Under A Union
Employees from Activision Blizzard's Raven Software form the first gaming union
Accepted by the National Labor Relations Board with 19 votes to 3
Big Fish Focus
Former Amazon gaming manager Larry Plotnick appointed president at Big Fish Games
Supporting innovation and development of casual games
Taken By The Demogorgon
Stranger Things: Puzzle Tales removed from app stores
Titles to be revamped for exclusive Netflix Games release
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Regulate This
US to tighten advertising guidelines against “fake reviews” and manipulative advertiser behaviour
The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is seeking to strengthen its guidelines in an effort to stop advertisers from posting fake positive reviews and abusing social media platforms
Welcome To The Family
Zynga acquisition by Take-Two now completed
Acquisition completed on May 23
Acquisition Interest
Ubisoft holders want €60+ per share for potential sale
At the time of writing, Ubisoft’s share price is €48.29 (roughly $51)
Developer Dash
Liniad Unleashes Playable Dashboard
New 'power dashboard' enables app marketers unlimited variations across all channels
Alleged Acquisition Aspirations
Electronic Arts sought acquisition from Disney, Apple, Amazon, NBC
NBCUniversal came closest to deal thus far
Play Store Policy
Google to permit third-party payment systems for Match Group
Following lawsuit from Match regarding payment systems and revenue share
Soulful
Former Codemasters, Jagex execs establish new studio
Soul Assembly will explore games for VR and the metaverse
Cites Regulatory Crackdown
Tencent revenue growth slows to a crawl following China’s crackdown on tech companies
Net profit fell to 23.4 billion yuan in Q1 2022 – down 51 per cent year-on-year from 47.8 billion yuan
Pinpointing Popularity
Deliver It 3D, Angry Birds Classic, and Football Manager are the fastest-growing iOS games in 2022
Mozillion reports on data for fastest-growing App Store mobile games
Collaborate And Cooperate
Developing the metaverse must prevent harm, Meta's Nick Clegg states
Former UK deputy prime minister shares outlook from virtual glasses to practising surgeries
Backing Blockchain
Azra Games raises $15 million for former Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes exec's blockchain gaming project
Azra Games has secured $15 million in a seed round led by Andreessen Horowitz from both its games and crypto funds
Tiktok Testing
TikTok wants to release in-app games this year
Testing may be in progress in Vietnam
Live Action Appointment
Former Disney and Sony exec appointed president of Genvid Entertainment
Andrew Schneider also appointed chief marketing officer of Genvid Holdings
Directors And Developers
Dr Jakin Vela appointed new IGDA executive director
Founder of Games For Me, CEO of Astral Interactive, and more
Gearing Up For Germany
Microids opens a new office in Germany in expansion plan
Opening in its "second most important" European market
Hypercasual Heights
Pangle and Newzoo’s hypercasual report explores the eastern and western market divide
Audience variation between US, UK, Japan and South Korea highlighted
600 Million Reasons
Andreessen Horowitz launches $600 million games VC fund
GAMES FUND ONE established to invest in games infrastructure and technologies as “key building blocks” of the metaverse
Taking The Subway To The Factory
Former Kiloo director joins Funday Factory
Jeppe Kønig, former Subway Surfer director of publishing, joins Danish multiplayer studio
Time To Save
Five reasons why booking your ticket to PG Connects Toronto today will be the best decision you make
There’s only hours left to save up to $475 on your ticket to our Toronto show this July – act now before time runs out!
Mamma Mia
Saudi Arabia’s PIF acquires 5% stake in Nintendo
Third major investment in Japanese games companies made for “investment purposes”
Network Test
N3TWORK Studios secures $46 million for Web3 games
Independent company formed following Forte’s acquisition of N3TWORK technology platform
Alternative App Store Agreement
Flexion to publish FunPlus’ King of Avalon on alternative app stores
Releasing on Huawei App Gallery and Samsung Galaxy App Store Q2 2022
Gameloft Grows
Gameloft’s newest studio opens near headquarters in Paris
Developing free-to-play elements in console and PC games
Coasts And Climates
Unity founder David Helgason launches climate initiative Transition Labs
Partnering with oceans solution platform Running Tide
Apex Predator
Apex Legends Mobile is the most downloaded iPhone game in 60 countries
Entered the top 10 most downloaded in 89 countries
Hacked Off
US sanctions Blender.io and identifies North Korean Lazarus Group for Axie Infinity hack
The US is sanctioning cryptocurrency mixing platform Blender.io and North Korea's Lazarus Group for their role in the theft of $625 million from Axie Infinity
Party Like It’s 2009-2011
Minecraft is Angry Bird’s latest official collaboration
DLC created by Oreville Studios
Acquisition
Dead by Daylight developer acquires Midwinter Entertainment
Midwinter founded by Halo and Farmville veterans
Spanish Studio
Product Madness opening a new studio in Spain
Its fifth international studio after expansion in UK, Ukraine, Israel and Poland
Meeting Milestones
57% of PUBG Mobile player spend comes from China
Worldwide revenue reaches beyond $8 billion
China's Climb
Chinese mobile games revenue surpassed $9 billion during Q1 2022
Revenue up 2.72% year-over-year
Take-20
Take-Two to release 20 mobile games separately from Zynga
Mobile release of GTA: The Trilogy – The Definitive Edition seemingly delayed, scheduled within fiscal 2023
£10 Million Fund
Eric Seufert launches $10 million investment fund supported by Supercell, Huuuge Games
Heracles Capital fund partners include Supercell, Gamejam CEO Christian Calderon, and Huuuge Games CEO Anton Gauffin
Foreshadowing Fableborne
Pixion Games announces "Lunchtime Esports" game Fableborne
Featuring "play-to-own" NFTs
Blkchn
Former King team raises $3 million to bring Bitcoin to mobile gaming
Casual mobile studio pnkfrg studios aims to merge video UGC with Bitcoin and the Lightning network into mobile gaming experiences
Ip Integration
Curve Games acquires Hue developer Fiddlesticks Games
Acquiring all IP and assets relating to the Hue franchise
Fertile Battlegrounds
Krafton: PUBG Mobile accounted for 75% revenue in Q1 2022
Of record-high $405.7 million revenue for the period, mobile title recorded $307.1 million alone
Crypto Curves
Axie Infinity’s utility currency devalued to $0.004
Value has fluctuated since reaching $0.004 on May 12
Very Big Indie Pitch
Shift Shaft awarded first place at The Big Indie Pitch after offering a new spin on a classic genre
Winners breakdown
Growing In Germany
exmox acquires Testerheld to develop new portfolio features and content
Developing platforms and generating new features
King Moves
King’s Diversity Space Tool to be utilised across Activision Blizzard by Q3 2022
Tool to prevent unconscious bias in game character roster will now be used in Call of Duty and Overwatch 2 teams
Rolling In Revenue
Apple made more games revenue than Google in 2020 and 2021, Newzoo finds
Top 10 companies saw conbined revenue totalling $126 billion last year
Football And Fighting
Nexon predicts doubling of mobile revenue following Q1 2022 financials
Record year for FIFA ONLINE 4 M and launch of Dungeon&Fighter Mobile bolster Nexon's mobile confidence
Infinite Appointments
Infinite Arcade appoints former Visa exec Andrew Dubatowka
Dubatowka held senior positions in Intel, Google, Visa, and AdColony among others
Prepare For Launch
Jeremy Bondy named new CEO of Liftoff
Bondy will succeed founder Mark Ellis, who will remain as senior advisor
Frvr Pitch
FRVR acquires F2P first-person shooter Krunker.io
Title acquired for an undisclosed amount