PocketGamer.biz Week That Was: The top 50 mobile devs, the making of Ridiculous Fishing's Byrdr and Doodle Jump's $20,000 a week
This week, the annual PocketGamer.biz developer top 50 kicked off, with editor-at-large Jon Jordan counting down the best, brightest and richest developers in the mobile gaming industry.
So far, we've covered the numbers from 50 to 11. For the top ten, you'll need to keep a close eye on the site this Monday.
That is, if you're not jetting off to the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco. Attendees might find the PocketGamer.biz guide to GDC parties useful for discovering the top networking events and the nearest free bars.
Attendees should also note that PocketGamer.biz editor Keith Andrew and editor-at-large Jon Jordan will both be there, so feel free to say hello if you see this bedraggled and weary pair on the show floor.
If you won't be at the conference yourself, you'll naturally be able to find updates and news from the show here on PocketGamer.biz.
But that's enough self-promotion for now. Instead, let's take a look back at the last seven days of mobile gaming news, interviews and features on PocketGamer.biz. Oh wait, I think that might count as self-promotion too
Platform wars
- PocketGamer.biz polls developer reaction to the Samsung Galaxy S4, including studios such as Animoca, Game Insight and Creative Mobile.
- Microsoft reveals that support for Windows Phone 8 will end in July 2014, prompting speculation that its successor could arrive within 12-18 months.
- BlackBerry CEO Thorsten Heins promises that BB10 will have 100,000 apps on board in time for the Z10's US launch. As predicted, it happens, but we don't yet know how many of those 100k are repackaged Android apps.
- GameStick announces that it's just weeks away from shipping developer units of its Android unconsole.
- Unity announces plans to support PlayStation Mobile, PS Vita and the PlayStation 4.
- Apple to begin rejecting apps that access UDIDs from 1 May.
Monetisation
- Real Racing 3 will never be a top grossing game according to PocketGamer.biz editor-at-large Jon Jordan.
- In this week's edition of the Charticle, we discover that four years after it first launched, Lima Sky's Doodle Jump is still generating $20,000 a week on iPhone.
- Our chart of the week shows that Asian in-game purchase revenue will dwarf the west's by 2016.
- M&C Saatchi Mobile CEO James Hilton offers six things developers need to know about mobile advertising.
- Indies need to drop the free-to-play snobbery and monetise for sustainable success, argues Fraser MacInnes.
Cloud services
- We talk to Corona Labs CEO Walter Luh about Corona Cloud the company's backend as a service offering that's 'focused on gaming,' 'really easy' and out now.
- We chat with OpenFeint founder Peter Relan about OpenKit an open source cloud services solution that's built for a cross-platform, multi-device world.
Industry voices
- The PocketGamer.biz Mobile Gaming Mavens discuss the freshly-unveiled Samsung Galaxy S4.
- Taptica VP Matt Tubergen delivers part four of his soup to nuts guide to mobile analytics. This week, he examined app store SEO and analytics.
- Game pads and smartphones will never play nice together, according to PocketGamer.biz US correspondent Carter Dotson.
- "Expanding the share of women has become one of our top priorities when hiring," says HandyGames. To find out more, we catch up with CEO Christopher Kassulke.
- Pocket Gamer editor-in-chief Kristan Reed ponders: how healthy is the Apple-Samsung smartphone duopoly?
- PocketGamer.biz contributor Lee Bradley investigates the story behind Byrdr a fake social network and ARG that Vlambeer dreamt up to promote Ridiculous Fishing.
- Editor-at-large Jon Jordan went to Berlin recently, and in-between the sight-seeing, took the time to profile the region's developer community.
The PocketGamer.biz Top 50 Developers of 2013
- From Spacetime Studios at #50 to Mag Interactive at #41
- From Ndemic Creations at #40 to Namco Bandai at #31
- From PunchBox at #30 to G5 Entertainment at #21
- From Game Insight at #20 to CyberAgent at #11
For the final part of the PocketGamer.biz Developer Top 50 counting down the top 10 mobile gaming studios of 2013 check back on Monday.