Turkish Gaming Market
Why localisation is essential in the Turkish gaming market
A recent Gaming in Türkiye report offers insights into adapting for a local audience
Staff
Iwan Morris
Job Title
Staff Writer
About Iwan is a Cardiff-based freelance writer, who joined the Pocket Gamer Biz site fresh-faced from University before moving to the Pocketgamer.com editorial team in November of 2023.
Articles by Iwan Morris
Mena Investment
After securing Scopely for $4.9 billion, what could Saudi games giant Savvy splash its cash on next?
They may have made a sizeable acquisition this week but Savvy Games Group still has money to burn!
Sony Handheld
Is Sony going remote with its next handheld console?
Speculation is rife for what, if it happens, Sony’s new handheld gaming console will do
Investment In Turkiye
Turkish gaming VC firm Ludus Ventures leads $3 million investment round in Paxie Games
The money comes as part of surge of investment in Türkiye
Blackpink The Game
BLACKPINK The Game coming from developer Takeone
BTS sparked major success in Cookie Run Kingdom, now fellow K-idol band Blackpink are following suit
Full Steam Ahead
Sid Meier’s Railroads! comes to mobile from Feral Interactive
The specialist in retro game ports has now brought in the well-known railroad building title
Investment In Turkiye
Turkish developer Gleam Games receives $1m investment
A year on from a previous $1m investment into the studio
Gaming In Turkiye
Turkish mobile revenue dips, but players on the rise
Differences in currency conversion affected mobile revenue
Success In Funding
Turkish hypercasual developer Gulliver’s Games gains $1.5 million in second-round funding
The studio developed idle game Restaurant Tycoon
Devolver X Doinksoft
Devolver Digital acquires indie game developer Doinksoft
Will join Devolver’s catalogue of studios and indie game developers
Dungeons And Dragonheir
Nuverse’s Dragonheir to partner with Dungeons & Dragons
The upcoming title will partner with Wizards of the Coast, owners of the D&D franchise
Financials
East Side Games financials sees record revenue for 2022
Recently released full–year financials indicate continued growth
Finance
ByteDance hits record revenue of $80bn, but at the cost of gaming?
Their latest figures has them head-to-head with fellow tech giant Tencent
Report
81% of adults in Türkiye play mobile games
And there's an even spread of players across gender and age
Metaverse Moves
VRChat makes the jump to mobile
The Quest-based chat platform goes looking for a wider audience
Events
E3 2023 has been cancelled. So what the hell happened?
E3 is dead. Again. Why is it that the games industry loves a games show, but doesn't want E3?
Roblox Advertising
Roblox’s new advertising preempts legislation but still sees criticism
Although the new moves have been praised, some argue more is to be done
Ai Development
Yahaha’s code-free design engine steals the show at GDC
Their demonstration allowed the creation of nearly 800 games
Weplay Expansion
Turkish game investment fund WePlay Ventures expands to Europe and Asia
The company has invested in other 15 startups and poured money into mobile
Data
Mobile Global Esports collaborates on AI-driven data analysis
Data from players will tie them to physical locations in order to target special offers
Artificial Intelligence
Ubisoft clarify the use of AI-script writing Ghostwriter
The tech has not yet been implemented but Ubisoft are already reassuring human creatives of their safety
Financials
Mag Interactive's Q2 strategy pays off, delivering highest ever revenue
Their interim report indicates that Mag Interactive are back on track for the year ahead
Appointments
Room 8 appoints David Lalonde as head of mobile service line
Will oversee growth strategy for growing portfolio of studios
Milestones
My.Games’ Left to Survive hits 60 million players worldwide
One of a number of milestones for the company and their subsidiary studios
Financials
NetDragon announces 2022 full-year financial results
Coming off the back of significant partnerships and deals in 2022
Data
Mobile game spend up almost 30% compared to pre-pandemic levels
Mobile bounces back after a dip in 2022
Game Accelerators
Wings Interactive announces Elevate mobile game accelerator in collaboration with Netflix
As with other projects from Wings, the aim will be to elevate indie game development
Releases
PlaySide Studios announces Dumb Ways to Die 4
Pre-orders are now open with a teaser trailer and the announcement of a release date
Appointments
Nexon appoints two new directors to its board
The announcement is in addition to the reappointment of three directors
Expert Insight
Spencer Arons of Rodeo Interactive: “I would be lying if I said we could have made our game without extensive knowledge of the platform and engine.”
