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
Big Indie Pitch
The Big Indie Pitch heads to GameDevDays in Estonia
Pitching in the Estonian capital
Big Moves
Lords Mobile generating up to $50 million a month
I Got Games also managed to snag $603 million in revenue for 2017
Sweet Deal
Jam City acquires Colombian World War Doh developer Brainz
Publisher expanding into real-time strategy development
Automated Offers
New machine learning-powered app monetisation tool Game of Whales launches
Data from tests claims 25 per cent increase in daily revenues
Rewarded Video Ad Growth
Tapjoy ad platform reaches 620 million monthly active users
Rewarded video ad views grow 150 per cent year-over-year
Off The Chain
Get the latest news and analysis on the world of the blockchain at BlockchainGamer.biz
Online from today, BlockchainGamer.biz explores the blockchain technology phenomenon and demystifies its use in gaming.
Big Moves
Reboot Develop set to welcome speakers from NetEase, Ustwo, Nordeus and more in April
Over 100 talks set to be featured at Reboot Develop on April 19th to 21st in Dubrovnik, Croatia
Match-made
Matchmade wants to be the Google AdWords of influencer marketing as it surpasses a 200 million YouTube subscriber reach
Eeva Hattara joins as CFO while Heini Vesander is named CMO
Decked Out
Valve set to bring Source 2-powered card game Artifact to mobile in 2019
Title will be premium, not free-to-play
Competitive Gaming
Alibaba backs non-violent video games at the Olympics
“In our communication with the Olympics committee, we’ve come to have a better understanding of their values, which is to promote peace"
Redundancies
Report: Fruit Ninja developer Halfbrick lays off half its team
The number of employees laid off could push past 30 before the end of the week
Jobs News
Tag Games names new CEO as Paul Farley moves to head up live ops platform ChilliConnect
Farley wants to "democratise live ops and connected gaming"
Blast Off
Blast closes $5 million round to let gamers earn money while they play
Start-up wants to improve engagement and retention for developers while letting players make real money
Money Stream
Tencent pumps $632 million into Chinese online games streaming platform Douyu
Follows $462 million funding in rival Huya
Big Deal
Chinese games livestreaming service Huya picks up $462 million funding from Tencent ahead of IPO
Tencent has rights to up stake to controlling 50.1 per cent of shares
Funding Round
Mobile developer Kixeye raises $20 million for machine learning platform
Tech to help studios optimise marketing, monetisation and retention
Weekly Charts
Weekly UK App Store charts: Golf Clash swings back into the top 10 grossing spots
Rankings from February 26th to March 4th 2018
Copycraft
NetEase rushes to beat Epic’s Fortnite to the punch on mobile with FortCraft
This chicken dinner smells familiar
Championing Diversity
Zynga partners with IGDA to kick off Women in Games Ambassador and Scholars initiatives at GDC
Zynga will provide mentoring from staff and access to the conference
Download Rush
Dutch publisher Spil Games racks up 300 million downloads on mobile
Operate Now: Hospital highlighted as most successful mobile title to date
Another Milestone
Summoners War surpasses 90 million downloads
Com2us expects to hit 100 million downloads in the near future
Small-screen Dinner
Epic’s Fortnite Battle Royale is coming to mobile with PC and PS4 cross-play
Developer claims title will have same gameplay, map, content and weekly updates
Jobs News
FarmVille co-creator Mark Skaggs departs Indian developer Moonfrog Labs
Designer to return to the US and spend more time with his family