Winner Winner Chicken Salad
Tencent soft-launches PUBG Lite in the Philippines on Android
Just a lite update for you
Fort-not
Google Play now warning Fortnite fans that the game isn’t on its Android store
Despite best efforts, clones are likely to flood the Google Play store
Unity
67% of Unity developers are choosing to publish independently
Unity reports on the development habits of 1,445 small to medium Indies
Pgc Speaker
Frogmind’s Teemu Mäki-Patola to discuss recent challenges and achievements at PGC Helsinki 2018
Will discuss the company's recent challenges and achievements
Mobile Mixer
Join the mobile games industry at our Mixer and Asia trends panel during Gamescom on August 22nd
Mix with industry bigwigs in Cologne
Get Online
Nintendo Switch Online will arrive in the second half of September
Long-delayed online subscription services pegged for the end of next month
Field Trip
Indian learning platform Quizizz raises over $3 million in funding
Homework gamification app has amassed over 10 million active users
Fine Catch
Pokemon Quest captures $8 million in revenue from mobile after one month
The RPG has proved most popular in Japan followed closely by the US
Oh No
Netmarble shares plummet to all-time low as Lineage 2 popularity fades
Shares dropped 11.27 per cent on August 9th to close at 126,000 won
Banned
No end in sight as South Korean games companies locked out of China for over a year
No signs of issues being resolved
Chinese Exports
Chinese games raked in more than $600 million in the US for the first half of 2018 alone
The haul was a 52 per cent increase year-on-year
Games Suspended
China hasn't approved any new mobile games since March 28th
Market sees single-digit growth in first half of the year, the slowest since at least 2009
Financials
Square Enix profits drop after three months with no new games and new mobile titles fail to perform
Three-month financial results show a slow quarter for the Japanese publisher
Write In
Interactive fiction specialist Dr Emily Short joins the Spirit AI board
Two-year Character Engine product manager takes on the role of executive director at Spirit
Fortnite Android
Fortnite Android rolls out exclusively on Samsung Galaxy devices first today
Heading to other Android devices over the next few days
Child-friendly
Industry veterans seek to structure children's screen time with Ava
The new take on parental controls ditches restrictions and blocklists to take a more positive spin
Diverse
Mobile diversification strategy helps drive NetEase to $2.5 billion revenue for 2Q18
Horror game Identity V and battle royale title Knives Out were namechecked specifically
Not Too Shabby
Nexon’s MapleStory M hits five million downloads globally in two weeks
The side-scrolling adventure game originally hit three million within its first week
Billion Dollar Baby
Magic Leap One Creator Edition launches with $2,295 price tag
Only available in select US cities however
Yo Yo Yo
GameMaker Studio 2 launches open beta for Nintendo Switch support
The new edition will let developers port any previous games made with GameMaker Studio 2 to Switch
20x20 Awesomeness
King, Nitro Games, Rovio, ZeptoLab and friends in epic PG Connects Helsinki PechaKucha Sessions
Wilhelm Taht returns with supercharged, hugely popular Connects element
Mobile Awards
One week left for International Mobile Gaming Awards Southeast Asia submissions
Deadline is August 15th
Ar Games
Facebook Messenger gets augmented reality games
Extends possibilities as a games platform
Casting Sales
Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery hits $55 million revenue in just over three months
Nearly half of player spending occurs in US
On Job
Ad platform Bidalgo taps up former Clicktale CFO to bolster executive team
Nir Ackerman will join as CFO and will be tasked with overseeing all of the company’s financial operations
Don’t You Mean Football?
Sociable Soccer dev Tower Studios snags China publishing deal with China Mobile
Arcade football game is will land in China first and is pencilled in for launch in Autumn 2018
Jammin’
WildWorks’ kid-focused MMO Animal Jam strikes up revenues to the tune of $150m
$20 million of which comes from the mobile version Animal Jam: Play Wild
Decline Continues
GungHo revenue and profits fall again as publisher struggles to replace Puzzle & Dragons
New release Yo-Kai Watch World surpasses one million downloads
Crushing It
Candy Crush developer King has made more than $1 billion so far this year
Monthly active users for King's portfolio hit 270 million
A New Focus
MZ’s Final Fantasy XV: A New Empire rakes in $380m in one year
US players alone bring in $138 million
War Never Changes
Fallout Shelter mobile surpasses $93 million in revenue
Could hit $100m by the end of the year
Take To The Seas
Pirate Code walks away as the second Big Indie Pitch in China winner
Big Ear takes second while Hexland Heroes walks away in third
Who Are Ya
Bandai Namco soft-launches Doctor Who collectible card game on Android
The collectible card game is currently available in New Zealand, Australia, Canada and Thailand
Billions
Lineage 2 Revolution follows Lineage M in breaking $1 billion barrier
Still making $30 million a day 20 months on
Mobile Mixer
G-STAR, NetEase, Gamevil and iDreamSky to discuss key Asia trends at Pocket Gamer Mobile Mixer panel at Gamescom
Mix with industry bigwigs in Cologne
Weekly Charts
Weekly UK App Store charts: Hello Stars, Hello Neighbor and Plank! top flurry of new stars in download rankings
Rankings from July 23rd to 29th
Blocked
Minecraft movie faces delays as director Rob McElhenney exits project
Film faces major rebuilding efforts and is certain to miss its planned May 2019 release
Quite Possible
PUBG Mobile is bringing Mission Impossible: Fallout to its pocket-sized battlegrounds
The month-long campaign to bring tie-in content and challenges to PUBG is already underway
Break The Market
Glu Mobile’s Kim Kardashian: Hollywood nets $8m in revenue in Q2
The sum represents a year-on-year growth of 20 per cent
Report
Keywords half-year pre-tax profits up 66% to $18.43m
All 7 acquisitions made in 2018 so far are performing "in line with expectations"
Take Three
Kakao Games makes a third $16.8 million investment in esports developer Neptune
The South Korean company now holds an 11 per cent stake in Neptune
Salty Springs
Epic CEO Tim Sweeney labels Google Play 30% revenue share “disproportionate” as Fortnite bypasses Android store
Developer goes direct to consumer in bold move
Well Traveled
Square Enix’s Octopath Traveler hits one million copies sold worldwide
The turn-based RPG hit the Nintendo Switch eShop three weeks ago
Job News Klaxon
Softgames taps ex-Smilegate Europe head of studio to lead its in-house development team
Bernd Beyreuther joined the games developers as Head of Studio on August 1st
Not Bad
Apple becomes first public company worth $1 trillion
The iPhone manufacturer hit the market value on Thursday
Lucky Draw
Mobile users account for 71% of the $1.5 billion digital card games market
Hearthstone leads the charge on a market expected to grow to $2 billion by 2020
Well Made
Games Workshop's yearly profits nearly double to $97m
“Our business and our hobby are in great shape, the best shape either has been for some time”
Mobile Gaming
Supercell and Playerunknown respond to Elon Musk's Twitter callout for Tesla game devs
The product architect is angling for Pokemon Go with an “adults in cars anime vibe”
Punch Up
Mobile brawler Shadow Fight 3 strikes over 40 million downloads
Third entry in Nekki’s punch-up franchise looks set to follow in the shadowy, successful footsteps of its predecessor
Duty Calls
Activision working with Tencent on new Call of Duty mobile game for China
Collaboration confirms a free-to-play mobile entry in the long-running first-person-shooter franchise