Rodeo Interactive’s lead programmer talks tech to innovate on Roblox
Ad Tools
Mobvista launches new XMP platform for cross-channel monitoring
The dashboard lets developers track multiple analytics for their campaigns
Dev Tools
Unity take the next step, teasing AI development tools in new video
While developing with Unity has always been fast, it looks like it might be about to get a whole lot faster…
State Of Play
Xsolla's Chris Hewish on generative AI: “You have to ask: ‘is more actually better’?”
At Xsolla’s Live at GDC 2023 event the president of Xsolla spoke about cloud gaming, AI, web stores and more.
Q&a
Looty on monetising Roblox: “You need to throw away a lot of what you already know about building games”
Chris Haga, president of Looty Games, the creators of fantasy roguelite game Ruin, explains what makes Roblox a winner
Partnerships
Fishing Clash to cease distribution in China as NetEase closes subsidiary studios
The game's loss is being cited as a knock-on effect of NetEase and Blizzard parting ways
Discussions
Rovio halts discussions with Playtika with no deal in sight
The Israeli publisher had been eager to make a cash offer to buy the Angry Birds developer
Releases
Super Meat Boy Forever finally makes the jump to mobile
Originally intended for the platform, the game has so far only been on PC and console until now
Cross-platform
Kabam brings Unreal 5 to mobile and PC for King Arthur: Legends Rise
"Enabling our players to experience cross-platform progression and play is an essential part of what we want to offer."
Financials
Flexion Q4 financials close with another record quarter
The alternative app store publisher saw major deals in 2022
Esports
DreamHack San Diego to host Snapdragon Pro Series Mobile Challenge tournament finals
The esports open will feature prominent battle-royale Fortnite as the headlining game
Licences & International Releases
Tencent brings smash hit Merge Mansion to China in raft of new licences
The game is part of a slew of newly granted licences for a number of foreign titles
Partnerships
PUBG Mobile upgraded with immersive Dolby Atmos in audio update
The audio manufacturer and publisher Krafton have teamed up to boost in-game audio
Q&a
Maximilian Studios on the success of Frontlines: “You don't need a $3,000 rig or a $500 console, you can boot it up on your mobile device.”
Part one of our exploration of studios building for Roblox and their route to success
Mobile Masterworks
Mobile Masterworks: Jetpack Joyride
Taking a closer look at the game that marked the turning point from premium to freemium
Releases
Jetpack Collective to publish Rare Pets - Merge Game Mystery
The iOS and Android title is one of two new games being published by the company
Milestones
Subway Surfers hits 4bn downloads
Sybo’s hit endless runner hits a new milestone and doesn’t look set to slow down anytime soon
Anniversaries
Netflix Games one year on
As the anniversary of Netflix’s robust gaming catalogue comes round, more information arrives about their plans for 2023
Q&a
Elena Grigoryan on the struggles and success of My.Games
The CSO of My.Games discusses the ongoing changes in the mobile industry and how their company weathered both the pandemic and their departure from Russia
Talks
Matej Lancaric on iOS14: “If you’re testing creatives on iOS, just stop”
The Two & a Half-Gamers host discusses why ATT hasn’t killed mobile gaming
Roles
Living the dream: CSR2 fan lands job designing cars for Zynga
Guillaume Mille's passion for cars and games turned into an incredible job opportunity at developer NaturalMotion