The Week That Was isn't a competition, but if it was, this week's winner would be Apple.
The Cupertino giant stole the show with a flurry of announcments, lifing the lid on the iPhone 6, 6 Plus, and the Apple Watch: pieces of tech Apple described as "the biggest advancements in iPhone history".
EA also revealed it has already started to work on "prototype wearable experiences", namely for the Apple Watch, and we found that an overinflated price point could negatively impact Apple Watch sales.
Of course, the world doesn't revolve around Apple, and there was plenty going on outside of the iZone.
We spoke to Wayward Souls developer PocketCat Games to find out more about the trials and tribulations of game development, while our contributing editor Keith Andrew explained why Unity needs to put any plans to sell on hold.
Over in Japan, Square Enix launched its Dive In streaming service, which gives gamers the opportunity to rent Square Enix titles for a reduced price.
As always, there's more where that came from, so grab a napkin, say a prayer to the Pocket Gamer Gods, and prepare to devour another handpicked Week That Was.
Industry Voices
- In our latest studio profile, we spoke to PocketCat Games about mistakes, failure, luck and success.
- We found out how The Stig powered Supersonic to 1 million downloads without spending on UA.
- COO Kristian Segerstrale explained why there's no vanity in Super Evil Megacorp's plans for Vainglory.
- Our very own Keith Andrew gave an ode to Unity, explaining that, while selling is inevitable, the firm needs to hold out a little longer.
- A Pocket Gamer straw poll found that the intersection of iPhone-owning watch-wearers wanting to spend $349 looks small.
- Two Tails' David Mitchell completed his post-mortem of Leaf Rider: a game that was cancelled twice.
User acquisition, retention, and discovery
- In our Chart of the Week we found out which countries are fighting for the Empire, and which ones are supporting the Rebel Alliance in Star Wars: Commander.
- Analytics firm Flurry found that Phablets now account for 10% of mobile device market, making them more popular than ever.
- PlayPhone's Scott Prather talks about how the carrier-focused game store is spicing up game discovery with social juice and carrier billing.
Tools & Platforms
- Virtual Piggy streamlined teen payments with Oink 2.0
- Google Play had its two hour returns window confirmed
- Chinese publisher OurPalm revealed it's making a major investment into Unity.
- EA Mobile working on "prototype wearable experiences" for Apple Watch.
- The Apple Watch was announced, though it won't be available until 2015.
- In what the company called "the biggest advancements in iPhone history," Apple announced the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus.
- Square Enix launches Dive In game streaming service in Japan
Funding, acquisitions, personnel and shutterings
- Tandem Events looked to launch a new London-based event in the form of the Games Funding Forum.
- Creative England is aiming to boost female game development with its £15,000 Queen of Code initiative.
- TIGA wants to save the UK games industry by unlocking lottery cash.
- BoosterMedia gained 6 million MAUs with the purchase of HTML5 outfit Hallpass Media.
- Adjust raised $7.6 million for US and Asian expansion.
- Crosby Capital bought a 70% interest in the Star Girl franchise in a deal worth $10 million.
- Zynga continued its reshuffle, with the San Francisco F2P outfit hiring industry veteran Pete Hawley as its new vice president and general manager.
- Chinese app store and app publisher SkyMobi has strengthened its game publishing activities with the appointment of new SVP of game operations, Gio Zhang.
