Industry Connections
250 companies heading to Pocket Gamer Connects Helsinki 2016
Get your networking on
Job Losses
Goodgame compulsory dismissals affect 114 staff
Temporary roles also on the line
Gaming Gifts
Giftgaming gets 95% opt-in rate for sponsored gifts in Creative Mobile game
40,408 gifts opened in Fetty Wap: Nitro Nations Stories
And Away We Go
Rick and Morty co-creator joins with ex-Epic Games EP to form new VR studio Squanchtendo
And they're hiring
The Time Is Soon
Wooga on establishing a scalable smartwatch gaming market ahead of Apple Watch 2 and watchOS 3
CEO Jens Begemann on Fish Time and experimenting with IAP
Respawn 2016
1,500 visitors from across the globe swooped into Cologne for Respawn 2016
Respawn 2017 dates announced
Number!
1010! developer Gram Games after a new viral hit with tricky puzzler Six!
Uneven towers and giant hexagons galore
Pgc Helsinki Speaker Spotlight
Making games to be shared: Qaos Games on how to develop for virality
CEO Sebastian Lindén talks us through the key to making viral games
Sheppard Leads
Andrew Sheppard named CEO of rebranded GREE International Entertainment
Ryotaro Shima takes his old job as COO
G2a Interview
G2A on its ambitions to become a "full-on digital marketplace"
CEO Bartosz Skwarczek discusses the company's growth, mobile and VR
Oysterworld In Administration
OysterWorld cuts 50 staff and leaves wages unpaid as it enters administration
Developer has debts of more than $2.6 million
Futureplay Funding
View-to-play pioneer Futureplay Games raises $2.5 million to boost its business
Increasing its team and production capabilities
Back To Grind
Plarium looks to fight another battle with the launch of mobile MMOG Throne: Kingdom at War
Medieval strategy hits app stores
Optimal
Customer marketing cloud Optimove integrates services with Google Ads
Improved retention through targeted ads
Learn From The Best
What other mobile shooters should learn from Glu Mobile's Rival Fire
The case for Rival Fire as a best-in-class shooter
Dig Deep
Despite huge funding rounds, most VR developers are funding projects out of their own pockets
Not so lucrative after all
Scaling Up
1010! developer Gram Games on opening a new London studio and developing midcore games
New recruit Alex Willink reveals all about the company's plans
Pokemon Go Home
Pokemon GO was the top grossing game worldwide in July 2016
Pope owns balcony
Best Man
Hall of Fame: Seriously's Petri Järvilehto on building big games franchises
From Max Payne to Angry Birds and Best Fiends
Wargaming Mobile
Wargaming reiterates commitment to mobile despite WG Cells Seattle closure
WG Cells CEO David Bluhm explains the situation
Wg Cells Closure
Update: Wargaming closes Seattle-based studio WG Cells and lays off 60 staff
Currently unknown how this affects other operations
Good Catch?
Endemol Shine sets up new London studio Good Catch Games, developing official game of YouTuber KSI
Hiring Product Manager, UA Manager, and Head of Development
Vr Esports
360-degree VR eSports platform SLIVER.tv raises $6.2 million in seed funding
Bringing eSports highlights to VR
Rather Pleased Birds
Rovio greenlights Angry Birds Movie 2 as profits jump in first half of 2016
Teases new games that we already know about
Talking Heads
Space Ape, Epic Games, Traplight, Motorious and Playa are the latest speaker additions for PG Connects Helsinki 2016
More minds, more knowledge
Pokemon Go Away
Pokemon GO's active users are in steep decline - but does it really matter?
Axiom Capital Management seems to think so
Not So Distant Dream
Google Daydream VR could could launch in a matter of weeks
Offering six-figure sums to help promote the platform
The Good Storyteller
Four lessons in emotional storytelling and plot structure from Pixar
Matthew Luhn shares his wisdom with games developers
Be The Baddies
Why Turbine wants you to see yourself become the villain in Batman: Arkham Underworld
Behind the scenes with Executive Producer Athena Peters
Bigger Bang
Big Bang Racing races past three million downloads in its first month
One million user generated levels too
Party With Pocket Gamer
Join Pocket Gamer, Rovio and KamaGames for the PG Connects Helsinki Party
Register for PGC Helsinki to get access
Mo-mo-motorious
Helsinki start-up Motorious Entertainment secures $566,000 to work on Top Gear mobile games
First game a match-3 puzzler
Free Range
Why Egg, Inc is the new gold standard for idle game monetization
One farm game has reinvented idle games
Game Jam
Make a game at the Pocket Jam during Pocket Gamer Connects Helsinki 2016
Join the game jam free
Pocket Platinum
Bayonetta developer Platinum Games enters mobile space with Cygames collaboration
Cites advancements in smartphone technology as reason for shifting development
Last Chance
Final hours of PG Connects Helsinki 2016 Mid Term priced tickets
Book now to save up to 25% for biggest PGC HSK yet
Goodgame Job Losses
Job cuts at one of Germany’s biggest games studios Goodgame could hit “up to 600 employees”
Expats set to receive just 50% reimbursment of relocation costs
Adapting To Asia
Six hacks to crack the app monetization code in Asia
How to pick your approach to monetising Eastern users
Sssmash Hit
Slither.io achieved 80 million downloads worldwide in Q2 2016
So says Sensor Tower's Q2 Data Digest
Island Life
Sky-mobi delists from NASDAQ as $49 million Cayman Islands takeover completes
Trend continues
Color Me Impressed
Indie sensation Color Switch hits 100 million downloads
Next stop, 150 million downloads
Apply Now
How to get a job at Ruzzle developer MAG Interactive
HR Manager Ida Wate shares insights
Tasty Nougat
Android 7.0 Nougat rolls out on Nexus devices with Vulkan API support to boost game graphics
A bunch of emoji too
Asia Bulletin
Apple to open R&D centre in China, Tencent invests big in Douyu TV, Monster Strike dev pivots focus to China, and more
Your weekly Asia bulletin
Facebook's Comeback?
Facebook wants its gamers back with new Unity deal
Social network could be after PC and mobile developers
Party Shenanigans
In Pictures: The hottest party of the week at Gamescom's Pocket Gamer, G-STAR and G2A party
Get tagging
Wakey Wakey
Tommy Palm Google Daydream keynote confirmed for PGC Helsinki 2016
Resolution Games founder offers rare insight into mobile VR platform on September 5th
Back From Cologne
5 things we learned at Gamescom, GDC Europe and Respawn 2016
Three conferences, one week
Strategy Sells
Mobile strategy games generate $194 million in the US in July, but RPGs show much better ARPDAU
And more stats from SurveyMonkey
Gamescom Grows
Record number of companies represented at Gamescom 2016
500,000 visitors to Cologne during the week