Time To Upgrade
Update: Niantic holds off on dropping Pokemon GO support for 32-bit Android phones
Originally expected to start dropping support in August
Big Money
The App Store generated $458 billion through physical sales and advertising in 2019
$63 billion was generated through digital sales
Popularity Contest
ASMR Slicing cut through the most downloads in May 2020
It got 36.5 million installs
Loot Boxes
Apple is being sued for having games with loot boxes on the App Store
"A large percentage of Apple's revenues from App Store games come from the in-game purchases"
Gotta Help 'em All
Niantic is looking to support 1000 business through Pokemon GO advertisements
Nominations can be made in the US, UK, Japan, Canada and Mexico
Event Latest
Pocket Gamer Connects Digital #2 smashes its debut records with over 1,400 attendees from 68 countries
Representatives from almost 680 companies witnessed over 200 expert speakers and organised 3,000 virtual meetings throughout the week!
Heroic Cloud
The Heroic Cloud - Hosted games infrastructure at scale
Heroic Labs VP of Product Alim Jaffer announces the public release of Heroic Cloud
Test Your Might
Report: AT&T is looking to sell its Warner Bros games arm
US giants like EA, Take-Two and Activision Blizzard reportedly interested, firm valued at $4bn
Oh Dear
Google mistakenly uploads Ubisoft's God & Monsters E3 demo build to Stadia
Gamers could play an in-development version of the new IP
Still Streaming
Stadia exceeds one million downloads on Android devices
The platform has been made available to more phones
#blacklivesmatter
The Black Girl Gamers online summit is taking place on June 13th
It features keynote speeches and panels
Social Games
Zynga signs multi-game deal with Snapchat
"Snap Games is such a unique and exciting platform"
Welcome Aboard
Spotify's content and ad boss Dawn Ostroff joins Activision Blizzard board
"Throughout my career, I've always been drawn to companies willing to shift the paradigm of entertainment and media"
Pgc Digital
PGC Digital: A Thinking Ape's Tayber Voyer on implementing psychological safety into your live ops production
Be clear about your risks and make life easier for everyone
#blacklivesmatter
Riot executive on leave after George Floyd remarks
Consumer products boss Johnson under investigation for saying Floyd's "criminal lifestyle" played a role in his death
Impressive Numbers
Google had the most downloads of all mobile publishers in May
Voodoo and Crazy Labs cracked the top five
Eat Or Be Eaten
Despite $1.8 billion Peak deal, Zynga isn't 'acquisition-ed out'
President of publishing Bernard Kim on a hungry beast
Hypercasual Domination
Hypercasual app installs more than doubled between December 2019 and March 2020
China saw a 300 per cent rise in downloads
Money Money Money
PUBG Mobile was the top-grossing mobile title in May 2020
It generated $226 million
On The Rise
Installs by mobile players have increased by 84 per cent according to Unity
Ad impressions have increased by 50 per cent
10 Years On
Opinion: Why a growing disquiet stalks the corridors of WWDC 2010
It's a Jobsian Hobbesian world
#blacklivesmatter
Klei Entertainment donates $1 million to #BlackLivesMatter causes
"As a part of the global community, we believe each of us need to do our part to make the world a safer, kinder, more equal place"
Minority Support
Riot is putting $10m behind minority-led studios
Firm also puts $1m behind social justice causes
Pgc Digital
PGC Digital: Caracal Games' Ricchiuti explains why motivation is important for monetisation
"Motivation has lots of meanings and lots of ways of being translated"
Pgc Digital
PGC Digital: Unity's Slava Taraskin makes some bold predicitions for H2 2020
Q3 will see an increase in use of all game types
#blacklivesmatter
EA Sports states that it won't "tolerate racism of any kind"
Firm outlines measures it is taking to cut out hate speech
Stay Healthy
Riot Games forms partnership with Crisis Text Line to battle mental health
"Suicide is a leading cause of death for people under 35 around the world"
Pgc Digital
PGC Digital: Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp experiences its best month for downloads ever
Over 7 million downloads for the month
Pgc Digital
PGC Digital: Games-related acquisitions down 45% year-on-year in Q1 2020
Declining activity in China across the period
Cook Out
99Games launches Star Chef 2 as first game from N3twork's Scale Platform Partner Growth Fund
The first Star Chef has generated over $30 million in lifetime revenue
Journalist Bar
The Journalist Bar heads online for Pocket Gamer Connects Digital #2
Get on the experts’ radar as our PocketGamer.com and PocketGamer.biz journalists offer feedback on your games digitally next week
Money Money Money
Activision Blizzard shareholder claims firm has 'unnecessarily enriched' CEO Kotick
Executive director of CTW Investment Group Dieter Waizenegger says that the exec is compensated too highly
Sponsor Shoutout
Special thank you to the sponsors for next week’s Pocket Gamer Connects Digital #2
Celebrating the incredible companies supporting us for our second digital conference
Pay The Price
HyperBeard agrees to a $150,000 settlement with the US FTC
For alleged violation of child protection rules
Agora Live Video
Nobody cares about your app idea - here's how to change that
Harness live video for the next generation of gaming & apps
#blacklivesmatter
The Pokemon Company, Double Fine, House House, and more join in to show support for #BlackLivesMatter
Through statements and charity donations
Going Indie
Indie enthusiast Kirk Scott leaves Nintendo of America
He was there for five years
#blacklivesmatter
Niantic is donating all proceeds from Pokemon Go Fest 2020 to fight racism
With a promised minimum of $5 million
Delayed Content
Epic Games postpones Fortnite's upcoming event and Season 3
In support of #BlackLivesMatter
2.5 Million Dau
Making Of: How Scrabble GO achieved "the best launch ever for a mobile word game"
"Over 2.5 million people are playing daily for an average of 100 minutes each day"
Oh Dear
Game Workers Unite UK member leaves after being accused of "exclusionary behaviour and bullying"
Didžgalvyte allegedly said GWU wouldn't condemn racism for fear of alienating developers
Talking Heads
Facebook, Activision, Agora.io and Crunchyroll confirmed to speak at Pocket Gamer Connects Digital #2
The speaker lineup for our second online-only conference reaches its final form - read on to see who you’ll be learning from next week!
Production In Pandemic
Audio production in times of pandemic
Four things Covid-19 has taught us about maintaining production standards
That's Epic
Epic's Tim Sweeney claims free games on Epic Games Store result in higher sales on other platforms
"It's been a benefit for game developers"
10 Years On
Unity developer support tops 170,000 as platform turns 5
Platform claims to be #1 engine on the market
A Step Back
Double Fine Presents is "winding down" after being acquired by Microsoft last year
Its future remains uncertain
Get That Data
AppsFlyer forms a new partnership with Facebook Audience Network for UA data
"This partnership is providing a significant foundation for marketers"
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Meeting Platform
The Pocket Gamer Connects Digital #2 meeting platform is live [video guide]
Start organising your meetings and connecting with games industry professionals from all around the world NOW
Algo Rules
YouTube now #1 source for kids' mobile game discovery
Latest research from Interpret
#blacklivesmatter
Activision delays Call of Duty: Mobile season 7 in support of #BlackLivesMatter
No new release date has been given