New Hire
NetEase hires Jonathan Morin as creative director
Morin will be joining the Montréal office and focusing on creating new IP
Very Big Indie Pitch
Latchback Games draws a winning hand as Break the Beyond wins The Very Big Indie Pitch
Winners breakdown
Global Pitch
Global Games Pitch - Mobile Games takes place on November 2nd to 3rd
The online pitching event will give the spotlight to participants to shout their projects to the world
Blog Posts
Mindworks break down playable ads in case-study
Playable ads are a way of showcasing gameplay within an advertisement to engage and attract players. So how do they work and how effective are they?
Game News
IWM partners with Historical Games Network for ‘War Game’ exhibit
The Imperial War Museum’s latest exhibition doesn’t concentrate on objects from a real-world conflict, but instead on video games that recreate war and its effects.
Four Day Work Week
Anna Yukhtenko: "Some tasks that I thought would take me a long time, actually require much less time if approached tactically"
Hutch is one of the many companies for whom the four day work week trial is still ongoing.
New Hire
FunPlus hires Jacob Krüger as the new user acquisition director
Krüger will be joining the Barcelona office to help lead the companies user acquisition strategy
Journey To Jordan
Celebrating the MENA region in 2022
Learn more about the MENA region ahead of our upcoming events in the area this Q4!
Market Impact
Genshin Impacts celebrates its second birthday in style
The game was the third most profitable title of the past two years
Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia eyes up acquisition of major publisher
The acquisition is part of a $38.7 billion games strategy
Service News
Google Stadia set to shutter in 2023
Google’s foray into game streaming never took off as they had hoped, judging by the imminent closure of the service. Was it simply too early to work?
Streaming News
Netflix rolls out gamertag quality-of-life feature
The first of what looks to be a series of gamer-focused features in their gaming section may be a small addition, but it could herald bigger things.
Download Or Delete?
Free-to-play games are downloading podcast episodes to phones without consent
Publishers are boosting their download rates for monetary purposes using this method
User Acquisition Advice
Matej Lancaric offers tips to improve ad campaigns and find more users
His blog suggests the ideal length of a creative is 20 to 25 seconds
Cooking Up Success
Netflix and Tilting Point team up on three new titles
SpongeBob and Narcos get new games, with an unnamed title also in the works.
Hypercasual Report
Tenjin has released its hypercasual games benchmark report
The report covers Q3 of 2022 and shows Android is at an all time high for share of ad spend
Bringing The Blockchain
Sega’s first blockchain game is coming from partnership with double jump.tokyo
A blockchain game using the Sangokushi Taisen IP is on the horizon
Mobile Device News
Razer resurrect ‘Edge’ branding with new 5G gaming device
Verizon, Qualcomm and Razer will produce what they call the world’s first 5g mobile device specifically for gaming, with a sneak peek in a teaser video.
Revenue Results
Nexters makes a comeback from net loss in H1 2021 to record-high net income for H1 2022
$56 million in H1 and $33 from Q2
Partnership
XPLA announce partnership with Xterio
XPLA are hoping to be the leading blockchain for gamers and this partnership is the next step toward that goal
Bigger And Better Than Ever
Pocket Gamer Connects Helsinki 2022 was our biggest show in the region yet – catch up on what you missed
1550+ attendees, 700+ leading companies, 56 countries represented and more publishers and developers present than ever before
Blockchain Metaverse Game
The creator of PUBG has announced a new blockchain metaverse game
Brendan Greene is creating a new game named Artemis which will feature NFTs
Layoffs Likely
Mighty Kingdom announces cost reduction plans including staff layoffs
Strategy would reduce FTE within developer and administration teams
Dragalia Descending
Dragalia Lost celebrates fourth anniversary two months before servers shut down
Celebrations include in-game bonuses, artwork on Twitter and more
News
Indie Arena Booth boasts 1 million views in hybrid Gamescom experience
The indie games showcase reported at least a million viewers as part of its hybrid online and physical booth at Gamescom 2022.
Helsinki Highlights
Burnout Survival Toolkit
Egor Piskunov talks about recognising the signs of burnout, and what can be done to treat and prevent it.
