Loot Boxes
Report: 31% of young gamers don't know how much they spend on loot boxes
"We are calling for parents to be aware of the risks of loot boxes when buying presents this Christmas"
What A Year
Voodoo's portfolio saw over two billion downloads in 2020
It also had 300 million monthly active users
Winner!
Huawei names Free Fire as the best shooting and multiplayer game on AppGallery
Archero, AFK Arena and Asphalt 9 were also winners
Free Falling
Human: Fall Flat hits two million Chinese sales in six days
It shot to the top of the charts
Money Money Money
Mobile app marketing specialist Liftoff secures backing from Blackstone
“We’re excited to be partnering with Blackstone, one of the premier private equity firms in the world"
Independent
Digital Extremes will maintain creative independence after Tencent takeover
"We will continue to create great content for Warframe, and we will remain creatively independent"
Public Potential
Playtika IPO shows revenues and debts of $2.3 billion
It aims to raise over $1 billion
Connect With Top Talent
Connect with top publishers and indie developers at Pocket Gamer Connects Digital #5 with the Publisher SpeedMatch - registration is now open
Sign up to meet the biggest publishers in the game or to scout new talent to take your business to the top
Need To Know
Raw Fury makes its publishing agreement public
“We believe having publisher contracts out in the open helps level the playing field"
Got Stock
Stillfront and Embracer Group dominate the stock market
Both companies have made various acquistions this year
#freefortnite
Epic Games returns to its #FreeFortnite campaign
It sent out packages to journalists and infleuncers
Switched
The Nintendo Switch is entering the "midpoint" of its cycle
"We believe we're just at the midpoint of this life cycle on this platform"
Positive Influence?
Game influencers could get hit by weird additions to US coronavirus relief bill
Amendments to the legislation could give companies an edge in handling how their IP is used
Going Digital
The digital games market grew 15 per cent in November
Mobile was up nine per cent year-on-year
Possible Deal
ByteDance is looking to acquire mobile games publisher CMGE
Its company stake would be worth $275 million
An Imposter!
Among Us hit 500 million monthly active users in November
Majority of users are on mobile
Gobble Gobble
Bandai Namco teams with the NBA for Pac-Man content
"Everyone at Bandai Namco Entertainment is extremely proud and excited to bring Pac-Man together in partnership with the NBA"
Welcome To The Family
Voodoo acquires Paris-based studio OHM Games
"We're thrilled to be able to build on our existing relationship with OHM Games"
Farm Life
Goodgame Studios opens pre-registrations for Big Farm: Home & Garden
Only avaiable through Google Play
Hyped Up
TapNation to host its first $150,000 game jam in January
"We are very happy to host the first hyper-casual game jam of the year, which is also the first one for TapNation"
Your Next Job
FREE entry for games industry jobseekers with Careers Week at Pocket Gamer Connects Digital #5, February 8th to 12th
Looking for the next step in your professional career? Be the first to find new job adverts and get advice from recruiters at our fifth online conference
Catch A Cheat
Over two million PUBG Mobile accounts have been suspended for cheating
Due to a variety of cheats
Proving Popular
KamaGames hits 150 million unique users across its library
"We're both humbled and proud to say we've hit the 150 million unique user mark"
Welcome Aboard
Jagex hires Shaun Rees as its new submission and release manager
Rees previously worked for PlayStation
Acquisition
Mag Interactive snaps up Swedish studio Apprope
"We are impressed by Apprope's combination of rapid development and high quality"
Top Dog
Rovio names Alexandre Pelletier-Normand as its new CEO
"We are delighted to appoint Alexandre as a new CEO. In accordance with our strategy, we have shifted our focus in the past years to our games business"
Online Courses
Discover new skills with deep dive games industry courses – your chance to shape the curriculum
What skills do you want to learn in 2021? Win free PGC tickets for filling in this MasterClass survey now
Switch It Up
Nintendo Switch remains the best-selling console in Canada for 25 consecutive months
790,000 units have been sold in the country this year
Down Under
Diablo Immortal enters a technical alpha in Australia
"This is an early look at Diablo Immortal—an exciting new chapter in our action role-playing game series"
Competition Time
Voodoo is hosting a hypercasual tournament with a top prize of $150k
Entries must be in the puzzle or runner genres
Coming Of Age
China introduces a new age-rating system for games
The categories are eight-plus, 12-plus and 16-plus
Subscriber Freebies
Get exclusive holiday offers and benefits on all our events - subscribe to our events mailing list to enter
Exclusive subscriber discounts, giveaways, early access to unmissable content and more awaits including a festive offer on our next Pocket Gamer Connects Digital event
Money Money Money
Discord valuation has doubled to $7 billion
Firm raising $140 million in new funding round
Ninten-yay
Nintendo to show off its new theme park in a showcase later today
No gameplay will be shown
Scholarship
Ubisoft reveals scholarship for UK Black students to study computer science
"We wanted to go one step further and tackle an area where we can truly make a meaningful difference to diversify the UK games industry"
See You In Court
Glu Mobile sues Reworks Oy for patent infringement
"Glu is not a litigious company, but given this clear patent infringement by Reworks, we have a responsibility to file this lawsuit—we must protect the value of our innovation and intellectual property"
Solving Problems
Nintendo could look at a solutions for Joy-Con drift issues
"First and foremost, we want every consumer to have a great experience with their Nintendo Switch, and with the games they play on Nintendo Switch"
Falling Upwards
Human Fall Flat mobile soars to top spot in China following release
The Curve titled released in the region with support from X.D. Network and 505 Games
Claim A Freebie
GameRefinery makes its iOS downloads and revenue data free
"2020 has been a tough year for everyone, and so we're delighted to offer our iOS revenue and download data free to all customers this Christmas"
Oh Snap
Snap Inc partners with Unity to bring its tech to game developers
"We're building on our commitment of enabling developer success at all stages of the game life cycle, from creation onwards"
G-star Success
Over 850,000 people watched G-STAR TV from the top South Korea conference
G-STAR 2020 reaches a huge audience over twitch with a new digital exhibition, and sets new records!
No Fair
Facebook claims new App Store policies are anti-competitive
"Apple is behaving anti-competitively by using their control of the App Store to benefit their bottom line at the expense of creators and small businesses"
Acquisition
Keywords snaps up PR agency Indigo Pearl and audio firm Jinglebell
"We are delighted to have further grown the Keywords family by adding such talented teams in Milan and London"
Going Public
Skillz becomes the first public mobile esports platform
"We stand at the intersection of mobile gaming and esports, perhaps the two most exciting growth opportunities of the next decade"
Money Money Money
Mighty Kingdom completes $4 million pre-IPO
It added two new board members
Discount Ends
LAST CHANCE to save up to $395 on tickets to Pocket Gamer Connects Digital #5 - book now
Don’t miss out on these incredible savings and grab your tickets for Europe’s leading mobile B2B games industry conference
A Good Deed
Future Games of London donates nearly $18k to small charity Lifelites
To provide life-limited children with specialised tech to play games
Talking Heads
Hear practical games industry case studies from SEGA Europe, Rovio, Miniclip, DICE and more at Pocket Gamer Connects Digital #5
What can you learn from the games industry’s leading authorities? The latest confirmed speakers for our next digital conference includes some incredible names in the business.
The Palace Awaits
Update: Stranger Things: Puzzle Tales delayed until 2021
Originally slated for 2020 full-release, no mention of a location-based element
Evolving Partnership
Tilting Point enters funding partnership with Joycity, invests $40 million in Gunship Battle: Total Warfare
Looking to grow audience internationally and in the US