Leap
Magic Leap offering indie AR developers up to $500,000 through new Independent Creator Program
Augmented reality firm hopes to kickstart its marketplace offerings by supporting independent creators
Staff
Natalie Clayton
About Natalie Clayton is an Edinburgh-based freelance writer and game developer. Besides PCGamesInsider and Pocketgamer.biz, she's written across the games media landscape and was named in the 2018 GamesIndustry.biz 100 Rising Star list.
Articles by Natalie Clayton
On Call
Bunch raises $3.8 million to develop its mobile video call app
Funds will be used to expand user acquisition and developer platform efforts
Real
Mixed reality monetisation startup Admix raises $2.1 million
SpeedInvest leads funding round for the AR and VR advertising platform
Roar
Jurassic World Alive developer Ludia teams up with Universal on How to Train Your Dragon puzzler
Long-standing relationship continues with match-three RPG
China
Niko Partners lowers its China game revenue forecasts as new approvals remain frozen
PC and mobile game sales up 11 per cent, but below forecasts
China
Narrative games specialist Telltale begins liquidation proceedings
Some of its earlier games have been removed from Steam
Harvest
Stardew Valley reaps a $1 million harvest on iOS after making its mobile debut
Faming life-sim finds early success after only three weeks on mobile
Close The Gates
Mobile RTS Age of Empires: Castle Siege will go offline in May 2019
Developer Smoking Gun will use the Castle Siege technology to develop a new, unannounced RTS
Double Trouble
THQ Nordic acquires Goat Simulator dev Coffee Stain and Wreckfest maker Bugbear
A steady string of purchases leave the publisher in a strong end-of-quarter position
Stream
5G game streaming app Hatch leaves beta in the UK, Ireland and Nordic countries
Free service will trial an ad-free premium subscription in early 2019
Helsinki 2018
Jam City's Jeremy Horn: If retention is below 20% on day seven "I would advise to go back to soft launch"
Jam City VP also shared insights into a maturing mobile market
Speaker Spotlight
Speaker Spotlight: CCP's Sam Barton on bringing Eve Online to mobile with a little help from the players
Pocket Gamer Connects London 2019 will take place on January 21st to 22nd
Chopping Block
Tencent culls games marketing budget as China’s freeze on the industry continues
Publisher plays conservatively as the block on new game approvals continues
Top Stuff
Global Top Round names the 10 games and studios chosen for this year’s accelerator
Final ten studios are eligible for up to $300,000 of investment from GTR
Catty
Outfit7 gives its billion dollar cat a true sequel with My Talking Tom 2
The release marks the next step in a series that’s been downloaded over eight billion times
Loot
Loot boxes result in Belgium blocking three Square Enix mobile titles
Mobius Final Fantasy, Kingdom Hearts Union X and Dissidia Final Fantasy Opera Omnia will be pulled over the next few months
Mmo Mania
NCSoft's 2019 plans include new Lineage, Alon and Blade & Soul mobile titles
Korean publisher revealed five new titles it hopes will lead growth next year
Invest
Overwolf raises $16 million in a funding round led by Intel Capital
Platform intends to use the funding to accelerate its developer network and produce more tools
Result
Glu Mobile steps closer to profitability as it cuts losses to $0.3 million in Q3 2018
The result is a significant step up from an $11.7 million loss in the same period last year
Oops
Mobile underperforms as Square Enix posts $33m loss in half-year result
Restructuring at the recently-formed Luminous Studios blamed for the sharp decline
Saga
Candy Crush Friends Saga smashes past $10 million revenue worldwide
Almost three-quarters of the game's audience is playing on Android devices
Hired
Top Drives developer Hutch snaps up trio of hires from Jagex, Firefly and Sega
London studio takes on a new server engineer, embedded QA tester, and brand and marketing director
Ad
Tappx hires Spanish advertising veteran José Pacheco to expand into digital TV and audio advertising
Ad tech company hopes Pacheco hire will help it grow into new digital advertising markets
Online
Old School Runescape launched on iOS to over one million installs
Apple version of the venerable MMORPG joins another million currently playing on Android
Snap
Pokemon Go revenue in October is up 67 per cent year-over-year to $73 million
