Event
Find out what awaits you at the first ever Pocket Gamer Connects MENA
Two-day games industry expo features 8 conference tracks, Big Indie Pitch, Investor Connector and more.
Old School
The challenge of taking Old School RuneScape to mobile
Senior game engine developer Christopher Knowles discusses old codebases and getting company-wide buy-in
Bravo
Netflix and King Features working with Studio MDHR on animated Cuphead series
The Cuphead Show featuring Mugman will follow the characters across Inkwell Isle
Event
Everything you need to know about Pocket Gamer Connects Hong Kong 2019
Essential info for those attending our two-day B2B games industry conference next week
No Sale
Update: South Korea's Nexon no longer up for sale following lack of buyers
CEO Jungju Kim apparently wasn't impressed by the list of companies who stepped forward
G-star
East meets West at G-STAR 2019, Asia's largest game exhibition in Busan, Korea, on November 14-17th - early bird registration now open!
Join over 2,000 trade visitors from 36 countries and nearly 700 exhibitors at Asia’s most accessible show
Million Dollars
French start-up Million Victories raises $1.4m to shake up strategy genre
Studio claims debut title Million Lords has 35 per cent day one retention and average revenue per daily active user of $0.50
Crushes Candy Crush
Pokemon Go generates $2.65 billion in first three years
Worldwide catch ‘em all is on track to cross $3 billion in 2019
Woo
Azerion acquires kids MMO Woozworld
Deal comes hot off the back of purchase of Spil Games’ mobile division
Expansion Plans
Mediatonic eyes recruitment drive as it expands to 200 staff and opens new Madrid studio
Gears Pop developer received funds from investment round earlier this year
Revenue Split
Tencent uses clout to negotiate better revenue share on Chinese Android stores
Publisher secures 70/30 split instead of typical 50/50 share with app stores owned by the likes of Huawei and Xiaomi
Roundup
Games industry roundup: Mike Bithell talks John Wick Hex, Yogscast creator fired amidst harassment allegations, and Etheremon runs out of funds
15 articles from PocketGamer.biz, InfluencerUpdate.biz and BlockchainGamer.biz
New Classification
Chinese companies including Tencent want new age-rating system in the region
Follows frustration with the country's approval process
East Meets West
East Meets West: Honor of Kings spending its $728m in H1 2019, Tilting Point invests $20m in CookApps UA, and Nintendo talks 5G
Keeping up with the news from the world's most influential games market
Hot Five
Marshmello debuts new album in mobile game, Nintendo Switch Online passes 10m subs, and Candy Crush's surprise success
The hottest stories from the mobile games industry over the last week
Whole Lotta Cash
Mobile game spending for the first half of 2019 reaches nearly $30 billion
20.1 billion downloads showing a 3.2 per cent increase year-on-year
Indie Investment
Crazy Labs investing $500,000 in hyper-casual indie developers
“Hyper-casual is by far the most dynamic line of games we ever worked on”
Switched On
Nintendo Switch Online surpasses 10 million subscribers
Membership program is growing steadily, says company president
Industry Trends
Nintendo on game streaming and 5G: “We must keep up with such changes in the environment”
Company executives discuss key industry trends and how its teams think about them
Studio Expansion
Keywords opens new recording studio in Brazil
New 3,550ft facility has been set up with its newly acquired subsidiary Maximal Studios
Job News
Kolibri hires former Wooga exec as chief financial officer
Ross Logan becomes first addition to the company's C-Suite since it was founded
Brexit Shenanigans
UKIE says UK government needs to support industry as France launches campaign to attract companies
'Our reputation can be eroded in a globally competitive industry. The emergence of a programme designed to poach talent and businesses from the UK should remind policymakers of this fact'
Latest Hires
Jagex recruits new VP of studio, technical director and QA boss
Mark Faulkner returns to head up firm's publishing platform and Ben Alton is promoted to IT director
Scotland Follows In Third
TIGA names London and the South East as biggest games development hubs in the UK
“London remains a games development powerhouse”
Free Event
“Nobody should live in a bubble”: Why you should attend Helsinki’s free Leadership Day
IGDA’s Teemu Haila explains the vision for September’s games industry summit
Layoffs
NBCUniversal partner Endless Entertainment lays off seven employees
“It’s simply an unfortunate reality of a slow-down in our current development cycle”
Import Tax
Update: Nintendo withdraws some Switch production in China amidst US trade war
Production moving to Southeast Asia according to sources
Event
Last chance to save money on Blockchain Gamer and Pocket Gamer Connects Hong Kong
Mid-term ticket prices for two-day B2B games industry conferences end TONIGHT!
