Instant Gaming
Android Instant lets players quickly trial games like Clash Royale with tiny downloads
Service currently in closed beta
Friendly Competition
Amazon reveals cross-platform competitive gaming service GameOn that delivers real-world prizes
Developers can use it to implement leaderboards, leagues and multi-round competitions
High Tide
Subway Surfers becomes first game to hit 1 billion downloads on Google Play
The endless runner launched in 2012 and was downloaded 400 million times last year
Service Provider
Meet games services company MoGi Group at GDC 2018 in San Francisco
The team will be at booth 2103 in the South Hall of the Moscone Convention Centre
Mobile Evolved
Ark: Survival Evolved set to touch down on mobile as a free-to-play title this spring
Closed beta to also launching today
Touched Down
Playerunknown’s Battlegrounds Mobile journeys West with Canada soft launch
Available for download from the Google Play store
Events
Blockchain Gamer Connects: The new conference for games and the blockchain heads to San Francisco May 14th to 15th
Two-day event revealed for May 14th and 15th
Reaching Out
Google Play reveals a slew of new mobile game advertising features
Rewarded video, playables and open bidding heading to Google Play and the company's services
Glorious
Super Evil Megacorp partners with Alibaba to bring Vainglory to World Electronic Sports Games
MOBA joins the likes of Blizzard’s Hearthstone and Valve’s Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
Cheers Guys
YoYo Games to hand out free licences for GameMaker Studio 2 during GDC
Games developers can use the suite at Train Jam, The Heart Jam and the Not Going to GDC Game Jam
Location Location Location
Now any developer can harness Google Maps for Pokemon Go-like real-world gaming
The next Pokemon Go could be just around the corner
An Instant Success?
Facebook Instant Games opens up to all developers
Platform rolls out with ads-based monetisation, ads optimisation and measurement tools and cross-promotion features
Top Dogs
Mobile games spending one-third higher than on PC/Mac, handheld and console combined in 2017
Mobile gaming continues to grow thanks by and large to growth in Asia-Pacific territories
Zombieland
Google Maps to power upcoming location-based augmented reality game The Walking Dead: Our World
Partnership will bring famous landmarks such the Statue of Liberty and the London Eye to the game
Getting Social
Sega and GetSocial study shows that social media is the way to go to engage players
GetSocial's study looks at the 40,000 players brought into Sonic Forces: Speed Battle through non-paid social channels
Big Moves
Lords Mobile generating up to $50 million a month
I Got Games also managed to snag $603 million in revenue for 2017
Sweet Deal
Jam City acquires Colombian World War Doh developer Brainz
Publisher expanding into real-time strategy development
Automated Offers
New machine learning-powered app monetisation tool Game of Whales launches
Data from tests claims 25 per cent increase in daily revenues
Rewarded Video Ad Growth
Tapjoy ad platform reaches 620 million monthly active users
Rewarded video ad views grow 150 per cent year-over-year
Off The Chain
Get the latest news and analysis on the world of the blockchain at BlockchainGamer.biz
Online from today, BlockchainGamer.biz explores the blockchain technology phenomenon and demystifies its use in gaming.
Breaking Japan
“The Japanese games market has come out from its closed-off period”
Yengage chief operating officer on the opportunities that await developers in Japan, and how to break in
Iap Inspector
How does The Sims Mobile monetise?
IAPs from the players' perspective
Decked Out
Valve set to bring Source 2-powered card game Artifact to mobile in 2019
Title will be premium, not free-to-play
Blast Off
Blast closes $5 million round to let gamers earn money while they play
Start-up wants to improve engagement and retention for developers while letting players make real money
Funding Round
Mobile developer Kixeye raises $20 million for machine learning platform
Tech to help studios optimise marketing, monetisation and retention
Most Read
Glu soft-launches new IP, student Roblox dev finds big success, and Mobile Legends faces off with Arena of Valor
The hottest articles of the last week
The Week In Jobs
Mobile game jobs weekly: Nordeus makes string of key hires, Gameloft to close Madrid studio, 80-plus EA Mobile vacancies
The movers, shakers and job opportunities in mobile gaming
Championing Diversity
Zynga partners with IGDA to kick off Women in Games Ambassador and Scholars initiatives at GDC
Zynga will provide mentoring from staff and access to the conference
Soft Launch
A guide to soft-launching your mobile game
Pixel Federation's Matej Lancaric offers advice from his personal experience.
Small-screen Dinner
Epic’s Fortnite Battle Royale is coming to mobile with PC and PS4 cross-play
Developer claims title will have same gameplay, map, content and weekly updates
Big Deal
Influencer-led DoubleJump Games acquires mobile developer TinyMob
Further acquisitions and publishing deals on the cards
Trends Survey
Last chance to fill in our developer survey ahead of GDC
Be in with a chance to win a free ticket
Investment News
HQ Trivia dev scoops up $15 million funding round
Company valued at $100 million
New Studio
FoxNext opens new narrative-focused games studio in San Francisco
New branch to harness Fox and Disney IP for episodic title
Simply Splendid
The Sims Mobile tops the App Store download charts as it breaks out of soft launch
EA's new Sims title was originally soft-launched last year
Fight Fight Fight
Mobile Legends is quietly out-grossing Arena of Valor in many countries
Tencent's MOBA mega-hit isn't winning everywhere
Magic Money Tree
Mixed reality start-up Magic Leap scores another $461 million investment
Total investment to date reaches $2.3 billion
Trolls
“Patent trolls” threaten Clicker Heroes dev with legal action over virtual currency
PlaySaurus asked to pay $35 million licensing fee for violating a patent concerning the sale of virtual currency
Trends Survey
Win a free ticket to Pocket Gamer Connects by taking part in our developer survey
You could win a free ticket to an upcoming PGC event
Lifes A Pitch
80% of games journalists receive up to 10 review pitches per day
Big Games Machine surveyed over 200 games reviewers in it's first report
All The Marbles
Netmarble’s Lineage 2: Revolution generated $924 million in first 11 months
Seoul-based games publisher also looking to continue big Western push with more titles set for 2018
Getting The Message
How to approach game design for Facebook Instant Games
Chatterbox Games CPO Adam Telfer breaks down how to make games for chat apps like Messenger
Jurassic Lark
Ludia gives new location-based AR game Jurassic World Alive the Pokemon Go treatment
New AR title expected to release ahead of Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom
Showcasing Diversity
Google highlights games made by women as part of Change the Game initiative
Apps highlighted include 80 Days, Zen Koi 2, Race for the Galaxy and Kami 2
Building Blox
How one student's The Sims-like Roblox game racked up 160 million play sessions
Coeptus on the success of Welcome to Bloxburg
Scapegoat Confirmed
Trump's meeting to scapegoat the games industry for US gun violence is on
ESA confirms actual invite after confusion around who would attend
Set To Crush It?
Livestreaming service Mobcrush wants to democratise streaming with Go Live, Get Paid ads platform
CEO Mike Wann discusses the company's new strategy for paying content creators
Good Game
Amazon officially acquires cloud development platform GameSparks
Despite being reported back in July 2017 the deal is now official
Indie Mavens
Is there any room for indie games developers to get in on the battle royale trend?
Our mobile mavens weigh in
Jobs News
Dots developer hires ex-King head of game franchises as new president
Nir Efrat to lead business operations and expansion plans