Test
Speaker spotlight: Vera Rabkina, Gismart
Vera Rabkina will be talking about playtesting for indies at Pocket Gamer Connects Helsinki
Traffic
Crossy Road celebrates over 200 million downloads
Hipster Whale’s classic continues to break records five years post-launch
Pitch
Speaker spotlight: Walid O. El Cheikh, Aalto University Executive Education
Walid O. El Cheikh will be hosting a Pitching and Networking workshop at Pocket Gamer Connects Helsinki
Movie
Monument Valley has landed a film adaptation
Paramount Pictures and Weed Road Pictures will be producing a movie tie-in to the mobile puzzler
Expansion
Jam City to set up shop in a new studio in Culver City
The new location is double the size of Jam City’s existing space, setting it up for expansion
Speak Up!
Pocket Gamer Connects Helsinki conference schedule revealed
Amazing roster of talent on show as Europe’s biggest B2B mobile games industry event unveils its full speaker schedule for September
Jobs Jobs Jobs
Hutch bolsters work force with new senior designer and client engineer
Mark Bridle and Martin Pane join from Marmalade Games and ALPixel Games respectively
Tindered
HBO and Nerial partner for Games of Thrones Reigns spin-off
Reigns: Game of Thrones will land in October for mobile and PC
Star Wars
Zynga stock soars 11 per cent after securing a deal to create licensed Star Wars titles
Farmville creator partners with Disney for a mobile title, with potential for a second in future.
Revenue
Game of War’s spoils surpass $2.8 billion revenue worldwide
MZ’s flagship hits the milestone just after its fifth anniversary
Jobs In Games
Jobs in Games: Jam City's Brooke Costa on how to get a job as a lead engineer
"Everyone makes mistakes, but being able to take responsibility for them and learn from them is not a universal skill"
Merges And Acquisitions
RuneScape firm Jagex on eye out for mobile games acquisitions
CEO Mansell says the historically PC-focused company is looking to expand its PC expertise.
Live And Kicking
Three years on: Bandai Namco on the evolution of Dragon Ball Z Dokkan Battle
"That pure fanboy spirit is something I believe I share with our users and something I take into my work on the game"
Bloody
Bloodstained cans Vita port as Sony “plans to discontinue” the handheld
Sony’s handheld has stopped producing physical copies and the end of crucial store features
Report
Liftoff reports women are buying in-app purchases 79 per cent more than men
The report also finds iOS users are harder to acquire but more valuable to get on board
Indie Spotlight
From assassins to companions: Brie Code on travelling, stress and #SelfCare
“Let’s create deep, heartening connections that we all deserve”
Revenue
Fortnite swoops past $200 million revenue on iOS five months after launch
Rapid success puts the battle royale on equal footing with Clash Royale’s performance
Limitless
Hatch is offering Deutsche Telekom subscribers in Germany limitless gaming data
Mobile provider's StreamOn program expands to include Hatch's streaming catalogue of games
Best Of 2018
The Top 50 Mobile Game Developers of 2018
Revealed: the movers, shakers and moneymakers!
Spot On
CD Projekt Red's new studio Spokko to create mobile titles for the Polish giant
The studio will be creating an “advanced and ambitious” mobile title for the Cyberpunk 2077 developer
Partnership
Ad network ironSource is now available on Google’s AdMob mediation platform
Developers using AdMob can now gain access to Ironsource’s existing marketplace
Jackpot
"KamaGames committed to embracing new tech": Studio CEO talks blockchain, Instant Games and player appeal
"New players simply have nothing to lose if they want to give any of our games a try"
Partnership
Gismart partners with Appodeal to publish casual and hyper-casual games
Developer will also utilise Appodeal’s extensive ad platform to push music, entertainment and utility apps
Speeding
Crossy Road speeds past in-app purchase revenues of $10 million
Multi-million milestone doesn’t even account for sales made through advertising in-game
China Lockdown
What the hell is happening to games in China?
