Rich As A King
Honor of Kings has made $4.5 billion since launch
295 million installs to date
Mobile Auto Chess
Hit PC mod DOTA Auto Chess is coming to mobile minus the DOTA
Mobile game will be called 'Auto Chess' and will drop DOTA 2 characters
Real World Gaming
Lessons from a year of location-based games with Google Maps
Real world gaming said to drive engagement; most successful when integrated with AR and social elements
Gold Rush
PlayStack’s new mobile game Dig That Gold gives away real 24k gold bars to players
Publisher partners with UK start-up Project M on title
Launch
Former Rovio product lead Will Luton opens new management consultancy for games
Department of Play will launch with a blow-out party at GDC next week
Firing Line
PUBG Mobile banned in several Indian cities
Ban will be in place until March 30th, 2019.
Marketing
Google introduces new ad campaign tools aimed at re-engaging lapsed players
App Campaigns for engagement and smart segregation look to hone your advertising efforts
Event
EA, East Side Games, Spry Fox and Nexon M to speak at Pocket Gamer Connects Seattle
Katherine de León, Kate Edwards, Ed Fries and Chris Taylor join the speaker roster for two-day event in May
Instant Demo
AppOnboard Studio is a new codeless toolkit for creating app demos
“Our easy to use tool-set completely eliminates all barriers of entry to app development"
Spend
Sony's Fate/Grand Order hits $3 billion in player spending
Sensor Tower suggests Fate/Grand Order could be one of Sony's all-time gaming highs
Stacked Up
Xbox Live comes to iOS and Android as Microsoft brings tools and services under Game Stack banner
PlayFab, DirectX, Azure, Simplygon, Mixer, Havok and more get brought closer together
Arsenal.gg Acquisition
Lightstream acquires livestreaming analytics platform Arsenal.gg
A number of game publishers and other companies are already part of Arsenal’s list of clients, including 505 Games, PUBG Corp, and Discord
Cause And Action
Jump Holdings raises $1 million to launch interactive choice-driven game Inventure
Backing was led by A3 Education as firm looks to empower students
For The Tech
Fyber partners with Game of Whales to predict user lifetime value based on IAPs and ads
Solution designed to help optimise user acquisition campaigns
Events
Going to GDC? Check out the Pocket Gamer Party, Indie Pitches and blockchain games mini-summit
Make space in your schedule for three incredible FREE side events in San Francisco
Jobs
Pole To Win promotes Deborah Kirkham as its new CEO
Eight-year executive takes over the CEO seat as Teppei Tachibana steps down
Legal
Ousted Vungle CEO Zain Jaffer takes his former company to court for $100 million
Jaffer is seeking compensation after being cleared of assault and sexual abuse charges
Pedal To The Metal
Tag Games partners with NaturalMotion to support CSR Racing 2
Company is also looking to double its workers by end of 2019
Global Branding
WeQ launches influencer marketing agency for campaigns on YouTube, Instagram and TikTok
Led by former Live.me senior director Elena Kutsopal and Playcom chief sales officer Olga Wese
Ranked
Tencent and NetEase top App Annie's Top 52 app publishers list for 2018 as APAC companies dominate
33 of the top 52 companies hail from APAC
Jobs
Former Ubisoft and EA exec Jade Raymond joins Google as VP
Raymond may be involved with Google's soon-to-be-announced big push into gaming
To Gringotts
Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery conjures up $110 million in less than a year
45 million wizards have downloaded the title worldwide
Xbox On The Go
Microsoft’s xCloud streaming service lets you play Xbox One games on your smartphone
Public trials will begin this year
China
Tencent starts the road to recovery after a rocky 2018 with a $40 billion boost in share value
The publisher’s share value has already grown 10 per cent in 2019 so far
Money
5th Planet Games lands $4.85 million in financing for future acquisitions
Hugo resurfaces with a new name and a renewed drive to buy, buy, buy
Testing Testing
IronSource launches A/B testing tool for ad monetisation
Helps developers improve their ARPU, ARPDAU and retention rates
Accio Phone
Niantic magic’s up first look at Harry Potter: Wizards Unite
Could it be as big as Pokemon Go?
Brawling In It
Supercell’s Brawl Stars hits up $150 million in first three months
75 million global downloads since release
Expansion
Animoca Brands agrees $8.9m deal to resell iClick advertising inventory
“This deal with Vigame is an important first step in our broader partnership with iClick”
Esports
Konami's new high-rise esports centre wants to bring Japan's competitive gaming scene up to par
"Compared to esports pioneers America and Europe, Japan has still a long way to go"
Growth
Social casino dev KamaGames saw revenues soar 33% to $76.4m in 2018
Gross revenue hit $76.4 million as DAU counts saw a similar jump up
Puzzler
Small Giant Games soft-launches Empires & Puzzles follow-up Puzzle Combat
First follow-up since Zynga purchased studio in December
Jackpot
Glu Mobile steps into the social casino game with Real Celebrity Slots
Title has been in soft launch since December 4th, 2018
Google
Recently-revealed patent flaunts what could be Google’s first gamepad
Google's gamepad may be a fully-featured streaming device in its own right
Licensing Royale
NetEase gets the jump on Fortnite and Tencent as FortCraft is approved for China launch
95 games receive licence for release
Global Charts
Weekly global mobile games charts: MZ's Final Fantasy XV and IGG's Lords Mobile edge into the US top 10 grossing positions
Charts from February 25th to March 3rd
Say What?
Tencent’s Honor of Kings generated more than $1 billion in February alone
Version 2.0 sparks huge boost in earnings for the mobile MOBA
Asia Roundup
East Meets West: The battle to acquire Nexon heats up, and Nintendo is wary of looking greedy on mobile
Keeping up with the news from the world's most influential games market
Hot Five
Rogue Games raises $1.25m, Blizzard job cuts, and International Women's Day
The hottest stories from the mobile games industry over the last week
International Women's Day
International Women's Day: We profile a few of the games industry's stars
Profiling a few of the industry's stars to celebrate International Women's Day
Event
What's at Pocket Gamer Connects Seattle this May?
Two-day event features 13-track conference schedule, Big Indie Pitches, investor panels, networking and more across mobile, PC and blockchain
Ps Go
Sony introduces iPhone and ipad remote play for PS4
Four years after Sony Xperia 73
Funding
GFR Fund has put together a $20 million pot for esports, streaming and new technologies
"We are looking beyond traditional game developers to invest in disruptive entertainment technologies"
E3 2019
E3 grows a little quieter as EA pulls out of the event
Publisher promises "less talk and more play" as it moves all focus towards EA Play
Oscar Winner
Award-winning Pixar producer joins Glu’s board of directors
Darla Anderson previously worked on 2017 film Coco
Look Out Thanos
Marvel Strike Force adds Captain Marvel as game makes $150 million in first year
New Alliance War mode rolled out too
Job News
Here's where 209 jobs were cut in Blizzard's US business
We now know just where layoffs have been made in the Overwatch firm's American workforce
Jobs
Former Atari COO Todd Shallbetter goes medical with Level Ex
Shallbetter will help the surgical training company's drive into VR and AR technologies
Animated
DeepMotion partners with Samsung to bring AR dance moves to mobile
DeepMotion's handheld motion capture could mean big things for next-gen mobile gaming
Jobs
VC outfit Atomico internally promotes three new partners
“Bryce, Alison and Camilla have the ambition, shared mission and energy we need as we continue to build Atomico”