African Expansion
“Africa will be one of the top three regions for the global games market over the next ten years”
Usiku Games game producer Denis Odera on developing mobile games in Africa and what makes the region prime for expansion
Staff
Paige Cook
Job Title
Deputy Editor
Contact paige.cook@steelmedianetwork.com
About Paige is the Deputy Editor on PG.biz who, in the past, has worked in games journalism covering new releases, reviews and news. Coming from a multimedia background, she has dabbled in video editing, photography, graphic and web design! If she's not writing about the games industry, she can probably be found working through her ever-growing game backlog or buried in a good book.
Articles by Paige Cook
The Sky's The Limit
Thatgamecompany on what comes next for Sky: Children of the Light in 2024
Art Director, Cecil Kim shares on joining thatgamecompany and the journey from mobile to cross-platform for Sky: Children of the Light
Game Saver
Behind the scenes: How our relaunch reboot reignited Merge Gardens
Futureplay’s Joonas Virtanen discusses the redemption journey that led to the revitalisation of Merge Gardens
Best Of 2023
Paige Cook's top stories of 2023: Games industry layoffs, Microsoft's Activision acquisition, and Sega's big Rovio deal
PocketGamer.biz deputy editor Paige Cook picks her favourite stories from throughout 2023
Ad Strategy
Upping your game with integrated ads
AdInMo’s head of supply Lewis Horgan shows how immersive ad placements can take your game to the next level
New Year New Ip
Super Evil Megacorp talk "co-op action" Netflix Rebel Moon game and reveal future plans
Studio head Ian Fielding reflects on Super Evil Megacorp’s 2023 and it’s future ambitions with its upcoming IP
Milestone
Making history and smashing milestones with June's Journey
Wooga’s vice president of games Martin Müller celebrates June's Journey $1billion milestone
Horror Hits
Behind the Scenes: Creating the viral hit Baby in Yellow
Team Terrible’s CEO Greg Lee shares a closer look at the game's development and what they have coming up next
Making Of
Behind the scenes: The making of Zynga Socialpoint's Top Troops
Top Troops game lead Albert Fontova discusses the development of the game and its vital first few months post launch
Tales To Tell
"It was surreal to see our little brainchild win a Google Play Award and be nominated for a BAFTA!"
Other Tales Interactive founder Tanja Tankred tells us about the success of Tick Tock: A Tale for Two, being an inclusive studio and what's next
Ai Meets Ugc
AI advances: Kongregate’s new AI Adventure Creator platform is out now
Kongregate’s Bryan Salt gives us all the details on their new platform which allows users to create their own games by connecting them with the latest AI technology
Hypercasual Hit
Behind the scenes: The developers of Going Balls on the success of their hypercausal hit
Developers Stefan Filote and Ionut Iftimia discuss the development journey of Going Balls touching on the hypercasual space and future goals
Industry Stories
Jobs in games: Breaking into animation with Hutch’s Lucia Gentile
Gentile studied 2D and 3D animation and has since gone on to work at the likes of Whatwapp and Hutch
Q&a
Anime at your fingertips: Crunchyroll on it’s new Game Vault offering
Crunchyroll’s EVP of emerging business Terry Li on the creation of the Crunchyroll Game Vault and their big plans for the future
Q&a
Unlocking the potential for Web3 on mobile
Immutable’s Chris Clay shares his experience on the mobile market and what impact it could have on Web3 games development
Q&a
"All the stars aligned. Now it’s full steam ahead!" MTG's CEO Maria Redin looks back at 2023
With a busy year almost in the rear view mirror, Maria Redin talks Modern Times Group's success and the challenges ahead
Cookin' It Up
Behind the scenes: The making of Cooking Fever Duels
Nordcurrent’s project manager Tomas Šiukščius shares on the development process behind the upcoming spin-off PvP game
Interview
Christian Lövstedt on The Battle Of Polytopia’s journey to 20 million downloads
Originally releasing in 2016, Midjiwan’s smash hit is now on multiple platforms with 20 million installs on mobile. Here's how they did it
Q&a
Behind the scenes: The making of Dino Bash Travel Through Time
Pokoko's founders André Hornung and Philipp Brömme tell us about the development process of their latest game and what to expect next from the team
Mobile Mavens
Mobile Mavens: One month on, what next for Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard?
A month ago today Microsoft closed it’s deal and with no immediate upsets was it all a storm in a teacup? Or 28 days later, is the apocalypse imminent? We ask the experts…
Q&a
Halli Bjornsson on a decade of Avakin Life and what comes next for Lockwood Publishing
We discuss the very beginnings of Lockwood and the creation of Avakin Life in addition to changes in the gaming industry
Interview
Everything you need to know about Blizzard’s new mobile game Warcraft Rumble
We spoke with the games senior animator, Carin Huurnink and senior game designer Brendan Farrell
Q&a
Behind the scenes: The making of Tangle Tower
Creators Adam Vian and Tom Vian share the design and development process behind the murder mystery point-and-click adventure game
Q&a
Behind the scenes: The making of One Punch Man: World
One Punch Man: World producer FeiHua “Shifu” Huang talks turning the much-loved anime IP into a cross-platform classic
Q&a
Ustwo Games' CCO Danny Gray: "Some fans don’t believe in paying for subscription services and want to own their media."
