Social-first Games
Playwind Games raises $4 million, backed by Garena
Will use the funds to support development and future growth
Revenue Rise
Flexion sees 52% Q4 revenue growth to $13.8 million
Strongest quarter in company history
#breakthebias
Avakin Life launches #BreakTheBias in support of International Women's Day
All profits to be donated to Womankind Worldwide
Drawing An Audience
Kwalee’s Draw It surpasses 100 million downloads
The company’s most downloaded and lucrative game to date
Appointment Announced
Lockwood Publishing appoints Jon Goddard to senior management team
Prior roles at EA, Jagex, and more
Gouge To Jones
EA appoints Gareth Jones as vice president and head of Playdemic Studios
Following departure of studio head Paul Gouge
Triumvirate Hires
Lockwood Publishing expands leadership with three strategic hires
Brings on industry veterans James Cox, Rob Hendry, and Chris Tilston
New Directors
Amuzo appoints new Head of Studio and Head of Production
Two key players move up the ladder
Snapping Up Staff
Shortround Games staff and tech acquired by blockchain outfit Mythical Games
Will begin working on an unannounced sports game
Accessibility
UK games charity SpecialEffect launches new DevKit
Aimed at improving motor accessibility in games
Done Deal
Airnow and Lab Cave talk the importance of a shared vision for acquisitions
Both sides talk how the acquisition has given "new life" to Lab Cave
Ad Affinity
Anzu: 66% of UK gamers would welcome more ads in games
70% are positive or neutral towards in-game ads
Starting To Spread
AviaGames begins global expansion, starting with UK
Bringing Solitaire Clash and Bingo Tour to the App Store
Sumo's Sold
Tencent closes acquisition of Sumo Group
Will operate under Tencent subsidiary, Tencent Bidco
Airnow Acquires
Airnow acquires mobile growth firm Lab Cave
CEO Luis Bertó will continue to lead
Spearheading Subscriptions
Team17 acquires What the Golf? publisher The Label for up to $40 million
Foothold in mobile games subscriptions market
Mobile Moves Ahead
UK mobile games spending increased by 8.1% in 2021
21.9 percent above pre-pandemic spending
2021 In Review
Hutch's Shaun Rutland on being acquired and adapting to a new way of life
Hutch CEO on 2021's challenges and opportunity
More Monetary Choice
AppGallery partners with Revolut to offer additional financial choice
Accepting more options across its apps and games
Exclusive Partnership
Azerion signs exclusive two-year partnership with Bidstack to bolster ad reach
Gains access to around 40 million users
Marketplace Dominance
Apple and Google hold a "vice-like grip" on UK consumers, says competition regulator
Suggests actions to decrease the mobile marketplace duopoly
Redundancies And Redeployment
Lockwood Publishing makes 10% of staff redundant
Accused of unlawful redundancies by IWGB union
Passion To Start
Standing up for the female perspective through storytelling
Pixel Federation's Patricia Pribolova tells her story
Mega Milestone
Gismart surpasses over one billion mobile games and apps downloads
Over 450 million mobile games downloads since 2019
Don't Interrupt Me
Playstack launches Interact SDK for less interruptive mobile game ads
Offers three methods of non-interruptive ad monetisation
Breezy
Talewind raises $3.4 million for casual Roblox experience Breezy Bay
Animal Crossing meets Runescape in Roblox
There Was A Spark
Electric Manta partners with Sunday to create hypercasual games
Providing a one-stop-shop for casual, hybrid, and hyper games
Boardgame Boost
Marmalade saw UK sales increase 144% during lockdowns
Downloads climbed 678% during third UK lockdown
Hutch Hires
Hutch appoints three senior hires to further expand operations
Bringing experience from Sony, Fuse, Codemasters and more
The Secret Sauce
UK-based indie studio Pocket Burger Games raises $1 million for casual mobile games
Founded by former Rovio, Space Ape, and Gram Games alumni
Publishing Powerhouse
Kwalee appoints Sega and Ubisoft veteran William Cox as head of mobile publishing
Bringing over a decade of industry experience
Making Of
How Retro Bowl went from a simple RPG to a number one sports game
New Star Games' Simon Read talks the making of a touchdown mobile game
Pull Over
Kwalee’s Traffic Cop 3D tops App Store charts in USA, UK, and Canada
Top 10 casual game in 41 countries
Touchdown
UK-based New Star Games takes US by storm with Retro Bowl
Number one free app on iOS in US, with 7 million downloads and zero UA spend
Done Deal
Behind the scenes of Sumo's $8.3 million acquisition of Auroch Digital
Sumo commercial director Dean Trotman and Auroch studio director Tomas Rawlings talk
Poc In Mobile
Hutch head of art Ravinder Singh Ruprai on challenging the status quo
"We must ensure that the goal of equal representation is actually equal"
Surveying The System
Ukie launches new UK games industry census
Will expand upon previous survey to cover additional areas of interest
Use The Force
Zynga reveals more details of cross-platform shooter Star Wars: Hunters
Will be the company's console debut
Strategically Significant
Sumo Group acquires Auroch Digital for $8.3 million
A highly significant strategic acquisition
Proliferating Portfolio
Qiiwi Games acquires Playright Games for $1.1 million
Initial purchase price of $540,000 for majority stake
Safari Zone
Postponed Pokémon GO Safari Zone events set to return from October
Events will be held in person across three locations
A Shaving Grace
Admix partners with Movember for in-play ads
Movember moustache will appear in several games
Staff Concerns
Update: Love Island dev Fusebox accused of sexism and "fetishising bisexual experiences"
The newest season of the game was due cover the newest television season
Sentenced
Runescape composer Ian Taylor imprisoned for sexually assaulting a minor
Taylor has also been placed on the Sex Offenders Register
Hybridcasual
Electric Manta and Voodoo agree long-term publishing partnership
The companies aim to extend the lifetime and engagement of hypercasual games
Poc In Mobile
"I can't even think of one black game director off the top of my head, so there is an issue"
Nitrome's Markus Heinel discusses tools of the trade
Blox Party
UK rapper KSI to host album launch party via Roblox
The artist will perform several of the songs from his second studio album
Diversity
BAME in Games celebrates fifth anniversary with new website and Discord server
UK advocacy group to release Representation, Equality, Diversity and Inclusion calendar
Dreaming Big
NDreams hires former Codemasters CEO Frank Sagnier
NDreams CEO welcomes Sagnier’s wisdom and passion to the board
Scoped Out
Scopely invests $50 million into Omnidrone, Pixel Toys and Tag Games
The three development studios are located in Spain, England and Scotland