Google Play Awards 2017
Fire Emblem Heroes, Pokemon GO and more pick up nominations for Google Play Awards 2017
The cream of the crop duke it out on May 18th
Cents For Seasun
Tencent acquires 9.9% stake in Chinese mobile games developer Seasun for $142 million
Deal made in two parts by subsidiary Image Frame Investment
Influential Backers
GameInfluencer raises six-figure funding from European mobile game developers to grow platform
Klaas Kersting, Tung Nguyen-Khac and more join advisory board
Mighty Partnership
Ubisoft partners with Tencent and Playcrab for China-focused Might & Magic strategy game
Might & Magic Heroes: Era of Chaos expected to launch June 2017
Big C.a.t.s.
ZeptoLab's latest game C.A.T.S. hits eight million downloads in first weekend
Tops iOS free download charts in 20 countries
Monumental Tactics
Monument Valley talk: "The kind of game Apple would make if they made games"
Develop Reboot took place this week in Dubrovnik and Ustwo's Daniel Gray spoke openly there about the strategy behind Monument Valley
Connection Time
Join us for a Pocket Gamer DrinkUp during Berlin Games Week on April 25th
If you're headed in for Quo Vadis 2017, come network in our company
The Talking Head
Skybound's Dan Murray to keynote PG Connects San Francisco 2017
Need a survival guide to a world overrun by IP?
Us Mobile Market 2016
2016's top five grossing mobile games in the US made up 28% of all revenues
Branded IPs are up, especially if you consider Clash Royale one
Big In Korea
Netmarble to raise $2.3 billion in IPO that values mobile games publisher at over $11 billion
South Korea's second biggest ever public offering
Splitting Aces
Zynga doubles down on Zynga Poker with Snapchat lens
Not the best known gaming platform out there
New Ways To Pay
Shopify Unity Buy SDK lets devs sell physical products in-game
Alto's Adventure already uses it
Nordic Games Awards 2017
Clash Royale picks up two Game of the Year nominations at Nordic Game Awards 2017
Bridgeside Interactive's Clapper picks up three nods
Newzoo Market Report
Global mobile games market expected to generate $46 billion in revenues in 2017
Newzoo updates its predictions
Flying High
The story of the creation and aftermath of mobile gaming sensation Flappy Bird
Dong Nguyen reveals all
New Lands
Frogmind discusses life after Supercell’s majority acquisition
Moving from premium to free-to-play
A Better Dynamic
Ilyon Dynamics surpasses 100 million downloads for its 60+ catalogue of games
Has seen at least 30% growth month-on-month since January 2016
Dominating
DomiNations surpasses $100 million in revenues two years after first launching
Up there with MapleStory and Dungeon & Fighter as a key IP for Nexon
Production Partnership
ESL UK partners with Super Evil Megacorp to produce upcoming Vainglory Spring Championship
Will handle set design and livestreaming for the event
Super Startups
Why Supercell built a company of startups, and how it works
Ilkka Paananen shares his philosophy for mobile games development, and why it might not work for everyone
A Gif For All
Zynga partners with GIF sharing platform Tenor for GIFs Against Friends
Continues to barrel down the With Friends approach
Eyes Everywhere
Over 190 million smartphones currently on the market are VR-compatible
Newzoo outlines how mobile VR mass adoption should happen
Organic Apple
Apple hits 100% renewable energy in 24 countries and pledges to stop mining the Earth for materials
It's not easy being green
Romania Control
Remote Control Productions opens Bucharest office
BigBlue Studios' Bogdan Oprescu to head up operations
It Was Fate
Fate/Grand Order to launch in the US and Canada in summer 2017
Aniplex bringing an English text translation to the West
Games Growth
Worldwide mobile game revenues grew 53% to $11.9 billion in Q1 2017
Mobile Strike said to be the top grossing game across app stores
The Revolution Spreads
Netmarble plans to release Lineage 2: Revolution in Japan and China by the end of 2017
Might have some trouble with the China launch
Leaps And Bounds
Magic Leap acquires FuzzyCube and hires staff from Moonbot Studios to bolster development
Moonbot Studios shut down shortly afterwards
Big Bet
South Korea’s DoubleU Games splashes $825 million on social casino dev Double Down
London firm IGT sees a $325 million profit from previous buyout
Mobile Hunt
The Witcher 3 studio CD Projekt Red hiring mobile developers for possible Gwent port
Polish outfit looking for programmers and artists
Competitive Gaming
eSports will be a medal event at the 2022 Asian Games
Could mobile play a part?
Ar Go
Facebook plots augmented reality games platform for mobile
Already in closed beta, but a long road ahead
Wearable Gaming
Italian fashion house Moschino unveils Candy Crush collection
Candy Crush the latest inspiration for Jeremy Scott's pop culture designs
Hardware Upgrade
Report: Apple set to launch three new iPhones this year
Two upgrades and one redesign
Latin America Team-up
Animation outfit Anima Estudios partners with Colombia's Teravision to create licensed mobile games
Mexico's leading animation studio calls upon Colombian developer
End Of The Boom?
Finnish games industry slows after years of rapid growth
But still on the rise
War Chest
Netmarble plots $4.4 billion acquisition spending spree after May 2017 IPO
Mobile games publisher goes public on May 12th
Switched On
Nintendo Switch the fastest selling console in the company’s history
Breath of the Wild has a 100% attach rate in the US
Hot Five
Mafia Wars is back, influencers in Germany face broadcasting regulations, and Club Penguin reboots on mobile
The hottest articles of last week
Industry Event
South Korea games show G-Star 2017 dated for November 16th to 19th
Key expo returns to Busan
Very Big Indie Pitch
The Very Big Indie Pitch returns to North America for Pocket Gamer Connects San Francisco 2017
Our jumbo offering of indie developer pitching returns
Super Senso Release
Turbo's Super Senso finally has a concrete release date after nearly four years in development
GungHo will still act as publisher
Shoot The Messenger
Facebook Messenger app hits 1.2 billion monthly active users
A big audience for its Instant Games platform
Neverending Saga
Candy Crush Saga has only dropped out of the US App Store top ten grossing charts twice in over four years
Celebrates its fifth year since launching on Facebook
Open The Gates
CrossFire publisher Smilegate looking to partner with Western mobile and PC game developers
South Korean outfit ready to start discussions with European studios
Icandy Acquisition
iCandy Interactive acquires Singapore mobile dev Inzen for $4.4 million to gain access to China market
Inzen gains access to iCandy's 17 million players too
Android Global Sales
Android sales in China accounted for 86.4% of all smartphones sold between December 2016 and February 2017
Kantar Worldpanel breaks down sales around the world
Industry Event
Reboot Develop 2017 kicks off on April 20th
Over 100 speakers announced
Nicalis Acquisitions
Nicalis picks up SuperVillain Studios and Cowboy Color to expand development capabilities
SuperVillain absorbed into Nicalis' internal development team
Spicerack Acquisition
Casino firm Scientific Games acquires social bingo developer Spicerack
Cost of the deal was undisclosed