Holding Out For A Hero
Sony brings its Hero Project incubator program to India
The launch follows the program’s rollout in China
Staff
Lewis Rees
About Lewis Rees is a journalist, author, and escape room enthusiast based in South Wales. He got his degree in Film and Video from the University of Glamorgan. He's been a gamer all his life.
Articles by Lewis Rees
Nintendo Financials
Nintendo made $379 million from mobile games and IPs in the last financial year
The company’s mobile revenue is down, but by no means out
The Power Of Play
Lilith Games celebrates its tenth anniversary with a documentary video
The company has released a short documentary highlighting the player base
Infinite Possibilities
Torchlight: Infinite goes cross-platform, launching worldwide on mobile and PC
The free-to-play game is the first in the franchise developed for mobile devices
New Investment
Outfit7 invests in educational startup Hopalai
Hopalai is the mind behind Kobi, an ereader app designed to make reading accessible for all children
Break Ups
Fragbite and Tilting Point end their publishing deal
Fragbite will now publish MMA Manager 2: Ultimate Fight in-house
Acquiblizz
Microsoft prepares to appeal against the CMA’s Activision Blizzard ruling
The UK group blocked the biggest acquisition in gaming history last month
Voodoo Strategy
Voodoo's hybridcasual strategy is working
The company has built a portfolio of ten hybridcasual games which are generating between $20 and $100 million a year
Finnish Game Awards
Finnish giant Metacore's CEO and co-founder Mika Tammenkoski reflects on a difficult year for the industry
However, Tammenkoski remained bullish about the industry’s potential
Apple Arcade
Fingersoft CEO Jaakko Kylmäoja on Hill Climb Racing’s move to Apple Arcade
What does this move mean for the future of the franchise?
Socialpeta Report
More than 7.8 million new ad creatives were released in Q1 2023, with video ads on the rise
North America had the highest number of unique advertisers for the period, but lagged in creatives per advertiser
Ai In Gaming
Magmic uses ChatGPT to power Hasbro’s Scattergories
Now the popular AI tech will allow the game to create more creative categories
Finnish Game Awards
How did mobile do at the Finnish Game Awards?
Mobile saw big success at the Finnish game industry’s biggest night with Pako Highway scooping game of the year
Devil May Duel
Devil May Cry’s Dante is coming to Street Fighter: Duel
Dante will join the game's roster as part of the upcoming Devil Invasion event
Apple Buyback
Apple expected to announce $90 billion in dividends and new stock buyback
Analysts expect the company to announce the buyback in its quarterly report later today
Stillfront Financials
Stillfront Group celebrates 5% year-on-year increase in revenue
Net revenue rose to 1,758 MSEK, however organic net revenue fell 5%
New Ad Markets
AppLovin brings performance-based buying to CTV to AppDiscovery
App marketers can now tap into massive CTV supply across hundreds of ad-supported TV apps and 300 channels
Rovio Financials
Angry Birds Dream Blast was at the top of the Rovio pecking order in Q1
The game saw gross bookings of 23.9 million euros
Blazing Trails
Tilting Point braves a new frontier with Oregon Trail: Boom Town
The new game puts a new spin on the Oregon Trail franchise
Accelerating Growth
WePlay Ventures launches Europe’s largest accelerator program for gaming startups
The program will help train game studios in various aspects of development
Open Beta
AppLovin brings Google bidding’s open beta to all MAX publishers
The move follows a successful closed beta for the service
New Release
Honkai: Star Rail races to 20 million downloads on launch day
Hoyoverse’s latest game is on the right track to break records
Job News
Nintendo is targeting multiple platforms in new job listing - is mobile one of them?
A job posting sees Nintendo expanding its focus
Marketing Report
Longer ads lead to a 23% boom in purchasing intent
A new report analyses the impact of various factors in game marketing
Acquiblizz
Is the biggest deal in gaming history dead and what happens next?
With the UK's CMA blocking Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard, where does that leave the deal and the rest of the industry?
Identity V
Identity V prepares for the finals of the Call of The Abyss VI tournament
The event has a prize pool of $585 thousand
Netease Financials
NetEase reported $13.991 billion in revenue in 2022, but there may be trouble ahead
The company’s annual report celebrates performance, but highlights issues on the rocky road to recovery
Job News
My.Games appoints Eugenio Vitale as director of Premium Games Division
Dmitriy Byshonkov has also been promoted to the role of senior business development manager
Job News
Zynga appoints Akshay Bharadwaj as head of Socialpoint studio
Bharadwaj previously held the role of vice president of general manager of Zynga India
Nights Of Terror
Dead by Daylight Mobile announces Nights of Terror tournament
The tournament will see players compete for cash prizes and in-game rewards
New Partnership
SuperAwesome and Yoti announce new partnership
The duo are integrating their services to help keep young gamers safe
Social Mobile
ByteDance pushes Lemon8 in the USA, swerving prospective TikTok ban
The company has been the subject of privacy concerns worldwide
Azerion Financials
Azerion celebrates 452.6 million euros in revenue in 2022
However the company’s latest annual report shows a mixed bag of results as increased costs eat into profits
Acquiblizz
The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority blocks the Microsoft Activision Blizzard deal
Microsoft was unable to address the CMA’s concerns regarding how the deal would affect competitors in the cloud gaming space
Netflix Games
Netflix Games Studios looking to expand with new hires
The company wants to continue its growth in the games space
An Epic Battle
Apple emerges victorious in antitrust appeal against Epic Games
But the ruling also opens the door for developers to include links in apps and side-step App Store fees
Alternative App Store
PhonePe set to challenge Google Play’s market dominance in India
The Walmart-backed fintech giant is preparing to launch a dedicated app store for Indian Android users
Diversity In Gaming
Ustwo Studios announces partnership with Where Are the Black Designers?
The partnership will connect black designers through networking events
Buzzfeed Vs. Versusgame
Buzzfeed sues mobile quiz platform VersusGame for $647,000
The website alleges that VersusGame has failed to pay invoices as part of a previous deal agreement
Gamerefinery Report
Betas, events, and releases: How did mobile gaming do in March?
GameRefinery examines the performance of the market over the month
Job News
Aristocrat Leisure appoints Jennifer Aument as non-executive director
Aument brings more than 25 years of infrastructure and leadership experience to the role
Next News
Next Games, A Netflix Game Studio announces changes in leadership team
Saara Bergström will assume the role of studio lead, while Teemu Huuhtanen will be leaving the company
Interview
AR comes of age: What next for AR and mobile gaming?
We spoke to Holo Interactive founder and CEO Amber Hu about the barriers and benefits of AR gaming
Netease Lawsuit
Pop star Jay Chou sues NetEase for copyright infringement
Chou claims that NetEase’s latest campaign for Tianxia III led fans to believe the game had a “specific connection” to his music
The Rise Of Mobile
Gaming app installs are up 10% compared to 2022
Adjust’s new report delves into the state of 2022’s mobile industry, and how 2023 is shaping up so far
Interview
Why Reactional Music is the future of gaming audio
Reactional's president David Knox explains the art of turning game soundtracks into personalised gamer avatars
Success In Funding
Reactional Music raises $2.05 million in pre-series A funding round
The platform aims to connect music and players for game developers
Mobile Dominance
92% of gamers are exclusively using phones
The world’s biggest gaming platform in numbers
Unity For Humanity
Unity announces the winners of its 2023 Unity for Humanity Grant
The winners will receive a share of a $500 thousand prize pool, plus mentorship and technical support
Konvoy Report
Gaming market to reach $201 billion in 2023
Asia dominated Q1 in terms of deal value, but came second to America in terms of volume