AR hit has slipped since September but is still performing well over the same period last year
Draw
Hearthstone hits 100 million users as mobile revenue reportedly passes $660m
Blizzard’s Warcraft card game spinoff hits the milestone over four years after launch
Seige
Castle Clash charges past worldwide revenue of over $550 million
Three quarters of the strategy game's audience is playing and paying through Google Play
Check
Tencent will soon require Chinese players to verify their identities against a police database
Publishing giant continues to try and appease a government looking to crack down on gaming addiction
Shambler
The Walking Dead: March to War shutting down in January
Disruptor Beam's undead mobile strategy will be wrapping up over the next three month
Stall
Madden Mobile and underperforming titles are holding back EA’s "stalled” mobile business
EA isn’t phased as it sees this year as a preparation for future handheld success
Brains
Live ops specialist DECA Games acquires Zombie Catchers from Helsinki's Two Men and a Dog
The game's original Finnish developer will move on to developing new titles
"devastating Effects"
Games4EU: “Brexit offers no notable benefits to a sector already operating on a global stage”
Industry campaign group has published a report on the impact of Brexit on UK games
Found
Dragalia Lost is making four times the revenue per download of Fire Emblem Heroes in Japan
Nintendo’s action RPG has brought in $28 million over its first month
Loud
A live-action Talking Tom movie has begun production
Assassin’s Creed movie producer Jean-Julien Baronnet will help adapt the mobile app for the big screen
Toll
Google will charge phone-makers if they want to use Google Play following European Commission ruling
Following a European Commission ruling earlier this year resulting in a $5 billion fine
Trip
Alto’s Odyssey earns $1 million in its first eight months
Odyssey earned its first million faster than predecessor Alto’s Adventure
Epic Stuff
Fortnite developer Epic Games raises $1.25 billion in funding from over half a dozen investors
Seven new investors become minority shareholders in the Fortnite and Unreal developer
Tech
Swedish games studio Bublar Group acquires VR/AR outfit Vobling for $5.5 million
Stockholm-based mixed reality developer will use the increased size to push production on next year's Hello Kitty AR project
Hit
Subway Surfers is the most downloaded game of all time on Google Play
App Annie has released a report on the most popular games of Google Play’s first 10 years
Stream
Amazon GameOn expands with Twitch-integrated Tournament organiser
The latest update to the cross-platform API lets viewers play alongside streamers
Freeze
China reportedly halts “green channel” approvals during a government restructure
Local developers and gamers are increasingly turning to Steam to remain active in the space
Data
GameAnalytics: Fewer than 15% of games retain a third of their players after day one
Analysis firm's latest benchmarking report shows a "winner-takes-all" space
Hired
Hasbro and Angry Birds veterans join AR toy developer Draw & Code
Brett Page and Becky Jones take on new leadership roles at the SwapBots studio
Growth Masters
Hyper-casual games publisher Playgendary's IAP revenue shot up 57 per cent during Q3 2018
Bowmasters and Tank Stars bring Playgendary its best quarter yet for revenue and downloads
Top Stuff
Here are the longest-serving number one games and apps on Google Play since 2012
Sensor Tower reports on the high flyers over the last six years of the Android storefront
Blast-off
NetEase’s Eve: Echoes is a mobile take on CCP’s space-faring MMO slated for a 2019 release
Mobile space sim will try to capture the full PC experience on Android and iOS
Dunk
Rovio partners with the Chicago Bulls NBA team to create the Angry Birds Eye View Cam
Mobile developer becomes the first Finnish company to sponsor an NBA team
Crushed It
Candy Crush Friends Saga swipes 10 million downloads in its first week
But King’s sweet puzzling franchise is continuing to trend downwards
Play
Google Play improves support for app bundles and subscriptions
It has also launched Academy for App Success interactive courses for developers
Going Up
Marketing analytics firm AppsFlyer soars past $100 million in annual recurring revenue
Mobile attribution and analytics company is reporting 100 per cent growth every 12 months