Reality And Streaming
Finnish start-up Surrogate.tv raises $2 million
“We want to rethink this process by bringing in unique benefits that the real world has to offer”
Staff
Matthew Forde
About Matthew Forde is the deputy editor at PocketGamer.biz and also a member of the Pocket Gamer Podcast. You can find him on Twitter @MattForde64 talking about stats, data and everything pop culture related - particularly superheroes.
Articles by Matthew Forde
Charts
Weekly global mobile games charts: Harry Potter remains stationary as Pokemon Go makes a comeback
Rankings from June 24th to June 30th
Pg Connects
PGC Hong Kong: Dark Horse Digital director Jason Frazer on how to apply knowledge from one field to another successfully
Pocket Gamer Connects Hong Kong 2019 will take place on July 17th to 18th
Osaki
Monolith Soft opens second studio in Japan
New location is a result of increased profits from the previous year
Hyper-casual Rise
11.2 billion mobile games were downloaded in Q2 2019 reports App Annie
PUBG Mobile claims highest average MAU
Season Pass
Clash of Clans had its best revenue month for two years in June
Player spending up 26 per cent as a result of season pass subscription
Develop: Brighton
Weather Factory, Sumo Digital and Jagex pick up the accolades at Develop: Star Awards
Overcooked 2 takes game of the year
Welcome To Jurassic Pop
Universal Games taps Funko brand for new mobile puzzler
Back to the Future, Jurassic World, Shrek, and more
Dead Serious
Motion Twin, Playdigious and Bilibili team for Dead Cells mobile port in China
Game is due for release on Western mobile devices in August
Market Trends
PGC Hong Kong: Kunlun Korea GM Sean Lim on mobile market trends
Pocket Gamer Connects Hong Kong 2019 will take place on July 17th to 18th
Growth
Hi-Rez Studios expands UK presence with Red Beard Games
"Our intent with Red Beard Games is to ensure it can function independently, creatively and with all the agility of a small studio"
The Doctor Is In
Dr. Mario World tops iOS charts quicker than Harry Potter: Wizards Unite
BTS World beats both however
No Go On Pro
Nintendo’s Doug Bowser says Switch Lite won’t kill off 3DS support
No Switch Pro will be released this year too
Blockchain
PGC Hong Kong: Liquefy CEO Adrian Lai on the importance of tokenisation in esports
Pocket Gamer Connects Hong Kong 2019 will take place on July 17th to 18th
Rip 3ds
Nintendo Switch Lite launches this September
Pricing, release date and specs revealed
New Studio
Former Panic Button director unveils new studio Enduring Games
“We're making good games with good people”
Expansion
Zordix launches new indie-focused publishing division
“Zordix Publishing will be a key strategic move for us, and we look forward with great excitement”
Job Losses
Intermedia Labs lays off several HQ Trivia staff as download numbers drop
Jeopardy winner Alex Jacobs claims he has not been paid winnings from the show
Indie Spotlight
Quite Fresh owner Stefan Åhlin on the life of a solo developer
"I feel really lucky to be working with something I love doing at the same time as being in control of my day to day"
Live Ops
PGC Hong Kong: Touchten Games CEO Rokimas Soeharyo on growing live ops
Pocket Gamer Connects Hong Kong 2019 will take place on July 17th to 18th
Bravo
Netflix and King Features working with Studio MDHR on animated Cuphead series
The Cuphead Show featuring Mugman will follow the characters across Inkwell Isle
Crushes Candy Crush
Pokemon Go generates $2.65 billion in first three years
Worldwide catch ‘em all is on track to cross $3 billion in 2019
Jobs In Games
Jobs in Games: East Side Games' Elin Jonsson on the misconceptions of being a games producer
"I know how incredibly hard it is to run a studio, and I don’t take my current job for granted"
Html5
PGC Hong Kong: Black Snowflake CEO to host session on HTML5 games market
Pocket Gamer Connects Hong Kong 2019 will take place on July 17th to 18th
Whole Lotta Cash
Mobile game spending for the first half of 2019 reaches nearly $30 billion
