Speaker Spotlight
Speaker Spotlight: Kimaru Talent founder Rumiko Matsumoto on why fewer studios are building teams in San Francisco
PGC Digital #5 kicks off on February 8th
Target Acquired
Can opt-ins save niche targeting?
App marketers will once again have to take a step back and re-evaluate their practices
Down To Business
Apple’s Small Business Program is now open. Will it change anything?
AdColony's Liz Waldeck-Pinckert discusses the new perks for iOS developers
Coming Up Trumps
Coin Master reigns supreme in Casino mobile gaming
Crunching the data with App Annie
Gain Valuable Knowledge
Get expert advice from games industry leaders with the IGDA Mentor Café at Pocket Gamer Connects Digital #5
Industry leaders share their knowledge and expertise in short sessions during next week’s online only conference
Meet The Investor
Hiro Capital’s Samuel Costello on emerging trends in the games industry during the pandemic that are likely to persist
“The games industry has seen record numbers across the pandemic and a lot of those players wouldn't have played before they were stuck indoors.”
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"
What A Strike!
EA working on six football mobile titles as its extends UEFA license
"Our vision is to create the most authentic, social and connected football experience by bringing our games to more devices"
Pgc Digital
Be in the know with the Esports & Influencers track at Pocket Gamer Connects Digital #5
One of 14 featured tracks
Insight And Growth
Dive founder Elad Levy on the growing need for "custom analytics"
"Dive is the only data insights and live ops platform in the industry that allows all the client's data to reside on their own servers"
Top Dog
SuperData: Oculus Quest 2 shifted 1 million units in Q4
"The Quest 2 benefitted from a lower price than its predecessor"
Spac
Playstudios to go public after merging with Acies Acquisition Corp
"They know how to make engaging and enduring games..."
Top Of The World
Tencent and NetEase remain App Annie's top publishers for the fourth year running
A number of companies jumped up more than 10 places this year
Jobs In Games
How to get a job as a director of story with Pocket Gems' Cass Phillipps
"This industry has a reputation - sometimes correctly - of crunch culture..."
Money Money Money
Pocket Worlds secures $7 million in Series A funding
“At Pocket Worlds, every feature we create and product we build is intentionally designed to cultivate a social-first gaming experience for our users"
On The Up
Haruki Satomi becomes Sega Sammy group CEO
Replaces his father in the top job
Shifting Focus
Google to close Stadia Games and Entertainment studios
Studio head Jade Raymond has departed the company too
Meet The Investor
Balderton Capital’s Sebastiaan Debrouwere on how game developers can prepare to pitch their projects online for investment
“Most importantly, feel comfortable with your pitch, make sure all the logistics are in place (light/internet/etc.) and do some research on the fund if you can.”
Pgc Digital
Boldly go Beyond Games at Pocket Gamer Connects Digital #5
One of 14 featured tracks
Master The Meta
Master the Meta: making sense of GameStop’s insanity
The MtM team took a look at the GameStop stock market frenzy
Building The Anthill
Sumo Group snaps up indie outfit PixelAnt Games for £250k
The studio is Sumo's first mainland Europe acquisition
App Economy
An app economy on steroids: How to grab a piece of the action
While in-app spending has thus far been led by mobile gaming apps, a major increase in spending is anticipated from non-game apps
Be Social
Developers can integrate a social games platform into their apps through Goama
The platform currently has 2.5 million users
Meet The Investor
Level-Up’s managing partner Thibaud Morin on how the pandemic has affected the games industry
“Gaming emerged as a way to stay connected with your friends: the social component will be more and more important in the gaming experience.”
Money Money Money
Nintendo generated $13.4 billion between April 1st and December 31st
Mobile generated around $400 million
Editor's Picks
PGC Digital #5 - our editor's guide to the best upcoming sessions
Overwhelmed by choice? Here's the editorial lowdown on PGC Digital #5
Making Bank
Australian games studios generated $140.4 million in revenue in 2020
That's a 29 per cent increase year-on-year
Bestseller
The Nintendo Switch is closing in on 80 million sales
24.1 million were sold in the nine months ending December 31st 2020
Takin' Care Of Business
Mobile Games Jobs Weekly: Hollywood producer Jerry Bruckheimer joins Skillz, Rovio appoints new SVP future of gaming, and Gamestop CFO resigns
The movers, shakers and job opportunities in mobile gaming
Most Read
Hot Five: Azerion acquires Sulake, Rovio partially closes Hatch, and Apple rolling our privacy changes
The hottest articles of last week
Speaker Spotlight
Speaker Spotlight: 'Be open to all opportunities that come your way,' says Luna Labs' Adam Stevens
PGC Digital #5 kicks off on February 8th
Job Royale
Supercell potentially set to overhaul Clash Royale as studio seeks new game lead
New year, new lead
Indie View
The Big Indie interviews: We discuss stargazing, gardening and winning The Big Indie Pitch with Miracle Tea
Bradley Smith discusses winning our Digital Big Indie Pitch #4
Takin' Care Of Business
Mobile Games Jobs Weekly: PlayStation mobile push, Apple engineering head moves to mysterious project, and Jagex gets acquired again
The movers, shakers and job opportunities in mobile gaming
Pgc Digital
Learn more about Live Ops at Pocket Gamer Connects Digital #5
One of 14 featured tracks
Bebo
Social network Bebo is making a comeback - but it's now owned by Amazon
The site is set to relaunch in Feb 2021
Popping Off
PopScreen Games has ambitions to develop the CCG-RPG genre and expand studio, supported by strategic investment by Garena
French studio hopes to expand significantly with help from the Free Fire publisher
Inclusivity
Activision Blizzard claims it is "committed to inclusive hiring" after describing practice as "unworkable"
Publisher was reportedly trying to get out of putting diverse hiring proposal to shareholders
Data Protection
Apple rolling out privacy changes in "early spring"
"Privacy means peace of mind, it means security, and it means you are in the driver's seat when it comes to your own data"
Investment
Tencent backs Life is Strange maker Dontnod
French firm issuing $60.6 million in new shares to fund self-publishing dreams
Fringe Events
Time is running out to sign up to the fringe events at Pocket Gamer Connects Digital #5 - don’t miss out!
Registration for Investor Connector, Big Indie Pitch, Publisher SpeedMatch, Games Jobs Live and IGDA Mentor Café closing soon - sign up now!
Money Money Money
Brawl Stars shoots past $1 billion in lifetime revenue
Aided by its launch in China last year
Wanna Play
Slay the Spire hits Android devices on February 3rd
It came to iOS devices last June
A Good Deed
Moon Studios, iam8bit and Skybound Games raise $58k to protect rainforests
Through sales of the Ori games on Nintendo Switch
Meet The Investor
Makers Fund’s Archie Stonehill on what they expect from founders on their first meetings
“What makes a first meeting great is all the stuff around that basic information. For example, when founders tell a story of how they got to where they are.”
Speaker Spotlight
Speaker Spotlight: Google Firebase Patrick Martin on why developers should consider 'mobile first'
PGC Digital #5 kicks off on February 8th
Treasure Hunting
Tomb Raider becomes the latest games IP to come to Netflix as anime
Will follow the rebooted trilogy
New Partnership
AdInMo partners with globle mobile ads firm InMobi
"It's fantastic to be collaborating with the team at InMobi to grow demand for InGamePlay brand advertising"
Pgc Digital
Get invested with Show Me The Money at Pocket Gamer Connects Digital #5
One of 14 featured tracks
Money Money Money
Apple experiences record-breaking quarter as it generates $111.4 billion
“Our December quarter business performance was fueled by double-digit growth in each product category"