Head Of The Pack
Tencent leads the way in $22 billion spent on games deals in last 12 months
The internet giant participated in over $4 of every $10 invested in games companies and was involved in over three-quarters of all games M&A
Hack And Slash
Platinum partners with DENA for Okami spiritual successor World of Demons
The hack-and-slash title will make its way to iOS this summer with an Android release set for later in 2018
Special Offer
Pocket Gamer Connects San Francisco mid-term tickets end today
Book now to save up to $250 on every ticket bought by the end of Thursday, April 19th
Jobs News
Ex-Fullscreen senior director joins livestreaming platform Mobcrush
Nina Kammer appointed head of sales
Watch This
Twitch pulls in 82% of viewership hours of top 20 streamed games in Q1 2018
Twitch and YouTube Gaming generated 2.5 billion viewing hours
Boom!
Guns of Boom partners with Machete actor Danny Trejo for special event and promotions
Free-for-all battle mode introduced featuring actor's likeness and voice acting
Victory Royale
Fortnite mobile grosses $25 million in first month
Daily revenues top $1 million
Funding Round
Mobile ad tech firm AppOnboard secures $15 million investment
Total funding raised to date stands at $20 million
Tech Line-up
Line launches new mobile games developer tools to combat clones and track player behaviour
Also includes automated QA and testing platform
Big Spenders
US iPhone users spent an average of $58 on apps in 2017
The figure marks a 23 per cent increase from the previous year
Bust
Free-to-play casino games land four gaming companies with online gambling lawsuits
Legal action follows a similar ruling that found Big Fish Games’ casino experiences to have violated Washington state law
Survival
Endemol Shine UK soft-launches new survival game starring Bear Grylls
Legendary Games, All 4 Games and Nelson X Creative Ltd also listed as a part of the project
New Studio
Former Scopely and EA execs head up new narrative-focused studio Ordinal Games
Start-up wants players to create stories and take a share in revenues
Departure
EA Mobile senior VP Mike Verdu departs
Exec cites travel and lengthy commute as reasons for exit
It's Indie Game
EA's Katherine de Leon Superstar Session to open Indie track at PG Connects San Francisco 2018
Zynga, Super Evil, Skillz, 231 Play, MoPub, Liftoff and more also confirmed for May 14th to 15th conference
Hot Five
Japanese mobile games trends for 2018, mobile stock winners and losers, and Tencent opens up mini-games platform
The hottest articles of the past week
New Digs
Big Blue Bubble moves to new digs in Ontario
The Jungle Guardians developer now shares a studio space with Voices.com and Autodata
Dramatic Debut
BitGuild, WAX, Pixowl and more set for Blockchain Gamer Connects San Francisco 2018
Blockchain stars set to take the stage in May
The Animal
Marvel Strike Force dev FoxNext teams up with Dave Bautista to promote animal charity
The Guardians of the Galaxy actor chose to promote Frankie’s Friends as a part of True Heroes campaign
Moving On
EA shuffles executive team
Patrick Söderlund names chief designer officer, Laura Miele appointed chief studios officer, and other changes
Mental Health
New study claims mobile apps can help treat anxiety and depression
The study used data from Litesprite’s beta test of Sinasprite to determine the effectiveness of mobile games in combating mental health issues
Live And Kicking
Four years on: Square Enix Montreal on the evolution of Hitman Sniper
Senior producer Dominic Allaire discusses how the studio learned to use live ops to sustain a premium game
Impact
New mobile RPG Honkai Impact 3rd racks up 35 million downloads
Players who download the game will earn launch rewards and bonuses throughout April
Heading East
Mobile game blockchain distribution platform ALAX opens Hong Kong office
Set for token-based fundraiser on April 17th to 23rd
Big Indie Pitch
What The Golf? takes the crown at this year’s Big Indie Pitch at GDC 2018
Take a look at the winners from the Big Indie Pitch at GDC 2018
Studio Expansion
Keywords expands North America HQ in Montreal
Services provider continues rapid growth
Instant Gaming
Chat app gaming: Let us know what you think
We're on the look out for article submissions and interview opportunities
Holding Down The Fort
Epic brings down Fortnite for emergency maintenance
Players complained about login issues across mobile, PC and console
Rewarded
More rewarded ad conversions lead to higher user engagement, retention and spend
Tapjoy’s latest report finds that the more rewarded ads a player completes in their first two weeks the better the results
Super Giveaway
How does Marvel Strike Force monetise?
A well-worn equation well used
Going Public
Chinese livestreaming platform Huya files for $200m IPO in US
But no date set
Education
Chinese developer NetDragon buys online learning community Edmodo for $138 million
Deal paid via a combination of cash and shares of an affiliated education company
New Digs
Netmarble to set up shop in Los Angeles with new US office
The move will put the studio closer to partner Walt Disney and its Marvel Entertainment and Lucasfilm subsidiaries
Investment News
New VC fund Altered Ventures plots $36 million investment focusing on emerging markets
Fund works by revenue share, rather than equity stake
Rad
The Witness developer Thekla puts up $100k for underrepresented developers
RAD Game Tools' Jeff Roberts matched the initial $50k to double the prize pool
Developer Survey
Mobile Games Developer Trends Spring 2018: Augmented reality and real-time strategy a focus for devs
What's hot and what's not in the mobile games industry
Event
Refereum, Reality Clash, Lucid Sight and more to speak at Blockchain Gamer Connects San Francisco 2018
Hear the latest trends, technology and techniques from the people that are driving blockchain tech forwards
M&a
Keywords expands audio services with three acquisitions
Spending spree continues
Job Losses
AdColony cuts senior staff as it eyes profitability
Further redundancies at mobile ads firm
Partners In Education
Tencent partners with Age of Learning to bring ABCmouse English curriculum to China
Consists of more than 5,000 learning activities, including games, puzzles and books
Mixed Picture
2018 so far for mobile game company stock
Winners and the losers
Acquisition News
AppScatter to acquire mobile app intelligence platform Priori Data in $19m deal
Purchase expected to be completed by May 15th 2018
Hot Five
Gender pay gap revealed, moving on from Sparcade to WorldWinner, and Gameloft's ads strategy
The hottest articles of the last week
Pg Connects
Niantic Superstar Session at Pocket Gamer Connects San Francisco
Ross Finman will reveal the company’s plans for AR and how it will build on breakout hit Pokemon GO
Sky’s The Limit
The Walking Dead’s Skybound launches games publishing division
Skybound Games will debut with The Long Dark and Slime Rancher in September 2018
Skilled
Mobile esports company Skillz doubles revenue to $200 million run-rate in less than nine months
Revenue run-rate up by 125 per cent thanks in-part to player involvement in over one million tournaments per day
Cash Royale
Fortnite Mobile pulled in over $15 million in 20 days
The battle royale games daily revenue tripled after the game was made launched fully on iOS
Clone Dinner
PUBG developer sues NetEase over mobile 'clones' Rules of Survival and Knives Out
Lawsuit demands removal of titles
Big Screen To Small Screen
Dame Maggie Smith, Warwick Davis and Michael Gambon star in Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery
Game set for April 25th launch
Shrinking Marketplace
Google Play continues to grow while number of App Store releases shrinks for the first time
There were 755,000 titles released on iOS in 2017, a drop of 29 per cent