Batman Royale
Batman joins Arena of Valor in new update
Update also includes new deathmatch game mode and complete UI overhaul
Smokin
Keywords Studios purchases Fire Without Smoke for $6.9 million
Creative and marketing services company joins Keywords’ expanding roster of assets
Financials Klaxon
Fyber endures challenging first quarter as revenues drop to $34 million
Revenue fell 41% while profits also came in at a loss
Unreal
Interactive Gaming Ventures and Epic Games out to invest in indies using Unreal Engine 4
IGV plan to invest $1 to $5 Million in one to three indie teams per year
Going Up
Pokemon Go captures 800 million downloads
Niantic is ramping up activity ahead of the summer
I Choose You
Slate of new pokemon games set for Nintendo Switch and mobile
Pokémon: Let’s Go duo to come out late next year while Pokémon Quest is out now
Debt Collection
Codemasters plots $20 million mobile games investment following IPO
But most of the money raised will go to paying off debt to current majority shareholder
There Can Be Only One
PUBG Corp sues Epic over Fortnite Battle Royale
Follows threats last September and a lawsuit against NetEase
Augmented Reality
Google’s ARCore heads to China
Partners up with Xiaomi
Big Indie Fest
New event for indie devs: The Big Indie Fest at ReVersed 2018
Four-day celebration of gaming comes to Vienna, Austria this July
Starman
Finnish start-up Space Nation snags ex-NASA astronaut Gregory Johnson as chief space officer
He'll lead the development of its astronaut program to train future space travellers
Critical Hit
Pokemon Company profits almost halve to $81 million
But still represents the second highest on record
Star Hire
Starbreeze appoints Ubisoft’s Stéphane Decroix as chief development officer
Will be responsible for all internal projects
Mobile Advertising
Learn about the present and future of ads in the Mobile Games Advertising Report 2018
In association with Mintegral, the report looks at how publishers are creating significant revenue streams from ads
Investment Magic
Casual mobile games publisher Voodoo raises $200 million
Publisher has more than 150 million monthly active users; plots further growth
Weekly Charts
Weekly UK App Store charts: Ketchapp knocked out of the top 10 free download rankings
Rankings from May 14th to 20th
Beep Boop
Ubisoft’s chatbot assistant Sam launches worldwide
French publisher hopes its pocket assistant will maximise users’ game experience
Co-development
Canada’s Throwback Entertainment inks co-development deal with South Korea’s Leanup
Two titles set for release by the end of the year
Not So Essential?
Android creator considers sale of Essential phone maker
At least one potential buyer already said to be interested
Not Bad
Tencent's Honour of Kings made $185 million in April 2018
Fortnite meanwhile generates $296 million across platforms
Steam Blocker
Apple cites business conflicts as it rejects Valve’s Steam Link app
Mobile platform holder reverses decision to approve the the app
Off The Chain
More than 50% of players of blockchain game Spells of Genesis haven’t used the blockchain
Results from BitCrystals’ first gamer survey
Big Hire
Former Rovio executive producer Will Luton joins Big Pixel Studios as director of product
Luton to take a leading role in design and direction for Pocket Mortys
Job Klaxon
Spil Games promotes from within for new CEO
COO Timm Geyer is taking the reins
Birds On Tour
Rovio reveals slew of licensing partnerships in US for Angry Birds
Bags, oral care, crocs, you name it
Destroyed
Ash vs Evil and the Divergent series collide in Lionsgate's Deploy and Destroy
Developer Apps Ministry will add more characters from Lionsgate's library of IPs in due course
Well Then
New PlayStation chief sees future in portable games for Sony
John Kodera thinks it should be a vital part of the PlayStation ecosystem
First Person
Google out to highlight mobile games stars with new behind-the-scenes series
First three videos feature voice actor Ashly Burch, games dev Bennett Foddy and Ink Stories co-founder Vassiliki Khonsari
Creatively Speaking
Inkle, Laser Dog, Creative Assembly and more games companies named in Creative England 50
List celebrates top companies in UK creative industries channelling diversity and taking creative risks with ‘resonating messages’
Closure
150 staff laid off as Wargaming Seattle closes down
Up to 150 jobs to be affected
Indie Backing
GameMaker creator YoYo Games spins up indie games publishing division
Ex-Outplay senior producer Chris Trewartha heads up new team
What A Play
Outplay recruits King's Luis De La Camara for global marketing role
Luis De La Camara joins as VP of Global Marketing
Stats
Static full-screen generate largest revenue share amongst casual games in the West
Appodeal surveyed a host of mobile casual games developers to look into monetisation trends
Jobs News
Nordeus, Mobile Monsters and Ubisoft Massive vets move to Jagex
Three new hires at the RuneScape developer
Cabin
Games accelerator Stugan welcomes 21 developers in 2018 line-up
The programme has aimed to double down on diversity with this year’s crop
Beyond App Stores
"In 2050 there will be no app stores"
Will be replaced by chat platforms
Why Not
NetEase developing internet drama based on battle royale hit Knives Out
The Chinese tech company are also turning Onmyoji into a live action movie
Crafty
Minecraft builds up 100 million players in China since launching last year
The popular builder originally came to China in August
Key
Apple's 19th annual WWDC to kick off June 4th in San Jose
Apple expected to reveal host of new updates for iOS in opening keynote
Interesting
Double Fine Presents taps up Playables for interactive animation title KIDS
KIDS will come out this year on iOS and Android
Not Safe
More than 72% of Android apps are at risk of European GDPR violations
SafeDK is accessing the readability of android apps ahead of the upcoming General Data Protection Regulation
G5 Financials
Hidden object specialist G5 Entertainment grows revenues to $43m in Q1 2018
Net income reported at $5 million
Go Go Go
Pokemon Sun and Moon content coming to Pokemon Go
Content update to include Alolan versions of Kanto Pokemon
Funded
Nokia phone manufacturer to “aggressively expand” in 2018 after raising $100 million
Round of investment was led by Ginko Ventures
Knighted
Netmarble’s Knights Chronicle pulls in 500,000 pre-registrations in one week
Players who sign-up will gain a slew of rewards come games launch
Angry Tv
Long-form Angry Birds animated series set for 2020
Rovio wants to extend IP outside of games and film
Whoops
"Lack of oversight" to blame for Overwatch art in Paladins Strike ad
Hi-Rez art director was swift to assure that the matter was being looked into
Well Now
Epic puts up $100 million for Fortnite esports tournament prize pools
And that’s just for the first season
E For Everyone
ESRB set to drop short form rating for digital games in June
Games developers will still have a free option with IARC
It's Pickle Pixel
Adult Swim buys London-based Pocket Mortys developer Big Pixel Studios
Network plans to increase investment in the games space