20.1 billion downloads showing a 3.2 per cent increase year-on-year
Esports
PGC Hong Kong: ENCE esports CEO Mika Kuusisto to speak about the future of competitive play
Pocket Gamer Connects Hong Kong 2019 will take place on July 17th to 18th
Indie Investment
Crazy Labs investing $500,000 in hyper-casual indie developers
“Hyper-casual is by far the most dynamic line of games we ever worked on”
Developer Toolkit
Check out these Developer Toolkit videos from Pocket Gamer Connects Seattle 2019
Featuring speakers from the likes of 2034 Complex LLC and SuperGenius Studio
Growth Track
7 videos from Pocket Gamer Connects Seattle 2019's Growth Track
Track sponsored by Minimob
Trade Trends
7 videos from Pocket Gamer Connects Seattle 2019's Trade Trends track
Track sponsored by GameAnalytics
Scotland Follows In Third
TIGA names London and the South East as biggest games development hubs in the UK
“London remains a games development powerhouse”
Live And Kicking
Seven years on: How SYBO Games ran up 2.5 billion downloads for Subway Surfers
"From day one we knew fans were integral to the game’s longevity"
Live Ops
5 videos from Pocket Gamer Connects Seattle 2019's Live Ops Landscape track
Featuring speakers from the likes of Wooga, PlayFab, Playkot, Keywords and A Thinking Ape.
Layoffs
NBCUniversal partner Endless Entertainment lays off seven employees
“It’s simply an unfortunate reality of a slow-down in our current development cycle”
Import Tax
Update: Nintendo withdraws some Switch production in China amidst US trade war
Production moving to Southeast Asia according to sources
Shovelociraptors
Shovel Knight digs its way to 2.5 million sales worldwide
Title available across 12 different platforms
Auto Chess Unite
Tencent launching own Auto Chess on iOS and Android
Chess Rush versus Auto Chess versus Dota Underlords
Deal Struck
Tencent joins Drodo Auto Chess partnership to co-publish game in China
Players will now be able to login via messaging platform Tencent QQ
App Store Optimisation
PGC Hong Kong: Lab Cave CMO Enric Pedro on app store optimisation
Pocket Gamer Connects Hong Kong 2019 will take place on July 17th to 18th
Dead Or Alive
Candy Crush co-founder thought title would be “dead” within six months
Casual puzzle series has brought in over $4 billion in revenue
Indie Spotlight
Indie Spotlight: Simon Joslin on how The Voxel Agents has been thriving off puzzlers for 10 years
"It’s a good time for an indie if you have a killer idea, or a great track record because there’s a tonne of cash out there for cool projects"
Stakes Are High
Nexon acquires majority stake in Embark Studios
Former EA chief design officer and DICE founder Patrick Söderlund heads up the studio
Blockchain Gaming
PGC Hong Kong: 8Hours Foundation Shane Zhu on what’s next for blockchain gaming
Pocket Gamer Connects Hong Kong 2019 will take place on July 17th to 18th
Job News
Voodoo brings on Blizzard, King and Mamau hires for Berlin studio
Two new game designers and two new developers
Jobs In Games
Jobs in Games: Scopely’s Liz Liu on how to get a job as a people business partner
"Gaming is the convergence of art and science, where creative people work together to build experiences for human connection"
Spellbinding Stuff
Harry Potter: Wizards Unite enchants players with $3 million in first week
6.5 million downloads in seven days
Beta Success
DOTA Underlords public beta reaches 1.5 million mobile downloads in seven days
Russia garnered the largest number with approximately 210,000 installs
Finland X Sweden
Nitro Games partners with Avalanche Studios to utilise IP on new mobile title
New game expected to launch in 2020 on iOS and Android
Job News
Jony Ive to leave Apple after 27 years to form independent design company
LoveFrom launches later this year with Apple as first client
Superstar Sessions
Don’t miss Superstar Sessions at Pocket Gamer Connects Hong Kong
Pocket Gamer Connects Hong Kong will run from July 17th to 18th