Fyber bought for $190 million, Threes creator on clones, and can World of Tanks go the distance?
Sometimes the week passes by so quickly that I find it hard to believe it's time to sit down and write another Week That Was.
It's easy to let things slip under your rader, which is why we're on hand to make sure you don't miss a beat.
This week saw Nintendo dish out some good news, with the Japanese Godfather of gaming revealing that the 3DS version of Super Smash Bros. has sold over 2.8 million copies.
UK publisher Thumbstar Games also got in on the goodwill party, announcing it has struck up a deal to distribute three titles from the Bafta-award winning studio, Bossa Games.
Everybody likes good news, but here at PocketGamer.biz we also like to offer you a buffet of top-notch original content, which is why we spoke to Threes creator Asher Vollmer to find out how he navigated the fascinating world of indie development.
We also took it upon ourselves to dive behind the scenes of Sega's Crazy Taxi: City Rush in our most recent 'making of', while our Chart of the Week analysed five crazy deals that've inflated the games M&A bubble during 2014.
As always, there's more where that came from, so grab a spork and tuck in. You've earned it.
Industry Voices
- Arthur Chow, CEO of Chinese Facebook/mobile publisher 6waves, explained why Hong Kong and Taiwan are key, but often overlooked, Asian markets.
- Stuart Westphal from Hitcents revealed how the US-based developer's decision to set up a foreign-owned company in China paid off.
- We spoke to Threes creator Asher Vollmer about growing up, going indie, and the dangers of cloning.
- Zynga explained how it intends to persuade committed players to upgrade to New Words With Friends.
- In our most recent Making Of, we found out how Sega brought Crazy Taxi to mobile screens.
- Isaac Roseboom, a senior analyst at deltaDNA, told us why day 7 retention is just as important as day 1.
- We asked our Mavens to give their thoughts on Windows 10.
- Carter Dotson said "I'm ashamed of progressive game culture, and here's why".
Monetisation
- The 3DS version of Super Smash Bros. has enjoyed strong launches in Australia, the US, and the UK, with Nintendo revealing that the game has sold more than 2.8 million copies worldwide.
- FIFA is still king according to our exclusive look at the UK App Store Charts.
- Our Charticle explored asked the question: has World of Tank Blitz's 1.4 GB file size restricted its top grossing chart success?
Tools & Platforms
- Google unveiled an update to its Google Play Game Services designed to better support Android developers also working on iOS.
- Analytics firm Fiksu has found that, three weeks on, the majority of iOS users still haven't upgraded to iOS 8.
- YoYo Games revealed GameMaker: Player, a new service for GameMaker: Studio that gives developers a place to share their games with other gamers, as well as YoYo Games' 1 million monthly visitors.
- Spanner discussed six companies he thought Oculus should buy to fulfil VR's gaming potential.
Funding, acquisitions, personnel and shuttering
- Active Chinese VC IDG Capital has invested $1.55 million into the seed round of San Francisco and Montreal-based mobile gaming start-up Cloudcade.
- RNTS Media acquires monetisation outfit Fyber for $190 million.
- UK publisher Thumbstar Games has struck up a deal to distribute three titles from the Bafta-award winning studio, Bossa Games.
- In our Chart of the Week we looked at five crazy deals which have inflated the games M&A bubble during 2014.