Charts
Weekly global mobile games charts: Kabam’s Marvel Contest of Champions enjoys Western surge in player spending
This week's charts cover the period from November 26th to December 2nd
Is It Over?
China establishes Online Games Ethics Committee as end of games freeze nears
20 reviews have taken place, nine games rejected under new regulations
Funded
UK games industry receives a tasty slice of the government’s $25.5 million creative industries boost
Games in education program Digital Schoolhouse to receive $255,000 in funding
Brexit
Creative Industries Federation urges the UK government to safeguard the $129 billion sector post-Brexit
TIGA welcomes the report with open arms, calling for particular support for UK games
Event
Gaming Istanbul 2019 announces PlayStation and HP OMEN as exhibitors
Turkish B2B and B2C expo set for January return
Moba
NetEase is bringing Super Evil Megacorp’s flagship MOBA Vainglory to China
Mobile-exclusive MOBA is also coming to PC and consoles in 2019
Zoned
MZ picks up Wells Fargo exec for chief financial officer role
Has experience with IPOs and M&A activity
Winner Winner
Mountains takes home Best Mobile Game prize from The Game Awards 2018
Matt Makes Games’ Celeste also took home prizes for Best Indie Game and Games for Impact Award
Investment
Pocket Gamer Connects London 2019 launches Investor Connector
Making it easier than ever to get one-on-one time with investors that are ready to spend
Jobs
A new mobile Pokemon game may be in the works
The Pokemon Company is looking for a principal game designer on an unnamed mobile game
Labo
Nintendo Labo named one of Time Magazine’s inventions of the year
Top 50 inventions list praises Nintendo's cardboard controls for "helping gamers create their own fun"
Oh Dear
Apple removes strategy game from the iOS App Store for featuring the Taliban
The development director at the studio who published the game shared the news on Twitter
Check
Mobile acquisition and management firm Maple Media snaps up Banana & Co’s mobile games portfolio
Games include Checkers, Hearts, Mahjong Match! and Sudoku
Epic
Sensor Tower: Epic Games’ Fortnite makes $1.2m a day for November on iOS alone
The battle royale has now made $385 million from iOS
On The Go
App Annie claims mobile games will snap up 60 per cent of worldwide gaming revenue next year
Increased power and cross-platform successes could see handhelds take almost two-thirds of the gaming pie
Acquired
Mobile measurement company Adjust purchases Acquired.io
Acquired.io’s technology set to be fully integrated with Adjust by H2 2019
Teach
Supercell clashes games skill shortage with free new coding school
Finnish developer puts significant funding behind the free Helsinki program
Award Winners
Star Trek: Trexels II picks up Studio Game of the Year at India GDC Awards 2018
Winners revealed at ceremony
Solid
Roblox builds up revenues of $25m for October
The revenue haul represents a 67 per cent increase year-on-year
Lost And Found
Nintendo’s Dragalia Lost hatches over $50m in just over two months
The RPG is still only available in the US, Japan, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Macau
Huge
Epic is launching its own Android games storefront off back of Fortnite success
Launching soon with a curated selection of games
Charts
Weekly global mobile game charts: Ironhides’ Kingdom Rush Vengeance off to strong start in UK, US and China
Covers the period from November 19th to 25th.
Fantastic
Final Fantasy XV: A New Empire made on average $1 million a day in November
Combat-focused city builder earned $30 million worldwide throughout last month
Nice
Soomla snags $2.6m in funding to boost mobile monetization measurement platform
The funding was led by JAL Ventures with further investment from existing partners
Catch ‘em
Pokemon Go catches $80 million worldwide revenue in November
Worthy catch marks a 50 per cent year-over-year increase
Magic
Gameloft’s Disney Magic Kingdom soars to $114 million in lifetime revenue
Enchanted park builder has also reached over 70 million downloads since 2016
Winner Winner
Tencent’s PUBG Mobile crowned best game of the year on Android by Google
King’s Candy Crush Friends Saga and Team Alto’s Odyssey also given nods
Indie Delight
Donut County and Gorogoa named iPhone and iPad game of the year by Apple
Alto’s Odyssey and battle royale games also given the nod
Igdc Begins
“By the games industry for the games industry”: India Game Developer Conference kicks off
Rebranded event aims to promote emerging sector
Global
Tencent and NetEase saw a 382 per cent increase in international mobile games revenue during 2018
China’s game freeze hasn’t stopped the country’s biggest players going global
Chicken Dinner
PUBG Mobile revenue grows 166 per cent to surpass Fortnite for the first time
Brendan Greene’s handheld battle royale earned $12 million in the week ending Black Friday
Holiday
US mobile games revenue hit $55.8 million all-time peak over Black Friday
This year’s bargain holiday market the most successful day for mobile gaming in the US ever
Royale
PUBG Mobile hits 30 million daily active players and 200 million downloads in eight months
Handheld battlegrounds held the second highest MAU count among all mobile games this quarter
Strategy
PlayRaven leaves Eve: War of Ascension to CCP after joining Rovio’s flock
CCP London will take over the development of the galactic MMO tie-in
Jobs
Jam City laid off “a large number” of developers on Friday
Mobile developer has yet to reveal exactly how many employees have lost their jobs
Big Deal
Social casino giant Playtika acquires Pearl’s Peril dev Wooga
German studio finds a buyer after self-proclaimed 'tough two years'
Party Time
Join us for the PG Christmas Mixer in association with Ogury
Free relaxed networking, panel discussions and drinks in central London
Charts
Weekly global mobile game charts: Tencent’s Naruto Online makes a splash in the East
Charts for the week of November 12th
Super
Marvel: Contest of Champions Cyber Monday revenue exploded 583 per cent in one week
Kabam’s mobile fighter reached a superpowered $3.3 million this holiday weekend
Sound Strategy
Analytics group believes Nintendo can claim control of the 2019 console market with the Switch
Strategy Analytics isn't worried about the enduring success of home consoles
Hard Turn
Nintendo shoots down Elon Musk's request to license Mario Kart to Tesla’s range of electric cars
The Tesla CEO seems open to the possibility of adding PC games marketplace Steam though
Stocked
Mobvista hopes to snag $173.9m from IPO to boost mobile advertising and analytics platform
The Hong Kong-based company also intends
Joining The Flock
Angry Birds creator Rovio snaps up Finnish dev PlayRaven
Rovio claims the move will help them strengthen their presence in strategy games
Woah
British consumers to rack up $1.2 billion in spending on mobile games this year
The figure is set to rise to $2 billion in 2023
Special Offer
Pocket Gamer Connects London Early Bird prices end today!
Save up to $400 if you book your tickets by midnight
Jamming
Jam City wraps up Bingo Pop IP acquisition with new Toronto Studio
The Bingo Pop team will join Jam City as part of the move
Speak Up
Tencent, Zynga and Natural Motion set to speak at India Games Developer Conference 2018
Activision, Ubisoft and Avalanche Studios also to feature
It's A Match
Matchmade reveals plans to open a US office amid $4.8m investment
The platform now also offers key Twitch data to marketers
Big Data Energy
UK video games industry contributed over £1.069bn to country's economy in 2017
The figure could be much higher, however.
Lets Go
Pokemon Let’s Go Pikachu and Eevee sold 1.5m units in the US in just ten days
RPGs launched back on November 16th