Politics X Games
Games design lecturer Zhia Zariko on the importance of politics in games
Positive GCAP 2019 session
Neat Nsfw
Disruptor Beam creates Archer mobile game based on edgy FX animated series
Now available on iOS and Android
Reboot
PayDay: Crime War will shut down before being relaunched with a new publisher
Current version will cease operations on December 16th
Get Nice Angry
10 years on, Rovio looks to turn Angry Birds' anger into positive thinking
Anniversary is in December
Gotta Design Fast
Sonic Mania designer helped create Sonic movie's new look
Tyson Hesse said he was “honoured” with task
Top Secret
Blue Sky Studios partners with Denali Publishing for mobile game based on Will Smith’s Spies in Disguise
Endless runner is arriving soon
Show Reel
Video highlights from Pocket Gamer Connects London
A look back at Pocket Gamer Connects London 2019 and a look ahead to 2020
Testing Times
Epic Games suing former Keywords tester for leaking Fortnite Chapter 2
Lucas Johnston worked at Keywords' Montreal office
Tech Tock
Apple's gaming-focused AV/VR headset expected by 2022
AR glasses in 2023
Event
G-Star 2019 starts on November 14th
Featuring talks from the likes of CCP, Bungie, Gearbox and Creative Assembly
Crazy Name Crazy Guys
TabTale changes its name to Crazy Labs
It reflects the company's focus on hyper-casual
Acquisition
Epic Games acquires Megascans outfit Quixel
Company claims to have the “world's largest photogrammetry asset library."
Sonic Boom
New Sonic movie trailer shows off improved redesign after fan backlash
Shadow of its former self
Dime A Dozen
Google Stadia 12-game launch line-up revealed
Including Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, Destiny 2, Red Dead Redemption 2 and more
Home Sweet Home
Playrix’s Homescapes surpasses $1 billion in lifetime revenue at $4.60 per download
More than 223 million downloads in just over two years
Tag Team
Bandai Namco revealed as a development partner for Mario Kart Tour
“Partially implemented in-games and 3D visual assets for courses, characters and machines”
Combining Talents
Tencent reportedly looking to use Nintendo IP as it expands internationally
May focus on a female audience
Overtakes Mario Kart
Call of Duty: Mobile racks up almost $60 million in launch month
Also does 148 million downloads
Read 5 Now
Hot Five: Vainglory changes hands, what's next for Playtika? and Rush Wars' weak KPI revealed
The hottest stories
Stream In
Madfinger Games demoing new Shadowgun War Games gameplay on 15 November
Building the buzz
Its A Ton
Apple Arcade hits 100 live games
Another six added
Financials
Activision Blizzard and King revenue drops as Candy Crush stays top-grossing franchise in US
Free-to-play title had a monthly active user base of 247 million over the previous quarter.
Red Hot
Call of Duty: Mobile blasts Activision to #3 on global download list
October's data revealed
Ro-block?
Roblox survey says 60% of teens don’t report inappropriate online behaviour to parents
Information asymmetry
Cooking It Up
Tilting Point prepping for the launch of SpongeBob: Krusty Cook-Off
Co-dev deal with Nukebox Studios
Going Green
ZeptoLab splits out Om Nom business unit as it prepares for new release Om Nom: Merge
Game out 28 November
Channeling
Outerminds partners with PewDiePie again for Pixelings game
Arrives in app stores on November 15th, 2019
Mapping
One million locations nominated weekly for Niantic's Real World Platform
Nine million locations have been adde to-date
Sticky Situation
Glu Mobile grows sales 8% to a record $107 million but still fails to make a profit
Net loss of $5.1 million sees shares drop
Dropping Numbers
Microtransactions down for console, steady for PC, only rising for mobile games
Superdata's data
Ups And Downs
Mobile and DLC maintained US game spending despite a 23% decline in hardware sales
2019 to-date up 1% to $28 billion
Bullseye
PUBG Mobile generated $154 million during October 2019
Honor of Kings in second place
Unite We Play
Why casual games like Homescapes are adding midcore Guild community features
Play together, spend more
Investment
Niantic launches $10 million Creator Program for new location-based AR games
Also opens Pokemon Go sponsored location program for small businesses
Negotiations
US and China agree to roll back tariffs that were set to affect console and mobile
A new deal is pending
Magical Mena
Pocket Gamer Connects launches into MENA with 700+ delegates at PGC Jordan in association with the King Abdullah II Fund for Development
First event in the Middle East and North Africa region
Block By Block
Mobile AR game Minecraft Earth enters early access in the UK
Phased rollout
Crossing The Beams
Rogue Games takes Vainglory as Super Evil raises $10.5 million for cloud game Project Spellfire
Funding was led by venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz
Full House
Former Rovio EVP Wilhelm Taht appointed to head GSN Games' Bingo studios
From Angry Birds to Two Fat Ladies
Let Them Clash
$400,000 Clash Royale League World Finals 2019 to take place in LA on 7 December
Event will be presented by Google Play
Money For Not Much
Google's Play Points reward program launches in US
Reward system already live in Japan and Korea
Freebies
Here’s how you can get into Pocket Gamer Connects London 2020 - free!
Four ways to get involved with B2B expo in January 2020 without spending.
Indie Spotlight
Exospecies creator Eric Zinda on the move from Xbox to mobile
Finding the right way
Hey Little Spender
The hard data behind Supercell’s decision to can Rush Wars
Sensor Tower spills the beans
Delta Force
Call of Duty: Mobile gains top grossing momentum, while Mario Kart Tour’s downloads fall away
Crunching the data with App Annie
Solid Base
G5 Games sees average monthly revenue per payer at $45.80
Hidden objects still paying off
Another One Bites The Dust
Supercell cans Rush Wars
Servers shut down 30 November
Job News
PS Vita advocate Gio Corsi leaves PlayStation
He was with the company for over six years
Learn Coding
GameMaker Studio 2 gets a new educational tool for preteens
The programme is aimed at 11-to-14 years olds
Girl Power
BlizzCon 2019 sees first major female Hearthstone champion
VKLiooon roars