Owlchemy Acquired
Google acquires Job Simulator VR developer Owlchemy Labs for undisclosed sum
No changes to the studio, but it'll probably work on Daydream games
Infographic
Matomy on why mobile developers can look beyond IAPs to monetise their games
Matomy EVP Gil Klein discusses the results of its survey of 1,000 developers into monetisation, enagement and app promotion
Drown Them All
EA soft-launches potential big hitter The Sims Mobile ahead of FY18 release
Confirms free-to-play approach
Good Hand
Why Zynga Poker’s success is the tail wagging the Zynga dog
Frank Gibeau on the road ahead
No More Executions
Games incubator Execution Labs deploys all funds and shuts its doors after four years
Jason Della Rocca and Keith Katz will stick around to help out funded developers
Ea Financials Q4 Fy17
EA banks on live ops and new Sims mobile game in FY18 to boost slowing mobile business
Galaxy of Heroes now has a 162 minute average daily playtime
Boxed Out
The reality of failure and betting the company on one game: The story of JuiceBox Games
Former CEO Michael Martinez offers a candid breakdown of the events leading up to the studio's closure
The Charticle
Still collecting Gold: Hearthstone at three shows no signs of slowing down
Blizzard's CCG still competing at the top
Super Mobile Gamer
Today's "super mobile gamer" is a Pokemon GO-loving 39-year old woman
Verto Analytics looks into who owns the most devices and more
Mobile Mavens
Why is Amazon shutting down its Underground initiative?
Is it a sign that F2P can't be toppled?
Apple 180
Apple U-turns on lowering app affiliate commission rates to 2.5%
Now only IAPs will be affected
Under Construction
“We want to be the best listeners on the planet”: How Amazon is pitting Lumberyard against Unity and Unreal
Amazon Games VP Mike Frazzini discusses the company's big plans for developers
Road To Recovery
Zynga shares surge to their highest point since mid-2014 after promising Q1 earnings
Latest financials please investors
Mobile Ad Fraud
Average fraud rate across all mobile ad networks is 15%
Eight networks are said to be filled with 100% fraudulent clicks
Most Read
NaturalMotion founder leaves, Branko Milutinović on the rise of Nordeus, and Supercell kicks off Clash Royale Championship
The hottest articles of last week
Go Play Outside
Niantic partners with Knight Foundation to foster communities in the real world
Play Pokemon GO and make some friends while you're at it
Take-off
2K Games President Christoph Hartmann departs after 20 years at Take-Two
No reason given
Activision Blizzard Financials Q1 Fy17
Activision Blizzard revenues hit $1.73 billion as Candy Crush franchise remains a stable performer
King is also getting into social casino now, apparently
Housewarming
Why Glu Mobile is planning to double its UA spending in 2017
Design Home is ramping up
Zynga Financials Q1 Fy17
Zynga sees revenues rise to over $194 million as Zynga Poker sees huge boost
Words With Friends suffers heavy losses
Amicable Parting
NaturalMotion co-founder and CEO Torsten Reil leaves after 15 years
Time for a break
Partnerships With Friends
Zynga partners with People to launch latest social game Crosswords With Friends
That's three With Friends games launched in the last two months
Apple Manufacturing
Apple to invest $1 billion in US manufacturing in effort to boost local industry
Might score points with Trump while he's at it
Extending A Bridge
Tapjoy partners with analytics firm Moat to track viewability of its rewarded video ads
Shows promising results in preliminary tests
Millions Of Friends
Words With Friends trumps Pokemon GO as most popular US mobile game in March 2017 with 13 million users
Pokemon GO not far behind with 10.5 million
Ready For Titanfall
Particle City ditches CCG for RTS in next mobile game Titanfall Assault
More likely to capture the series' "action-packed gameplay"
Glu Financials Q1 Fy17
Glu starts 2017 strong with $57 million in revenues thanks to Design Home and Tap Sports Baseball
Still making a heavy loss
Jackpot Aligns
Henric Suuronen on Huuuge Games’ $1 billion opportunity in social casino games
Early investor joins the board
Downtown Sf
Bespoke confirmed as PG Connects San Francisco 2017 venue
Rumours of Alcatraz setting for June 27th-28th conference were unfounded
Up The Ante
Social casino players spend $39.87 in-game a month and play for 57 minutes per session
SuperData takes a closer look at social casino games
Business News
Apple revenues up year-on-year to nearly $53 billion despite iPhone and iPad sales slump
Greater China revenues fall on quarterly and yearly basis
Mobile Mavens
What can the rise of Dragon Ball Z Dokkan Battle teach us about in-game event design?
Mavens discuss the power of a well-executed event
Watch This Space
How Apple’s App Store Search Ads are enabling developers to expand their discovery profitably
Gaining rank at cost
Dealing Them In
Hearthstone snaps up 70 million downloads
April's Journey to Un’Goro update proves popular with players
Popcap Layoffs
Plants vs. Zombies developer PopCap lays off staff at Seattle studio
Studio aims to refocus on key titles and new projects
Tweet Tweet
Early Bird ending for PG Connects San Francisco 2017
Final hours to save up to 20%
Sending A Message
Facebook Instant Games for Messenger rolls out worldwide with new features
Words With Friends to offer turn-based play and spectating
Mad Skillz
Skillz doubles revenue run-rate to $100 million in eight months as mobile eSports scene gains steam
Increased users by 32% in the same period
Huuuge Signing
Nonstop Games co-founder Henric Suuronen joins Huuuge Games' Board of Directors
Has been an investor since early 2015
The Charticle
Worldwide top grosser but never in the US top 100: Why Mixi canned Monster Strike
Is the chasm between Japanese and American tastes a bridge too far?
App Store Price Increase
Apple increase App Store prices in Denmark, Mexico, Taiwan and EU countries
Appears to be introducing alternate pricing tiers to affected countries
The Deluxe Package
Mario Kart 8 Deluxe becomes fastest-selling game of the franchise with 459,000 units sold in the US
Tops the UK sales charts for last week in just one day of sales
Deeper Underground
Amazon's "actually free" Underground service to be shut down in 2019
Access taken away in summer 2017
Going Meta
The democratisation of location-powered AR for developers and marketers is underway
Verve's Mark Ollila discusses augmented reality tech with GoMeta's Dmitry Shapiro
Digital Games Market March 2017
Lineage 2 Revolution dropped from the top of the worldwide mobile grossing ranks to 10th in March 2017
Clash Royale takes the top spot instead
Instant Storm
Blackstorm Labs on how game bots and rich gameplay features are evolving Facebook Instant Games
Co-founder Ernestine Fu reflects on F8
Strategy And Insight
Mobile strategy games on Android have a D30 retention rate of 3% and generate an ARPU of $2.23
AppsFlyer digs deep into the state of strategy titles on mobile
Jobs News
GSN CEO David Goldhill steps down after 10 years
Search for a replacement already underway
More Insight
King, East Side Games, Sega, ESL, Skillz, Rebound and more to speak at PGC San Francisco 2017
Oh, also: Early Bird rate is ending soon
Newzoo Global Mobile Market
Global app store revenues expected to hit $56 billion in 2017
Newzoo peers into its crystal ball