New Games Platform?
Snapchat snaps up UK cloud-based HTML5 game engine PlayCanvas
Could it be eyeing up instant games for the platform?
Public Offering
Worms publisher Team17 plots $284 million UK IPO
Official announcement could be made "within days"
Change The Game
Google Play challenges female teens to change the game with new design challenge
Students could win college scholarship of $10,000 and $15,000 school pledge, plus all-expenses paid trip to E3
Rejoyce
King appoints global director of diversity and inclusion
Former BBC veteran, Joyce Adeluwoye-Adams MBE, joins Candy Crush developer
Fusion
Crytek teams up with PlayFusion to bring enhanced reality features into Cryengine
The addition will allow Cryengine licenses to tap into a new set of virtual reality development tools and features
Mobile Madness
Madfinger’s Shadowgun Legends launches globally on Android and iOS
The first-person shooter/ RPG hybrid was originally announced back in August of 2016
Testing
NetEase and Google partner up to bring automated testing software to Android
Google unveiled NetEase developed testing tech AirTest Project at GDC
Gdc Awards
Gorogoa grabs a brace of awards at GDC
Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild bags a hattrick, Vlambeer co-founder wins Ambassador Award
Unreal
Epic Games to boost support for mobile developers with Unreal Engine 4
A host of improvements and features revealed at State of Unreal opening session at GDC
Unleashed
Vungle launches global self-serve platform for advertisers
New platform gives advertisers access to its audience for video content
Fit For A King
Honor of Kings helps double Tencent profits to $3.4 billion last quarter
56 per cent of third-quarter growth came from the success of mobile titles such as Honor of Kings
Chart Royale
Playerunknown’s Battleground Mobile grabs top spot on iOS free games chart in 17 countries
The battle royale title is also the second spot in Germany and the US
Gotta Go Fast
Games streaming service Hatch brings classic Sega titles Crazy Taxi and Virtua Tennis to Android
Other games like Sonic Jump, Sonic 4 Episode 2 and Sonic CD also heading to the platform courtesy of Hatch
Road To China
Ubisoft partners with Tencent to release games in China
Strategic partnership sees the French firm's titles move into the territory
Job News
Former staff at Telltale reveal a toxic working culture at The Walking Dead studio
Ex-employees complained of constant overwork, toxic management and creative stagnation
Polylingual
YoYo Games adds French, German and Spanish languages to GameMaker Studio 2
Development engine set to add more languages this year
Results Are In
Virtual Virtual Reality and Bury Me, My Love take the accolades at 14th annual IMGAs
Old Man’s Journey and Hidden Folks also receive awards
Augmented Reel-ality
Resolution Games set to give Bait! The AR treatment with Bait! Under the Surface on Android and iOS
The latest instalment of the franchise is expected to launch later this year
Given The Boot
Vivendi pulls out of Ubisoft as Tencent becomes shareholder in the French publisher
Conglomerate sells its 27.3 per cent stake in the firm
Phwoar
PlayFusion to give Warhammer the Pokemon Go treatment with new AR trading card game
The mobile games developer will also create additional content as a part of an IP partnership with Games Workshop
Moving Day
Avakin life developer Lockwood Publishing opens first international office in Lithuania
New Vinius office to comprise of up to 15 backend developers
Like Nite And Day
Invitation-only Fornite Mobile nets more than $1 million in-game on iOS within three days
Epic Games’ battle royale is currently top of the iOS charts in over 40 different countries
Chickens On The Menu
Playerunknown’s Battlegrounds Mobile launches in America and Canada on iOS and Android
Further release dates for other regions to be revealed soon
Will I’ll Be
The Sims creator Will Wright working on new mobile game Proxi
Competition to join project as 3D artist announced at GDC
Nested Prefabs
Unity's big roadmap for 2018 includes machine learning, IAP Promo and a new rendering pipeline
Technology firms shows signs of a busy year ahead
Game Dev Challenge