Shovelociraptors
Shovel Knight digs its way to 2.5 million sales worldwide
Title available across 12 different platforms
Auto Chess Unite
Tencent launching own Auto Chess on iOS and Android
Chess Rush versus Auto Chess versus Dota Underlords
Deal Struck
Tencent joins Drodo Auto Chess partnership to co-publish game in China
Players will now be able to login via messaging platform Tencent QQ
Dead Or Alive
Candy Crush co-founder thought title would be “dead” within six months
Casual puzzle series has brought in over $4 billion in revenue
Adult Gaming
Nutaku fronts $5m investment pot for LGBTQ+ games
Adult games firm says it'll be supporting titles from queer creators for three years with this fund
Job News
Sumo Group plans to increase headcount by 15% over next 12 months
Sheffield-based firm will employ around 750 people by July 2020
New Hire
GameClub's new COO on the death of premium games and why subscriptions are the future
"I’d argue premium games died on mobile some time ago. We can’t ignore the changes to the mobile economy that have occurred over these last five to seven years"
Check This Out
DJ Marshmello debuts Joytime III album in new mobile game
Music artist partners with Gamejam on Marshmello Music Dance
Stakes Are High
Nexon acquires majority stake in Embark Studios
Former EA chief design officer and DICE founder Patrick Söderlund heads up the studio
Ad Solution
IronSource launches cross-promotion solution for mobile ads
“IronSource's tool has given us the ability to treat both our ads and our ad units in a cross-promotion with a business mind”
Job News
Voodoo brings on Blizzard, King and Mamau hires for Berlin studio
Two new game designers and two new developers
Meeting Place
Your next business partner, investor, client is waiting at a Pocket Gamer Connects Hong Kong 2019 networking event
Don’t miss these fringe events included in our upcoming b2b conference
Clash Of Clans
$1 million Clash of Clans World Championship heads to Hamburg in October
More than 40 million players have competed in a series of qualifiers in the game’s new 5v5 play mode
Fair Share?
Paradox CEO says 70/30 revenue share status quo is "outrageous"
Firm's executive chairman says that this business model is based in the 1970s VHS market
Top 50
PocketGamer.biz to unveil Top 50 Mobile Games Developers this summer - Have your say
Submit your suggestions by July 12th
Ultimate Game Changers
Lion Studios launches $300k indie mobile games contest
Games new and old welcome; Submissions close on August 15th
Ua Party
Tilting Point to invest at least $20m in CookApps UA
Match-three game Toy Party gets marketing boost
Falling Into Place
N3twork signs exclusive deal for mobile Tetris games
First release is battle royale title Tetris Royale
Rapid Growth
Growing German studio Kolibri hits 100m downloads
The developer behind Idle Miner Tycoon and Idle Factory Tycoon now employs 100 staff
Event
OpenSea, Blockade Games and Diginex join the next wave of speakers for the first Blockchain Gamer Connects Hong Kong
Two-day B2B games industry conference looks poised to make an impressive debut next month
Weekly Charts
Weekly global mobile games charts: Wizards Unite hits top 10 US download charts but is not a top grosser
Rankings from June 17th to June 23rd
Spellbinding Stuff
Harry Potter: Wizards Unite enchants players with $3 million in first week
6.5 million downloads in seven days