New Pubg In Works
PUBG Corp opens new game development studio Striking Distance
Former Sledgehammer Games co-founder and GM Glen Schofield named as CEO
Big Festival
Brazil's Independent Games Festival 2019 kicks off today
PocketGamer.biz will be reporting from the show floor. Come say hi!
In The Red
Rovio files lawsuit against “Angry Birdz” chicken restaurant in California
A cease and desist letter was ignored by the owners in February
Acquisition
Gumi Cryptos acquires $1.67 million worth of shares in Double Jump.Tokyo
As part of this acquisition deal Gumi Cryptos received 891 non-voting shares
Reassigned
Google confirms it will no longer be making tablets
Though company will still support its Pixel Slate hardware
Collaboration
Niantic partners with AT&T and Simon to bring Wizards Unite incentives to retailers across the US
We’re excited to team up with AT&T and Simon to create a variety of custom Harry Potter: Wizards Unite gameplay experiences”
“we’ll Take The Lot”
Harry Potter: Wizards Unite on track to earn $10 million in first month
AR game brought in $1.1 million from opening weekend
Roundup
Games industry roundup: GAME Digital board pushes for Sports Direct sale, Facebook's Libra cryptocurrency, and FTC investigating YouTube
15 articles from PocketGamer.biz, InfluencerUpdate.biz and BlockchainGamer.biz
Streaming
Streaming services not likely to take over the games industry as a whole, says WBIE president
"I don’t believe that it will automatically come together"
Job News
Blizzard's global esports director Kim Phan has left the company
Less than a month after Overwatch League commissioner Nate Nanzer departed the firm for Epic Games.
Weekly Charts
Weekly global mobile games charts: Candy Crush Saga shoots down PUBG Mobile’s chances of topping gross ranking in the US
Rankings from June 10th to June 16th
Galleons
Harry Potter: Wizards Unite makes $300,000 in first 24 hours from US and UK
Tops US App Store however can’t match the numbers of Pokemon Go
Ad Monetisation
How to monetise your IAP-based game with ads
IronSource VP of global partnerships delivers the lowdown on in-game ads
Hot Five
Women "underserved" in mobile games market, $1m potato artist joins Animoca Brands, and Empires & Puzzles hits 34m installs
The hottest mobile games industry stories from the last week
Trade War
Apple: New China tariffs will favour foreign competitors, not US
iPhone, iPad, Mac, AirPods and Apple TV will also be affected in new proposals are enacted
King Of Education
Roblox Summer Creator Challenge teams up with Godzilla to teach kids to code
The King of Monsters takes time out from his day job to incentivise children to learn programming
Games For Change
Games for Change: How students are leading the charge for positive social change
President Susanna Pollack discusses the organisation's mission and how it's enabling students to lead the charge for social change
Auto Chess
Valve’s first mobile game DOTA Underlords heads into open beta
Title based on the new Auto Chess craze
'busiest Lady In The Biz'
What’s Good Games’ Andrea Rene on the state of mobile, Apple Arcade and 12 years in the games industry
"If you don’t have the passion somebody will take your place"
Accio Wallet
Niantic’s Harry Potter: Wizards Unite out now in the UK
Co-developed and co-published with WB Games San Francisco
Smart Design
How this award-winning studio uses Smartlook to make its games better
Madfinger discusses working with Smartlook on its mobile shooter Shadowgun Legends
Mario & Dragons
After making billions on mobile Puzzle & Dragons Gold is launching on Nintendo Switch
The game will make its debut later this year
Bebo X Twitch
Twitch acquires Bebo to expand esports platform
Bebo launched in 2005 before Facebook spearheaded the social media frenzy
Style Spaces
“Women are most definitely underserved in the mobile games market”
Hutch CEO Beatrice Fischel-Bock discusses her entrepreneurial history and why she thinks Hutch can crack the mobile games market with Style Spaces
Indie Spotlight
Indie Spotlight: Noodlecake Studios COO on transitioning to games-as-a-service for Golf Blitz