Ustwo's Assemble with Care was originally released as an Apple Arcade exclusive. With the title heading to free-to-start on both iOS and Android we find out their strategy for the future
Q&a
Game analysis: Reinventing a legend for Cut the Rope 3
ZeptoLab CEO Max Petrov takes us behind the scenes of creating Cut the Rope 3 and bringing it to Apple Arcade
Interview
Industry veterans create The Experimentation Group to boost industry growth
The consultancy group are offering their expertise for free
Interview
GameHouse CEO Simonetta Lulli: “When I started there were zero females on the management team. Now after two years we make up 60% of it.”
GameHouse were recently visited by Apple CEO Tim Cook where the team shared 25 years of gaming making and developing with women in mind
Interview
GIMZ CEO Nikita Guk talks Unity Runtime Fee aftermath and 1000 signature-strong collective letter success
Unity’s runtime fee sparked near instant backlash, prompting a rapidly banded together of likeminded creatives to make their voices known. Here's their story.
Q&a
Mike Levine on Mystic Moose’s auto chess battler Mojo Melee
The game is currently available on android and playable in a browser with an iOS release in beta testing
Q&a
Behind the scenes: The making of Netmarble’s Grand Cross: Age of Titans
CEO Woo Won Seo and project director Min Suk Kang tell the story of the game and their plans for its future
Q&a
Homa's Henry Lowenfels: "I’ve been part of successful companies in the past, but the level of ambition and grit that I see at Homa is unparalleled"
Homa’s new president and chief business officer shares details on his new role and the state of the mobile market
Q&a
Million Victories CEO Benoît Ducrest celebrates Million Lords milestones
Million Victories have implemented a 3D visual upgrade to its Million Lords game and is currently prototyping a new game
Q&a
MoreFun's Hanjin Zhang on the success and future of Arena Breakout
MoreFun Studios’ fast-paced team FPS recently surpassed 80 million registered users
Q&a
TapNation on the journey beyond one billion downloads
The company recently celebrated a milestone of one billion downloads, but CEO Hervé Montoute has even bigger plans ahead
Feature
Mass games industry job losses in 2023, but is the end in sight?
Not counting the losses at Alphabet, these collective layoffs surpass 3000 jobs
Interview
Amir Rahimi: “Our goal is to have a game on Netflix for every one of our members.”
Netflix is expanding its gaming portfolio with the release of Netflix Stories: Love is Blind
Feature
From ambitious trio to goliath platform: Unity’s 21-year story so far
With big changes on the horizon we take a look at the history of Unity
Q&a
CEO Martin Kwasnica on the return of Cherrypick Games
Cherrypick Games newest title Kingdoms: Merge & Build is on Apple Arcade now
Interview
Frederick Hoffman on Newfangled’s small beginnings to striking deals with Netflix
The indie studio’s Paper Trail title will be releasing on Netflix and other platforms early next year
Interview
Scopely co-founder and Embrace CEO Eric Futoran: “Mobile is the most personal technology of our lives.”
The current founder of Embrace shares all on the challenges and potential of mobile
Iphone 15
Apple's iPhone 15 is out today: What's new and what's the verdict?
The iPhone 15's power could be a game changer with the ability to bring high end games to mobile for the first time
Q&a
Behind the scenes with Ubisoft RedLynx for the making of Gwen’s Getaway
Managing director Celine Pasula and producer Jon Kauppinen share insight into their new game's creation and future plans
Q&a
The challenge of IP rights as Netflix expands further into games
Netflix Games drawing on the power of its powerful intellectual property makes sense, but does it present any challenges? Marks & Clerk associate Erik Rõuk shares his thoughts
Pgc Helsinki 2023
Major growth ahead for the African mobile games market
Carry1st's Mahmoud El-Azzeh on the potential and challenges of the African mobile games market and its place in the next decade
Pgc Helsinki 2023
Designing core gameplay loops with Crosshatch Games’ Dave Cross
Finding success and learning from failure while developing of the perfect gameplay loop at Pocket Gamer Connects Helsinki 2023
Pgc Helsinki 2023
The pros and pitfalls of co-development: "Symmetry is the key."
Our day-two panelists took a deep dive into the topic of co-development for teams
Pgc Helsinki 2023
Juhani Tuomas Honkala: “Mobile is the ultimate controller for the TV gaming experience”
Return Entertainment's CTO took to the stage today at Pocket Gamer Connects Helsinki 2023 to discuss the potential of gaming on TVs
Pgc Helsinki 2023
Božo Janković on the rapid changes in ad monetisation: “Developers should prepare for these changes now"
As head of monetisation at GameBiz Consulting, Janković’s talk at PGC Helsinki gave developers practical insight and tips to improve ad monetisation
Pgc Helsinki
Davy Chadwick on the true potential of generative AI
Pocket Gamer Connects Helsinki takes place on September 12 - 13. We catch up with some of the stars from the mobile industry who'll be taking part