Newzoo Report
50% of Gen Z and Gen Alpha make in-game purchases
Mobile is the top platform in both demographics
Helsinki Highlights
Creating balanced gameplay through inclusivity
Tülay McNally took to the stage at Pocket Gamer Connects in Helsinki to talk about her role at EA and bringing diversity to games
Ad Fraud
iPhone recorded more ad-related fraud than Android in Q2
The higher LTV of iPhone users makes them a prime target for fraud
Milestone
Pokémon Go reaches $4.5 billion in lifetime revenue
The popular Pokémon Go title reaches milestones in revenue and downloads
News
ASA cracks down on three separate sexist mobile ads
All three ads ruled on by the Advertising Standards Authority dealt with elements deemed to be suggestive or otherwise inappropriate.
News
Additional $40 million of funding raised by Well-Link, the graphics as a service provider
Mihoyo, Developers of Genshin Impact, were part of the second round of investment conducted by the GaaS provider.
Helsinki Highlights
What does it take to self-publish your game?
Another talk from PGC Helsinki discusses the pros and cons of self-publishing your game, on mobile or otherwise.
News
Desta launches alongside charity initiative for youth organisations
Netflix Games’ new title launched today, and developer ustwo promises a 3% profit donation to charity.
Rebranding
Coda is now known as Coda Labs
The rebranding will see a shift in focus toward web3 gaming
Play 2 Plant
Sybo continues to fight climate change with Play2Plant event
SYBO launches first-ever Times Square billboard and Subway Surfers goes truly evergreen as gamers plant 500K trees with Ecologi
News
Technicolor's VFX and Game Studio become independent entity
The studio’s gaming branch is, as of reporting, independently trading under the name “Technicolor Creative Studios”.
Helsinki Highlights
Exploring live ops in the metaverse
John Goodale spoke about the metaverse at Pocket Gamer Connects Helsinki
Helsinki Highlights
Understanding the Complexity of Today’s Player
Louise Shorthouse helps us understand how the multi-platform gamer is now the dominant type of player for mobile games, and what can be done with this info.
Last Chance To Join
Connect with over 650+ top games companies at Pocket Gamer Connects Helsinki – all from the comfort of your couch!
Pocket Gamer Connects Helsinki has kicked off in full force, but there’s time to join us as a virtual attendee!
Helsinki Highlights
Purchase Behaviour Targeting Insights To Scale IAPs in the Age of 'the App-ocalypse'
Brett Orlanski of Bango Audiences speaks on getting out of the app-ocalypse
Series A
Hadean raises $30 million in a Series A funding round
The funding round was led by Molten Ventures and will be put towards growth in the metaverse
News
ASUS Republic of Gamers announces gaming tournament to promote new mobile device
PUBG and Call of Duty mobile will form the playlist for a series of “Exclusive Influencer tournaments” to promote ROG’s new phone.
News
Apple enables NFT sales, with a 30% tariff catch
The iOS app-store is planning to enable NFT purchases, however the terms have already begun putting off crypto-enthusiasts.
Helsinki Highlights
How to Add New Features without Making your Game Implode
Pocket Gamer Connects Helsinki 2022 has now begun! We bring you one of the highlights of the morning track with a talk on adding game features and player retention.
News
Supersonic boasts of game success in Car Cops case-study
The game publisher lauds an ability to help developers increase their game’s popularity, retention and playtime, but how did they do it?
Mobile Games Growth Programme
Ukie and Barclays partner to create mobile games growth programme
The programme will support the growth of the mobile games industry in the UK with experts offering workshops and guidance
New Studio
Netflix Gaming opens new studio in Helsinki
This marks the company’s second studio in the city
Hypercasual Lessons
TapNation's Florian Jauffrineau on hypercasual lessons
Want to see your hypercasual game hit the charts? Here are three lessons that could set your game on the right path
News
Napster set to return in Web3 & Metaverse debut
The pioneering free streaming service is set to return and has already picked up an ex-Roblox exec with a background in virtual concerts.