This Week In China
This Week In China: Female-focused games are on the rise in China, while Code Dragon Blood is making waves in Japan
The biggest stories straight from Beijing
Welcome Aboard
Niantic hires Megan Quinn as its new COO
She has a background in leadership and investment
Ride Or Die
Monster Hunter Riders surpasses five million downloads
It launched in February
Outta This World
Mike Bithell launches a six-part episodic audiobook about space
The episodes will drop weekly
Money Money Money
Keywords revenue was up 30% in 2019
Firm saw a higher adjusted EBITDA, but dividend payment dips
Digital Conference
Meet and learn from companies like Wargaming, Pokémon, Paradox, Gameloft and more - here’s what you can expect from Pocket Gamer Connects Digital #2
The leading mobile B2B games industry event goes online-only again for a week-long event of talks, pitches and networking
Time's Up
Sega Heroes and Crazy Taxi Idle Tycoon shutting down following Demiurge split from Sega
Servers close May 21st
Gamesdone
Gamescom and Devcom 2020 physical events pulled after Germany pushes lockdown restrictions to August 31st
Digital event for Gamescom "will definitely take place"
Kick Your Bot
Adjust's new survey finds that 41 per cent of mobile gamers have used bots
Bot spending is $65 on average
A Big Plus
Superplus raises $4.7 in funding for causal PVP games
Hills of Steel 2 and Brawls of Steel launch this year
Heating Up
Planet Entertainments hits back amongst Cooking Mama drama
"By contract Planet is fully within its rights to publish Cooking Mama: Cookstar"
Global Expansion
Tencent launches hugely popular MOBA Arena of Valor in Russia and MENA
200 million players worldwide to date
Digital Conference
Don’t miss your second chance to do business online at Pocket Gamer Connects Digital
Cancel all other plans for June 8-12. The essential B2B games conference will return for another week after its amazing 2020 debut
Farewell
Indie Megabooth shuts down for the duration of the coronavirus pandemic
Will still be running a Steam sale in May
Slapping Downloads
Slap Kings racked up the most mobile downloads in March 2020
Voodoo had three entries
Cook Out
Office Create is "evaluating all legal action" against Planet Entertainment over unauthorised Cooking Mama title
"The quality of the game builds failed to meet the standards that our customers expect and deserve"
The Big Two-oh
Gameloft celebrates 20th anniversary with free Gameloft Classics collection
Play NOVA, Modern Combat 2, and High School Hook Ups on your smartphone
Independence
Demiurge becomes an independent studio after its co-founder buys it back from Sega
It will continue to run Marvel Puzzle Quest and Sega Heroes
Big Indie Pitch
Attractive Interactive's Paper Game is crowned the winner of the first ever digital Big Indie Pitch
We reveal the winners of the first ever digital Big Indie Pitch
Typing...
Storytelling platform Unrd raises $2.5 million in funding
To be used for new formats and audience growth
Tv Show
TinyBuild reveals an animated Hello Neighbor TV show
A six-minute pilot is available for free on YouTube
Shut Down
Pokemon Rumble Rush is shutting down just over a year after launching
The servers close on July 22nd
Bad Liar
Pop star Selena Gomez files lawsuit against Clothes Forever developer LoveCrunch
Suing for damages, profits, and for the game to stop using her likeness.
Hypercasual Help
Supersonic Studios partners with ITI to help publish Japanese games internationally
"We are excited to help other Japanese developers see their games achieve international success"
Nifty Moves
Nifty Games closes $12 million series A funding round as it reveals NFL licensing agreement
NFL Clash will be the studio's first game
Call Me Maybe
Activision Blizzard CEO gives out personal number to employees amid pandemic
Bobby Kotick also confirms all games are on track
Subject To Approval
Nordisk Film Games becomes largest shareholder in Nitro Games following $4.5 million investment
Funds will go towards more shooter games
Event Latest
First Pocket Gamer Connects Digital smashes expectations with over 1,100 attendees from 60 countries
Representatives from almost 650 companies witnessed over 160 expert speakers and organised 2,600 digital meetings throughout the week!
Investment
Sony invests $400 million in streaming platform Bilibili
It owns 4.98 per cent of the Chinese firm
Shifting Units
Apple shipped 2.5 million iPhones in China last month
Five times more than February
End Of An Era
Alien: Blackout developer Rival Games closes its doors as coronavirus shuts down partnership opportunities
"It shut down all the leads that we had and left us lost in the dark with no way out"
Surprise Mechanics
ESRB to flag random loot mechanics in games
Follows the introduction of in-game purchases more than two years ago
Collaboration Spree
Kabam soft-launches action-RPG Disney Mirrorverse in the Philippines
Set to feature familiar faces from the world of Disney and Pixar
Most Read
Hot Five: Scrabble Go has a huge launch, Super Evil Megacorp saves Vainglory, and the making of Shantae and the Seven Sirens
The hottest articles of last week
This Week In China
This Week In China: Minecraft adds epidemic prevention content and 37Games plans to raise money for cloud gaming
A look back at the biggest stories direct from China
Here's A Story
Tamatem secures strategic partnership with Nanobit for launch of Hollywood Story in the MENA region
Now know as Fashion Queen
Nerf This
Homa Games partners with Hasbro on NERF Epic Pranks! and more
First of several games to be released
Welcome Aboard
Double Eleven hires Ian Ng as Malaysian studio head
Used to work for Ubisoft Singapore
Streaming
Microsoft is bringing Project xCloud streaming service to Western Europe
11 countries will get access
Take Two
GDC Summer registrations are now open
It is being held between August 4th and 6th
Try It Out
Google Stadia Pro is free for two months
1080p is now the default resolution in order to not take up too much bandwidth
Will Mama Fix It?
Cooking Mama: Cookstar launch spoiled by cryptocurrency mining rumours and potential lawsuits
Game still available in physical form
Pgc Digital
PGC Digital: Why you shouldn't just "follow your GPS" and listen to your audience when designing live ops
GamePoint live ops manager Wouter Schrijvershof looks at the studio's work on GamePoint Bingo
Pgc Digital
PGC Digital: Looking at live ops from an analytics perspective
Small Giant Games lead data analyst Peitsa Hynninen
Pgc Digital
PGC Digital: East Side Games on how it handles live ops, even when working remotely
CEO Joshua Nilson outlines the company's strategy
Pgc Digital
PGC Digital: Using AWS to make the most of live ops
AWS Game Tech's Chris Finch and Tabitha Graves dig into the specifics
Missing Gravity
World of Tanks Blitz gives players chance to win a piece of the moon in new Gravity Force game mode
"This is one small step for man, but one giant leap for Tank-kind."
Money Money Money
Embracer Group raises $164 million in investment
Will be used for acquisitions and expansion
Jetfuel
N3twork launches $50 million growth fund to scale tomorrow’s hit mobile games
Get 10,000 ad campaign for free
What A Shame
ESA confirms that E3 2020 digital event won't be taking place
But trade body says it will be supporting companies who were meant to be at the show