Game development and Live Ops are evolving
Tuesday, December 8, 2020 by Richard Harris
We recently caught up with Carbonated and AWS Game Tech to discuss how Carbonated’s custom-built, live ops platform Carbyne enables game developers to bring fresh content to players in real-time, without engineering support or an office-based workforce.
While Carbonated is a relatively small gaming studio, they have the tools to become a major player among the ...
Mobile game monetization models might be evolving
Thursday, October 1, 2020 by Brittany Hainzinger
GameRefinery’s database counts with more than 10,000+ analyses of top-performing mobile games. The company has recently acquired UK’s Reflection.io, providing them the capability to offer additional revenue and download data for iOS and Android games spanning 35 markets, in addition to its feature-level insights.
With a library of the latest mobile game d...
AudioMob runs competition for aspiring games developers and students
Friday, September 18, 2020 by Brittany Hainzinger
AudioMob ,and pioneers of the audio advertising format in mobile games, announced one of the most exciting game jams of the year! It has been designed for Indie developers and students looking to break into the industry and the prizes are some of the best a game jam could offer.
AudioMob’s ‘Resonate’ competition is aligned tightly w...
Mobile app development post COVID-19
Thursday, July 2, 2020 by Alin Turcu
In a very short period of time, the world went from being mobile to being stationary. The majority of individuals, with the exception of front-line workers, have been sheltering at home.
Given the economic hardship facing a slew of industries, and uncertainty the continued uncertainty brought on by COVID-19, it seems reasonable to assume that the mobile app developme...
John Choi has joined as Vice President of User Acquisition (UA)
Friday, January 24, 2020 by Brittany Hainzinger
ConsumerAcquisition.com announced that John Choi has joined as Vice President of User Acquisition (UA). Choi joins the company with a wealth of experience in user acquisition from his most recent role as Head of UA at Zynga overseeing games like Words With Friends, CSR Racing, Zynga Poker, and his previous UA roles at Kabam, Glu Mobile and CAPCOM. Choi will b...
Mobile game players earning big money
Thursday, December 19, 2019 by Freeman Lightner
The highest-earning US mobile game player, Brian Dragatto, earned a whopping $290,000 from tournaments - five times what the average American gets in a year.
In second place is Randy Pfohl, earning $125,000 from mobile game tournaments.
The game of choice for the top American mobile game players is Turbo Racing League, with 6 out of the top 10 US players earning ...
Phase10 now available
Friday, October 25, 2019 by Christian Hargrave
Mattel163 announced Phase 10: World Tour is now available on iPhone, Android, and Facebook worldwide. Like UNO! Mobile before it, Phase 10: World Tour features exciting new twists on a classic family card game and introduces it to digital platforms for even more fans to enjoy.
Phase 10: World Tour features 30 unique levels set in the Amazon Jungle for players to puzz...
MEGAFANS new advertising strategy
Monday, October 14, 2019 by Freeman Lightner
MEGAFANS Inc. (Mobile eSports Games Fanatics) has launched a new self-sustaining advertising strategy, unlike anything eSports companies have done so far they say. The new strategy involves utilizing the freemium model employed by gaming studios in order to monetize consumers who aren’t converting to eSports. Operating in a $68 billion market, this self-susta...
Sprint 5G phones include Hatch Premium and cloud gaming
Thursday, August 29, 2019 by Richard Harris
Sprint customers can enjoy instant access to unlimited mobile cloud gaming with Hatch Premium and True Mobile 5G. Hatch, a game-streaming experience specifically designed for mobile 5G networks, will be preloaded on Sprint 5G smartphones. Plus, customers will receive a complimentary three-month subscription to Hatch Premium.
Sprint 5G customers will experie...
What your zodiac sign says about your gaming personality
Tuesday, August 20, 2019 by Richard Harris
No two gamers are alike. Everyone has their own unique interests and approaches to playing their favorite mobile games. Fascinatingly, a person's zodiac sign can often point to certain traits that not only affect your personality in real life, but also your gaming style!
The folks at Fort Mason Games— the female-run mobile gaming company that brought ...
Playable gaming ads lands from Luna Labs
Friday, August 2, 2019 by Richard Harris
Luna Labs has officially launched the Luna toolkit, which allows developers building in Unity to streamline the development process, and easily create lightweight experiences for HTML5 game platforms and the next generation of playable ad creation.
“Luna was born in a gaming studio, where we saw first hand that there was an increasing need for HTML5 conte...
