The PocketGamer.biz week that was: NaturalMotion races to $12 million, East Side Games on the Vancouver indie scene and GDCE 2012

This week, brimming with intrigue, PocketGamer.biz editor Jon Jordan spoke with Zynga, eager to inquire about the company's decision to publish Horn.

An Unreal-powered action adventure game, Horn targets a core audience and carries a $6.99 price tag. In other words, it's not Zynga's usual fare.

In response to our questions, the company's head of mobile publishing, Adam Sussman, explained that although "free-to-play is the future of mobile games," a premium price is best for Horn.

Similarly, this week saw Simogo discuss its $2.99 iOS title Beat Sneak Bandit at GDCE. The developer concluded that "we should have priced it higher, because it was more niche and gamey than we expected."

Comments such as these stand out in an industry that seems to consider a 99c pricepoint (or lower) a foregone conclusion for new releases. It can be easy to forget that pricing is a choice to be considered, rather than a trend to be passively followed.

After all, F2P isn't an all encompassing wave that's crashing over the industry – crushing all resistance and seeping through the sandbags into development studios worldwide. Rather, it's a pricing model, and one that isn't appropriate for every game on the market.

Anyway, that's quite enough jibber-jabber. Instead, let's move on to our bite-sized overview of the last seven days' worth of news.

• It's easier to garner attention on Windows Phone than Android or iOS, argues Dare to be Digital finalist and potential BAFTA nominee Kind of a Big Deal.
• The latest version of Marmalade's cross-platform development framework – currently in beta – will enable mobile devs to port their apps to Windows and Mac.
• Nook games can gross up to $100,000 in their first 30 days on sale, claims YoYo Games head of publishing.
• Gaming start up Goko launches what it claims is the "world's first everywhere HTML5 platform."
• HandyGames makes a move on China, partnering with Yodo1 who will manage its "entire market entry process" for the territory.

• Head of mobile publishing Adam Sussman explains why social focused Zynga is publishing Horn, a $6.99 core game powered by the Unreal-engine.
• Fishlabs CEO Michael Schade describes Galaxy on Fire 2's journey from $10 to freemium.
• NaturalMotion's CSR Racing has generated more than $12 million in one month, even though CEO Reil claims the company spent nothing on marketing or user acquisition.
• Chimpact dev Yippee Entertainment talks Manchester, monkey business and the painful decision to price its hard work at 99c.

• UK trade association TIGA offers exposure and acclaim for the UK's best studios with new games industry awards, a move that CEO Richard Wilson believes will benefit mobile devs.
• Hitfox unveils game exclusive mobile affiliate network and quality game discovery app, attracting interest from Gameloft, Fishlabs, TinyCo and others.

• The PocketGamer.biz Mobile Gaming Mavens discuss how EA and Zynga's legal wrangling will affect the wider industry.
• Pot Farm developer East Side Games on why it's not afraid of DeNA, GREE and TinyCo setting up shop in Vancouver.
• Mind Candy's mobile tech lead Moo Yu on why team size matters, and his search for the LittleBigCompany.
• PapayaMobile's Oscar Clark discusses how to build compulsion loops into mobile game design.
• PocketGamer.biz deputy editor Keith Andrew argues that although an iPad Mini would sell millions, it would be a bad move for Apple.

• Apsalar's Sarah Teng explains what data developers should be measuring and what they should be doing with it.
• Simogo wishes it had priced Beat Sneak Bandit higher than $2.99 and why it won't be doing any cross promotions or sales.
• GREE's development manager explains the company's approach to post-launch support, arguing the importance of 'having a lot of iterations as fast as possible.'
• Madfinger Games senior programmer explains how four guys made Dead Trigger in five months.

Click here for all of PocketGamer.biz's coverage from GDCE 2012 in one handy list.