PocketGamer.biz Week That Was: Downers at Fishlabs, TinyCo and Zynga, but uppers with new iPads and Lumias
The past 7 days in bite-sized portions
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This week saw a lot of love for the smartphone's big brother, the tablet.
When Steve Jobs unveiled the first iPad back in 2010, it was met with a hefty amount of scepticism and scorn. "It's Andre the Giant’s iPhone!", some crowed, while others saw no reason for the gadget to exist.
Now, it's hard to imagine a world without tablets - Apple-powered or otherwise - as they're helping to propel the mobile industry forward at incredible rates.
This week saw some impressive new tablets enter the field of consumer electronics, but it also saw a lot of other news from the ever-busy industry of mobile gaming.
Luckily, you've got us to give you the highlights.
Tools and platforms- Gartner Research reckons that tablet shipments are expected to grow by 50 percent in 2013.
- Which makes sense, as Apple just unveiled its latest iPad iterations while Nokia unveils its first Windows 8 powered tablet in Abu Dhabi.
- BBC tech guru John Howard noted that "the TV is fast becoming the second screen", yielding to the convenience of tablets and smartphones.
- Unity's David Helgason noted that a full half of the top iOS and Android games in Japan are built in Unity.
- Meanwhile, PlayHaven reports that it's now powering 20,000 games which translates to 800 million unique players.
- And Microsoft refutes the rumour that the upcoming Xbox One will run all Windows 8 apps.
- Pocket Gamer's Peter Willington shares 5 top tips to help developers and publishers court press and media types.
- In a field of stiff competition, Polish outfit Hyperbees was voted the Big Indie Pitch London 2013 winner.
- And Big Fish Games utilises BlueStacks to push Android games out to PC and Mac.
- Continuing on the top news from last week, the mobile gaming mavens take a look at what the $1.5 billion dollar buyout means for Supercell.
- While editor-at-large Jon Jordan caught up with Supercell's Ilkka Paananen to get his take on the deal.
- Our editor Keith Andrew argues that it's Nokia, not Microsoft, that'll save Windows RT from going the way of Vista and ME.
- Lee Bradley profiles New Star Games and gives a glimpse at how a single game transformed the developer's life.
- While Matt Diener gives a look at the making of Level 22, Noego Games' first iOS release.
- And GREE's Mike Lu talks about his studio's new mobile MMO Dragon Realms, and how adding guilds to this type of game can increase daily revenue by 600 percent.
- Our weekly Monetizer feature fixes its lens on Kabam's Heroes of Camelot to see if it's playing its cards right.
- While the Charticle determines that Machine Zone's Game of War is the 6th most lucrative game on iOS.
Funding, start ups, acquisitions, and personnel
- 25 employees are let go at Fishlabs as the Galaxy on Fire dev restructures.
- Clive Downie stepped down as CEO of DeNA West, only to resurface as the COO of Zynga.
- And speaking of Zynga, its Q3 sales were down 36 percent - which losses narrowed.
- Meanwhile, former Mobile Pie creative director Will Luton announced that he's taken a position at TinyCo.
- Even as TinyCo announces a not-so-tiny round of layoffs.
- Finally, Gamevil continues its Asian acquisition campaign as it announced an equity investment in Thai publisher GMT Soft.
Are you planning to be in Los Angeles for GDC Next in early November? If so, be sure to sign up for our joint event with Gamevil and Yandex.
Matthew Diener
Representing the former colonies, Matt keeps the Pocket Gamer news feed updated when sleepy Europeans are sleeping. As a frustrated journalist, diehard gamer and recovering MMO addict, this is pretty much his dream job.