Happy Pocket Camper
Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp doesn't experiment and is better for it
Making a smaller version of the core game experience has proven to work in Pocket Camp's favour
Staff
Ric Cowley
About Ric is the Editor of PocketGamer.biz, having started out as a Staff Writer on the site back in 2015. He received an honourable mention in both the MCV and Develop 30 Under 30 lists in 2016 and refuses to let anyone forget about it.
Articles by Ric Cowley
Plexchat Royale
Stats Royale partners with Plexchat to bring detailed data to mobile chat platform
Get to know other people better
Top Grossing September 2017
Fantasy Westward Journey overtakes Honor of Kings as top grossing mobile game in September 2017
First time in three months that Honor of Kings hasn't made more money than every other game
A Kind Of Magic
King launches first ever Snapchat content partnership with latest Bubble Witch 3 Saga event
Unlock Snapchat filters by playing Bubble Witch 3
Finland Ipo
Ups and downs: How Finland's biggest IPOs of 2017 are performing
How are this year's IPOs performing today
Indie Mavens
Mobile indie game developer marketing tips
Our Indie Mavens weigh in
Fiendish Rivalry
Seriously takes Best Fiends back to its puzzle roots with soft-launched Best Fiends Rivals
A twist on a classic
Universe Of Legends
Firefly Games partners with DreamWorks on multi-IP RPG DreamWorks: Universe of Legends
All your favourite and forgotten characters together at last
Most Read
Japanese mobile games revenues grow 35%, how Homescapes monetises, and Fingersoft launches Round Zero
The hottest articles of last week
Round Of Applause
Tencent takes China by storm with mobile browser game that has players applauding Chinese president
It's been played 1.2 billion times already
Barbie Girl
Atari partners with Mattel to bring Barbie-branded content to RollerCoaster Tycoon Touch
Game clears ten million downloads in eight months
Vungle Shuffle
Vungle replaces CEO following arrest on charges of child abuse and assault with a deadly weapon
COO Rick Tallman takes his place
Mag Acquires Feo
MAG Interactive acquires QuizDuel developer FEO Media for an undisclosed sum
Adds two new trivia games to its portfolio
Harmonix Layoffs
Harmonix suffers another round of layoffs affecting 14 jobs
DropMix development to continue
Switch Success
Nintendo Switch clears two million units sold in the US
Third consecutive month as the top-selling piece of hardware in the country
Interactive End Cards
Tapjoy launches Interactive End Cards for its rewarded video ads
War for the Planet of the Apes saw a 4% CTR using the end cards
Bang Up Job
CyberAgent's BanG Dream! Girls Band Party! scores four million downloads
It's now available in Macau, Taiwan, and Hong Kong
At It Again
Keywords Studios adds another firm to its business by acquiring d3t for $3.9 million
Founders and team from the Runcorn-based work-for-hire studio will all stay on
Arena Of Value
Tencent opens pre-registration campaign for Arena of Valor in US and Canada
Earn in-game rewards by signing up ahead of time
Bound To Be Good
Obsidian Entertainment partners with mobile fiction platform Bound for series of stories based on Pillars of Eternity
Richard Knaak signed on to write the stories
Las Vegas Masters
Amazon wraps up Mobile Master Las Vegas tournament with three competitors sharing $70,000 prize pool
Vainglory team takes the lion's share with $50,000 won
World Food
Google Play launches Apps and Games Against Hunger week to combat world hunger
100% of revenues from IAPs in 12 games and apps go to World Food Program USA
Mgf Seattle 2017
Minecraft, King, and PopCap headline speaker line-up for MGF Seattle 2017
Super Evil Megacorp, Game Insight, and more also in attendance
Good To Share
Nitro Games generates $3.1 million from sale of 500,000 new shares
Swedbank Robur Ny Teknik picks up 9.66% of the firm's shares
Two Tribes
NetEase reveals Nerds vs Veterans battle in Immortal Conquest to raise $15,000 for charity
Dan Bull and Stephen Machuga lead the charge
Leap Of Faith
Mixed reality firm Magic Leap raises $502 million in Series D funding
Rumours from September come true
Roll The Dice
UK government responds to calls for tighter controls on in-game loot boxes
Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport is only concerned with items that can be exchanged or traded outside the game
Suck It Up
Why producers suck and what they can do to be better
Anshar Studios CEO Lukasz Hacura on the wide range of producer stereotypes
Kongregate Acquisition
Kongregate acquires Animation Throwdown and Spellstone developer Synpase Games
Will continue to operate as an indepdent studio
Blowing Up
Riposte Games' Mini Guns shoots past one million downloads in a month
Cross-platform strategy title has also added new leagues and levels
Ar Ads
IronSource unveils first set of AR-enabled ads for mobile games
First campaign due to run in November 2017
Expansion Of War
Nitro Games partners with Netmarble EMEA to bring Medals of War to Turkish and Arabic-speaking countries
Netmarble EMEA already has 50 million registered players
Imga Mena
International Mobile Gaming Awards reveals nominees for second Middle East and North Africa competition
52 games nominated, lots of them from Iran
Changing Rooms
Football Manager developer Sports Interactive relocates its studio to Olympia Park tech hub Here East
Closer to previous partner BT Sport
Puzzle & Downloads
Puzzle & Dragons clears 12 million downloads in North America
Up to 62 million downloads worldwide
House Move
Andrew House steps down as CEO of Sony Interactive Entertainment after 27 years with the company
Replaced by Deputy President John Kodera
Gear Refunds
Oculus unveils new refund policy for Gear VR content
For anyone who uses an app for less than half an hour
Rovio Oversubscription
Rovio discontinues public offering of shares due to oversubscription during IPO
Institutional offering still going ahead
Sea Nyse Ipo
Garena parent company Sea files registration statement for planned IPO on the NYSE
No word on how many shares or the price range
Spyr Acquisitions
SPYR plans aggressive acquisition strategy following Pocket Starships deal
Also expecting to publish new games using Hollywood IP soon
Download'n'boom
Ankama's Drag'n'Boom clears 1.5 million downloads in its first two weeks
Dofus developer broadening its scope
Lawsuit Of The Apes
Fox faces $2.5 million lawsuit from Snail Digital over lack of support for War for the Planet of the Apes mobile games
Not enough assets and minimal feedback meant Snail missed its window of opportunity
Zynga Legal
Zynga hires former Associate General Counsel for Tesla as its new Chief Legal Officer
Phuong Phillips to oversee legal affairs for the whole company
Games Market August 2017
Worldwide mobile games market grew by 13% in August 2017
Top grossing games remain largely the same
Zynga In India
Zynga plots major growth in India and expansion of its Bengaluru studio
350 staff not enough for its second-biggest studio
Westward Journey
Onmyoji finally gearing up for a Western release with beta in US and Canada
Retaining Japanese voice cast to give it that authentic anime feel
Doctor Who Infinity
Tiny Rebel Games scores funding from Welsh government and Double Eleven for new Doctor Who game
Doctor Who Infinity due to be launched in Spring 2018
Indie Games Festival
Google Play names winners of its San Francisco Indie Games Festival 2017
Slayaway Camp, Flipping Legend, and Tiny Bubbles all score wins
Multiple Mergers
Gram Games' Merge Town! surpasses 2 million downloads in its first month
Launching today on Android
Kinship
Chat app developer Kik Interactive raises $100 million from token distribution event
Cryptocurrency Kin set to be one of the most widely held in the world