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
Chat.com
Fun, outgoing PG Connects London 2018 is looking for expert, insightful speakers
January 22nd to 23rd event poised to again set a new standard for mobile gaming industry's leading conference series
The Weekly
The Weekly: Hitman GO postmortem, mobile game publishing relationships, and AR for the masses
Rounding up the week's industry analysis and news from around the internet
Scaled Down
Autodesk kills off game middleware products
Scaleform, Beast, Human IK and Navigation all given the chop
Mobile Is King
Mobile games revenues surpassed PC and console revenues in 2016 for the first time
DFC Intelligence tells us more
Master Plan
British Games Institute unveils proposals for £8 million a year programme on funding, culture and skills
Could go up to £12 million after three years
Esl New Hires
ESL hires new CMO and CRO to push into next stage of global growth
Rodrigo Samwell and Martin Hubert join the team
Force Field Funding
Term1nal developer Force Field raises $1.14 million to finish its next six games
Working on "high-end location based VR"
Ar Next
Next Games pushes into AR and location-based games with Lume Games acquisition
Also sees revenues up 52% to $22.6 million
Apple China Data Centre
Apple to build first data centre in China to comply with stricter data storage laws
Partners with Guizhou-Cloud Big Data on new centre
Big Deal
Brazil’s Independent Games Festival 2017 attracts 20,000 visitors
3,200 professionals head to event
Country Head
Gameloft hires former Arena Azure Head of AV as new Country Manager for UK and Ireland
John-Paul Burke to grow the company in the region and lead Gameloft Advertising Solutions team
Out Of This World
Space Krieg blasts away competition at the Big Indie Pitch at Develop:Brighton 2017
Narrative-driven titles The Almost gone and Lost Words take second and third spot
Dreams To Reality
VR developer NDreams secures $3.5 million investment in second stage of funding round
Mercia Technologies continues to pour money into the studio
Games In Leeds
GamesLab Leeds grants $200,000 to nine Yorkshire devs in latest round of funding
40 jobs created or safeguarded by funding
Tasty
Candy Crush TV show has sweet premiere with 4.1 million viewers
Scores a 1.1 Nielsen rating, whatever that means
Play Business
Motorsport Manager’s Christian West on why business planning as an indie made his life much easier
The Playsport Games Director discusses his love for spreadsheets
Time To Experiment
Experimental games company Velan Studios secures $7 million series A funding round
Round led by Velan Ventures
Pokemon Galore
Pokemon GO players in Japan spent an average of $26 on IAPs in the game's first year
Sensor Tower ranks the top spenders in Niantic's megahit
Epic Accelerator
Epic Games chosen to take part in Disney's 2017 accelerator program
One of 11 companies taking part
Battle Of Legends
Riot Games sues Mobile Legends developer Shanghai Moonton Technology for copyright infringement
Mobile MOBA developer alleged to have ripped design and art from League of Legends
V-art
Ex-ARM and Guerrilla Cambridge staff launch mobile-focused VR studio Virtual Arts
Using triple-A knowledge to develop mobile VR experiences
We Are Family
Jagex and Riot Games join Ukie's ever-growing network of developers
Jagex cementing relationship, Riot Games leading eSports
Going On Up
Unity’s Andy Brammall leaves after seven years to join middleware firm Spirit AI
Takes up role of Director of Sales and Consulting
Women In Games
Anita Sarkeesian and Brie Code to keynote European Women in Games Conference on September 5th-6th
Over 40 speakers and panellists across the conference's two days
From The Sky
Cloud-based PC game streaming service LiquidSky launches service on Android
Play your PC games on your Android phone or tablet - for a price
Unity 2017
Unity 2017.1 launches with Timeline, Cinemachine, improved analytics, and more
New year-based numbering system finally in effect
Defining Reality
Magic Leap’s Chief Games Wizard on what defines mixed reality and the 'everyday adventure' killer app
Graeme Devine delves into design concepts for MR