Trend
Mobile games are providing a stage for pop stars. Roblox starts partnership with Warner Music Group with a virtual concert of Ava Max; K-pop titans BTS present new single in Fortnite; and while PUBG Mobile is not such versatile platform to host concerts, but they do collaborate with Balckpink by adding a song from upcoming album and branded in-game items. And these events started during just one week.
The COVID postponed all concerts to a distant future and major artists recognized that games are the most relevant venue to connect with the young audience. In particular mobile games, which has the broadest reach. (Well, Fortnite is hardly a mobile game now, but I hope just temporarily).
Major News
Microsoft bought Bethesda for $7.5B to bolster Xbox Game Pass offering. The move can trigger more M&A activity in the sector. On mobile Bethesda operates mainly The Elder Scrolls: Blades, Fallout Shelter & Fallout Shelter Online (released in Asian markets). Also Doom & Doom II are available as premium ports, The Elder Scrolls: Legends CCG stopped liveops in December 2019.
Amazon Luna Cloud Gaming Service Launches with Support for iOS (via web app). Library of games is also available on PC/Mac and media player Amazon Fire TV. US users can register for Early Access priced at $6/month and buy Luna controller for 50$. More games will be available via additional “channels”, the first is coming soon from Ubisoft.
Oracle & Walmart agreed to buy 20% in a new entity TikTok Global, but the price is not set yet. ByteDance announced that they still would be in control. Donald Trump announced that more than 50% of the new company will be owned by Americans, because original investors of Bytedance include Sequoia Capital and other VCs. Intricate deal explained. Meanwhile a judge halted US ban on WeChat.
“Coalition for App Fairness” is created to fight against Apple/Google mobile policies and 30% app tax. Among 13 founding members: Epic Games, Spotify, Deezer, Basecamp and others.
Supercell ordered to pay $8.5 million for infringing Gree's patents related to UX improvements. The payment could be increased threefold by US court.
Voodoo wins plagiarism lawsuit against Zynga-owned Rollic Games for copying Voodoo’s Woodturning in Wood Shop. Rollic will pay $145K in damages.
Deals
Instant games developer Playco has raised $100M at $1B valuation. The company absorbed GameClosure, which was founded in 2011 with studios in California and Tokyo. Playco targets Google Play Instant, iOS App Clips, Facebook Instant Games, Snapchat Minis and cloud streaming platforms, also WeChat, Tik Tok and other platforms in future.
Indian mobile gaming and esports platform Mobile Premier League raises $90 million. It was valued at $375-$400M. In MPL app players take part in tournaments in 70 games from various publishers and bet real money. The most popular category is fantasy sport, especially cricket. The app is not available in Google Play as non-compliant.
Scopely plans to raise $200M at $3B valuation. Publisher of Marvel Strike Force & Scrabble GO has raised $658M in funding previously. Valuation in the latest round in March 2020 was $1.9B.
In-game advertisement platform Admix raises additional $1.5M in Series A funding extension.
Game Releases
Licensed IPs
Harry Potter: Puzzles & Spells by Zynga. Match-3 with blockbuster license and high production quality. Creative director Mark Turmell in interview for GamesBeat: “It’s the biggest production I’ve seen inside Zynga... This is the biggest team.”
As a true millennial I couldn’t just pass by a game with HP license. And it turned out to be the first match-3 game, in which I get a genuine pleasure playing. Well done, Zynga team!
BTS Universe Story by Netmarble. Interactive stories with members of the most famous K-pop band from the leading Korean publisher.
Medium & New Publishers
Mini Football - Mobile Soccer by Miniclip (Tencent). Casual sports sim.
Dragon Flight by Line Games. Global release of shoot ’em up with dragon fantasy theme popular in Korea since 2012.
Grand Alliance by Crnuchyroll Games (WarnerMedia). The first original jRPG from the publisher focused on licensed IPs. Crunchyroll is an international anime and manga content distributor and licensor.
Solitaire TriPeaks: Solitaire Grand Royale by Neowiz. Cards games from a prolific Korean publisher.
Merge Gardens by Futureplay. Merging game with a garden creation from a Helsinki-based studio, which was founded in 2015 and released Battlelands Royale in 2018.
Terafyn by South Gale/Grizzly Machine. Narrative card-based RPG with a rich storyline in hi-fantasy world. Debut title for the team, which was developing it since 2015. Prologue is free, $1.99 unlocks Episode 1.
Top Downloaded Hypercasuals
New games in top 15 of the US App Store
Acrylic Nails! by Crazy Labs. “ASMR nail salon simulator” - nails makeup extravaganza.
Premium Games
Root Board Game by Dire Wolf Digital, $9.99. Digital adaptation of asymmetric board game, where 4 fractions of anthropomorphic animals are competing for control over woodland. Also released in Early Access on Steam a month ago.
Upcoming Games
Announced:
NieR Reincarnation by Square Enix. Future release of mobile spin-off of NieR RPG franchise is confirmed for Western markets, while pre-registration had began in Japan.
Pre-registration started:
Arcane Showdown by Big Huge Games (Nexon). Real-time strategy from creators of DomiNations. Was released in Early Access on Steam in February 2020.
Dragonscapes: Adventure by Century Games (FunPlus). Merge dragons and build a village for them. From Chinese publisher of top-grossing 4X strategies Guns of Glory and King of Avalon. Wait a second, doesn’t Playrix own a trademark for *scapes?
A3: Still Alive by Netmarble. Dark fantasy open-world MMORPG with battle royale mode. Based on PC MMO popular in Korea.
IDLE Death Knight by Neowiz. “Auto, Clicker, AFK, RPG” - exhaustive self-description.
Hellopet House by Appxplore (iCandy). Collect cats and dogs, renovate a mansion. Release is scheduled for October 27.
Room Flip: Design, Dress Up, Decorate by Nukebox Studios. Match-3 with a winning formula for meta-game: you are the host of renovation TV show. Developed by Indian studio behind latest Spongebob mobile game.
Sword Master Story by Super Planet. Hero collecting RPG with anime art direction from Korean publisher.
Research & Market Data
SensorTower: U.S. Mobile RPG Spending Rises by 33% Y/Y to $2B in 2020. “The Squad RPG subgenre was the highest grossing of the eight RPG subcategories during the period, grossing nearly $850M, up close to 67% Y/Y. [And] generated the largest number of downloads, picking up close to 32M installs.”
GameRefinery: Strategy Genre Snapshot Report - September 2020 (free with registration). “In the US Strategy is the third biggest genre with about 13% of the market share. However, a whopping 56% of Strategy US iOS revenues are generated by Chinese companies.”
GameRefinery: Puzzle Game Features – Genre and Great Games Report Highlights. “Puzzle dominates western markets as the genre that generates most revenue.”
Read & Watch
Apple’s New “App Clips” Feature in iOS 14 Cleverly Used to Deliver a Frictionless Demo of Phoenix 2 Shoot’em Up Game
Agent Venture Makes Zoom Time Fun Again. Escape room gameplay transitioned in Zoom: play a spy game together with an actor in a videocall with friends.
How to Achieve Ongoing Hypercasual Success Despite an Evolving Market;
GDC Summer Videos:
Chill out
Apple gave boost to a new sector of online economy by introducing customizable icons in iOS 14 (it’s already $25K in 3 days):
Why not to make iOS icon set in the style of your game for loyal players?
Bonus Level - weekly newsletter by Maxon Pugovsky, producer of mobile games at Gameloft. If you like newsletter, please recommend it to colleagues & friends:
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