Holding Down The Fort
Epic brings down Fortnite for emergency maintenance
Players complained about login issues across mobile, PC and console
Staff
Iain Harris
About Iain is a freelance writer based in Scotland with a penchant for indies and all things Nintendo. Alongside PocketGamer.Biz, he has also appeared in Kotaku, Rock Paper Shotgun, PCGamesN and VG24/7.
Articles by Iain Harris
Boycotted
Report: China still refuses to license new South Korean-developed games
Tensions originated with South Korea’s THAAD missile defence system which led to China’s unofficial license boycott
Rewarded
More rewarded ad conversions lead to higher user engagement, retention and spend
Tapjoy’s latest report finds that the more rewarded ads a player completes in their first two weeks the better the results
Looking East
Unity to open Centre of Innovation for games developers in Malaysia
Tech firm will team up with Malaysia’s Digital Economy Corporation to open the facility
Education
Chinese developer NetDragon buys online learning community Edmodo for $138 million
Deal paid via a combination of cash and shares of an affiliated education company
New Digs
Netmarble to set up shop in Los Angeles with new US office
The move will put the studio closer to partner Walt Disney and its Marvel Entertainment and Lucasfilm subsidiaries
Cancelled
Armada Interactive cancels debut strategy game Quantum Siege
The title had been in soft launch since May 29th 2017
Weekly Charts
Weekly UK App Store charts: Fortnite stays on top ahead of PUBG Mobile
Rankings from March 26th to April 1st 2018
Rad
The Witness developer Thekla puts up $100k for underrepresented developers
RAD Game Tools' Jeff Roberts matched the initial $50k to double the prize pool
Hot Five
Gender pay gap revealed, moving on from Sparcade to WorldWinner, and Gameloft's ads strategy
The hottest articles of the last week
Sky’s The Limit
The Walking Dead’s Skybound launches games publishing division
Skybound Games will debut with The Long Dark and Slime Rancher in September 2018
Skilled
Mobile esports company Skillz doubles revenue to $200 million run-rate in less than nine months
Revenue run-rate up by 125 per cent thanks in-part to player involvement in over one million tournaments per day
Cash Royale
Fortnite Mobile pulled in over $15 million in 20 days
The battle royale games daily revenue tripled after the game was made launched fully on iOS
Indie Spotlight
Indie Spotlight: Pixel Hunt’s Florent Maurin on Bury me, my Love and trading journalism for games development
"Bury me, my Love tells the story of a Syrian woman as she tries to reach Europe in hope of a better life. You just can’t write a game like that light-heartedly"
Group Up
China’s Shanda Games invests $9.4 million in Kakao Games
Kakao Games received a $131.6 million investment from multiple investors in February
Hot Five
Snapchat snaps up PlayCanvas, PUBG and Fortnite mobile games face off, and Marvel Strike Force launches
The hottest articles of the last week
Kitted Out
ARKit-powered apps break 13 million downloads in six months
Games count for almost half of AR apps
Job Losses
Nokia to lay off 353 staff in Finland
The decision comes as part of the company’s global cost-savings plan
Hitting The Mark
Hitman Sniper racks up 10 million players
Players can play the game for free from March 28th to April 4th on Android and iOS
Stats Royale
NetEase’s Knives Out pulled in more than 50 million monthly active users in January
According to Newzoo, the battle royale genre may just have something going for it
Job Losses
Hero Academy 2 developer Robot Entertainment lays off over 30 employees
The studio will continue to operate its current games as well as reveal a new title in due course
Building Revenue
Invitation-only Fortnite Mobile rakes in $5.3 million in its first 10 days
The battle royale title previously managed to snag $1 million within its first three days
Pop Quiz
HQ Trivia lands ad sponsorship from Nike and Warner Bros for themed quiz nights
The trivia app launched its first sponsored show earlier this week for Nike’s Air Max Day
Skills Development
Google puts up 15,000 online scholarships for new and experienced African developers
10,000 of the scholarships will go to beginners while 5,000 will go to those with over one-year of experience
Blowing Bubbles
