Taking Back Control
iOS 12 Screen Time lets parents set daily gameplay limits on their children's devices
Apple surprisingly brings in features to restrict phone usage
Big Numbers
App Store receives 500 million visitors per week
500 million visitors per week
Microhub
Microsoft acquires GitHub for $7.5 billion
Announcement could be made as early as Monday, June 4th
Zoned Out
MZ CEO Gabe Leydon leaves Final Fantasy XV: A New Empire developer
COO Kristen Dumont takes the reins
Destined To Be Partners
Destiny developer Bungie could be set for mobile push following $100m investment from NetEase
US studio could be set to explore the mobile games market
Hot Five
Zynga acquires Gram Games, Jam City job losses, and Voodoo raises $200m
Last week's hottest articles
Live Ops
Codename recruits Wizards of the Coast producer to oversee Idle Champions of the Forgotten Realms
Chris Dupuis appointed live services manager
Switching It Up
Reports: Battle royale sensation Fortnite set to parachute onto Nintendo Switch
A classification for the game appeared on the Korean Games Ratings Board
That Was Onix-pected
Pokemon Quest catches one million downloads on Nintendo Switch within two days of launch
The title is currently out on Switch but will find its way to mobile in June
Nation Of Domination
DomiNations hits $150 million mark in time for third anniversary
The strategy game has also racked up more than 37 million downloads
Opinion
PUBG Corp's lawsuit against Epic's Fortnite could set an uncomfortable precedent
This market has been built on a cycle of iteration and improvement which could end if the Playerunknown's Battlegrounds firm wins this case
Data Klaxon
75% of spending in the iOS App Store came from games over the past 10 years
In terms of downloads games took 31 per cent
Premium No Go
Square Enix Montreal no longer working on the Go series
Studio head says it's becoming increasingly difficult to make a game with a premium business model on mobile
Switch Up
Bethesda swaps The Elder Scrolls: Legends developer Dire Wolf with Sparkypants
Dire Wolf is out; Sparkypants is in
Job Losses
Report: Redundancies hit Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery dev Jam City
Some claims suggest layoffs were ‘sizable’
Indie Mavens
Indie games developer tips for making the most out of industry events
Our Indie Mavens weigh in
No Troll
Spil Games' Troll Face Quest series breaks 100 million downloads
90 per cent of downloads are organic
Batman Royale
Batman joins Arena of Valor in new update
Update also includes new deathmatch game mode and complete UI overhaul
Unreal
Interactive Gaming Ventures and Epic Games out to invest in indies using Unreal Engine 4
IGV plan to invest $1 to $5 Million in one to three indie teams per year
The Magic Number
Frank Gibeau on why Zynga’s $250 million acquisition of Gram Games adds up
Riding Merge Dragons! to success
Going Up
Pokemon Go captures 800 million downloads
Niantic is ramping up activity ahead of the summer
I Choose You
Slate of new pokemon games set for Nintendo Switch and mobile
Pokémon: Let’s Go duo to come out late next year while Pokémon Quest is out now
There Can Be Only One
PUBG Corp sues Epic over Fortnite Battle Royale
Follows threats last September and a lawsuit against NetEase
Mobile Advertising
Learn about the present and future of ads in the Mobile Games Advertising Report 2018
In association with Mintegral, the report looks at how publishers are creating significant revenue streams from ads
Investment Magic
Casual mobile games publisher Voodoo raises $200 million
Publisher has more than 150 million monthly active users; plots further growth
Hot Five
App stores to disappear, mobile industry’s GDPR woes, and Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery tops charts
The hottest articles of the last week
Aso
Drive mobile app traffic with app store optimisation
How good ASO can boost your downloads and revenue
Co-development
Canada’s Throwback Entertainment inks co-development deal with South Korea’s Leanup
Two titles set for release by the end of the year
Not So Essential?
Android creator considers sale of Essential phone maker
At least one potential buyer already said to be interested
Not Bad
Tencent's Honour of Kings made $185 million in April 2018
Fortnite meanwhile generates $296 million across platforms
Steam Blocker
Apple cites business conflicts as it rejects Valve’s Steam Link app
Mobile platform holder reverses decision to approve the the app
Destroyed
Ash vs Evil and the Divergent series collide in Lionsgate's Deploy and Destroy
Developer Apps Ministry will add more characters from Lionsgate's library of IPs in due course
Pocket Stories
125 million downloads later narrative game Episode is ready to fend off new competition
Episode studio head Michael Dawson discusses the game's success and the new competitors entering the genre
First Person
Google out to highlight mobile games stars with new behind-the-scenes series
First three videos feature voice actor Ashly Burch, games dev Bennett Foddy and Ink Stories co-founder Vassiliki Khonsari
Closure
150 staff laid off as Wargaming Seattle closes down
Up to 150 jobs to be affected
Stats
Static full-screen generate largest revenue share amongst casual games in the West
Appodeal surveyed a host of mobile casual games developers to look into monetisation trends
Beyond App Stores
"In 2050 there will be no app stores"
Will be replaced by chat platforms
Key
Apple's 19th annual WWDC to kick off June 4th in San Jose
Apple expected to reveal host of new updates for iOS in opening keynote
Interesting
Double Fine Presents taps up Playables for interactive animation title KIDS
KIDS will come out this year on iOS and Android
Search Ads
How AppBi is supporting Apple Search Ads campaigns for top mobile games publishers
AppBi CEO Carmen Lu discusses how its services can lead to a generous ROI
Go Go Go
Pokemon Sun and Moon content coming to Pokemon Go
Content update to include Alolan versions of Kanto Pokemon
Artificial Intelligence
Why games developer Kixeye raised $20 million for machine learning
CMO John Getze explains the company's plans
Whoops
"Lack of oversight" to blame for Overwatch art in Paladins Strike ad
Hi-Rez art director was swift to assure that the matter was being looked into
Well Now
Epic puts up $100 million for Fortnite esports tournament prize pools
And that’s just for the first season
E For Everyone
ESRB set to drop short form rating for digital games in June
Games developers will still have a free option with IARC
It's Pickle Pixel
Adult Swim buys London-based Pocket Mortys developer Big Pixel Studios
Network plans to increase investment in the games space
The Charticle
Despite strong criticism Jam City's Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery is a top grosser
Outgrossing Cookie Jam and Panda Pop for IAPs in key markets
Key Speakers
Ubisoft, Campo Santo and Jumpship headline BIG Festival
Isabelle Bismuth, Alan Van Slyke, Chris Remo and Dino Patti set to speak at event
Fortnite Android
Epic eyes summer release for Fortnite on Android
Mobile version of battle royale hit to get smaller install file and new updates
Hot Five
Project Cars coming to mobile, Glu's Design Home inspired revival, and Rumble Stars Soccer
The past weeks hottest offerings