Most Read
Hot Five: Clash of Clans has its best month ever, Bernard Kim becomes a Mobile Legend, and what we learned at PGC London 2020
The hottest stories of last week
Usa Bound
Pocket Gamer Connects returns to Seattle in 2020!
The two-day mobile games B2B conference makes Seattle its Stateside home once more
Happy New Year
Happy Lunar New Year to our readers in China
The Year of the Rat begins
Mobile Legend
Zynga president Bernard Kim honoured as a Mobile Legend at the Pocket Gamer Mobile Games Awards 2020
From Disney to EA to Zynga, Kim's impact on the mobile space is impossible to ignore
Split Up
Daybreak Games breaks off into three studios
Two based in San Diego and one in Austin
On The Move
Most of Nutaku's player base is now on mobile
Adult platform now boasts 45 million registered players
Case Closed?
Nintendo defeats Germany and Norway in court case over eShop pre-orders
The decision has been appealed
Event
Biggest Pocket Gamer Connects ever welcomed c.2,500 attendees to London this month
Representatives from almost 1,300 companies witnessed 310 speakers and held 9,300 organised meetings!
Gotta Catch Em All
Pokemon Go live events generated $249 million in tourism revenues in 2019
Further events have been added in 2020
Playful Layoffs
Playful Studios "significantly" reduces full-time staff as part of studio restructuring
Pivoting to "a more streamlined production model"
Keep Clashing
Clash of Clans had its best month for revenue ever in December 2019
Generates $158.2 million in revenues for the month
Seeing Stars
Stardew Valley clears 10 million sales in just under four years
Not bad for a mostly solo-developed indie game
Winner Dinner
Sky: Children of the Light and Call of Duty: Mobile crowned 'Games of the Year' at the PG Mobile Games Awards 2020
The good and the great from every facet of the mobile games industry celebrated at exclusive Cafe de Paris evening gala event
Topping Out
Update: EA to shutter its mobile Tetris games as N3twork takes over license
New N3twork developed Tetris game lands on iOS and Google Play
Join The Fun
Project xCloud makes its way to Canada as part of preview rollout
Invited Canadians will have access from January 29th
User Acquisition
Consumer Acquisition snaps up former Zynga head of user acquisition
John Choi has 12 years experience in the industry
Expanding To Asia
Double Eleven to open new studio in Malaysia
Recruitment begins February
New Record
SpecialEffect's One Special Day fundraises nearly $600,000
"Life-changing difference"
Financials
MAG Interactive sees 17% revenue jump but a 40% drop in active users
Interim report detailed September to November 2019
Staffing Up
Report: TikTok's ByteDance is looking to make a major push with mobile games in 2020
Two games expected by Spring
Marvel-ous
Scopely acquires Marvel Strike Force developer FoxNext Games
Deal includes Cold Iron Studios
Loot Boxes
NHS mental health director urges game developers to ban loot boxes
“Frankly no company should be setting kids up for addiction"
Jagex Hiring Spree
Jagex bolsters team with six new hires for 2020
All come from a strong industry background
Stillfront Buys Storm8
Stillfront Group acquires casual developer Storm8 in deal worth up to $400 million
$300 million upfront, with $100 million if financial targets are met
Acquisition
Tencent makes initial offer to fully acquire Funcom
All shareholders have the option to accept or reject the offer
Job News
Sumo Digital hires Dr Jake Habgood and Jenny Muhlwa
They will be focused on training and education
Flying Higher
AppsFlyer raises $210 million in Series D funding round
It's been three years since the last investment round
Pgc London 2020
Snap Finger's Joanna Haslam on the positives of game design documents
Design director shared her tips and tricks in London
Environmentally Friendly
What game developers can do to help the environment
Sam Barratt, chief of education and youth at UN Environment, explains how we can help
Games For Good
How developers can start making games that make a positive impact on society
Elite Founders CEO Joakim Achren leads the panel
Pgc London 2020
Mag Interactive head of ideation shares the when, why, and how of prototyping
Matthew Buxton's top tips for developers
Hypercasual Art
How to make the right art for your hypercasual game
Rollic creative director Inci Alper gives a crash course in hypercasual art
Unique Identities
Riot Forge on how to find your own unique identity as a studio
Head of studio Leanne Loombe talks finding your own path in the development world
What Is Hypercasual?
Kwalee on what exactly makes a hypercasual game
Head of publishing Simon Prytherch on building a game for the fastest-growing genre
Pgc London
Good Job Games has the highest amount of video ad share on the App Store
Mobile Action's Aykut Karaalioglu shared details during PGC London
Pgc London 2020
Mobile makes up 40% of all games revenue in Brazil
Industry is worth $2.24 billion
Pgc London 2020
Black Desert Mobile reaches 20 million installs, series crosses $1.5 billion revenue
"One of the most popular MMORPGs in the Asian market"
Pgc London 2020
58 per cent of users turn off push notifications on iOS
Leanplum's Nathan Ceulemans shared his three 'tricks'
Pgc London 2020
Avid.ly on why user acquisition and monetisation need to go "hand in hand" for product success
Melinda Kang explained the importance of each
Good, Bad, Future
Quicksave on the good, the bad, and the future on instant gaming
CEO Elina Arponen talks download sizes, messenger bots, and a lack of market data
Instant Gaming
Facebook Gaming on optimising Instant Games design
Joy Marianowicz discusses the "super powers" Instant Games have that other platforms don't
Pg Connects London 2020
Retention rate is key to in-game advertisements, says Tenjin lead data scientist
The US creates 10 times more ad revenue
Job News
AR studio Draw & Code names Spencer Crossley as new CEO
Brings experience from Sony, Hasbro, Warner Bros. and more
Game Changers
Learn how hypercasual and social games are changing the industry at Pocket Gamer Connects London 2020
One of 15 tracks at the conference
Networking
Shake hands with the world’s top games companies: your guide to who’ll be at Pocket Gamer Connects London 2020
From Amazon to Zynga: an unbeatable line-up of the leading games companies awaits you in London this January
Home Turf
Nintendo Switch Lite passes 1 million sales in Japan
Console launched in September 2019
Green Is Good
Microsoft pledges to be "carbon negative" by 2030
Plans to remove all carbon emitted by 2050
Making Moves
Google and BT partner to offer customers free Stadia Premiere with broadband deal
UK residents can sign up until January 30th
Cat And Mouse
NetEase's Tom and Jerry mobile game catches 100 million users in China
Hanna-Barbara title launched in May 2019
The Indie Track
Come along for The Indie Track at Pocket Gamer Connects London 2020
One of 15 tracks at the event