Esports Expansion
Esports group 100 Thieves raises $60 million at $460 million valuation
Yearly revenue increases 111%
Beast Boosts Brawl Stars
Brawl Stars US downloads surge 350% following sponsorship of Mr Beast's Squid Game
Approximately 324 million lifetime downloads
Will It Fit?
Playstudios acquires exclusive rights to develop Tetris mobile games
Taking over from N3twork
The Joker Joins In
FunPlus and Warner Bros. bring The Joker to State of Survival
Follows the title's successful The Walking Dead collaboration
Mena Expansion
Waysun acquires majority share of Boss Bunny Games to lead MENAT publishing operations
First expansion into MENAT region
Greener Good
Green Grey invests $2 million in US-based indie dev Pocket Size Games
The studio will use the investment to develop its first two projects
4x Success
US annual spend on mobile strategy games rises 24%, surpassing $4 billion
4X subcategory dominates the space
M For Mobile
Lineage 2M launches in North America and Europe on 2 December
Based on the 2003 MMORPG of the same name
Usa Expansion
MPL appoints Xbox and Twitch veteran Matt McCloskey as GM of North America
Will oversee platform's growth in US
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
Ka-ching
US social casino users still spending post-pandemic; Q2 2021 was a record $260 million
iOS social casino spending in US reached $1 billion during height of pandemic
Bloomin' Lovely
Niantic and Nintendo launch Pikmin Bloom
Will roll out globally, starting with Australia and Singapore
Play & Learn
Language learning game Influent lands on iOS devices
Brings new features and language packs
Roblox Rave
Roblox announces World Party, its first metaverse music festival
Virtual performances from EDC Las Vegas 2021 roster starts 23 October
Download Demographics
PUBG Mobile is the most downloaded mobile game worldwide following the release of Battlegrounds India
Sensor Tower's Q3 2021 data drops
Splash Out
AppLovin purchases MoPub from Twitter for $1 billion cash
Will integrate into existing mobile ad platform
Welcome Back
Zynga opens pre-registration for FarmVille 3
Players can flock to the game on November 4th
Accelerate Development
Niantic acquires developer experience firm Hoss
Will assist in accelerating development of Lightship ARDK
Making Of
How Behind the Frame tells a story from the painter's eye
Silver Lining Studio producer talks inspiration and storytelling
Chasing The Indie Dream
FuzzyBot raises $3.5 million for co-op games starting with Switch
LA studio is up and funding
Use The Force
Zynga reveals more details of cross-platform shooter Star Wars: Hunters
Will be the company's console debut
In Deep Schmitt
Update: App Annie to pay $10 million following SEC securities fraud charge
Co-founder and former CEO ordered to pay an additional $300,000
Back For Brains
PopCap resurrects Plants vs. Zombies 3 - now back in soft launch
Testing in Australia and the Philippines
Safari Zone
Postponed Pokémon GO Safari Zone events set to return from October
Events will be held in person across three locations
Expanded Reach
Niantic restores 80m interaction radius in Pokémon Go
The increase was initially implemented to encourage social distancing
Jackpot
Scientific Games acquires instant win developer Sideplay Entertainment
Scientific Games will merge all of Sideplay’s content into its portfolio
More To Come?
EA makes five accessibility patents free for developers
The patents are tailored to improving player accessibility within games
#appletoo
Apple staff unite under #AppleToo to address company discrimination and inequality
The site calls for current and former Apple employees to share their to raise awareness at the company
Gamescom 2021
Over 30 titles will feature in Gamescom 2021’s Opening Night Live
Host Geoff Keighley will return with a new co-host
Super Spending
Dragon Ball Z: Dokkan Battle accumulates $3 billion in lifetime revenue
Launched in January 2015
Three Of A Kind
More acquisitions made by Embracer with Demiurge Studios, Fractured Byte and SmartPhone Labs
The trio was purchased through Embracer subsidiary Saber Interactive
Investigation Underway
Update: Riot Games accused of delaying sexual discrimination and harassment investigation
The company is being investigated by the Department of Fair Housing and Employment
Destruction Directive
Nintendo awarded permanent injunction against illegal ROM site, RomUniverse
"Plaintiff’s evidence demonstrates a threat of continued infringement..."
Building Communities
Updated: Roblox acquires online communities platform Guilded for $90 million
Guilded will continue to operate as an independent product
Over The Moon
Former King and Z2 developers raise $5 million for Starform studio
The funding round investment will be used to scale the company to work on upcoming and future projects
Parent Trap
90% of parents play mobile games in the US
"Today’s parents are so much more aware of modern technology…"
25% Rise
Over 800 mobile games make more than $1 million every month
Data was confirmed by App Annie as part of its "2021 Mobile Gaming Tear Down"
Scanning The Market
Pokémon GO creator Niantic acquires 3D scanning app Scaniverse
Scaniverse founder and CEO will join Niantic’s AR engineering team
Representation
Microsoft joins Take-Two as a Gerald A. Lawson Fund contributor
Looks to increase support for Black and indigenous students in the games industry
41 Million Dau
Zynga Q2 revenue up 59% to $720 million
Net income equalled to $28 million
Hiring Now
10 games industry jobs to apply for this week
Job vacancies from Epic Games, Respawn Entertainment, Alpha Dog Games and Riot Games
First Of Many?
Update: Blizzard president and head of HR depart company amid lawsuit
J. Allen Brack and Jesse Meschuk make their exit
New Skills Acquired
Skillz partners with multiplayer tech company Exit Games, invests $50 million
"Expanding into these new areas will grow our total universe of players..."
Thank You, Next
Epic Games teams with Ariana Grande for Fortnite’s Rift Tour
"I can’t wait to join my fans and see all of your reactions..."
Union Buster
Activision Blizzard brings on union-busting law firm following protests
WilmerHale is tasked with reviewing policies at the company
Seeking Head Of Studio
Riot Games set to open new studio in China
The League of Legends creator plans to expand its reach
Super Hire
10 Supercell jobs to apply for this week
Job vacancies from several of Supercell’s offices
Led By League
League of Legends: Wild Rift pushes Riot Games to $100 million revenue on mobile
The developer currently only has three live mobile games
Profit Up 93%
Apple sees revenue grow by 36% to $81.4 billion in third quarter
The company reports new revenue records in each geographic sector
Staff Walkout
Activision Blizzard employees set to strike
The employees are demanding several changes be made to the company’s operations