Harry Potter Wizards Unite event coming to the city of Indianapolis
Tuesday, July 2, 2019 by Brittany Hainzinger
Niantic, Inc. and WB Games, in collaboration with the City of Indianapolis, announced the first ever real-world event for Harry Potter: Wizards Unite, the hit augmented reality (AR) mobile game played by millions of wizards and witches around the world, will be coming to Indianapolis from August 31 - September 1. The Harry Potter: Wizards Unite Fan Festival will take pl...
New hyper casual game development studio emerges from Gismart
Wednesday, June 5, 2019 by Christian Hargrave
Gismart has announced the launch of a new internal studio, which will focus on producing both hypercasual and casual games.
The new Gismart studio boasts an ambitious growth strategy, with a roadmap that will see ten quality casual and hypercasual games launched within its first year of operation, as the company looks to recruit over 40 talented games indus...
Apple Arcade game development and Stadia set to shift gaming industry
Wednesday, May 1, 2019 by Richard Harris
In the last few months, the gaming industry has witnessed major shifts as new emerging services begin to take shape across various platforms. Drilling down into mobile gaming, the recent launches of Google Stadia and Apple Arcade have presented gamers with two new mediums to flex their gaming skills. However, these emerging platforms have presented new implications, cha...
Unity 2019.1 gets over 300 improvements
Thursday, April 18, 2019 by Richard Harris
Fresh off the heels of a successful and exciting (as always) Game Developers Conference (GDC 2019), Unity Technologies launch Unity 2019.1. Unity 2019.1 includes almost 300 new features and improvements, including powerful, production-ready versions of the Lightweight Render Pipeline, the Burst Compiler, and the Shader Graph, which is helping creators and teams of all s...
Developers place realtime DevOps visibility as high importance
Wednesday, April 10, 2019 by Richard Harris
A new study from SmartDraw Software highlights the importance DevOps teams place on the ability to provide real-time DevOps visibility across their DevOps ecosystem. For nearly all respondents (84 percent) real-time DevOps visibility is somewhat to an extremely important goal. In fact, 100 percent are currently working to find a way to provide real-time DevOps vis...
Using data driven design for mobile games
Tuesday, April 2, 2019 by Richard Harris
Games Guild, a subset of MassDigi, provides marketing support to games that are being created by students and independent developers in the Worcester, MA area and beyond. Specifically, it provides support for MassDigi’s Live Studio. In this Live Studio, students obtain industry experience, acquire their names on a published title, as well as gain credits from Beck...
Publishing mobile games with Gismart now possible
Wednesday, March 13, 2019 by Richard Harris
Gismart has added an investment program for mobile app startups to its already established publishing unit. In addition to developing and publishing its own titles, Gismart also acts as a strategic partner for aspiring indie developers. The newly launched investment program highlights Gismart’s commitment to helping independent developers bring their titles to mar...
Female gamers are an untapped market for developers
Wednesday, February 27, 2019 by Richard Harris
Here are some fun facts. Women gamers make up 65% of all active gamers and they also play mobile games at a higher rate than men. What's even better for app developers and publishers, is that 79% of those females are more likely to make in-app purchases.
Brands want to reach this highly engaged audience, and yet, a large part of the gaming app industry's outp...
Gaming on mobile data says you are probably a gamer but don't admit it
Tuesday, February 26, 2019 by Richard Harris
Who’s a gamer? Chances are, it’s you. Most smartphone owners in the U.S. need look no further than their own mobile phone home screen for evidence that new categories of games are changing the face of modern video game players. From the early days of arcade games to the rise of Fortnite, mobile gaming - and the rise of casual games - has democratized gaming ...
Unity's Adaptive Performance gaming feature set for the Galaxy S10
Thursday, February 21, 2019 by Richard Harris
The Samsung Galaxy S10 will have many mobile "super-powers". From extended battery life to Instagram mode pictures - they have packed enough tech inside to make any propeller spin.
But something mentioned during the announcement caught my attention relating specifically to game development, did you hear it?
Unity is soon to launch what they call, "A...
Hothead games wants to make your mobile game a hit too
Thursday, January 24, 2019 by Richard Harris
Hothead Games announced that it has launched a new publishing division to help third-party game developers turn their mobile games into hits. The company is currently accepting submissions and offering financial assistance for games in various stages of development that will benefit from Hothead’s expertise in analytics, marketing, monetization, and gameplay mecha...
Game developer tips and insight for 2019
Thursday, January 24, 2019 by Richard Harris
2019 offers promising new opportunities for game developers to reach new markets. But how can developers best capture diverse users’ attention and loyalty? Webpals Mobile, a performance-driven mobile-app user acquisition company, recently conducted a study comparing advertising driving gaming app downloads in the United States and Asia. Drawing on insights from th...
