PocketGamer.biz Week That Was: Twitch goes mobile, Ouya goes virtual, and Disney lays off 700

This week is a study in contrasts - as is almost every week in the world of business.

As some companies trumpeted their successes - hitting 25 million downloads, or 10 million players a month - others felt the sting of failure and had to axe hundreds of employees to refocus their business model.

The good news is that, ultimately, both the successful and unsuccessful from this week will live on, and both success and failure are by no means permanent in today's rapidly evolving mobile market.

So with the good and bad in mind, let's take a good hard look back at the Pocket Gamer Biz week that was.

GDC

Heading to San Francisco in a few days? So are we! Be sure to check out:

• Our ultimate GDC 2014 party guide.
• Our 2014 Pocket Gamer Awards Party on Monday evening.
• And our St. Patty's Party later on Monday Night.

Tools and platforms

• Twitch threw its hat into mobile video sharing as it unveiled its iOS and Android SDKs.
• And Ouya teased a pivot away from hardware, before announcing that it'll make its virtual platform available on Mad Catz's M.O.J.O. microconsole.
• Microsoft, meanwhile, might consider bringing Xbox Live to iOS and Android.
• Android tablets dethroned the iPad to become the best selling slates of 2013.
• While Worms dev Team17 announced that it'll branch out to mobile publishing with a barnyard puzzle game developed by ex-PopCap Games talent.

Monetisation

• This week's Monetizer gave a special look at the hard-to-soft currency conversion rates in 'percentage fill' F2P economies.
• Our first Charticle this week examined the success of Aeria Games' Immortalis, paying close attention to how its localisations factored in.
• While the second highlighted how premium titles like Minecraft can rake in big bucks on mobile.
• Proving that imitation is the most sincere form of flattery, Pocket Gamer reported that a new Flappy Bird clone hits the App Store every 24 minutes.
• And our In-App Purchase Inspector fixed its sights on Square Enix's Deadman's Cross.

Industry voices

• We assembled a panel of diverse industry figures to give best practices on how to beat game-breaking bugs - while keeping your players.
• Kirk McKeand gave us a charming look at the making of the PS Vita's powerhouse, Tearaway.
• Meanwhile, iQU founder Reinout te Brake hit back at Vlambeer and defended GameOn's €10 million development fund.
• Our Mobile Gaming Mavens meanwhile decided that games played no part in Facebook's decision to snatch up WhatsApp.
• And Carter Dotson from 148Apps opined that the microconsole market needs a major player, not an Ouya.
• Trevor Klein from Full Indie UK gave some tips on how to break through a creative block to make your next game.
• While ex-Googler Patrick Mork gave some tips on how to make F2P tablet-focused action RPGs intelligently.
• And Jon Jordan gave a look at Oscar Clark's book, Games As A Service: How Free To Play Design Can Make Better Games.
  

Discovery, user acquisition, and retention

• Fireproof's Barry Meade revealed that it's sold 5.4 million downloads of The Room without 'databollocks' like PR and marketing.
• While QuizUp showed the power of virality, as it generated 10 organic installs per paid download.
• Puzzle & Dragons continues to roar, passing the 25 million download milestone in Japan.
• Cookie Run, meanwhile, passed 10 million downloads in 30 days on LINE - with 8 million of those downloads coming from outside of Japan.
• And Fiksu lifted the curtain on two new CPI / CPL indexes.
  

Funding, acquisitions, personnel, and shutterings

• Layoffs at Disney were long-expected, but the scope was not - 700 were let go from its games and internet divisions.
• While Spanish outfit Omnidrone raised $2 million in funding, with plans to top Clash of Clans' tower defense dominance.
• UKIE, meanwhile, unveiled Daniel Wood as its new COO.
• And Spil Games created a new position, HTML5 advocate, to encourage devs to branch out into non-native apps.