Conspiracy or cock-up?
Snapchat Memes
How memes helped one app get a six-times cheaper CPI on Snapchat
Fanbytes offers key lessons on marketing your app
Devcom 2018
Devcom managing director Stephan Reichart calls for video gamers to be a force for good
Devcom head Stephan Reichart has called for video games to be a force for good in the troubling times we live in.
Devcom 2018
What can indie developers learn from the music industry?
"Do crazy shit"
Acquisition
Game of Whales acquires tracking app Appstatics
AI-powered tool acquires tracking app on its way to becoming a fully automated management platform
Privacy Regulations
Life in a GDPR world: How the new rules are changing app development, publishing and advertising
WEQ's Steffen Wachenfeld discusses what's next
Not So Angry
Angry Birds 2 bookings grow 44 per cent to reach a record $33.9m in Q2 2018
But Rovio’s financial report sees a slump in the wake of last year’s movie successes
Android
App Annie: Fortnite will push Android apps to over 170 billion downloads in 2018
Users to spend over $50 billion on the platform this year
Spending Spree
US Librarian spends $89,000 of public money on Game of War
Adam Winger sells his home and drains retirement fund to pay back the appropriated funds
Dinners On Them
Tencent’s PUBG Mobile racks up over 100m downloads
The mobile iteration of the popular battle royale game launched four months ago
The Finnish Line
Free bus rides for Finns to Pocket Gamer Connects Helsinki
All aboard the party bus for Europe’s biggest mobile games industry event
Chart Toppers
World’s top 50 mobile games developers to be revealed August 21st
The list will be revealed on PocketGamer.Biz after the prestigious event in Germany next Tuesday
Vr
Nazara Technologies invests in Bangalore-based VR gaming studio Instasportz
Mobile developer is looking to get into offline VR games lounges across India
Strong Hand
Second Dinner picks up three more Hearthstone veterans
Three former Blizzard developers join former Hearthstone director Ben Brode’s new studio
Financial
South Korean publisher Com2us posts over $100m in earnings for the 11th consecutive quarter
Summoners War creator reports a 9 per cent sales increase since last quarter
Voice Chat
Vivox gives developers the power of voice for free
Whether it’s console, PC, or mobile, everyone from Wargaming to Epic have been powering their games with Vivox technology
Crushing It
King’s Candy Crush Saga enjoys highest grossing 12 month period with $930m made
The match-three title made $693 million in the 12 months prior
Book Now!
Pocket Gamer Connects Helsinki mid-term ticket prices end at midnight!
You have just hours to save up to $250 on Europe’s biggest event for the mobile games industry before tickets go up to full price
Finance
Tencent reports a quarterly drop in mobile revenue, but across the board business is booming
Mobile games revenue took a blow from “transient factors”
Mix It Up
One week to go: Games Mixer and Big Indie Pitch at Gamescom
Network into the night, learn about Asian trends in gaming, as well as blockchain - and enjoy the free bar too...
Boss It
Former Paradox CFO Andras Vajlok joins Like A Boss board
Six-year grand strategy veteran joins mobile sports maker
Investment
Animoca Brands receives $1.08m investment from Lympo and Sun Hung Kai
Publisher and developer to use the funding to open up opportunities in AI and blockchain
Sponsored
Only 31% of app developers are satisfied with their current ad revenues
Chocolate’s App Developer Survey focuses on devs satisfaction with current ad revenues, perceptions towards ad mediation and impact of in-app video ads
Madness
Shadowgun dev Madfinger hits 200m downloads across entire games portfolio
The Brno-based developer has crafted 11 titles over eight years
War
Pixonic’s War Robots racks up $190m in revenue
The third-person shooter originally launched back in April 2014
Come Together
The line between Flappy Bird and flop: How indie devs can come together to make all apps more successful
WildFire CEO Ken Johnson on sharing users and in-game currency