$250,000 Unity and Universal contest gives game devs access to IP such as Battlestar Galactica and Back to the Future
Other famous franchises to play with include Turok, Voltron and Jaws
All On Board
Armello launches on iOS and Android
Free-to-play digital board game offers players in-app-purchases and subscription options
Instant Gaming
Android Instant lets players quickly trial games like Clash Royale with tiny downloads
Service currently in closed beta
Job News
QA and localisation firm Testronic journeys east to set up first office in Asia with new Bangkok set up
Lily Gavin-Allen to take charge of business development in the region
Job News
AR company appoints mobile and blockchain entrepreneur to advisory board
Richard Skaife joins Krytonite1 CEO George McDonaugh and Snatch CEO Jamal Hirani at Reality Clash
Friendly Competition
Amazon reveals cross-platform competitive gaming service GameOn that delivers real-world prizes
Developers can use it to implement leaderboards, leagues and multi-round competitions
High Tide
Subway Surfers becomes first game to hit 1 billion downloads on Google Play
The endless runner launched in 2012 and was downloaded 400 million times last year
Good Gamee
Gamee teams up with Viber to bring social gaming to 1 billion users
The new partnership will see over 70 of Gamee’s titles brought to Viber’s 1 billion users
Next Stage
Drive Ahead! developer Dodreams snags former Rovio SVP Sami Lahtinen as head of studio
Lahtinen will be involved with Drive Ahead!, audience engagement and recruitment
Mobile Evolved
Ark: Survival Evolved set to touch down on mobile as a free-to-play title this spring
Closed beta to also launching today
Chart Topper
Invite-only Fornite Mobile hits the top of iOS games chart in first 24 hours
More invites set to be sent out over the coming months
Touched Down
Playerunknown’s Battlegrounds Mobile journeys West with Canada soft launch
Available for download from the Google Play store
New Studio
Avakin life developer Lockwood Publishing opens new studio in Newcastle
The new office will be headed up by Ubisoft alumni Joe Stevens
Events
Blockchain Gamer Connects: The new conference for games and the blockchain heads to San Francisco May 14th to 15th
Two-day event revealed for May 14th and 15th
Reaching Out
Google Play reveals a slew of new mobile game advertising features
Rewarded video, playables and open bidding heading to Google Play and the company's services
Glorious
Super Evil Megacorp partners with Alibaba to bring Vainglory to World Electronic Sports Games
MOBA joins the likes of Blizzard’s Hearthstone and Valve’s Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
Cheers Guys
YoYo Games to hand out free licences for GameMaker Studio 2 during GDC
Games developers can use the suite at Train Jam, The Heart Jam and the Not Going to GDC Game Jam
1v1me
Supercell kicks off Clash Royale League Challenge to give hopeful pros a chance at the big time
Players have until March 19 to reach 20 wins to progress to the next round
Moving Day
Outsourcing specialist Virtuos eyes acquisitions after raising $15 million
The development studio also hopes to double in size over the next three years
Location Location Location
Now any developer can harness Google Maps for Pokemon Go-like real-world gaming
The next Pokemon Go could be just around the corner
An Instant Success?
Facebook Instant Games opens up to all developers
Platform rolls out with ads-based monetisation, ads optimisation and measurement tools and cross-promotion features
Top Dogs
Mobile games spending one-third higher than on PC/Mac, handheld and console combined in 2017
Mobile gaming continues to grow thanks by and large to growth in Asia-Pacific territories
Zombieland
Google Maps to power upcoming location-based augmented reality game The Walking Dead: Our World
Partnership will bring famous landmarks such the Statue of Liberty and the London Eye to the game
Ka-ching
Social casino dev KamaGames’ revenues hit $57.5 million in 2017
Earnings up by 63.4 per cent from 2016
Getting Social
Sega and GetSocial study shows that social media is the way to go to engage players
GetSocial's study looks at the 40,000 players brought into Sonic Forces: Speed Battle through non-paid social channels