Fox's Niamh Fitzgerald on Valleys Between and finding the balance
"Some of my favourite days are ones where I get to focus on game design or technical art"
Silly Money
Ads generate majority of $270k revenue for Finnish indie Part Time Monkey's Silly Walks
Unity Ads-driven earnings made up 97 per cent of all revenue
Big Deal
Tencent eyes investment in Playerunknown's Battlegrounds outfit Bluehole
Local media reports investment could equal around $468 million
On The App
Mobile games revenues to hit $70 billion in 2018
Revenues will account for more than half of the $137.9 billion made across all platforms
Key Release
$1 billion mobile title Disney Tsum Tsum comes to Facebook Instant Games
'Introductory version' launches globally
Face Games
Snapchat gets ‘Snappables’ augmented reality games
Weekly games launch on the platform
Most Impressive
Fingersoft's Hill Climb Racing franchise rolls past one billion downloads
CEO Teemu Närhi and marketing director Sami Saari on how it got here and how it plans to get the next billion
Ad Strategy
Space Ape's Fastlane: A growth engine fuelled with ads
The developer's head of growth Nicolas Boulay on how it refined its ad implemtation to generate nearly $30m in yearly revenue
On The App
Games featured on iOS 11’s Games Tab see 450% more installs
Largest increase in percentage was seen in the Medium List which resulted in a 451 per cent increase
Time Is Money
How does Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery monetise?
Casting a consumerius spell?
Finnternal Promotions
Next Games promotes from within for management team
Finnish games developer also promotes former Head of Games Sami Nurmio to Head of New Projects
Lost And Found
Nintendo taps up Cygames for new RPG game Dragalia Lost
New RPG will be released this summer
Not Bad
Fortnite made $223 million across all platforms in March
Revenue was up 73 per cent from February according to SuperData
Switching It Up
Nintendo’s mobile games brought in $359.5 million in the last year
Overall revenue increased 116 per cent to $9.66 billion
Events
Blockchain Gamer Connects San Francisco speakers: The third wave
The talent behind CryptoKitties and CryptoWars, plus Super Game Chain, PlayTable and more
Going Up
Chinese publisher 37 Interactive doubled its mobile revenue to more than $500m in 2017
Overseas revenue for mobile games also jumped up 80 per cent
Spellbinding
Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery tops App Store download charts in first 24 hours
Tops rankings in UK, US, France, Germany and Spain
Ir Guide
Mobile games industry financials calendar
Keep up to date with financial releases with this handy guide
Rediscovering Value
Why mobile game consultancy group DOD Media is moving into legacy publishing
Leveraging app store muscle
Content-tastic
Pocket Gamer Connects San Francisco 2018 schedule is live
Niantic, King, Super Evil, EA, Zynga lead best line-up to date for May 14th to 15th conference
Loot Box Crisis
Landmark Belgium gaming authority ruling defines loot boxes as gambling
Publishers could face sizeable fines if they don't remove paid loot crates
Come Together
Unity aims to double down on mobile at Unite Berlin
A look ahead at what to expect from the conference in June
Stepping Down
Nintendo president Tatsumi Kimishima to retire
Leaves after nearly three years in the role
Updated
Bidalgo launches self-serve tool for optimising Google universal app campaigns
The mobile app user acquisition platform aims to help marketers grow apps
New Hires
Recruitment drive at ad sales firm Venatus draws in 10 new staff
The company increased revenue 50 per cent year-on-year in 2017
Lift Off
Game Insight taps up Tamatem to publish Airport City in the Middle East and North Africa
The Arabic version of the game will be released on iOS and Android
Not Bad
Osmo surpasses one million educational AR game sales on iPad
Developer wants to scale up its operations
Regional Expansion
Chinese ads firm PapayaMobile opens London office to extend European reach
CEO Si Shen discusses the big move and future plans
You Make My Heart Sing
Jam City unveils new story-driven match-three IP Wild Things: Animal Adventure
Takes inspiration from Gardenscapes
Finland's Finest
Empires & Puzzles wins Small Screen Game of the Year at Finnish Game Awards
Former Big Indie Pitch winner Team Ocmo picks up Rookie of the Year
Co-op
Vungle brings its video ads platform to Samsung Galaxy Apps Store
The initial rollout will be in the US and South Korea
China Gathering
Tencent to publish new Magic: The Gathering games in China
Deal also includes Southeast Asia territories
They Nominated Who
45 Android apps and games up for 2018 Google Play Awards
Well-being, accessibility and social impact make their debut as categories
Big Indie Pitch
Aeon Must Die! walks away with the first place prize at the first ever Big Indie Pitch at GameDevDays
Take a look at the winners from the Big Indie Pitch at GameDevDays 2018
Smashing
Latest Apple, Google and Samsung mobiles smash game monetisation record
DeltaDNA study delves into which devices’ players spend more money
Indie Mavens
Is there an opportunity for indie developers on chat app platforms like Facebook Instant Games?
We caught up with Strange Flavour CEO Aaron Fothergill and Perchang’s co-founder Ben Murch to find out
Big Deal
New mobile ad tech firm WeQ secures $50 million to challenge Facebook and Google ‘duopoly’
Claims exclusive global publishing network and machine learning can support UA campaigns
Better Support
TIGA wants better access to global trade shows for UK developers
Trade body also wants better tax breaks and introduction of Games Investment Fund
Mobile & Conquer
Tencent revives Red Alert game series for mobile
Red Alert Online set for China release
Business News
Eden Games majority owner Millennial Esports enters $10m credit facility
Publisher withdraws initial $1.1 million
Heading East
Tencent backs Fortnite China release with $15 million investment
Chinese publisher plans esports push
All Aboard
British Games Institute names 20 new advisory board members
Shahid Ahmad, Katherine Bidwell, Carl Cavers, Marie-Claire Isaaman and others on board
Not Too Shabby
Featured iOS apps can see up to 800% more downloads
A report by Sensor Tower delves into the download rates of featured iOS games
Closed
Nexon removes LEGO Quest and Collect from iOS and Google Play stores
The title had been in soft launch since June 7th 2017
Not Bad
Italy's games market generated $1.8 billion in 2017
46 per cent of the country's gamers play PC
Jobs News
Ex-Sega Networks CPO Joseph Kim heads to Universal’s games publishing arm as senior VP
Will oversee slate and product management, marketing, user acquisition and revenue optimisation of all apps and games
Final Fight
Capcom Vancouver shuts down Puzzle Fighter
Goes offline for good on July 1st