Finance
Weak mobile and browser game performance led to a poor 2019 financial year for Square Enix
Solid releases couldn't sway the tide against slower-than-expected mobile and MMO performance
New Research
Tapjoy: Mobile games have gone mainstream in the US
63 per cent of mobile gamers were found to be women
Event
Blockchain Cuties, Mythical Games and Refereum to speak at the first Blockchain Gamer Connects Hong Kong
First speakers revealed for two-day industry conference this July
Steve Go
AR game Minecraft Earth arrives on mobile this summer
Players can sign up to a closed beta now
Esports
Gameloft launches esports tournament series for Asphalt 9: Legends
A prize fund of $22,325.00 (€20,000) is up for grabs
Streaming
MainStreaming raises $6 million to stream games in Europe and the US
Company to expand into the games market further
Portability
Nintendo Switch overtakes PlayStation 4 lifetime sales in Japan
Sony still dominates heavily in worldwide sales though
Pgc Seattle
Pocket Gamer Connects Seattle starts strong with over 630 games delegates
Grand debut for the event at the Grand Hyatt
Games To Fund
Games2Win launches Replay games funding initiative for Indian developers
Mentoring, developing, advice and marketing
Winner Winner
Battle royale games have surpassed $2 billion on mobile
NetEase’s Knives Out leads the way
Gun Runners
Reality Clash dev launches its own crypto collectables trading platform
Reality Clash is building a new breed of player
Big Deal
Microsoft and Sony set aside rivalry to team up on cloud gaming
PlayStation maker to use Azure data centres for cloud gaming; will also work with Microsoft on new developments
Financials
Japan success helps propel NetEase sales to $2.7 billion in Q1 2019
Chinese publishing giant also knocking it out the park at home
Finance
Ubisoft’s mobile bookings grew nearly 75 per cent in a record year for the French publisher
Mobile might be a minor part of Ubisoft's business, but it's only going to become more important in the coming years
Financials
Tencent hopes Season Passes will help revitalise games growth after decline
Publisher is now clear of China's licensing freeze
Mobile Future
NCSoft wants more from its legacy RPG franchises on mobile as sales decline
Mobile still makes up more than half of the company's sales
Jobs
Angry Birds VR developer Resolution Games names new COO
Dreber joins to help drive the AR/VR studio's business strategy and growth
Business Deal
Kahoot acquires learn-to-read app Poio
Latest acquisition comes hot on the heels of its purchase of DragonBox
Linked Up
Steam Link finally available on the App Store
Game purchases have been taken out of the app to comply with Apple's guidelines
Crunch
An EU court ruling could help cut crunch in the games industry
European Court of Justice looks to enforce the EU's existing Working Time Directive
Epic Award
Epic Games to receive special award from BAFTA
“Epic is at the forefront of the evolution of the global games industry and the impact of their innovation is undeniable”
Move Over Sony
Netflix to host E3 panel and teases more games
“There’s definitely more to come!”
Faster
Bidalgo’s new Accelerator program wants to help small to mid-sized app developers scale up
Bidalgo aims to put smaller studios on a level playing field when it comes to user acquisition efforts
What A Rush
Pokemon Rumble Rush revealed for iOS and Android
Evolution of 2017 Pokeland title that was in the works
Event
How to get into Pocket Gamer Connects Hong Kong - free!
Four different ways for you to get involved with the leading B2B event for the mobile, blockchain and PC games industry this July without spending a buck
Loot Boxes
Sweden to review consumer protection measures against loot boxes
Swedish Consumer Agency to conduct investigation into casino-like elements in games
Market Data
More than half of the world’s mobile gamers are based in Asia
Newzoo's head of analytics Jelle Kooistra delves into how markets around the world still have room to grow
New Update
PUBG Mobile adds new gameplay management tool to help promote “healthy gaming”
Aimed at young users under the age of 18
5g
Frank Gibeau: 5G potential for mobile is "profound"
The Zynga CEO is bullish on the opportunities for games and distribution
Covet Profits
Glu Mobile’s return to profitability dampened by share price drop
Crowdstar powers sales as Design Home and Covet Fashion lead the way
Idle Hit
BoomBit releases Idle Coffee Corp globally
The publisher delves into the development and release of the new mobile game
That’s A Twist
Detective Pikachu captures biggest weekend opening ever in US for a video game film adaptation
$58 million made from American Pokemon Trainers
Korea Stars
Brawl Stars takes $50 million in South Korea
Total global sales to date reach an estimated $230m
Apple Vs Pepper
US Supreme Court declares Apple can face monopoly lawsuits
Dispute to be settled in lower courts
Season 2
Supercell partners with South Korean TV network OGN for Clash Royale League
Handling production in the West and Asia
Chatting Up
Discord surpasses 250 million users
Chat platform attracted 50m new users in first three months of 2019
Job News
US games trade body ESA names new president and CEO
Interim boss Stanley Pierre-Louis takes the top job for the long term
Investor Meeting
Nintendo and Tencent not expected to bring Switch to China before March 2020
Not included in the company’s sales targets for 2019
Acquisition News
Rockstar acquires Indian developer Dhruva Interactive for $7.9m
Starbreeze sells majority stake in studio for $600k less than it paid
Pgc Seattle
Pocket Gamer Connects Seattle kicks off day one with a dive into hyper-casual game trends
The conference runs from May 13th and 14th, features 120 speakers and a host of networking opportunities to mix with the industry's best and brightest
New Opportunities
SK Telecom partners with Microsoft on 5G, AI and cloud technologies
SK Telecom will adopt Microsoft 365 secure solution
Peace
Tencent’s "peaceful" PUBG clone Game for Peace earned over $14 million in three days
Game for Peace is already outperforming PUBG Mobile internationally
Enthusiastic
Newzoo: Over 46 per cent of all “gaming enthusiasts” are women
Women are likely to be killing time on mobile games in Newzoo's gaming demographic breakdown
Survey
ESA: 60 per cent of US gamers are playing on smartphones, survey finds
Almost three-quarters of games played are in the mobile-dominated casual genre
It’s In The Game
EA launches E3 Play app for iOS and Android
Set to take place between June 8th to 9th
Weekly Charts
Weekly global mobile games charts: Clash of Clans the US top grosser again, but it can't beat Coin Master in the UK
Rankings from April 29th to May 5th 2019
Vote
Australia's Labor party courts devs with pledge to reinstate the Interactive Games Fund
$25 million fund will be reinstated pending the results of elections this Saturday
Games' Wealthiest
King's Mel Morris, Riccardo Zacconi and Sebastian Knutsson named in UK's Rich List
Wealthiest games industry entrepreneurs worth more than £2.2 billion combined
East Meets West
East Meets West: China mobile games revenue to surpass $25bn, Chinese loot box rules, and DeNA-Pokemon Company partnership
Keeping up with the news from the world's most influential games market
Hot Five
Tencent shuts down PUBG Mobile in China, Supercell invests $3.8m in Luau Games, and Clash of Clans rakes in $71m in April
The hottest stories from the mobile games industry over the last week