Arrr
Nintendo bans Switch consoles with pirated games
Reddit post warns against pirating games to the handheld
Beef
Nintendo and Microsoft dunk Sony on Twitter over Minecraft cross-play
Sony’s cross-play policy has been under public scrutiny since Fortnite launched on Switch
Winner
Report: PUBG developer Bluehole snaps up mobile studio Delusion Studio
The terms of the deal are currently unknown
To Infinity
Sign up for next week's Beyond Games networking mixer in London
The mini-summit and mixer will also feature Game Insight’s Tanks of Boom
Takeover
Americans will soon be spending more time on mobile than their telly
Time spent on mobile may be reaching a peak, however
Charity Dinner
Steel Media on the hunt for chicken dinners in SpecialEffect #ChickenForCharity PUBG tournament
Your favourite b2b journos are entering the fray to raise money for charity
It's Snow Joke
Cuphead developer Studio MDHR signs up former Alto’s Odyssey producer Eli Cymet
The former mobile games journalist served a producer on Alto’s Odyssey
Tapped Up
TinyTap raises $5 million to fund accessible learning platform
The platform currently has over 150,000 educational games, digital books and interactive activities
Wallets Away
Tencent trialling a new feature to halt high-spending by underage users
“Underage User Game Spending Reminder” to prevent kids from splashing too much cash
Troubled Times
Ukie opens consultation to see how post-Brexit UK games industry can still flourish
"Last year’s State of Play EU report showed that 61 per cent of games businesses in the UK rely on international talent"
Catch Em All
Pokémon Quest snags 2.5 million downloads on Nintendo Switch
The RPG is also set to launch on mobile on June 27th
Fine Lineage
Lineage M breaks $1.2 billion in revenue a year after release
The popular MMO is also aiming for a global release
Mighty
Singapore dev Mighty Bear Games fetches several million dollars in seed funding round
Developer founded by King, Ubisoft, Jagex and Disney alumni
Big Indie Pitch
Spellfast crowned champion at the Big Indie Pitch in Los Angeles
Check out the champions for our recent Big Indie Pitch, as we arrived in LA for E3 week
Event
What’s on at next month's Big Indie Fest @ ReVersed
Four-day event features 100 exhibitors, 500 trade visitors, a public audience of 4,000, a Big Indie Pitch, awards, game jam and four tracks of seminars
Taking The Reins
German games distributor Libredia launches publishing business
Outfit plans to release half a dozen titles by the end of this year
Realer Than Real
Unity drives deeper into augmented reality with Project MARS
“Reality is our build target”
Smooth
Unity showcases machine learning powered animation with Kinematika
New pipeline hopes to make high-quality animation easier
Job News
Two Owlchemy Labs bosses are leaving to co-found a new venture
VR studio CEO and studio director depart for projects unknown
Winner Winner Chicken Dinner
Playerunknown's Battlegrounds breaks 400 million players
PUBG also draws a crowd of 87 million players each and every single day
Not Bad
Fortnite bags $100 million in its first 90 days on iOS
And it still has not launched in China or on Android
Android Odyssey
Snowman team up with Noodlecake to bring Alto's Odyssey to Android
The next instalment in the Alto series will launch next month
Funded
Walking Dead: Road to Survival publisher Scopely raise additional $100 million to fund acquisitions and investments
The Los Angeles-based publisher originally raised $60 million last year
Quick Switch
“It only took two days to get Shadowgun Legends on Nintendo Switch”
Madfinger CEO Marek Rabas takes to the stage at Unite Berlin 2018
Nested Prefabs People
Nested prefabs come to Unity preview at long last
Along with an entirely new prefab workflow
Big Deal
Unity migrating entire infrastructure to Google Cloud
Tech firms also reveal open source matchmaking project set to go live in summer 2018
Augmented
Report: Microsoft plans to unveil Hololens 2 in late 2018
“Sydney” set to launch next year with a significantly lower price tag
Switch It Over
Nintendo and Disney team up to put Switch on the telly
Two entertainment giants collaborate to create a game show based on the popular console
Unlocked
Tencent takes on Fortnite’s battle pass with the PUBG Mobile Royale Pass
Playerunknown’s Battlegrounds’ battle pass looks rather familiar
Gaming Disorder
Gaming Disorder included in WHO’s latest draft of International Compendium of Diseases
Members of WHO aren’t expected to report using the ICD-11 until 2022
Beast Mode
Beasts of Balance dev Sensible Object raises $3.2 million to back voice-capable board games
Sensible Object’s first game When in Rome will go on sale in July
Teen Titan
16 year-old’s South African game nabs 100k downloads in 24 hours after App of the Day promotion
Torus chosen as Game of the Day in 137 countries, downloaded 100,000 times in 24 hours
Critical
Critical Force snags $6.3 million in funding to scale esports operations for Critical Ops
The FPS has also been downloaded over 40 million times since launching in 2015
Trade ‘em All
Trading is finally coming to Pokemon Go two years after launch
It’s taken Niantic a long time to create a safe and stable system that doesn’t break balance
Research
Middle East player habits: More Saudi women gaming on the go than men
Surveys show a region saturated with mobile gamers young and old
Eve
Eve: War of Ascension mobile game enters soft launch in the Philippines
The Eve title is available on Android
Awards
The third IMGA Southeast Asia competition opens calls for submissions
Submissions for mobile game studios close on July 30th
Job News
Natalie Clayton joins PocketGamer.biz and PCGamesInsider.biz as staff writer
"I'm excited to see where this latest opportunity takes me"
Event
PG Connects Helsinki 2018 – the biggest, best and most diverse yet
Top talks, techniques and tips for Mobile, PC, Switch, XR and Blockchain
Movers And Shakers
Women in Games names three new board members as deputy CEO departs
Multiplay's Vanessa Joyce, UKIE's Daniel Wood and Abertay's Ruth Falconer join board
Downloads Milestone
BanG Dream! Girls Band Party! English version racks up one million downloads
Milestone celebrated by series of in-game events
Weekly Charts
Weekly UK App Store charts: Pokemon Go usurps Candy Crush Saga as top grossing game
Rankings from June 4th to 10th
Development
Unity ARKit update includes persistent mapping and improved tracking
Apple and Unity worked closely in the latest update for the ARKit 2 plugin
Legal Dispute
Former Telltale CEO Kevin Bruner sues studio over alleged contract breach
Claims the developer failed to fulfil obligations after stepping down in 2017
Home Run
Nintendo’s Fils-aime: Loot boxes "have gotten a bit of a bad rap”
Nintendo Of America president Reggie Fils-aime chips in on the loot-box debate
Storm Closing In
Nintendo and Xbox go on the attack as Sony flounders on Fortnite cross-play controversy
Crackdown on cross-platform play continues to rile up players
Virtual Gaming Only
Com2us reveals Skylanders Ring of Heroes mobile game but appears to ditch toys-to-life aspect
But appears to lack toys-to-life
E3 2018
E3 2018 welcomes nearly 70,000 attendees and over 200 exhibitors
200 exhibitors showcase 3,250 products
M&a
Tencent-backed Chinese developer Seasun eyes Western partnerships
JX Online studio set to wrap up US investment
Linked
Valve removes games purchasing from iOS Steam Link following App Store rejection
Pages now display a buy from PC option instead of a buy now option