A Big Opportunity
New UK start-up MojiWorks goes all in on iMessage games
“As big an opportunity as the Facebook App platform or the App Store”
Staff
Craig Chapple
Job Title
Head of Content
About Craig Chapple is the head of content at PocketGamer.biz, leading the team's editorial direction and developing the conference agenda for our Pocket Gamer Connects conferences around the world. He has previously served as Senior Editor at PocketGamer.biz, as well as holding roles at Sensor Tower, Nintendo and Develop.
Articles by Craig Chapple
Runaway Success?
Strong IP doesn’t guarantee Super Mario Run will be successful on mobile
Mobile gamers unsure about $9.99 price
Know Your Players
Mobile Games University - Monetisation Design: The psychology behind game monetisation
Learning how players think
Job Losses
Asterix and Friends developer Sproing suffers layoffs after project cancellation
Rising debts result in job losses at Austrian studio
Industry Survey
Take part in our Mobile Games Trends Survey 2016
Tell us what's happening in the games industry
One Time Only
Black Friday deal: Get 30% off Pocket Gamer Connects London 2017 tickets
Save money for one of the biggest mobile games B2B events around
Get Your Vr On
Get hands-on with virtual reality at VR in a Bar in London next month
Spread some virtual festive cheer
Monetisation Design Webinar
Join our free online webinar on the seven rules of monetisation design with Oscar Clark
Oscar Clark helps you make sure that your decision on monetisation doesn't come at the cost of making an enjoyable game
Highs And Lows
India's mobile games market is growing rapidly, but revenues are still playing catch up
Downloads not an indicator of revenues and engagement
Easy-peasy
China’s NetEase is now the world's top-grossing mobile games company
Onmyoji, Fantasy Westward Journey and Ghost top 10 grossing games
Funding News
Mobile market intelligence firm Apptopia raises $2.7 million in funding round led by Ashton Kutcher's VC firm
US firm aims to make app economy more transparent
Flying The Nest
Will Luton joins Rovio Stockholm as Senior Product Manager
Will lead product management on Angry Birds 2
Money-makers
Mobile Games University - Monetisation Design: The different monetisation types in games
Learn about IAPs, ads, subscriptions, premium, gachas and more
Ar Trumps Vr
Pokemon GO named Mobile Game of the Year 2016 at The Golden Joystick Awards
Also wins Innovation of the Year over Oculus Rift and HTC Vive
Indie Contest
Google set to launch a new Google Play Indie Games Contest for European developers
Winners stand to win a YouTube influencer campaign worth up to €100,000
Casual Esports
Amazon Appstore gets in on eSports with first ever tournament for casual mobile games
Winner stands to win grand prize of $30,000
Sleeping Giant
An overview of India's games market in 2016 and why it's a sleeping giant for mobile games
Nazara CEO Manish Agarwal discusses why developers around the world should release their games in India
Simple Funding
Ex-Zynga devs raise $4 million for new Indian studio PlaySimple Games
Mobile studio aims to double number of staff by the end of 2017
Moving On
Bala brothers leave Vicarious Visions after 25 years to form new company Velan Studios
Duo plans to get prototyping games with small teams
Pining For Seapine
Perforce acquires application lifecycle management tool provider Seapine Software
Fruther integrates itself into the games industry with tool used by SCEE, 2K Games, Epic, Motiga and NCSoft
Hot Five
The story behind India's first games company, Critical Ops hits 10 million downloads, and keeping games alive
The hottest articles of last week
Learning Bonanza
Black Friday: Udemy is offering cut price deals on game development courses starting at £12
Sales end at midnight on Friday, November 25th
Almost There
Netmarble soft-launches new mobile MOBA Star Wars: Force Arena
Chewie get us out of here!
Games For Good
Sea Hero Quest mobile game recruits 2.4 million players in fight against dementia
Dementia forecast to affect 135 million people across the world by 2050
Driving Installs
Meta games yield best ROI for cross-selling promotions in mobile games
Rewarded video also remains a highly effective tactic
Investment Realities
HTC backs $1.5 billion VR investment fund in China
Vive manufacturer will also help set up a new research initiative to grow the local market
Stacking Up
New UK publisher PlayStack snaps up former Jagex, Space Ape and EA Mobile staff
UK outfit also signs publishing deal with Foxglove Studios
Mobile Crusaders
Stellaris publisher Paradox hires King Malmö GM to spearhead new mobile gaming initiatives
Swedish firm chasing partnerships with external studios to work with IP
Mobile Rush
Ex-InnoGames staff get funding for new mobile studio Sviper
First game Wild City Rush: Urban Jungle Adventure to release on iOS and Android
Bold Move
Oprah Winfrey Network expands into mobile gaming with match-3 puzzler Bold Moves
Everybody's getting in on it
Price Switch
Report: Nintendo Switch could cost £199.99 in the UK
Device could retail at $249.99 in the US
Hit Deal
Nexon acquires 49% stake in Thai games publisher iDCC as it plots Southeast Asia expansion
Free-to-play gaming giant to increase marketing activity in the region following the deal
Dragons Rising
Puzzle & Dragons surpasses 11 million downloads in North America
But struggles to replicate money-making success outside of its native Japan
Star Indies
Starbreeze open to partnering with mobile developers under new IndieLabs publishing label
Lion Game Lion first studio to sign up
Trailer-blazer
Boss Alien founder Jason Avent joins The Trailerfarm as MD
Also invests in company
Tiga Awards 2016
Space Ape’s Transformers: Earth Wars wins Game of the Year 2016 at TIGA Awards
Voted for by a record 60,000 people
Pocker Gamer Stars
Meet the Pocket Gamer team in South Korea at G-Star 2016
Join Pocket Gamer for meetings and drinks
Assuring Quality
Mobile QA event open(London) returns in February 2017
TIGA and GameBench issue call for speakers
Office Closure
Wooga closes Japan office as it moves localisation efforts back to Berlin
Berlin developer moves localisation efforts back to Germany
War Child Armistice
Game developers team up to raise money for War Child charity
Democracy 3 and 1979 Revolution: Black Friday donate portion of sales to cause
Trumped-up
Is Donald Trump a winner for games developers?
Did Donald Trump make mobile games great again?
Asia Bulletin
Unity signs China publishing deal with Xiaomi, GungHo switches to global development approach, and more
Asia mobile gaming news weekly from PocketGamer.biz
Cut Off
Samsung to cut off phone call and messaging services for Galaxy Note 7 in New Zealand
South Korean company takes further lengths to get users to exchange phones
Jobs News
Blizzard co-founder Allen Adham returns after 12 years out of the games industry
Adham to help ensure new projects get off the ground
Dena Financials
DeNA to double down on Nintendo partnership into next year and beyond
Publisher also plans to release five games of its own in Japan and China
Hot Five
How Best Fiends Forever and PvZ: Heroes performed, the human cost of a cancelled F2P game, and Next Games’ customer support approach
The hottest articles of last week
Brand Marketing
“Mobile games have a chance today to do Hollywood in reverse”
Our panel of experts discusses the importance of creating a brand around your game
Subscription Play
With subscriptions the fastest growing business model on Google Play, devs can now implement introductory discounts
Timed lower pricing aimed at helping devs attract more users
Moshi Monsters Reboot
Mind Candy’s last chance? London studio rolls the dice on Moshi Monsters relaunch
London studio pins hope on mobile game and animated show
Sweet For Success
King records three top 20 grossing mobile games for nearly three years straight
MAUs fall slightly to a still impressive 394 million