Epic
Fortnite boom propels Epic Games to $8.5bn valuation
The battle royales success has also made Epic Games’ founder Tim Sweeney a billionaire
Slow And Steady
Next Games revenue nearly halves in H1 2018 as The Walking Dead: Our World dev buckles down on game launches
Development costs and fall in DAUS hurts sales
Special Offer
Pocket Gamer Connects Helsinki Early Bird prices end next week
Book now and save up to $400
Back Of The Net
HQ Trivia dev expands popular app with HQ Sports
Mobile game already bringing in as many as 2.4 million concurrent players with its daily shows
It's Coming Home
Over 1.2 million people played Football Manager games in the last month
Concurrent player count of over 67k, too, on PC
Right Track
Public transport puzzler Mini Metro has sold over a million units
Minimalist metro manager will also be added to Boston Children’s Hospital’s Mightier program
Going Public
Jam City reportedly back on the IPO trail and could float in the autumn
$1 billion valuation speculated
Events
Play NYC enters its second year with a four-floor showcase of New York City’s hottest games
Playcrafting expect numbers to double up to 10,000 attendees at new Manhattan Centre venue
Weekly Charts
Weekly UK App Store charts: Fortnite a top grosser on iPhone and iPad
Rankings from July 9th to 15th
Like Tears In The Rain
Next Games’ mobile RPG Blade Runner 2049 hits open beta
Partnership with Alcon Entertainment was revealed in June of last year
Event
Blockchain Gamer Connects Helsinki 2018 reveals first waves of speakers
Hear from some of the foremost practitioners in the sector, including Alto.io, Gamertoken, Gumi and Reality Clash
Crushing It
Candy Crush Saga the highest grossing Western-developed mobile game in Q2 2018
Generated $213 million during the quarter across the App Store and Google Play
Yet More Pop Vinyls
Prepare for wave of Fortnite toys as Epic signs deals with Funko and Jazwares
Array of Fortnite toys and collectibles to launch in holiday 2018
Ka-ching
Social casino dev KamaGames claims 53% revenue growth in H1 2018
Number of daily active users up two-fold
Ticket To Buy
PAI Partners in talks to buy Catan maker Asmodee for $1.4 billion
Company set for international expansion if sale goes through
Machine Learning
Keywords snaps up predictive analytics outfit Yokozuna Data from Silicon Studio in $1.5m deal
Draws on AI and machine learning tech
On Strike
Player fury as YouTuber goes top of Marvel Strike Force leaderboards as part of marketing campaign
YouTuber KnightlyGaming was contracted to make guides for the title
Snowed Under
Keywords snaps up Canada's Snowed In Studios
Part of the services giant's new engineering line
Not Bad
The Walking Dead: Our World hits top 10 download charts in 40 countries
The location-based augmented reality game launched July 12th
Competition
Q&A: How you could win expo space at Pocket Gamer Connects Helsinki 2018
Be part of the Indie Showcase in the Big Indie Zone at Europe’s biggest B2B mobile games industry event
Legendary
Moonton’s popular MOBA Mobile Legends plunders $200m in global revenues
$25 million of that comes from the US
Caught In The Act
Alleged stalker arrested by police claims he was just playing Pokemon Go
Report suggests man has a history of stalking the same woman
All Aboard
Chinese publisher NetEase picks up minority stake in UK studio Jumpship
Developer plans to double team of six over the next year
Steady Hands
Mobile sales stable for Ubisoft as total revenue doubles to $464m for Q1 2018
Mobile sales contributed eight per cent of net booking which is flat from the year prior
Callin' Hacks
Credit card thieves reportedly laundering money through Clash of Clans and Clash Royale
Kabam’s Marvel Contest of Champions also said to be a target
Big Deal
China’s iQIYI acquires developer Skymoons in deal worth up to $300 million
Online video platform hopes to utilise IP across mediums
Development
Develop:Brighton 2018 breaks attendance record with 2,369 visitors over three days
Represents a nine per cent year-on-year increase
A Pretty Penny
Fortnite hits $1 billion through in-game purchases across mobile, PC and console
Viewers racked up 574 million hours watching Fornite in May alone
Victory
Investment company Victory Square snaps up venture fund V2 Games
Pacific Rim: Breach Wars soft-launched in the US back in April
Giggity
Jam City’s Family Guy Another Freakin’ Mobile Game breaks $30 million in revenue
The match-three game originally launched last year in April
Hungry For Downloads
Future Games of London's Hungry Shark series chomps up 500 million downloads
The arcade game can now be snapped up on the Nintendo Switch
Event
Big Indie Pitch heads to ChinaJoy
International game developer competition returns to China this August
Seismic Acquisition
Pokemon Go dev Niantic acquires Marvel Strike Force developer Seismic Games
Studio to craft new augmented reality experiences
Messenger Gaming
HTML5 and chat app games specialist FRVR secures $3 million investment
CEO Brian Meidell labels chat app platforms "the next paradigm shift" in game distribution and content discovery
No Biggie
Nintendo’s lawsuit against Japanese publisher Colopl won’t stall White Cat Project Switch release
Console giant says these are "completely separate matters"
Crunch
Facebook Instant Games match-3 title Cookie Crush surpasses one billion level starts
Developer Softgames thanks a ‘mainly female’ and ‘surprisingly younger’ audience for game’s success
Invested
Equity firm KKR & Co purchases $400m minority stake in mobile marketing platform Applovin
Deal increases the marketing platform’s value to $2 billion
On The Go
Niantic lures 180,000 Pokemon trainers to Chicago with Pokemon Go Fest
21,000 players attended Pokemon Go Fest in Lincoln Park alone
Kamehameha
Dragon Ball Legends generates $40 million in revenues in just over a month
The lion's share of revenue comes from Japan with 67 per cent
Co-op
App Store and Google Play game revenues hit combined $26.6 billion in first half of 2018
The combined total is a 28 per cent year-on-year increase from last years $26.9 billion
Competition
Win a chance to pitch your blockchain game to investors free, $15,000 prize pool
Roadshow Pitching Sessions comes to Blockchain Gamer Connects Helsinki
Flying High
Skybolt Zack soars to victory at the Big Indie Pitch at Develop:Brighton 2018
Oco takes second while PaperLand nabs third
On Tap
Huuuge Games launches hyper-casual publishing label Tap Tap Games
Social casino company makes a move into publishing one-finger casual titles
Scaled Up
Samsung’s new Indian mobile factory dubbed 'world’s largest'
South Korean manufacturer's new Noida plant should help pump out more stock for less money
First Strike
Marvel Strike Force generates over $25m revenue in four months
Comic book RPG has been downloaded over 10 million times since its March 28th launch
Augmented Vision
Machine learning-driven AR outfit Octi raises $7.5 million
Eyes up clients in gaming, fitness and fashion industries
Grand Job
Fate/Grand Order rakes in over $2 billion in revenue worldwide
97 per cent of the game’s revenue comes from a home-grown Japanese audience
Stanga Scores Investment
Underworld Football Manager dev Stanga Games picks up further $500k investment
Studio aims to hire new staff and increase marketing efforts
Weekly Charts
Weekly UK App Store charts: Pokemon Go and Fortnite rise to the top grossing summit as Candy Crush Saga falls
Rankings from July 2nd to 8th
First Strike
Tropico dev Kalypso acquires classic Commandos IP
Plans to develop new games in the franchise, remaster old titles for new hardware