Focus On Ip
Konami rebrands New York office to Konami Cross Media
Yuta Kose has been named president for the renamed studio
Virtual Apple
Apple patent filing suggests work on VR/MR headset
The document focuses on range finding and accessory tracking for VR/MR head-mounted display system
Mediate
Lab Cave’s birthday present to its customers is a new Advertising Mediation for Apps tool
Firm claims to offer unbiased, impartial way to mediate ads for mobile apps
Ban Lifted
India police lift PUBG Mobile ban in Ahmedabad
With exam season over, officials see no reason to renew the Battlegrounds ban
Charity
Gameloft partners with humanitarian charity CARE for “Stronger Together” Dragon Mania Legends event
Dragon Mania Legends developer vows a minimum donation of $50,000
Jobs Losses
More than 1,500 people have lost their jobs in the games industry in three months
Estimates suggest total already exceeds 2018
Switch Prime
Twitch Prime members can grab up to a year's worth of Nintendo Switch Online
A free year of Nintendo Switch online will now be added to Twitch Prime
East Meets West
East Meets West: Perfect World off to a scorching start with $100m in 22 days, and pre-registrations kick off for Brawl Stars in China
Keeping up with the news from the world's most influential games market
Hot Five
The good and the bad of Apple Arcade, how Raid: Shadow Legends monetises, and the top 10 selling Nintendo Switch indies
The hottest stories from the mobile games industry over the last week
Power Of The Cloud
Tencent is readying to test another streaming platform Start in China
Appears to be separate to Intel Instant Play partnership
East To West
Webzen eyes America launch for MMORPG MU Origin 2 after success in Asia
From China to America
Mansion Money
Matchington Mansion surpasses $100 million in global IAP revenue
50 million downloads
Done Deal
Animoca Brands invests $2 million in creative networking platform Talenthouse
Deal equal to 448,413 shares in art networking platform
Retire
Kaz Hirai is stepping down from Sony after 35 years
I am confident that everyone is fully aligned under Yoshida-san's strong leadership, and are ready to build an even brighter future"
Legendary
Monolith Soft is ramping up its roster in preparation for a new Zelda
After pitching in on Breath of the Wild, Monolith is back for more adventuring
Perfect
Perfect World’s $100 million launch month dethrones Honor of Kings
Tencent's newest MMO has been raking in $4.5 million in player spending every day since launch
Ux Reviewer
Former Digit Game Studios UX director opens new consultancy business
Om Tandon departs Star Trek: Fleet Dommand developer; will write articles analysis the UX in free-to-play games
Mr. Worldwide
Pre-registrations open for Supercell’s Brawl Stars in China
No official release date given
Venture Gained
Rovio invests $3 million in games start-up fund Play Ventures
Play Ventures was founded in 2018 by video game entrepreneurs Harri Manninen and Henric Suuronen
Beta Time
The Elder Scrolls: Blades swings into Early Access
Players can still sign-up for iOS and Android
Layoffs
Update: EA's latest layoffs include the closure of its offices in Japan and Russia
Publisher vows to help newly-redundant staff find new roles in the local games industry
Big Indie Pitch
Highkey Games returns to The Big Indie Pitch during GDC week and walks away as champion
The Big Indie Pitch heads to GDC for the 7th year in a row
Angry Birds Movie 2
First trailer lands for The Angry Birds Movie 2
The titular birds team up with the pigs as they face a new threat
Reality
Newzoo: Games are leading the augmented reality charge
But support for AR is still restricted to a handful of handsets
Special Offer
Last chance to save up to $250 on Pocket Gamer Connects Seattle
Early Bird offer ends tomorrow!
Mobile Hunt
CD Projekt Red reveals Witcher card game Gwent will come to mobile
Due to arrive on iOS later this year with Android planned at a later date
Gotta Clean’em All
Niantic launches second annual Earth Day utilsing Pokemon Go and Ingress
Incentives given in-game to promote global cleanup
Start Your Engines
Animoca Brands partners with Formula 1 on blockchain game F1 Delta Time
First phase will launch from May 10th, 2019
Charts
Weekly global mobile games charts: Tencent’s Perfect World dethrones Honor of Kings as China’s top grosser
Charts from March 11th to March 17th
Royale
PUBG Mobile celebrates its first anniversary with a $2.5 million live event
Live music premier provides a soundtrack to PUBG Mobile's big esports plans
Switch
Nintendo to launch budget and high-end Switch models this summer
Two new console variations will reportedly be announced at E3 this year
More Job Losses
EA lets go 350 employees across marketing, publishing and analytics
“This is a difficult day”
Indie
Dead Cells has sold over 1m copies, and the Switch is leading the pack
"If we'd launched them at the same time, Switch would be winning. It's selling faster"
Legal
PUBG Corp and NetEase settle the battle royale cloning dispute
Two rival battle royale giants choose to settle the PUBG / Knives Out cloning dispute peacefully
Rest In Peace
Take-Two founder and former CEO Ryan Brant dies at 49
Brant oversaw the firm's initial IPO and the founding of industry juggernaut Rockstar Games
Everyone Is Here
A record 29,000 people attended GDC 2019, organisers say
Convention will return on March 20th, 2020
Jobs
Stillfront Group name eRepublik Labs co-founder Alexis Bonte new Group COO
Bonte will still act as CEO of eRepublik Labs until a successor is appointed
Stay And We Pay
Apple to fund exclusive games for Apple Arcade
Sims and Final Fantasy creators onboard
Moving On Up
Kabam snaps up Riposte Games & Co
Studio joining line-up of developers currently based in Vancouver, San Francisco and Austin
Special Offer
Speak at the first ever Pocket Gamer Connects in Hong Kong
Explore this new market with 125 speakers and two shows for the mobile and blockchain games industry
Apple Arcade Partners
Ustwo, Annapurna, LEGO, Bossa, SEGA, Platinum Games and more making games for Apple Arcade subscription service
The key developers backing the new games service
Apple Arcade
Apple unveils premium games subscription service Apple Arcade for autumn 2019 launch
Aimed to helping paid apps perform better on the App Store
Nindies
Top 10 best-selling indie games on the Nintendo Switch so far
Overcooked 2's entry gives Ghost Town Games the unique position of holding two top-selling Switch indie games
Play
A win for accessibility: Google Stadia will support the Xbox Adaptive Controller
Google's open approach to input opens the door for less able-bodied gamers
Jobs
Two dozen new jobs open as Google ramps up Stadia development
Tech giant launches hiring spree across Canada, Germany, Taiwan and Japan
Show Time
It’s Show Time at Apple as it prepares to launch games subscription service
Could be announced tonight or later this year
East Meets West
East Meets West: Pocket Gamer Connects heads to Hong Kong, and Tencent's games make $19bn
Keeping up with the news from the world's most influential games market
Hot Five
WeChat Mini Games opens up, NetEase's new mobile shooter, and Dragon Ball Z: Dokkan Battle makes $1.6bn
The hottest stories in the mobile games industry from the last week
Gdc Roundup
GDC 2019: All the top news in one place
We chart the breaking news and big interviews from each day at the world's biggest games developer show
Xbox Live
GDC 2019: 4.28 billion game hours played over Xbox Live across platforms every month
64 million monthly active users