More Minecraft
Minecraft cleared 144 million copies sold and 74 million MAUs in December 2017
Unclear how many sales come from mobile
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
Everyone's Invited
Sony ForwardWorks launches pre-registration campaign for third game No Heroes Allowed! Dash!
Already cleared 300,000 registrations after nine days
On Yer Oji
NetEase finally launches English-language version of China hit Onmyoji on iOS
Android players have to wait another week
Thunderful News
Image & Form and Zoink merge studios to form "powerhouse" company Thunderful Games
Bringing together 46 staff to create bigger and better games
Harrison At Google
Ex-Microsoft exec Phil Harrison joins Google as vice president and general manager
Will report to Rick Osterloh, and that's all we know
Indie Spotlight
Indie Spotlight: Fat Fish Games' David Lane on failing fast and prototyping faster
The Tiny Striker developer's CEO talks future partnerships and average days at the office
Miitomo Closure
Nintendo to shut down social app Miitomo two years after first launching
First ever attempt at mobile closes on May 5th
Mobile Esports
The current state of mobile esports according to the ESL
James Dean defines an esport and talks about the challenges facing mobile
Dreams To Life
How developers turn their ideas into reality
Martine Spaans leads a panel on ideas and working with others
Build A Brand
Curve Digital and Identity Spark on how indies can build their own brand
Alex Moyet and Nat Griffith on tone and time
Live Ops Power Panel
Live ops experts on the best practices for keeping your mobile game alive
PlayFab Europe GM Mark Val leads a panel in a live ops discussion
Mixed Audience
SuperAwesome on building apps and games for a "mixed audience" of adults and kids
Paul Nunn on how his company is working to monetise kids within COPPA's rules
By The Numbers
An overview of the mobile games market and the growth of VR and AR
Nick Parker breaks out a bunch of big numbers
Surf's Up
Sybo Games on where it's taking Subway Surfers after hitting 1.8 billion downloads
Launching animation and licensing arms while continuing to develop its flagship game
Superstars By The Fire
Peter Vesterbacka and David Helgason discuss the future of the games industry
China, VR, AR, and the film industry all get talked about
Think For Yourself
NaturalMotion's Julian Widdows on creating an independent thinking culture at the studio
Looking for emotional intelligence and curiosity in new staff
Undeniably Premium
Ustwo's Dan Gray on how to succeed with premium games in the current mobile market
Taking risks and not making something which is already free
Keep It Going
King on turning away from the traditional "boxed" model of games to long-running titles
Todd Green on not hiring rockstars in favour of training new staff
Beyond Runescape
Jagex CEO Phil Mansell on the evolution of live games and RuneScape
How to go beyond games-as-a-service
Maternal Valley
Ustwo on breaking out of traditional maternal narratives with Monument Valley 2
Senior artist Lauren Cason talks the time of the dad and bugs that became narrative points
Doing It For The Kids
How Playables took its minimalist style further with upcoming game Kids
Co-founders Mario von Rickenbach and Michael Frei on experimenting and working with others
Physics Engine For Narrative
Disney Research on the quest to build a "physics engine" for game narratives
Associate research scientist Steven Poulakos on keeping people involved
Leave It Out
"If in doubt, leave it out": How to write game narratives for an audience that hates cutscenes
Freelance game writer Morten Brunbjerg talks trimming down and focusing on the essentials
Shiny New Unity
Unity teases Scriptable Render Pipeline and C# Job System in upcoming engine update
Shows off shiny new tools in demo called Book of the Dead
Mobile Games Awards Sponsor
Miniclip and Aardvark Swift join sponsors of first ever Mobile Games Awards 2018
Joining Game Insight, AppOnboard, and Nazara
Unreal Dev Grants 2018
Epic Games hands out $200,000 to 13 developers in latest round of Unreal Dev Grants
The Machines' studio Directive Games among the recipients
Future Of The Industry
Mobile games predicted to generate up to $95 billion in revenues in 2022
Digi-Capital looks to the future of the industry
Indie Spotlight
Indie Spotlight: Tinytouchtales' Arnold Rauers on working with constraints and the weight of expectations
The average day of an indie developer, and advice for aspiring devs
Taptica Funding
Taptica raises $52.6 million to reduce debt and fund future M&A opportunities
4.85 million new shares issued, while CEO Hagai Tal sells off some of his own
Building A Relationship
Lego partners with Tencent on games and potential social network for kids in China
Lego-specific video zones, code-able toys, and much more
King Of Monsters
Monster Strike was the top grossing game worldwide for the third year in a row in 2017
Honor of Kings would probably be on top if China had Google Play
Most Read
Glu sells Moscow studio, the potential of live ops, and which of 2017's games will sustain in 2018?
The hottest articles of last week
Trejo Doughnuts
Jam City taps actor Danny Trejo for Family Guy: Another Freakin' Mobile Game ad campaign
Buy some doughnuts, play the game, everyone wins
Duel With Destiny
Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Links smashes 60 million downloads in time for its first birthday
9.5 billion duels played, 1.1 billion card packs opened
Facebook Ad Survey
57% of mobile gamers who don't pay to remove ads are fine with being advertised to in a free game
Facebook surveys 6,000 mobile gamers to find out their likes and dislikes
Google Redux
Google quietly acquires Cambridge-based mobile audio tech firm Redux
Could use its panel audio technology in upcoming Pixel phones
Spain Funding
Spanish government reveals plans for $7.9 million grant for local developers
Up to $182,000 on offer for eligible studios
Super Senso Europe
GungHo and Turbo Studios to launch Super Senso in Europe on January 24th
Nine months after it was first released in the US
Imperia Online Promotion
Bulgaria-based strategy MMO developer Imperia Online promotes Mariela Tzvetanova to CMO
Will oversee sales growth and building new partnerships
Apple Pays Tax
Apple Europe forced to pay $184.8 million in extra taxes to the UK
HMRC is also going to increase Apple's income tax in future payments
Indie Mavens
Should aspiring indie games developers strike out on their own straight away or get experience at a studio first?
Our Indie Mavens weigh in
Nintendo Sues Colopl
Nintendo sues Colopl for $350,000 over five alleged patent infringements
Main problem seems to be the game's virtual joystick
Flipped
Tencent appears to copy Ketchapp's Bottle Flip for new WeChat mini-game
"Tiao yi tiao" looks a lot like Bottle Flip, and the WeChat team seem to know it
Ikinema Switch
Animation technology firm IKinema signs deal with Nintendo to bring its tech to Switch games
Procedural animation in Unreal Engine now on Switch
Pocket Blockchain
Spyr Games reveals plans for "blockchain universe" in mobile MMO Pocket Starships
Buy planets, pay Spyr upkeep costs
Pokemon Gone
Pokemon Go to stop supporting older iPhones and iPads on February 28th
Can't run iOS 11? Upgrade your phone or lose your game
Poor Little Linda
Razer unveils Android laptop Project Linda powered by its own smartphone
Slot in your Razer Phone and you're away
Access To Finance
Ukie partners with law firm Harbottle and Lewis on guide for UK developers looking to access finance
Covering everything from crowdfunding to velocity capital
Tiga Business Opinions
TIGA survey finds fewer UK games companies looking to grow their business in 2018
Business Opinion Survey 2018 shows a mix of optimism and pessimism
Pocket Media Hires
Mobile advertising firm Pocket Media hires Keith Ta as head of sales
Helping grow sales and train staff