[Last week in games] Microsoft CEO pay rises 63% to $79 million, Pokemon TCG Pocket launches worldwide, and more news!
News in games that caught our eyes in the last week [October 27 to November 3 2024]
INDUSTRY NEWS
China approves 128 new games including Supercell's Squad Busters (pocketgamer.biz)
Costly Unity Ads crash shakes dev confidence again: "What the f**k is going on over there?" (mobilegamer.biz)
Supercell’s GamesFirst 2024: curated highlights (mobilegamer.biz)
The games industry will come back to growth in 2025 (venturebeat.com)
Germany is supporting game studios with new funding program (pocketgamer.biz)
Apple to introduce AI-generated app review summaries with iOS 18.1 (pocketgamer.biz)
5 creative pillars for designing Brawlers in Supercell's Brawl Stars (pocketgamer.biz)
INVESTOR
Redwood acquires majority stake in Indian games streaming start-up Loco for $65m (pocketgamer.biz)
Maintain Altitude raises $500,000 in pre-seed funding round (gamesindustry.biz)
Ubisoft explores 'strategic options' as it reports lackluster September quarter results (venturebeat.com)
Konvoy invests in Magic Potion Games to build safe and social immersive experiences (pocketgamer.biz)
EA Mobile net bookings decline by 3% amid game closures (pocketgamer.biz)
AMD reports record revenue but Q4 forecast disappoints (venturebeat.com)
Maintain Altitude secures $500,000 in pre-seed round to accelerate game development (pocketgamer.biz)
81Ravens raises $4.5M for Paravox Web3 arena shooter (venturebeat.com)
Microsoft gaming revenue up 43% year-on-year due to Activision acquisition (gamesindustry.biz)
MARKET DATA
Solo Leveling: Arise celebrates 50 million downloads with numerous rewards for everyone (pocketgamer.com)
Data digest: Honor of Kings, LastWar and Whiteout Survival hit new highs, top grossing US games, ad insights and more (mobilegamer.biz)
The Sims 4 added 15 million players in the past year (venturebeat.com)
Reverse: 1999 celebrates first anniversary in the West with $100m on the horizon (pocketgamer.biz)
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 is biggest release in history (venturebeat.com)
Candy Crush Saga’s Music Season reactivated nearly 1m players (mobilegamer.biz)
NEW GAMES
Surgent Studios' next project is Project Uso, an Afro-Gothic RPG (venturebeat.com)
Mattel and Outright Games release Barbie Project Friendship (venturebeat.com)
New games digest: Destiny Rising alpha details, Pokémon, Neko Atsume 2, Royal Kingdom, Dark and Darker, Carrion and more (mobilegamer.biz)
Total War: Empire will colonise Android and iOS devices late in November (pocketgamer.com)
Rollic soft-launches Barbie Merge Mystery mobile game in the UK (pocketgamer.biz)
High Times is a mixture of dating and cooking sim that was Kickstarted in just 11 hours (pocketgamer.com)
Magic Chess: Go Go is, surprisingly, not about chess in this Mobile Legends: Bang Bang spin-off (pocketgamer.com)
Pokemon TCG Pocket launches worldwide to awaken the completionist card collector in you (pocketgamer.com)
Muus Collective soft launches Bellemint mobile fashion game (venturebeat.com)
Tomorrow: MMO Nuclear Quest is an action survival RPG set in a nuclear wasteland, currently open for pre-registration (pocketgamer.com)
The Crown Saga: Pi’s Adventure, SuperPlanet's upcoming idle RPG, is now open for pre-registration (pocketgamer.com)
Frostpunk: Beyond the Ice has finally released on Android and iOS (pocketgamer.com)
Bloons Card Storm is out now, letting you take on your friends in PvP tower defence (pocketgamer.com)
EVE Galaxy Conquest, the latest mobile entry in the storied series, comes to mobile (pocketgamer.com)
Lord of Nazarick, the turn-based RPG based on Overlord anime, is now available on the App Store and Google Play (pocketgamer.com)
Pudgy Penguins and Mythical Games unveil Pudgy Party Web3 mobile game (venturebeat.com)
Dungeon and Fighter's new open-world RPG officially named as Dungeon & Fighter: Arad (pocketgamer.com)
Price of Glory is an upcoming asynchronous strategy game that challenges you to lead your army to victory (pocketgamer.com)
The King of Fighters AFK is finally open for pre-registrations on Android and iOS (pocketgamer.com)
Devil's Purge, the heavy-metal, Christian-inspired AR Doom-like shooter, is out now on iOS (pocketgamer.com)
Honey Grove is a new story driven gardening sim, launching globally on World Kindness Day (pocketgamer.com)
PUBLISHER NEWS
3OGS rebrands to The OGs as it opens new office in Córdoba (pocketgamer.biz)
Microsoft CEO pay rises 63% to $79 million (gamesindustry.biz)
The Sandbox launches multi-year partnership with King Kong of Skull Island (venturebeat.com)
Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp paid version will cost $9.99 for early adopters (polygon.com)
Mobile games company Digital Dunes launches in Media City Qatar (pocketgamer.biz)
Fingersoft lays off 14 staff after “substantial decline” in ad revenue (pocketgamer.biz)
Autogun Heroes now available on PC thanks to a collaboration between CrazyGames, Nitro Games and Pley (pocketgamer.com)
PlayStation is closing mobile studio Neon Koi (mobilegamer.biz)
Inside Unity’s troubled $4.4bn IronSource merger (mobilegamer.biz)
Sony is shutting down Firewalk Studios after disastrous Concord launch (venturebeat.com)
Dozens of staff laid off at Inflexion as part of restructuring (gamesindustry.biz)
Activision Blizzard QA staff walk out over return to office mandate (gamesindustry.biz)
Nintendo launches new music app for Nintendo Switch Online members (polygon.com)
Redacted Group launches crypto fund for Web3 startups and game companies (venturebeat.com)