2021 In Review
Henry Wang on the excitement around NFTs and Moloco’s adaptations to algorithm changes
Moloco’s director of product marketing on 2021’s challengers and opportunity
Staff
Aaron Astle
Job Title
News Editor
About Aaron is the News Editor at PG.biz and has an honours degree in Creative Writing.
Having spent far too many hours playing Pokémon, he's now on a quest to be the very best like no one ever was...at putting words in the right order.
Articles by Aaron Astle
The Next Step
Jam City jumps into blockchain and NFTs
Will launch first blockchain game Champions: Ascension
Raising For Rewards
Mana Interactive raises $7 million for mobile game rewards platform
Rewards include gift cards, vouchers, and cryptocurrency
Ample Acquisitions
Keywords Studios acquires Waste Creative and Wicked Witch
For up to a collective $18.5 million
Axie Altruism
Yield Guild Games raises $250,000 for typhoon victims
Primarily raised in cryptocurrency, including Axie Infinity's AXS
Better Bidding
Unity partners with Meta Audience Network for in-app bidding access
Available within Unity Ads via Unity Mediation
Metaverse Merchandise
Forever 21 partners with Virtual Brand Group to launch Roblox retail experience
Buying and selling merch in the metaverse
Who Goes? You Decide
Tilting Point launches Big Brother: The Game 2 with $1 million prize
Users can choose to play or spectate in real-time
Expanding Reach
Flexion partners with 37Games to release Puzzles & Survival on Amazon, Samsung and Xiaomi
The free-to-play game originally launched on Google Play last year
Acquisition Agreement
Fragbite acquires outstanding shares in Dutch studio Lucky Kat for $7.9 million
Acquired for €5 million in cash and €2 million in Fragbite shares
Supercell Sets Up
Supercell launches ambitious new studio in North America
Will create games featuring new and existing IP
Millions For Medal
Medal.tv has raised $60 million across its Series B and Series C funding rounds
Platform grows to almost one million daily users
Appointed For User Acquisition
FunPlus appoints Alba Rodríguez Embid as Director of Growth
Emphasis on Western user acquisition
Double Bogey
Neowiz to bring Golf Impact and Brave Nine to the blockchain
Golf Impact set to receive a big makeover
Supporting Growth
Mistplay receives "majority" investment to scale play-to-earn platform
New members join the board of directors
Blockchain In Brazil
Bayz raises $4 million for NFT gaming
Starting with play-to-earn in Brazil
Google Gaming
Google Play Games is on its way to Windows
Planned for 2022 release
Controlling The Cloud
Singular launches marketing measurement platform Private Cloud
Following an 18-month private beta
Fashionably Festive
Roblox partners with Ralph Lauren for holiday event
Featuring exclusive gender-neutral digital clothing items
Revenue Riser
Developers on Flexion's platform see a 10% boost in revenue
Google Play games can be brought to Huawei, Amazon, Samsung and more
Global Gaming
Tencent launches new publishing division Level Infinite
Bolstering with Warhammer and Arena of Valor
Gen X Gamers
Tapjoy finds 77% of Gen X play mobile games daily
Match-3 is the generation's preferred genre
A Joint Journey
Green Grey invests up to $1.1 million in Megu Games
The fifth Green Grey public deal in mobile games since June
Mobile In Mena
Tamatem Games raises $11 million for MENA expansion, backed by Krafton
Brings total funding to $17 million
Mega Milestone
Gismart surpasses over one billion mobile games and apps downloads
Over 450 million mobile games downloads since 2019
Excluding Exclusives
No exclusive titles for Steam Deck, says Valve
Steam Deck front page will feature only deck verified titles
Dead Good
N3twork scaled Idle Necromancer's DAUs by 970%
Surge in DAUs and revenue in the first month
Building On Bingo
AviaGames' new Bingo Tour allows players to win cash in online tournaments
Bringing bingo to a new generation of social gamers
European Expansion
Wildlife Studios is opening a new mobile games studio in Sweden
Heading to Europe in search of the best developers
Making Millions
Mobile blockchain game Guild of Guardians raises $5.3 million
Raised $18.8 million in total
Create To Dominate
Sneaky Panda raises $6 million for novel 'luck-puzzler' mobile games
Debut title scheduled to release next year
Character Crossover
Plarium partners with Navi to bring S1mple to Raid: Shadow Legends
In-game event lasting two months
In-game Commerce
Sayollo launches direct-to-consumer in-game marketplace gComm
Allows users to purchase products without leaving games
Crossover Celebration
Free Fire crossover with Money Heist gets a second run
Includes new missions, themed items and social media engagement activities
Ad Analysis
37 second video ads are most effective for hypercasual games
So claims Liftoff Vungle
Unite Highlight
Pokémon Unite wins best game at Google Play’s Best of 2021
Wild Rift, Overboard, and My Friend Pedro pick up two awards each
Ads With Audio
AudioMob partners with AWS to create in-game audio ads
Advertisers can reach users through multiple demographics, including location and language
New State Numbers
PUBG: New State made $2.6 million in its first week
Downloaded over 40 million times
The Joker Joins In
FunPlus and Warner Bros. bring The Joker to State of Survival
Follows the title's successful The Walking Dead collaboration
Boardgame Boost
Marmalade saw UK sales increase 144% during lockdowns
Downloads climbed 678% during third UK lockdown
Bitcoin Battling
Niantic partners with Fold to create AR Bitcoin metaverse experience
Gameplay involves finding and protecting your Bitcoin from other players
Hutch Hires
Hutch appoints three senior hires to further expand operations
Bringing experience from Sony, Fuse, Codemasters and more
Financial Findings
Ten Square Games saw an increase in installs in Q3 2021
Fishing Clash launched in China
Adding Api Ads
My.Games partners with PlayerWon to bring mobile-style rewarded ads for free-to-play PC developers
Starting with Guild of Heroes and Hustle Castle
Icelandic Expansion
Icelandic studio 1939 Games has opened a mobile games unit in Helsinki
Making the mobile version of KARDS
Where's The Hype?
Frogmind rebrands to HypeHype, Supercell invests $15 million
User-generated content platform optimised for touchscreens
Sweet Scaling
iCandy acquires Lemon Sky Studios for $32.4 million, raises $29.1 million
Backed by Animoca Brands
Make Some Moves
Nike brings Nikeland to the Roblox metaverse
Encourages players to get active using phones
Incentivised Shopping
Tapjoy launches in-app marketplace Tapjoy Shopping
Users are rewarded with in-app currencies for mobile games
Synergy Specialist
Stillfront appoints Disney and Blizzard veteran Amy Lee as SVP of synergies and operations
Coming from Blizzard Entertainment