New games now: Honor of Kings, Rainbow Six, The Division, EA FC Tactical, Game of Thrones, Barbie, Guild of Guardians and more
Also this week: the minds behind Stumble Guys' new game, Braid hits Netflix and more.
Take-Two hails hit Match Factory as mobile earnings beat PC and console combined
Mobile is now 52% of the company’s net bookings, Match Factory is a hit and its direct-to-consumer efforts are “progressing well”, says Zynga's parent company.
Plarium and Big Fish up for sale at Aristocrat
The casino and real-money gaming giant is reviewing its portfolio, with two of its free-to-play game units potentially up for sale. Product Madness is not part of the review.
Tencent says app stores are “over-earning at the expense of app providers”
The owner of Supercell, Riot and a large stake in Epic Games and Ubisoft has also said it’ll be focusing on launching “fewer but bigger and better new games” going forwards.
Ubisoft’s mobile revenue plummets as Assassin’s Creed Jade goes MIA
Mobile earnings have cratered from 31% of bookings to just 6% in one year, and Assassin’s Creed Jade appears to have slipped into 2025 or beyond.
Data digest: Solo Leveling, Squad Busters and Galaxy of Heroes numbers plus financials from AppLovin, Sega-Rovio, Unity, more
Also this week: BoomBit, Playtika, Roblox, PlayStation, Square Enix financials, and apparently lots of devs haven't heard of the DMA.
Marc Whitten quits Unity
The firm’s chief product and technology officer will resign on June 1, and leave at the end of 2024.
The top Netflix game downloads so far
According to Appmagic estimates, GTA: San Andreas, Storyteller and SpongeBob come out on top. Plus: see how new games Dumb Ways to Survive, Farming Simulator 23, Hades and Sonic Mania Plus are doing.
Two top execs out at Playtika in leadership restructure
The COO and CRO roles have been eliminated, with boss Robert Antokol taking on all of their direct reports.
Xbox’s mobile game store is coming in July
Microsoft-owned games like Candy Crush and Minecraft will be available through the web store, with partner titles to follow after launch.
‘If Roblox and TikTok had a baby’: Supercell-backed HypeHype edges closer to launch
HypeHype COO Teemu Mäki-Patola says player-creators are already earning good money from the soft launched UGC platform – and it wants pro gamedevs to join in, too.
EA cautious on “high-risk” mobile market amid team consolidation
EA continues to merge its mobile and ‘HD’ teams for EA FC, Madden and Sims, but investments in mobile games outside of that will be “very limited”, says boss Andrew Wilson.
