The best mobilegamer.biz stories you probably haven’t read
Featuring behind-the-scenes anecdotes involving Kim Kardashian and Taylor Swift, plus: Apple’s secret gaming acquihire, an aborted Far Cry mobile game, a load of internal King gossip and more.
New game digest: Pictonico, MLB The Show, Rust, Just Dance, UnGodly, Slime Rancher, more
There's also a first glimpse of Supercell-backed Redly's first game, a makeover for Formation Games' Club and survival/city-builder Dawnfolk.
Block Blast has disappeared from Google’s Play Store
Update: Hungry Studio has confirmed to us that the game is back on the Play Store, but did not offer a comment or explanation for its short absence.
On the podcast: Take-Two, Ubisoft, Monopoly Go and SciPlay news plus data and soft launch nuggets
This week’s inside view of the mobile game business.
Data digest: ‘Anime GTA’s debut, Tencent Games’ $11bn quarter, US top grossing and ad charts, more
We've got Neverness to Everness stats, a huge Sensor Tower report, Voodoo's new hit and plenty more in this week's round-up.
Layoffs at SciPlay as parent company cites tough social casino market
The cuts impact a “limited number of roles”, SciPlay told us. The layoffs come shortly after the social casino game-maker posted a 7% year-on-year revenue drop.
Scopely’s Monopoly Go earned Hasbro $41m in the last quarter
Licensing revenue was down a little compared to previous quarters, but broadly “in line with expectations”, according to the toy giant.
The soft launch games you need to know about from Supercell, Playrix, Century, Zynga and more
Take a peek at the games in testing from the mobile games industry’s top publishers.
Zynga hits an all-time high as mobile dominates Take-Two financials
Mobile represented 52% of Take-Two’s net bookings in Q4, and 49% for the full fiscal year.
Slow start for Rainbow Six and The Division on mobile as Ubisoft hits fiscal “low point”
Invincible: Guarding the Globe is growing, but earnings from Rainbow Six Mobile and The Division Resurgence have been “slower than expected”, says Ubisoft.
Supercell reboots its lowkey monster hunting game Mo.co with seasons and (free) gacha pulls
The game is being relaunched tomorrow with an array of new features, having earned an estimated $4.7m since launch over a year ago.
Embracer writes down its mobile arm by $190m as Easybrain sale causes earnings drop
The top earners at the owner of CrazyLabs, A Thinking Ape and Deca are now Sled Surfers, Glow: Fashion Idol, Lamar Idle Vlogger, Flop House and Party in My Dorm.
Fortnite has now relaunched on the App Store worldwide, minus Australia
The global return comes a year after it was relaunched on the US App Store, and is of course related to Apple shenanigans. Australians will have to wait, though, pending more court action.
Nintendo to launch new photo-based game Pictonico on May 28
It looks a bit like WarioWare for your photos, and it’s coming to the App Store and Google Play next week.
Apple nominates Inkle, Devolver, FuturLab, Toppluva and more in annual design awards
UK-made indie game TR-49 gets two nominations in Apple’s longlist, with Arknights: Endfield, Ball x Pit, PowerWash Simulator, Grand Mountain Adventure 2 and Pine Hearts also among the nominees.
Jobs digest: moves at Roblox, Scopely, Supercell, Playtika, King, Miniclip and more
There's also appointments and promotions at Homa, Hutch, Tripledot, SciPlay and more in our latest round-up.
