Funding Round
Web and app market intelligence firm SimilarWeb raises $47 million
Company plans to open new offices, develop new products and extend its data coverage
Arena Of Strike
Tencent rebrands Western release of mobile MOBA Strike of Kings to Arena of Valor
Strike of Kings fans not particularly happy
Influential Donations
Twitch community raises $75 million for charity
2017 has already seen $9.1 million in donations and may surpass 2016 record
Ready To Rumble
Take-Two to focus on WWE and NBA mobile games following Social Point acquisition
Might move on if these games perform well
Chain Reaction
Guns of Boom blasts past 10 million downloads two months after global launch
Over 100,000 YouTube videos made of it
Superdata Top Grossing June 2017
Honor of Kings was the top grossing mobile game worldwide in June 2017
SuperData reckons it generated $150 million in revenues for the month
Igf Submissions 2018
Independent Games Festival opens submissions for 20th annual competition
Deadline is October 2nd, so there's still some time left
Gfinity Acquires Cevo
Gfinity pushes into US by acquiring eSports tech firm CEVO for $2.7 million
Solidifying its place on the global scene
Funding Round
Medtech firm Highmark raises $2 million to make games that treat brain injuries
Company also recruits John Gardiner as new CFO
Jobs News
GameInfluencer appoints Macy Mills as new Head of Business Development
Start-up expands operations with new hires
New Lands
Playrix partners with iDreamSky to bring Gardenscapes to China
Hit match-3 game heading to Chinese Android devices
Glitch Fest
Pokemon GO Fest plagued by technical problems
Niantic apologies to 20,000+ registered attendees as it issues refunds for all
Uk Mobile Charts
Weekly UK App Store charts: Motorsport Manager Mobile 2 overtakes Minecraft
Rankings from July 10th to July 16th
The Weekly
The Weekly: Pokemon GO turf wars, designing Monument Valley 2, and developing for Facebook Instant Games
Rounding up the week's industry analysis and news from around the internet
Pokemon Go Fest
Niantic to unleash legendaries in Pokemon GO during special live-streamed real-world event on July 22nd
Players in Chicago will need to work together to take down a legendary
Reality Cash
Reality Gaming readies ‘initial coin offering’ to raise $1.5 million for new AR game
Set to launch on August 29th
Partnership Perfect
Pocket Gems partners with Universal Studios for new Episode story based on Pitch Perfect
Community writers can win a trip to Universal and face time with Episode writers
Tapjoy Audience Reach
Tapjoy's rewarded video ads now reach over 581 million users thanks to partnerships with major developers
Seriously, Jam City, Sega, Zeptolab and more now making use of the platform
Vgtr Pays Out
UK government's Video Game Tax Relief scheme has paid out $95 million in 2016/17 period
280 claims have been paid out on so far this period
Paying The Billz
Former Kabam COO Kent Wakeford joins eSports platform Skillz's board of directors
Also co-owns an Overwatch eSports team now, apparently
Dena X Nintendo
DeNA dedicates 10% of staff to Nintendo mobile games
DeNA and Nintendo's partnership is going "extremely well"
Party On
PocketGamer.biz's ChinaJoy 2017 party and networking guide
Keep up with all the best networking opportunities with this handy list
Gamer Chat
Mobile gamer-focused chat platform Plexchat secures $7 million investment
"The lack of community is an existential crisis for mobile games," says Plexchat CEO Shawn Foust.
Financing Education
Games learning platform Kahoot raises extra $10 million in Series A funding round
Mobile app for teachers and students to launch during the new school year
Finnish Line(up)
Space Ape, Critical Force, Next Games, Wargaming, Seriously, Gameloft, EA, Traplight and more confirmed for PG Connects Helsinki 2017
Second announcement of speakers for final Connects conference of the year is a biggie
Download Siege
Siege: Titan Wars fires past one million downloads in 10 days
Hits top 100 grossing rankings in 30 countries
Stillfront acquires German sports management game OnlineFussballManager
Also agrees publishing deal with Digamore Entertainment for Football Empire
Words With Television
Zynga partners with MGM for new Words With Friends TV game show
Could also incorporate other titles in publisher's portfolio
Yahoo Game Plus
Yahoo Japan launches HTML5 and cloud-based browser games platform Game Plus
52 companies already signed up to provide titles for the platform
Blasting Off
Hypernova Interactive raises seed funding from first-time games investor Kae Investments
Two-man developer has released two games so far
Crash-tastic
Not Doppler's Crash of Cars smashes 10 million downloads four months after launch
Over 750 battles have taken place
Switch Online
Nintendo launches Switch Online companion app for voice chat and organising online matches
Free to use until the full online services kick in
Look Ma I'm On Tv
Vainglory to make TV debut on Disney XD as part of new series ESL Brawlers
One episode dedicated to Super Evil's MOBA airing as part of D|XP
Stellar Idea
Jagex R&D team working on new IP outside of RuneScape
But main focus still remains on its hit MMO
Apple China Jobs
Apple promotes VP of Wireless Technologies Isabel Ge Mahe to VP and MD of Greater China
Leading China-based teams and improving co-ordination in the country
Ubisoft Financials Q1 Fy18
Ubisoft scores $233 million in sales with 80% of its total revenues generated from digital products
11% of total sales came from mobile and ancillaries
Alexa, Balance These
Beasts of Balance developer Sensible Object joins Amazon's Alexa Accelerator
13 weeks of working with Amazon and Techstars to integrate Alexa
Acquiring Ua
N3twork buys Eric Seufert’s user acquisition tool Agamemnon
Seufert also joins company to lead its new suite of tools and services
Rising Costs
Mobile game development costs in Japan have risen as high as $9 million per game
Serkan Toto looks into the rising cost of making a game
To The Moomin
Moomin-focused mobile developer Snowfall promotes COO Natasha Trygg to CEO
Former CEO Petri Elovaara will stick around as a board member and advisor
Zooming To Emea
Mobile performance firm PacketZoom pushes into EMEA with new General Manager hire
Amos Ben Yaacov joins from bob to oversee operations
From Partner To Owner
Taptica cements position in Japan by acquiring marketing firm Adinnovation
Partnership leads to complete acquisition
Leaps And Bounds
Motion tracking developer Leap Motion secures $50 million series C funding round
Pushing into Asia and broadening the scope of its product
One For All
Zynga apologises to CSR Racing 2 players over setting random prices for the same car
Some players paid up to $34.99, while others scored the car for $4.99
Not A Forever Franchise
Zynga shuts down mobile Mafia Wars after three months
Another one bites the dust
Ar Awakens
Disney's new augmented reality headset lets players wield their own lightsaber
Teams up with tech outfit Lenovo to produce new hardware
Mobile Siege
Outplay’s Castle Creeps TD surpasses five million downloads
Tower defence title reaches milestone in just over six months
Jobs News
Subway Surfers dev Sybo Games hires ex-PopCap Creative Director Amy Kalson
Kalson brings expertise in game design and AI
Eat Some Hay
Playdemic’s Golf Clash strikes up $1.1 million revenues in a single day
Studio targets $100 million in revenue this year
Uk Mobile Charts
Weekly UK App Store charts: Golf Clash, Dragon Ball Z and Contest of Champions surge into top 10 grossing
Rankings from July 3rd to July 9th