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
Winner Winner
Report: Tencent set to acquire 10% of PUBG developer Bluehole for $500 million
Sale is not intended to raise capital for Bluehole but instead is a chance for early investors to cash out
Hang With The Squad
AzzyLand, Bart Baker, Chad Wild Clay and more star in Squad Rivals mobile game
Content creators have a combined audience of 41 million YouTube subscribers
Greatest Generation
In a bid to combat industry ageism Game Advocacy unveils first 50 Over 50 list
Recognition hopes to shine a spotlight on ageism within the games sector
Dialled In
Sony’s PlayLink project is still alive with seven new games coming this year
Playstation’s local mobile multiplayer platform expands with games old and new
Big Drops
Fortnite for Nintendo Switch stacks up two million players in less that 24 hours
Epic’s hit continues to be a worldwide phenomenon in spite of cross-platform woes
Stranger Definitions
Netflix not getting into games despite commissioning Minecraft interactive TV show and Stranger Things games
How many fingers am I holding up, Winston?
Developer Awards
Entries open for The Big Indie Awards at G-STAR
Gala ceremony in South Korea the grand finale to another fantastic year of international Big Indie Pitches
New Job
Chimera signs up ex-Ubisoft Blue Byte designer to head up game design
Sebastian Bombera joins with over 13 years on industry experience
Lock Down
Apple closes App Store loophole in a bid to stop developers from sharing data on users' friends
The move cracks down on a practice that has been reportedly going on for years
Hitting The Mark
MAG Interactive’s Paint Hit makes a splash with one million downloads in one day
The paint shooter is sitting in the number one spot on the Google Play casual games chart in the US
Crazy
Animoca Brands eyes Middle East revenue potential with Crazy Defense Heroes release
An Android version of the game is expected to be completed in the third quarter of 2018
Go Beyond
Beyond Games: A London mini-summit and mixer
Brought to you by Game Insight and Pocket Gamer; takes place on June 26th
Data Klaxon
Analysing player behaviour in the Chinese mobile games market
Chinese gamers are also more likely to surpass the world spending average
Fortifying Ps4
Sony blocks Fortnite cross-play between PS4 and Nintendo Switch
The battle royale hit can still be played between mobile, PC, Mac and Xbox One though
World Cup
Epic lays out Fortnite World Cup 2019 plans as battle royale hit surpasses 125m players
$100 million prize pool to support numerous competitions