Bubble Shooter bursts through 50 million download mark
Mobile games developer Ilyon originally acquired the IP from Abolitionist back in 2015
Hatching A Plan
Rovio proposes pay cuts for owner and chairman amid profit warnings
The board will meet on April 16th to discuss the changes
Moving On Up
Gameloft hires new vice president of marketing
Damien Marchi will be responsible for marketing and communications strategies for the publisher
Developer Wisdom
Vlambeer and Mag Interactive set to speak at Develop: Brighton 2018
The developers conference will take place from July 10th to 12th
Good Mews
Niantic set to bring research and story-driven quest systems to Pokemon Go
Players will also be able to capture Mew when the update goes live later this week
Change The Game
Google Play challenges female teens to change the game with new design challenge
Students could win college scholarship of $10,000 and $15,000 school pledge, plus all-expenses paid trip to E3
Rejoyce
King appoints global director of diversity and inclusion
Former BBC veteran, Joyce Adeluwoye-Adams MBE, joins Candy Crush developer
Testing
NetEase and Google partner up to bring automated testing software to Android
Google unveiled NetEase developed testing tech AirTest Project at GDC
Gdc Awards
Gorogoa grabs a brace of awards at GDC
Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild bags a hattrick, Vlambeer co-founder wins Ambassador Award
Unreal
Epic Games to boost support for mobile developers with Unreal Engine 4
A host of improvements and features revealed at State of Unreal opening session at GDC
Unleashed
Vungle launches global self-serve platform for advertisers
New platform gives advertisers access to its audience for video content
Fit For A King
Honor of Kings helps double Tencent profits to $3.4 billion last quarter
56 per cent of third-quarter growth came from the success of mobile titles such as Honor of Kings
Chart Royale
Playerunknown’s Battleground Mobile grabs top spot on iOS free games chart in 17 countries
The battle royale title is also the second spot in Germany and the US
Gotta Go Fast
Games streaming service Hatch brings classic Sega titles Crazy Taxi and Virtua Tennis to Android
Other games like Sonic Jump, Sonic 4 Episode 2 and Sonic CD also heading to the platform courtesy of Hatch
Polylingual
YoYo Games adds French, German and Spanish languages to GameMaker Studio 2
Development engine set to add more languages this year
Results Are In
Virtual Virtual Reality and Bury Me, My Love take the accolades at 14th annual IMGAs
Old Man’s Journey and Hidden Folks also receive awards
Augmented Reel-ality
Resolution Games set to give Bait! The AR treatment with Bait! Under the Surface on Android and iOS
The latest instalment of the franchise is expected to launch later this year
Phwoar
PlayFusion to give Warhammer the Pokemon Go treatment with new AR trading card game
The mobile games developer will also create additional content as a part of an IP partnership with Games Workshop
Moving Day
Avakin life developer Lockwood Publishing opens first international office in Lithuania
New Vinius office to comprise of up to 15 backend developers
Like Nite And Day
Invitation-only Fornite Mobile nets more than $1 million in-game on iOS within three days
Epic Games’ battle royale is currently top of the iOS charts in over 40 different countries
Chickens On The Menu
Playerunknown’s Battlegrounds Mobile launches in America and Canada on iOS and Android
Further release dates for other regions to be revealed soon
Will I’ll Be
The Sims creator Will Wright working on new mobile game Proxi
Competition to join project as 3D artist announced at GDC
All On Board
Armello launches on iOS and Android
Free-to-play digital board game offers players in-app-purchases and subscription options
Job News
AR company appoints mobile and blockchain entrepreneur to advisory board
Richard Skaife joins Krytonite1 CEO George McDonaugh and Snatch CEO Jamal Hirani at Reality Clash
High Tide
Subway Surfers becomes first game to hit 1 billion downloads on Google Play
The endless runner launched in 2012 and was downloaded 400 million times last year
Good Gamee
Gamee teams up with Viber to bring social gaming to 1 billion users
The new partnership will see over 70 of Gamee’s titles brought to Viber’s 1 billion users