Esports Tournament
Tencent to host $500,000 Arena of Valor World Cup in LA
Chinese publisher wants to create a large esports ecosystem for the hit MOBA
Crack Team
Trivia Crack developer Etermax to open new Berlin studio
Also expanding headcount in Argentina and Uruguay offices
Games Make Prizes
Appodeal launches indie games developer contest
Titles must be free and already available on the App Store and Google Play in the US
Nexon America Layoffs
Nexon America hit with layoffs amid company restructuring to streamline operations
Reportedly up to one-fifth of the company's staff affected
Crystal Ball
What’s next for mobile games? Challenges and opportunities
Hot from PGC London 2018
Apple Financials Q1 Fy18
Apple posts all-time revenue record of $88.3 billion for its Q1 FY18
Sales of its iPhones drop, but revenues from the sales grow
Striking A Discord
Games communication app Discord adds Spotify integration as it surpasses 90 million users
Discord users can connect accounts to Spotifty and share music
Technology Unite
Pokemon Go studio Niantic set to become more than just a games developer with Escher Reality acquisition
Plans to make AR technology more widely available later this year
Good Behaviour
Warner Bros partners with Fallout Shelter dev Behaviour Interactive on Westworld mobile game
It looks a lot like Fallout Shelter
Big Winners
Esports platform Skillz doled out $2.7 million to top 10 players in 2017
Biggest earner takes home more than $420,000
Tilting President
Tilting Point promotes COO Samir El Agili to president as co-founder Dan Sherman steps down
Sherman to stay on the board of directors
Cooking Up Something
Animoca Brands working on blockchain-based MasterChef mobile game
Powered by NOX
Pokemon Fry
Niantic taps British celebrity Stephen Fry and composer George Fenton for new Pokemon Go ad
Get a glimpse of the next wave of Pokemon joining the game
Burning Strong
Nintendo's most successful mobile game remains its most free-to-play focused title
Fire Emblem Heroes sustains
Where To?
Has Aristocrat hit the jackpot with its $990 million Big Fish Games acquisition?
What will it get for its $990 million?
Sign Up Now
Sign up for free Indie Showcase tables at Pocket Gamer Connects San Francisco 2018
A limited number of spaces are available in our US conference in May
So Long Free
Paid Nintendo Switch Online service goes live September 2018
Switch to subscription will cost users $19.99 a year
Mario Movie
Nintendo reveals animated Super Mario movie in the works from film studio behind Minions
Also partners with Universal Pictures for worldwide theatrical release
#notnolan
GDC rescinds Nolan Bushnell's Game Developers Choice Award after past sexual misconduct comes to the fore
"Their picks should reflect the values of today’s game industry and will dedicate this year’s award to honour the pioneering and unheard of voices of the past"
Ea Financials Q3 Fy18
EA's FIFA Mobile drives Q3 FY18 mobile revenue growth with 139 million downloads
Didn't have much to say about its other mobile games
Superdata 2017 Year In Review
Tencent's megahit mobile MOBA Honor of Kings generated $1.9 billion in revenues in 2017
SuperData Research looks back on the year that was
Nfl Yahtzee With Buddies
Scopely partners with the NFL for timed events and branded items in New Yahtzee With Buddies
The game has now hit 1.5 million downloads
Lifetime Achievement
Video: Watch Super Evil Megacorp CEO Kristian Segerstrale’s Mobile Games Awards 2018 Legend speech
"I literally owe absolutely everything to those artists, coders, animators, business development folks who decided to take a chance"
Rumour Mill
Report: Microsoft considers EA acquisition
Deals for Valve and PUBG Corp also rumoured to be on the cards
Up In The Clouds
Microsoft acquires backend services provider PlayFab
Technology to complement computing giant's own Azure platform
Top Of The World
How to get to the top of the App Store
The power of ASO and Search Ads
Talk Torque
Call for speakers: The finest games industry insight sought for PG Connects San Francisco 2018 on May 14th to 15th
Influencer marketing, cryptocurrency, development knowhow, trends, monetisation... all and more welcome
Jobs News
MZ eyes 70 new staff in big recruitment drive
Openings in areas including art, analytics, design, engineering, marketing and data science
Helping Hand
Ubisoft launches personal gaming assistant Sam
Chat bot offer tips and information to users about the publisher's games
Mobile Grossing Charts December 2017
Honor of Kings remained the highest grossing mobile game in the world in December 2017
SuperData Research shares its monthly grossing charts
Three’s A Charm
Animoca buys Fuel Powered and reveals Chinese CryptoKitties deal
Crazy Defense Heroes also a big hit
More Minecraft
Minecraft cleared 144 million copies sold and 74 million MAUs in December 2017
Unclear how many sales come from mobile
On Yer Oji
NetEase finally launches English-language version of China hit Onmyoji on iOS
Android players have to wait another week
Beyond Episodes And Choices
Why Ludia thinks What’s Your Story? can turn a new page in the competitive interactive fiction sector
Telling new tales
Force Multiplier
How Glu Mobile and G5 made big UA investments and grew bigger (but Rovio didn’t)
Counting more than the cost
Harrison At Google
Ex-Microsoft exec Phil Harrison joins Google as vice president and general manager
Will report to Rick Osterloh, and that's all we know
Big Deal
Aristocrat closes $990 million Big Fish acquisition
Company has spent $1.5 billion since August on mobile game purchases
Up In The Cloud
Epic Games acquires cloud computing firm Cloudgine
Tech known for powering Oculus title Toy Box and the upcoming Crackdown 3
Mobile Games Awards
First ever Mobile Games Awards winners revealed
Supercell, Playdemic, Playrix, Flaregames and more pick up top accolades
Taking Flight
Mobile games-on-demand service Hatch extends beta to UK and Ireland
Streaming platform attracts over 100 games
Touchdown
Angry Birds developer Rovio partners with the NFL for special in-game events
New characters, costumes and levels in Angry Birds 2 and Angry Birds Evolutions
Hot Five
Lessons from Angry Birds 2, the rise of hyper-casual, and HQ Trivia monetisation
The most read articles of the last week
Event Highlights
What you CANNOT MISS at PG Connects London 2018
The editors speak: here's what our team is most looking forward to next week in London
Keeping A Cool Head
Studio MDHR says Cuphead won't be coming to mobile
Co-founder Chad Moldenhauer said it was "odd" a fake version of the game made it onto iOS
Active Agent
The logic behind Disney’s new mobile strategy
A new approach again
Industry Diversity
How Duolingo achieved a 50:50 gender ratio for new software engineer recruits
Recruiter Jeesoo Sohn discusses changes in the hiring process to improve diversity
Playing Ads
2018 mobile advertising trends to watch: Playables and interactive ads
Applift CEO Tim Koschella looks at the benefits of different kinds of mobile advertising
Success Uncovered
Hidden object revealed: The rise of G5 Entertainment
The story behind 2017’s top game share
Shiny New Unity
Unity teases Scriptable Render Pipeline and C# Job System in upcoming engine update
Shows off shiny new tools in demo called Book of the Dead
Unreal Dev Grants 2018
Epic Games hands out $200,000 to 13 developers in latest round of Unreal Dev Grants
The Machines' studio Directive Games among the recipients