It's Pickle Pixel
Adult Swim buys London-based Pocket Mortys developer Big Pixel Studios
Network plans to increase investment in the games space
Key Speakers
Ubisoft, Campo Santo and Jumpship headline BIG Festival
Isabelle Bismuth, Alan Van Slyke, Chris Remo and Dino Patti set to speak at event
Nice
Cartoon Network soft launches new Powerpuff Girls game in Asia
The horde mode-styled beat ‘em up pits the girls against monsters
Whoot!
Alien Path publisher iCandy buys Indonesian Hollywhoot developer Joyseed
Deal worth up to $263,000
Going Public
Worms publisher Team17 targets $144m in gross proceeds from IPO
Set for flotation on Wednesday, May 23rd
International Expansion
Chartboost opens Barcelona office
New branch will house engineering team
Fortnite Android
Epic eyes summer release for Fortnite on Android
Mobile version of battle royale hit to get smaller install file and new updates
Weekly Charts
Weekly UK App Store charts: Candy Crush Saga knocks Fortnite off top
Rankings from May 7th to 13th
Gameloft Financials
Gameloft revenues fall to $93 million in Q1 2018
Publisher reports 114 million MAUS and 13 million DAUs
Funding News
Riot Games amongst investors in new mobile esports-focused studio Gamelynx
Studio raises $1.2 million
Boom
Game Insight and ESL put up $200,000 for Guns of Boom’s inaugural esports season
Online qualifiers begin June 9th with international events planned for Poland and LA
Up Up Up
Over 25% of iOS 11 game downloads now come from browsing the App Store
A boost in downloads has been helped the launch of iOS 11
Smashed It
Pocket Gamer Connects welcomes 850 games industry professionals for biggest San Francisco event yet
Top talks, lots of networking, more partying
On The App
Mobile revenues up 66% as Ubisoft posts total sales of $2 billion for the financial year
Performance exceeded the company’s original expectations
New Job Klaxon
NCSoft appoints chief development officer for Western operations
Chris Corry will be responsible for overseeing all development in the West
Rip
Sony to cease production of physical PlayStation Vita Games, except in Japan
Creation of games cards to finish by the end of March 2019
On The Move
Farming Simulator dev Giants Software opens new studio in the Czech Republic
Swiss company also set to move offices as part of the shakeup
Acquisition News
Dutch firm OrangeGames acquires majority stake in Habbo Hotel dev Sulake
Former owner Elisa retains minority stake
Take Profit
WWE Supercard and Dragon City help launch Take-Two's yearly profits to $173.5 million
The usual suspects at play again
One V One Me Bro
Street Fighter characters touch down in Power Rangers: Legacy Wars
Cammy, M. Bison, Ryu, Chun-Li, Guile and Akuma set to join the fray
Switching It Up
LA-based start-up Wonder working on Android Nintendo Switch-like hybrid device
Wonder is hoping to release the device next year
Dau Royale
PUBG Mobile amasses 10 million daily active users
Most downloaded game in over 100 countries and areas
Zoom
PacketZoom launches new mobile networking tools for real-time multiplayer games
Mobile Connect aims to eliminate a game developer’s need to deploy resources in-house
Netease Financials
NetEase profits tumble 20% in Q1 as Onmyoji and New Ghost lose traction
Battle royale hits Knives Out and Terminator 2: Judgement Day offset lost revenue
God Like
How NadiaSoft plans to mix Eastern and Western influencers for global appeal
The new IP will feature an array of gods and heroes from Greece, China and more
Rovio Financials
Record revenues for Angry Birds 2 boost Rovio profits
But overall company sales dip year-on-year
What's Next?
Monster Strike publisher Mixi plots $900m investment in biz dev and M&A over next five years
$100 million earmarked for Monster Strike and new IP development
Tencent Financials
Tencent’s mobile games revenue up 68% to $3.4 billion in Q1 2018
But investors concerned by historically low operating margin
Uninstall Rates
Three out of 10 apps uninstalled after 30 days
But games one of the least likely to be deleted, according to Appsflyer report
Free-to-manage
Project management tool Hansoft goes free for small indies
Available for teams of up to five
Gladiators, Ready
Nintendo and Cygames' Dragalia Lost picks up 200,000 pre-registrations
Game set for summer launch in Japan, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Macau
Racing To Mobile
Slightly Mad partners with Gamevil for new Project Cars mobile game
But no release date announced
Struck A Chord
Discord triples userbase to 130 million in just a year
Chat app has added 85m users in the last twelve months
Going Global
Ex-Apple GM leads Roblox international expansion
Popular game gets Spanish localisation, other languages coming soon
New Studio
QuizUp creators secure $9m funding for new studio to develop real-time social gaming platform
Teatime Games set to expand team in Iceland
Power Of Ip
Lineage M spikes NCSoft profits up 570% year-on-year to $189m
But revenues are down quarter-on-quarter as Lineage sales stabilise
Still Going Strong
GungHo’s sales and profits continue to fall amidst Puzzle & Dragons decline
But still hugely profitable
On The Rise
Mobile games drove $589 million in revenue in Germany last year
Total games market valued at €3.3 billion
Blimey Guv
Zynga celebrates Royal Wedding with Words With Friends 2 Royal Social Dictionary
Blimey I'm gobsmacked
Acquisition From The Deep
G5 Entertainment picks up hidden object IPs Nightmares from the Deep and Kate Malone for $600,000
Performance payouts could add further $500k to deal
Star Deal
Nordisk Film invests $18 million in Star Stable Online dev
Game has more than 14 million registered users
Publishing Partnership
India's Nazara partners with Indonesia's Touchten to publish mobile games in the Middle East
"Emerging markets are not a mere afterthought for us," says Touchten founder
A Good Cause
Jagex raises £225,000 for mental health charities
Beats goal of £150k for the year
East To West
Chinese livestreaming platform Huya raises $180 million in US IPO
15 million shares sold at $12 each
Going Public
Kakao Games applies for IPO in South Korea
Publisher set to go public on South Korea's second-tier stock exchange Kosdaq
Weekly Charts
Weekly UK App Store charts: Harry Potter Hogwarts Mystery surges up iPad and iPhone top grossing charts
Rankings from April 30th to May 6th
Financial Fantasy
Final Fantasy Brave Exvius and Hoshi no Dragon Quest help bump Square Enix to profits of $348 million
Dragon Quest Monsters Super Light and Kingdom Hearts Union X also given nods
Don’t You Mean Football
Badland developer Frogmind soft launches new IP Rumble Stars Soccer
Currently playable in Finland, Sweden, Vietnam, Philippines and more
Take To The Seas
Overseas sales push Com2us to $100m revenues for Q1 FY18
85 per cent of revenues came from abroad as Summoners War continues to draw players
Ouch
Tencent up against worst margins ever as value drops $78 billion
Rising costs and continued investments will strain profits