Welcome To The Family
Leaf Mobile snaps up East Side Games for $125 million
“We are tremendously excited to officially welcome East Side Games, a leading Canadian publisher and developer of mobile games, to the Leaf Mobile family"
Welcome Aboard
FunPlus hires Chris Petrovic as new chief business officer
"Chris's career as an industry leader will empower our teams across the world to create, produce, and expand our brand of gaming experiences to wider markets and build upon our current ones"
Going Public
Nexters to go public through merger with Kismet Acquisition One SPAC
"Nexters is one of the fastest-growing mobile gaming companies in the world"
Shifting Focus
Google to close Stadia Games and Entertainment studios
Studio head Jade Raymond has departed the company too
Making Bank
Australian games studios generated $140.4 million in revenue in 2020
That's a 29 per cent increase year-on-year
Welcome Aboard
Imba Games joins the N3twork Scale Platform
I Am Hero performed well in pilot testing
For Freedom
Bollywood star Akshay Kumar teams with nCore for new mobile game
"Join a special unit of FAU-G commandos on patrol in dangerous border territory"
Found A Solution
Xsolla launches new mobile game commerce solution
“Our new Mobile Game Commerce solution helps developers overcome these restraints and succeed by creating a seamless experience that drives revenue back to those making the games"
Welcome Aboard
Kwalee hires Max Everingham to lead its push into console and PC
"We're delighted to be welcoming Max to the team as we launch Eternal Hope, and we encourage PC and console developers of all sizes to start a conversation with us"
New Partnership
Tencent Games forms strategic partnership with RedMagic
"The in-depth cooperation between Tencent Games and RedMagic has very similar goals"
Change Up
Konami is restructuring its development teams, isn't dropping out of video games
Japanese giant dissolves its three production divisions
Come One Come All
Mamboo Games opens publishing applications to all developers
"We are confident that we will be able to achieve better results, so we decided to begin accepting applications from all mobile developers on the market"
Welcome Back
Industry vet Peter Moore returns to games with exec role at Unity
“I’m delighted to announce that I’ve joined the incredibly-talented team at @unity3d as SVP and GM of Sports and Live Entertainment"
Farewell
Takaya Imamura announces retirement from Nintendo
He worked for the firm for over 30 years
Welcome Aboard
Former King senior manager Loen joins East Side Games
"I am very excited to share that I am joining the super talented team at East Side Games, as Lead Game Designer"
Come One Come All
Tilting Point launches new initiative for Saint Petersburg studio
Hiring for a multi-discipline team
Welcome Aboard
Keywords Studios welcomes Sonia Lashand Sedler as its new COO
"I am delighted that Sonia has chosen to join Keywords Studios and, on behalf of the Board, I would like to welcome her to the business"
Welcome Aboard
Bandai Namco Mobile hires Guillaume Legoy as its game data scientist
The company is hiring for different positions
Put Em Up
Savage Game Studios secures $4.4 million for mobile shooter
"We see there is an opening for games that offer an opportunity to play with others and have rewarding sessions without the high pressure of a player-versus-player environment"
Over The Moon
Moonrise is the new early stage fund from Glitch CEO Karr
Organisation to provide support for projects with unique gameplay
New Partnership
Tilting Point forms live-publishing partnership with South Korean firm Storytaco
"Storytaco has done a great job of creating a narrative-driven game that has captivated audiences, and this partnership allows us to bring that thrilling storyline into the hands of even more players"
Economics
Under half of UK devs believe the economic climate is favourable for games
Though the UK games industry is expected to grow this year
New Job
Scopely hires Ben Webley as its new CMO
"Ben brings deep experience in gaming and mobile advertising..."
Rip
Yoozoo Games CEO and chairman Qi passes away at 39
Allegedly due to being poisoned
New Acquisition
Moon Active snaps up mobile games dev Melsoft
"We were searching for a company that has the right products and at the same time shares our culture and values that will allow us to grow together in synergy"
Independent
Digital Extremes will maintain creative independence after Tencent takeover
"We will continue to create great content for Warframe, and we will remain creatively independent"
Remote Work
"It’s a passion job, in that every angle and approach is appreciated but inspiration can come at any time," says N3twork Tetris director Mari Burns
"For those who don’t play video games, I think it’s misunderstood as a filler of time"
Welcome To The Family
Voodoo acquires Paris-based studio OHM Games
"We're thrilled to be able to build on our existing relationship with OHM Games"
Welcome Aboard
Jagex hires Shaun Rees as its new submission and release manager
Rees previously worked for PlayStation
Acquisition
Mag Interactive snaps up Swedish studio Apprope
"We are impressed by Apprope's combination of rapid development and high quality"
Oh Snap
Snap Inc partners with Unity to bring its tech to game developers
"We're building on our commitment of enabling developer success at all stages of the game life cycle, from creation onwards"
Kinda Nifty
Peter Moore joins Nifty Games' board of directors
"I'm excited to join the Nifty Games Board of Directors"
Acquisition
Rollic buys mobile puzzler Onnect from Chef Game Studio
"We are proud to be a part of the rapidly expanding games community in Turkey"
Welcome Aboard
Sega veteran Clark moves from Tencent to Curve Digital
Takes on the CEO position after just a year at the Chinese giant
Podium Finish
Modern Times Group acquires mobile studio Hutch
"Hutch is a true front-runner, responsible for some of the most successful titles in the fast-growing mobile racing category"
Investment
Modern Times Group increases its investment in InnoGames
"We already have a successful long-term relationship with MTG"
Investment
My.Games invests in three more mobile studios
Appyfurious, Purple Games and AppLife
Farewell
Casey Hudson and Mark Darrah depart BioWare
The duo are the latest high profile departures from the EA studio
Just Be Casual
Gismart prepares to enter the casual games market
"We have put together a great team. Some of the team has been working at Gismart for a while"
Welcome Aboard
Kolibri Games hires Paul Le Bas as its new VP of marketing
"I am thrilled to join this talented team"
Expansion
Phoenix Labs expands as it opens new studios in Montreal and Los Angeles
"We aspire to bring joy and delight to players for years to come by providing developers with a long-term home to create the world's most compelling gaming experiences"
Going Mobile
Krafton consolidates Pnix and Delusion Studio to form RisingWings
The new studio will focus on casual and midcore mobile games
Going Mobile
Mobile is the primary platform for developers in the UK
"Mobile remains the most popular platform for UK games studios, but the proportion of UK development studios focused primarily on this category has been steadily falling"
New Acquisition
tinyBuild acquires majority stake in Secret Neighbor dev Hologryph for $3m
"Together with Hologryph we have learned how to expand franchises effectively"
Team Work
Supercell backs new studio 2UP Games with $2.8 million investment
"It's a privilege to be supporting 2UP Games on their mission to bring players across the world together around co-op gaming"
Treasure Hunting
Lara Croft is coming to mobile devices in Tomb Raider Reloaded
To be released in 2021
Top Dog
Small Giant Games names Jose Saarniniemi as its new CEO
He takes over from Timo Soininen on November 27th
Money Money Money
Lightfox Games secures $3.3 million in funding
"The best games are built by small, passionate, talent-rich, multi-disciplinary teams that are open to and quick to react to player feedback"
Welcome Aboard
Big Run Studios welcomes Daren Chencinski as its new SVP of games
“I’m excited and honoured to be part of a studio that’s leading the forefront in creating games for traditionally underserved audiences"
Have Some Drive
My.Games partners with Google for a new accelerator programme
Game Drive is aimed at mobile games studios