Laters Mixer
Microsoft is shutting down Mixer and partnering with Facebook Gaming
Microsoft launched the platform in 2016
Join The Fight
Call of Duty: Mobile shoots through 250 million downloads
Eight months after release
Welcome Aboard
Luna Labs makes six strategic hires
Across London and Belarus
Something For Everyone
EA details its diversity efforts in game development
Firm has created the Inclusion Framework to help studios create more inclusive characters
Outta Here
Epic Games removes police cars from Fortnite
Possibly due to the #BlackLivesMatter movement
Join The Team
Facebook acquires Lone Echo developer Ready At Dawn for Oculus Studios
No figure placed on the deal just yet
When We Dropping?
Apex Legends may finally be soft-launched by the end of 2020
EA CEO Andrew Wilson bigs up the firm's mobile business
Digital Data
SuperData: Digital games spending dropped 3% to $10.2 billion in May 2020
A 14 per cent year-on-year increase for mobile
All The Operators
Apple explores updates to iPadOS, WatchOS, and more at WWDC20
Hand washing detection, new Apple Pencil updates, and more
Ios 14
Apple unveils iOS 14 with App Library, improved widgets, and picture-in-picture mode
New details revealed at WWDC20 Keynote
Rogue Shuffle
Rogue Games appoints Matt Casamassina as new CEO
Co-founder and former chief strategy officer steps up to the top role
Sensor Tower Acquisitions
Sensor Tower acquires StayFree and ActionDash apps to bolster its data offering
StayFree developers join Sensor Tower's product engineering team
Sixth Time's The Charm
Report: Apple has rejected Facebook Gaming app at least five times already
App Store rules preventing HTML5 gaming app from launching
Digital Conference
Meet and learn from companies like Microsoft, DICE, Bandai Namco, Square Enix and more - here’s what you can expect from Pocket Gamer Connects Helsinki Digital 2020
Europe’s biggest mobile B2B games industry conference goes-online only for a week-long event of talks, pitches and networking
Understanding Gamers
Understanding gamer motivations
AppLovin senior director of marketing operations Alice Guillaume
For Charity
Skillz is hosting tournaments to raise money for the NAACP
From June 19th till June 20th
Switch It Up
Electronic Arts is releasing seven Switch games over the next year
Apex Legends lands later this year
Join The Club
Mobile subscription service GameClub launches on Android
Was released for iOS in October 2019
Investment
Wings sets up new investment initiative for diverse teams
"The most impactful thing we can do is give access to resources"
Grab A Deal
Google reduces Stadia Premiere Edition price
Now costs $99, only comes with one free month of Pro tier
Play Nice
EA outlines new community guidelines to tackle toxic players
Positive Play Charter lays out clear rules for using the company's services and the penalties for breaking them
Event Latest
Save the date! Pocket Gamer Connects Helsinki Digital launches September 14-18
Don’t miss out on your chance to do business online as the essential B2B games industry conference goes online once again with a very special Helsinki edition
Get Charged
New publisher ChargeUp Games enters the mobile games market
"ChargeUp Games aims to shake up the business model and create a fair deal between developer and publisher"
A Good Deed
Zynga launches a $25 million fund for educational and charitable purposes
"The focus of the fund is to increase diversity and inclusion within Zynga and the games industry"
#blacklivesmatter
Google pledges $175 million for aiding Black communites
"Google commits to translating the energy of this moment into lasting meaningful change"
Going Digital
PAX becomes the latest event to adopt an online format
PAX Online runs from September 12th to 20th
Breathe A Word
Zynga launches voice-based game Word Pop exclusively for Alexa
"We're dedicated to experimenting with services such as Alexa"
Medicinal Gaming
US's FDA approves mobile game to be marketed as ADHD treatment
EndeavorRx is the first title to be given the nod for medical use
Making Money
Facebook Gaming adds fan subscriptions and live ads for its content creators
Creators need at least 250 weekly viewers
#blacklivesmatter
Itch.io's #BlackLivesMatter bundle has raised $8.1m for charity
That's 63 per cent higher than its initial $5m goal
Money Money Money
Report: Epic Games is valued at $17 billion in new funding round
Firm raising $750 million
The Rise Of Hyper-casual
Charting the rise of hyper-casual gaming
Adjust reports on the hyper-casual industry, in partnership with Unity
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