5 rules of monetizing like a mobile game developer
Wednesday, January 9, 2019 by Sean Webster
Mobile game developers are some of the most successful monetizers and marketers in recent history. Need proof? Mobile gaming revenue accounted for nearly 82% of all app revenue in 2017 and will surpass $100 billion by 2021.
The formula for success for mobile game developers is simple: easy payments, a finely-tuned monetization strategy, and great customer support. Bu...
Unity releases gameplay frequency report
Saturday, January 5, 2019 by Richard Harris
Unity Technologies powers more than 50% of all new mobile games today. They have just released new data revealing how much time was spent playing on mobile devices in the United States in 2018 - and the numbers are a bit shocking.
US residents spent 6.926 billion hours playing mobile games in 2018. That’s an average of 21 hours and 6 minutes for every single pe...
Apple is about to share your email address with the Republic of Korea
Thursday, December 20, 2018 by Richard Harris
Got a game in the Apple app store and have it set to publish across the entire swath of countries the app store supports? Then your developer email address is about to be shared with the Korean Government due to a change in Korean law. What law changed exactly, we aren't sure yet.
But what we do know is almost every developer chooses to distribute in all cou...
Appodeal rewards Indie developers this holiday season
Wednesday, November 28, 2018 by Richard Harris
Appodeal is launching a limited-time bonus program exclusive to Indie mobile app developers and small to midsize mobile app publishers. The #TimeToEarn program, which promises an up to $7,000 bonus on top of ad revenue, ends on December 31, 2018.
“As a part of the Indie developer community, too often we see great mobile apps fade away due to the lack of income....
New game studio wants to bring back fantasy based retro gaming
Tuesday, November 6, 2018 by Richard Harris
An emerging game studio, Storytellers Entertainment, is hoping to spark a new generation of fantasy based retro gaming with the development of “Imperium Omni”, a four part serialized solo-RPG set in the vast fictional world of Aeris Pri. The game is to be released on PC with future expansion to Xbox and PS4 console platforms.
The company, established by f...
Top ranking mobile games earn 10X what other games do
Monday, October 29, 2018 by Richard Harris
A report from Mobvista-owned GameAnalytics has shown yet again just how competitive the mobile games industry is, with a minority of top-performing titles capturing a disproportionate slice of the $70 billion forecast to be spent on mobile games in 2018.
The report, titled "Mobile Gaming Benchmarks", is GameAnalytics’ second global anal...
Looney Tunes is back in a fun mobile format
Monday, August 20, 2018 by Richard Harris
Looney Tunes: World of Mayhem development has been announced by Scopely. The new mobile multiplayer role-playing game, with Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, that brings an entire world of Looney Tunes characters together to do battle on your mobile screen with anvils, boulders and other ACME devices of destruction. Packed with player vs. player insanity, the mayh...
Mobile game developer help is coming to Barcelona
Thursday, August 16, 2018 by Christian Hargrave
Tilting Point has opened a studio in Barcelona to better serve Europe’s robust mobile game development community, "as part of its mission to help quality games reach their potential scale." The move builds on the company’s momentum on the heels of its recent commitment to invest $132M annually to help developers scale great games to success. The Ba...
Smart ball game converts data from the ball into usable game events
Wednesday, August 15, 2018 by Richard Harris
WRLDS announced the release of a new augmented reality (AR) and Bluetooth-enabled smart ball and platform. The ball is made of a lightweight, bouncy material and has a built-in chip to control mobile games, giving “tween” players healthy new ways to engage in active, outdoor play by essentially turning the whole world into a game.
“We wanted to brid...
Mobile game advertising partnership between Google and Unity announced
Friday, August 3, 2018 by Richard Harris
Unity Technologies and Google’s mobile advertising business, AdMob, have announced a strategic partnership that will be aimed at changing the way advertisers reach gamers on-the-go and help mobile game developers monetize their apps. With more than 50 percent of all new mobile games made on Unity, this partnership gives Google advertisers access to Unity’s e...
GDC 2019 adds five new members to the advisory board
Monday, July 30, 2018 by Richard Harris
The Game Developers Conference (GDC) 2019 has announced five new additions to the Advisory Board of the upcoming conference, which will help further bolster its Programming, Business & Marketing, Design, and Production & Team Management Tracks.
The new additions to its Main Conference Advisory Board span creators & contributors to titles such as the Ratch...
How Nintendo proves some people hate the app stores
Tuesday, May 29, 2018 by Richard Harris
When Nintendo announced that it’s bringing back the NES Classic console on June 29th my first thought was...why? It's a proven platform there's no doubt, but you can walk into any used video game store across the land and pickup the actual vintage console for around $100 bucks. Or just cruise Ebay and you'll find the console, controllers, 25 cartridge games, the zapper ...
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