"You need to get your face out there, showing off your games and build a small community to champion it all"
Unionisation Platform
US president hopeful Bernie Sanders backs game developer unionisation
Democratic Senator says workers should be reaping the rewards games brought in in the US last year
Up In The Cloud
Microsoft's Azure cloud tech venture set up shop in the Middle East
Big M beats both Amazon and Google to the region
Engine Trouble
Report: Amazon is letting its dev teams use game engines other than Lumberyard
Developers say firm is struggling with maintaining the middleware
Wands At The Ready
Harry Potter: Wizards Unite launches in the UK and US this week
Niantic CEO John Hanke confirmed at a press event in Los Angeles
Forever Franchise
Empires & Puzzles racks up 34 million downloads
New update led by 20-year old Sofia Vanhanen adds base updates and Hunter's Lodge
Lot Of Bottle Caps
Fallout Shelter accumulates $100 million in player spending on mobile
63 million downloads across the App Store and Google Play
Acquisition
Niantic acquires tabletop games creator Sensible Object
The office will become part of Niantic London alongside AI technology firm Matrix Mill
The Doctor Is In
Dr. Mario World drops worldwide in July
Game will be available on both iOS and Android from launch
Gotta Hack ’em All
Niantic looking to catch Pokemon Go “hackers” with lawsuit
Firm seeking an injunction to prevent PokeGo++ and other apps from being distributed
Job Losses
Dozens struck by layoffs at Amazon Game Studios
Development teams have release one title since 2015
Weekly Charts
Weekly global mobile games charts: Dragon Ball Legends enters top 10 grossing rankings in the US and UK
Rankings from June 3rd to June 9th
Roundup
Games industry roundup: The big trends at E3 2019, Dr Disrespect banned from Twitch, and blockchain's increased E3 presence
15 articles from PCGamesInsider.biz, InfluencerUpdate.biz and BlockhainGamer.biz
Hot Five
Nintendo's Doug Bowser talks crunch, E3 2019 mobile roundup, and Call of Duty: Mobile soft-launched
The hottest stories from the mobile games industry over the last week
E3 2019
E3 2019: Mobile gets a fair shake as the lines between platforms blur
From mobile to cross-platform streaming, all kinds of games were welcome on the big stage
Communication
E3 2019: EA held an event about tackling harassment and bullying in games
Research from anti-bullying charity Ditch the Label, 57 per cent of users have been bullied in an online title
The Legend Of Arthur Morgan
E3 2019: Breath of the Wild sequel influenced by Red Dead Redemption 2
Skyrim inspired original outing
Let’s A Stream
E3 2019: Nintendo looking into game streaming technologies
“We’re looking at those technologies and understanding their capabilities”
E3 Mobile
E3 2019: All the mobile game news in one place
The top stories coming out of one of the year's biggest shows in gaming
Stats Royale
PUBG Mobile racks up 50 million daily active users outside of China
Surpasses 400m downloads
Fallout Expands
E3 2019: Fallout Shelter coming to Tesla cars; sequel heading for China
Fallout Shelter Online to feature new PvP elements, guilds and character customisation
We Go Again
E3 attendance declines for 2019
E3 2020 will take place between June 9th to 11th, 2020
Half Measures
E3 2019: After mobile's no-show for Nintendo, is it really all-in on the platform?
If Microsoft, Bethesda, Ubisoft and Square Enix all found time to talk up their mobile plans - why didn’t Nintendo?
No Code Movement
AppOnboard acquires Buildbox game engine to power codeless development
Buildbox CEO Trey Smith has joined AppOnboard as its chief growth officer and fellow co-founder Nik Rudenko has been named VP of technology
74 Per Cent Of Spending
One-third of all mobile downloads in 2018 were games according to App Annie
State of Mobile: 2019 and beyond report published this week
Demogorgon Attack
Next Games partners with Netflix to launch Stranger Things mobile title in 2020
"Our core focus will be to deliver on Stranger Things’ rich and intense themes like friendship and supernatural adventure"