Abra Used Teleport
Niantic postpones Pokemon GO community day and rolls out update to help self-isolation
One-time in-game purchase of 30 Incense available for one PokeCoin
"unpatentable"
Nintendo claims victory over mobile accessories firm Gamevice in patent dispute
Lawsuit began in May 2018
$1.3 Million Salary
Activision Blizzard appoints Google veteran Daniel Alegre as new COO
"Activision Blizzard is at an exciting point in its history"
Limited Promotion
Starbucks' new AR game Starlands will give away 2.5 million real-world different prizes
Promotion only available in the US and Canada
Mar10 Day
Mario Kart Tour topped mobile downloads for Nintendo in 2019
App Annie data provided to celebrate Mario day
Kick Ass, Take Names
Reggie Fils-Aimé appointed to Gamestop board of directors
William Simon and James Symancyk join too
Slingshots Return
Rovio soft-launches Angry Birds Casual in the US for "early market testing"
Finland, Poland and Sweden too
"first Of Its Kind"
Indie Spotlight: How an unsolicited email led Frosty Pop founder Faisal Sethi to The Pinball Wizard
"Success would be equal to having the freedom to choose what to do with your time."
International Women’s Week
Women in Gaming: Rooster Teeth’s Alanah Pearce on making the leap from Australian to US games media
"I wrote a paragraph in this old diary saying I was going to move to San Francisco and work for IGN"
Doubling Down
Roblox raises $150 million in funding, platform now valued at $4 billion
Funding led by Andreessen Horowitz's Late Stage Venture
Mickey Misses Out
Disney picks Bob Chapek to succeed Bob Iger as CEO
Iger moves to executive chairman
Still Going Fast
Sonic the Hedgehog movie speeds past $200 million worldwide
Over $100 million made in the US alone.
Cash And Stock
Embracer Group snaps up Saber Interactive in deal worth $525 million
"Saber has been on our radar for a very long time"
High Five
Google unveils first new Stadia games since launch
Panzer Dragoon: Remake, Serious Sam Collection, Spitlings and more
Capacity Full
Microsoft's Project xCloud launches preview on iOS
The UK, US and Canada only
Service Ace
Rovio soft-launches Angry Birds Tennis in US
Mexico players can also test new sports title
Infectious
Plague Inc. overtakes Minecraft as top paid app in the US due to coronavirus association
Minecraft lead chart for the majority of 2019
Financials
EA's mobile digital net revenue decreased by $51 million last quarter
Company still "conscious" of Nintendo Switch
Battle 'em All
Niantic rolls out Pokemon GO Battle League preseason worldwide
Pikachu Libre exclusively found within
New Deal
US and China proposed console tariffs postponed indefinitely
"There's a lot of work to do ahead"
Blizzard In The Cloud
Activision Blizzard and Google sign up for strategic "multi-year" streaming partnership
YouTube becomes exclusive streaming partner outside of China
Pg Connects London 2020
Retention rate is key to in-game advertisements, says Tenjin lead data scientist
The US creates 10 times more ad revenue
Npd Group
US and Canada mobile games revenue grows 24% in 2019
$11.82 billion spent in the two countries
No Slowing Down
Pokemon GO evolves to best year ever at $894 million in revenue from 2019
Over $3.1 billion in lifetime revenue
Closure
Digital tabletop game studio Fantasy Flight Interactive to shut down in February
"It's been an amazing journey"
Don't Forget To Subscribe
Apple Arcade predicted to reach 12 million subscribers by end of 2020
"This will make it the biggest bundled games subscription service globally"
Words With Hackers
Over 170 million passwords stolen in Zynga breach
"Cyber-attacks are one of the unfortunate realities of doing business today"
Acquisition
N3twork picks up NBCUniversal's abandoned match-three puzzler Funko Pop Blitz
"N3twork’s expertise in creating moments through events that excite fans is a perfect match with Funko"
Testing Testing
Activision Blizzard unveils "King's Council" group to test mobile ads
Specialist players sought out depending on their playtime and engagement factor
Starting New
Pole To Win opens new game studio - Orange Rock Studios
The time to be disruptive is now
No Turkey
Thanksgiving 2019 boost Switch's US sale to best ever
Country total now 17.5 million
City Limits
16-city PUBG Mobile US esports tournament kicking off in December 2019
Backed by Super League Gaming, Tencent and OnePlus
Negotiations
US and China agree to roll back tariffs that were set to affect console and mobile
A new deal is pending
Money For Not Much
Google's Play Points reward program launches in US
Reward system already live in Japan and Korea
Early Promise
Stadia Founder’s Edition bundle sells out in Europe, nearly sold out in US
Now for something new
Doing A Disney
NBCUniversal shutting down game publishing division to focus on licensing
VP of games and digital platforms Chris Heatherly set to step down
Going All Gamescom
ESA reportedly looking to add celebrites, influencers and 10,000 consumers for E3 2020 in major overhaul
"'Queuetainment", industry-only day and a new floor plan
Words With Hackers
Zynga cyber-attack sees some Words With Friends and Draw Something accounts hacked
No financial information believed to have been accessed
Jobs In Games
Zynga senior director of product Heather Houston on 'treating your career as a product'
Making sense of an incredibly dynamic industry
Licensing Not Publishing
Disney reportedly looking to offload Marvel Strike Force developer FoxNext Games
House of the mouse no longer interested in game development
Charts
Weekly global mobile games charts: Pokemon Masters tops US free App Store rank
Rankings from August 26th to October 1st
Shovel Talk
Yacht Club Games' COO James Chan on potential 'sophomore slump' for Shovel Knight sequel
Still hopes to bring brand to mobile
Must Be Fate
Sony’s Fate/Grand Order tops mobile revenue for August at $163 million
PUBG Mobile followed with more than $160 million
Jeopardy
Drivetime secures $11 million in funding to expand game audio library for users while driving
Newest game sees Jeopardy with host Alex Trebek join the line up
Masterful
Pokemon Masters raked in $26 million from first week
Title surpassed 10 million downloads in less than four days
Court Case
Niantic settles trespassing lawsuit three years after Pokemon Go launched
Spouting up like Weedles
Shadow Drop
Update: Pokemon Go has best month for revenue in three years
Worldwide catch 'em all brings in $110 million as Dr. Mario World ends run as worst-performing mobile game from Nintendo
Gotta Sync ‘em All
Pokemon Masters champions 10 million downloads in four days
Number one for downloads across 27 countries including the US and Japan
Deal Closed
Annapurna Pictures reportedly resolves more than $200 million in debt
The agreed deal will see participants in revolving credit facility receive an estimated $0.82 on the dollar
Charts
Weekly global mobile games charts: Voodoo's top 10 download dominance wanes
Rankings from August 19th to 25th