Big Deal
Influencer-led DoubleJump Games acquires mobile developer TinyMob
Further acquisitions and publishing deals on the cards
Reality Check
Reality Clash pulls PlayStation veteran Anthony Bray to head up its operations
The hire comes as the company are heading into the launch of a new augmented reality game
Trends Survey
Last chance to fill in our developer survey ahead of GDC
Be in with a chance to win a free ticket
International Women's Day
QA outfit Testronic rolls out 50% Initiative to encourage more women in games
Designed to develop and further careers, too
Investment News
HQ Trivia dev scoops up $15 million funding round
Company valued at $100 million
New Studio
FoxNext opens new narrative-focused games studio in San Francisco
New branch to harness Fox and Disney IP for episodic title
Get In
NetEase’s PUBG-like Knives Out reaps $24 million in February thanks to unexpected success in Japan
Japanese players contributed to 80 per cent of global sales outside of the Chinese Market
Simply Splendid
The Sims Mobile tops the App Store download charts as it breaks out of soft launch
EA's new Sims title was originally soft-launched last year
Tapped Out
Chinese online games portal TapTap shut down for three months as government cracks down on rule breakers
Tencent, 360, Xiaomi and more also slapped with fines
Magic Money Tree
Mixed reality start-up Magic Leap scores another $461 million investment
Total investment to date reaches $2.3 billion
Trolls
“Patent trolls” threaten Clicker Heroes dev with legal action over virtual currency
PlaySaurus asked to pay $35 million licensing fee for violating a patent concerning the sale of virtual currency
Trends Survey
Win a free ticket to Pocket Gamer Connects by taking part in our developer survey
You could win a free ticket to an upcoming PGC event
Lifes A Pitch
80% of games journalists receive up to 10 review pitches per day
Big Games Machine surveyed over 200 games reviewers in it's first report
All The Marbles
Netmarble’s Lineage 2: Revolution generated $924 million in first 11 months
Seoul-based games publisher also looking to continue big Western push with more titles set for 2018
Jurassic Lark
Ludia gives new location-based AR game Jurassic World Alive the Pokemon Go treatment
New AR title expected to release ahead of Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom
Showcasing Diversity
Google highlights games made by women as part of Change the Game initiative
Apps highlighted include 80 Days, Zen Koi 2, Race for the Galaxy and Kami 2
Scapegoat Confirmed
Trump's meeting to scapegoat the games industry for US gun violence is on
ESA confirms actual invite after confusion around who would attend
Quite Honorable
Tencent dangles extra Honor of Kings game time carrot to kids who get good grades
New in-game contracts will let children negotiate play time with their parents
Less And Less
Report: Gameloft to close down Madrid studio
40 employees set to be dismissed
Top Of The Leader Board
Next Games ranks as the best games studio to work at in Finland
Next Games comes out well in Great place to Work's annual survey in Finland
Good Game
Amazon officially acquires cloud development platform GameSparks
Despite being reported back in July 2017 the deal is now official
Jobs News
Dots developer hires ex-King head of game franchises as new president
Nir Efrat to lead business operations and expansion plans
World Of Pr
Wargaming UK PR manager Frazer Nash leaves to start up own company
Sets up independent PR and communications business
Recruitment Drive
Top Eleven dev Nordeus makes string of key hires from EA, Goodgame, Radiant Worlds and more
Belgrade studio ramps up work on new projects
Special Offers
6 ways to get into Pocket Gamer Connects San Francisco for free
Head to the show without spending a dime
Clash Of The Titans
Glu Mobile explores strategy genre with new soft-launched IP Titan World
Glu Mobile soft-launches new IP Titan World in the Philippines
Weekly Charts
Weekly UK App Store charts: Alto's Odyssey a top 10 premium grosser on iPhone and iPad
Rankings from February 19th to 25th
Trends Survey
Win a free ticket to Pocket Gamer Connects San Francisco by filling out our Spring Developer Survey!
First 50 people to complete the survey will also get a 20 per cent discount code to the event
Winner Winner Chicken Dinner
The CEO of publishing giant Tencent is now the richest person in China
Tech mogul Ma Huateng also moved 23 places up the global rich list to 15th
Jobs News
Changes at Angry Birds developer as Rovio London closes and head of games Wilhelm Taht departs
Changes afoot at company following recent profit warning
Big Moves
Lineage 2 developer Netmarble names new CEO
South Korean-based developer Netmarble
Trumped Up Charges
Trump 'invites' games industry to meeting to scapegoat video games for US gun violence
Unclear what the point of this all is
Going Ape
Space Ape teams up with London universities for Varsity: Masterclass programme in March
UK developer to host a series of seminars in March in association with Universtiy College London and the University of Greenwich
Building Blocks
Unity partners up with blockchain marketplace DMarket for in-game item trading
Unity and DMarket team up to build links between gaming and blockchain trading
Crushed It
Mobile streaming outfit Mobcrush recruits ex-Studio 71 COO Phil Ranta as head of creators
Phil Ranta joins up with Mobcrush to lead their creator community
Good Cause
Esports platform Skillz partners with breast cancer organisation for $100,000 charity tournament
"By supporting Susan G. Komen the Skillz platform will contribute to change"
You're A Wizard
Jam City opens Google Play pre-registrations for Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery
Mobile title set for spring 2018 release
Egged On
Kirby developer HAL Laboratory’s Part Time UFO touches down in the West
New mobile-focused studio HAL Egg's debut title is out now in the west
Level Up
Video games graduates have more than doubled in the UK over the past five years
Gamer grads in fine company after 116 per cent increase over the last five years
Hot Story
Ubisoft acquires 1492 Studio to get in on mobile interactive fiction craze
Publisher brings in Is it love? series to its widening mobile portfolio
Jobs News
Crytek CEO Cevat Yerli steps down
His two brothers and co-founders take the top job
#shetalksgames
Facebook teams up with leading industry figures for new Women in Gaming social hub
The social media giant has committed to helping women find a way into the industry
Big Plays
New global mobile games publisher Finger Punch sets up shop in Singapore
Company plans to partner up with developers across the globe
New Speakers
Super Evil Megacorp, ESL, Reality Clash, FunPlus and Seriously confirmed for PG Connects San Francisco 2018
May 14th to 15th mobile games industry conference set to be biggest US outing to date
Big Moves
Two new staff writers for PocketGamer.biz as Ric Cowley is named editor of PocketGamer.com
New hires, a promotion and a new top secret website incoming!
Wild
Games distributor EuroVideo taps Daedalic and others for new publishing label Wild River
Wild River teams up with German-based studios Daedalic, Independent Arts and Morphicon to release three new mobile games this year
Parallel Bidding
Ad mediation platform Appodeal introduces in-app header bidding
Parallel Bidding currently in alpha testing
Match-india
Zynga targets burgeoning Indian mobile games market with Rangoli Rekha: Color Match release
Match-three title heads out of soft launch
Sweet Money
Candy Crush Soda Saga fizzes into top 10 of global grossing mobile game charts for January 2018
Two Candy Crush games in the top 10 revenue generators for January, according to SuperData
Augmented Spooks
Ghostbusters World gives iconic films the Pokemon Go treatment
South Korean publisher Four Thirty Three and partner studio NextAge on board to develop and publish