Mobile Moves Ahead
UK mobile games spending increased by 8.1% in 2021
21.9 percent above pre-pandemic spending
Staff
Aaron Orr
About The man formerly known as News Editor.
Articles by Aaron Orr
Green Footprint
Kolibri Games partners with Planetly to attain carbon neutrality
Makes contribution for past two years of business operations
European Spending
Europeans spent $11.2 billion on mobile games in 2021
PUBG Mobile, Coin Master, and Roblox lead the way
Electric Hypercar
Krafton partners with Bugatti Rimac to bring Rimac Nevera to New State
First big collaboration for Krafton's latest entry
Diversification
Nexon branches out with $400 million investment into Russo Brother’s AGBO
A further $100 million set aside
Mega City Metaverse
The Sandbox partners with Hong Kong companies to create Mega City metaverse
Including Adrian Cheng, PwC Hong Kong, and Times Capital
Renewed
Pearl Abyss and Amazon extend Black Desert Mobile partnership
Will run for next six months
Divestment
Tencent raises $3 billion from sale of Sea Group shares
Remains majority shareholder
No New Games
Freeze on games sees around 14,000 studios close in China in 2021
New games freeze expected to extend further into 2022
Dice Roll Debut
Former EA, Zynga execs to launch debut mobile title RPG Dice: Heroes of Whitestone on January 18
Inspired by dice-roll tabletop games
Tax Loophole
Roblox founder David Baszucki alleged to have exploited tax break loophole
Accused of exploiting loophole 'at least 12 times'
Trillion Triumph
Apple becomes first company to reach $3 trillion market value
Share price reached a high of $182.88
Exmox Executive
Exmox appoints Caglar Eger as CEO
Will be responsible for the expansion of the company
2021 In Review
Live Tech Games' Samuel Worsley and Nathan Moore on Netflix and the metaverse
Live Tech Games' co-founders on 2021’s challenges and opportunity
2021 In Review
Voodoo's Alexander Shea talks hitting 5 billion downloads and doubling down in 2022
Voodoo head of publishing on 2021's challenges and opportunity
Sideswipe Scores
Aaron Orr's 2021 Mobile Game of the Year: Rocket League Sideswipe
A streamlined version of a much-loved game is news editor Aaron Orr's game of the year
2021 In Review
Ludo AI's Tom Pigott talks the future of AI tech
Ludo AI founder and CEO on 2021's challenges and opportunity
2021 In Review
FunPlus' Chief Business Officer Chris Petrovic on the fallout of IDFA and the Web3 movement
FunPlus' CBO on 2021's challenges and opportunity
2021 In Review
Pixel Federation's Erik Hegely on the rise of play-to-earn
Pixel Federation head of growth marketing on 2021's challenges and opportunity
2021 In Review
Pocket Gems' Ben Liu on the generational shift towards mobile games
Pocket Gems' CEO on 2021's challenges and opportunity
2021 In Review
Miniclip's James Russell on iOS UA environment changes and the volatility of crypto markets
Miniclip's CPO on 2021's challenges and opportunity
2021 In Review
Hutch's Shaun Rutland on being acquired and adapting to a new way of life
Hutch CEO on 2021's challenges and opportunity
Power Restored
Tencent has app capabilities reinstated following ban
App updates spotted on App Store
Charitable Collaboration
Playtika partners with Make-A-Wish for holiday event in Bingo Blitz
Will donate $100,000 if goal is reached
Iron Acquisition
Stillfront acquires Netmarble’s Iron Throne: The Firstborn
Still subsidiary studio Kixeye will take charge
Sizeable Spending
Mobile games account for over 50% of games industry spending in 2021
Consumer spending expected to reach over $180 billion
Powered By Speech
Sayollo partners with Speechly for voice control support in GComm
Will integrate voice recognition and navigation features in GComm
Appgallery Awards
Huawei reveals its best games of 2021
European MAUs surged 35% through the year
Shooting A Shot(2048)
Sonic the Hedgehog creator releases first hypercasual mobile game
Yuji Naka talks developing a hypercasual game
Done Deal
AppLovin's Daniel Tchernahovsky on its $1 billion MoPub acquisition
Daniel Tchernahovsky talks the hurdles involved and how to get acquired
Million Makers
Over 900 apps and games generated first $1 million in 2021
Games publishers make up the lion's share
Voluminous Valuation
Rec Room raises $145 million at $3.5 billion valuation
Mobile users increase tenfold
A Whale Load
Whaleapp surpasses 40 million mobile game downloads
158% growth in the past 3 months
Blockchainville
Zynga partners with Forte to develop blockchain games
Will leverage existing Zynga IP
Uptodown-loads
Uptodown: Battle Royale reigns supreme for 2021 downloads
PUBG Mobile tops charts
Making Of
How Rocket League Sideswipe hit the back of the net
Psyonix's Bethany Leuenberger and Robert Garza share their insights
Platform Partnership
Voodoo launches 5 hypercasual titles on Facebook Gaming
Including Cube surfer and Paper.io 2
Antitrust Antics
Apple requests dismissal of antitrust case in India
Firm claims it constitutes an "insignificant" portion of market
Poc In Mobile
Zynga lead product manager Vikrant Agarwal talks challenges, mentors, and visas
"The more diversity you have, the richer the conversations, experiences and the work environment will be"
More Monetary Choice
AppGallery partners with Revolut to offer additional financial choice
Accepting more options across its apps and games
Country Cruise
Belka Games brings Dolly Parton to Solitaire Cruise
Continuing until April 2022
C2x Commences
Com2uS Holdings launches portal for C2X blockchain platform
Titles available will increase "exponentially" in coming months
Exclusive Partnership
Azerion signs exclusive two-year partnership with Bidstack to bolster ad reach
Gains access to around 40 million users
Deadmau5 Metaver5e
Globant partners with Pixelynx to create music metaverse mobile game
Striving to create leading ecosystem for music, fashion, and entertainment
Agglutination
Nexon to Merge subsidiaries Nat Games and Nexon GT
Will rebrand as Nexon Games
Tencent On Top
More than $1 billion generated by eight mobile games each in 2021
PUBG Mobile is the highest-grossing for a second year
Backing Blockchain
Voodoo to invest $200 million into blockchain games
Bringing blockchain to casual mobile users
What's Next?
Next Games signs $16.5 million co-development agreement for new mobile game
To be paid over the next five years
A Fated Acquisition
Aniplex to acquire Fate/Grand Order developer Delightworks games division
Includes the entire game development team behind Fate/Grand Order
On The Edge
Edge Gaming raises $10 million for user-generated content platform
Backed by Playtika