[Last week in games] Minecraft Movie starring gets its first trailer, Rocksteady reportedly lays off staff, and more news!
News in games that caught our eyes in the last week [2nd to 8th of September 2024]
INDUSTRY NEWS
UK video game tax relief claims jumped 10% in 2023 (gamesindustry.biz)
Time Blast: Will it revive the Rest of the Genre? (deconstructoroffun.com)
HMRC’s Video Games Tax Relief has paid £1.48 billion to UK games companies since 2014 (pocketgamer.biz)
China licences 117 new games for domestic release bringing this year's approvals to 850 titles (pocketgamer.biz)
Minecraft Movie starring Jack Black and Jason Momoa gets its first trailer (pocketgamer.biz)
INVESTOR
Pole to Win snaps up co-development studio Ghostpunch Games for $13 million (pocketgamer.biz)
New games and apps business growth drives Lords Mobile dev IGG to $42m profit in H1 2024 (pocketgamer.biz)
"Sega isn't limiting us": Rovio's first year after the €706m acquisition (gamesindustry.biz)
Ubisoft shares fall to 10-year low (pocketgamer.biz)
Odeeo raises $5M to expand global audio advertising in games (venturebeat.com)
MARKET DATA
MENA market hits 7.9 billion downloads and $1.78 billion revenue in H1 2024 (pocketgamer.biz)
Match-3 downloads are down 23% but Royal Match revenue coins it in (pocketgamer.biz)
U.S. tops global marketing spend in mobile, parting with $6.6bn on iOS and $5.5bn on Android (pocketgamer.biz)
August’s top mobile game downloads (mobilegamer.biz)
Square Enix to shut down Final Fantasy: Brave Exvius after $900m in revenue (pocketgamer.biz)
August’s top grossing mobile games (mobilegamer.biz)
Coin Master hits the jackpot with $6 billion in revenue (pocketgamer.biz)
Data digest: Best Fiends at 10, game streaming stats, playable ad info, marketing spend data, more (mobilegamer.biz)
Cosy open-world adventure Infinity Nikki surpasses 14 million pre-registrations (pocketgamer.biz)
TapNation’s tips for 1bn downloads in under five years with CMO, Vincent Février (pocketgamer.biz)
NEW GAMES
New games now: Disney Pixel RPG, Dragon Quest, Dragon Ball, FC Mobile incoming as Final Fantasy and Harry Potter games close (mobilegamer.biz)
Hitman 3 VR: Reloaded launches on Meta Quest 3 on September 5 (venturebeat.com)
Roguelite ‘Coromon: Rogue Planet’ in Development for Release on iOS, Android, Switch, and Steam in 2025 (toucharcade.com)
Smashero lets you smash your way through foes in fast-paced hack-and-slash action, out now (pocketgamer.com)
Destiny Rising, the mobile spin-off of the popular series, rumoured to still be in development in partnership with NetEase (pocketgamer.com)
Miraibo Go is an upcoming Palword-like for Android that could work out as king of the clones (pocketgamer.com)
Warhammer 40K: Space Marine 2 is serious heavy-metal shooting and slashing (arstechnica.com)
Unforeseen Incidents coming to iOS and Android as release date unveiled alongside new trailer (pocketgamer.com)
Disney Step brings the House of Mouse into location-based AR gaming (pocketgamer.biz)
Grimguard Tactics pushes back launch by a month for iOS and Android (pocketgamer.com)
World of Pippi Longstocking sees the return of the famous Swedish character to the world of games (pocketgamer.com)
Total War: Empire coming to iOS and Android this Autumn courtesy of Feral Interactive (pocketgamer.com)
FAU-G: Domination, the Indian-made shooter, sees pre-registrations go live today (pocketgamer.com)
PUBLISHER NEWS
Tencent and NetEase rethink Japanese strategy with studio closure imminent (pocketgamer.biz)
Rocksteady reportedly lays off staff following Suicide Squad woes (gamesindustry.biz)
Tilting Point to lay off up to 20% of staff (mobilegamer.biz)
Zynga’s web3 project Sugartown appears to have been sold off (mobilegamer.biz)
Why major UK film PR agency DDA is moving into games (gamesindustry.biz)
Former devs from Until Dawn remake studio Ballistic Moon say they've been laid off (gamesindustry.biz)
Helldivers 2 support studio Toadman Interactive to shut offices in Sweden and Norway (gamesindustry.biz)
Capcom's Resident Evil mobile games now require an internet connection (gamesindustry.biz)
Risk of Rain dev Hopoo Games on hiatus as co-founders join Valve (gamesindustry.biz)
PlayStation ceases Concord sales, offers refunds after anemic launch (venturebeat.com)
Squad Busters teases its first crossover collaboration with new Transformers teaser trailer (pocketgamer.com)
Microsoft claims App Store’s 30% fee “makes it impossible” to monetise its cloud gaming service (pocketgamer.biz)
Timbre Games reopens as independent studio (gamesindustry.biz)
AppsFlyer partners with Unity to launch privacy Sandbox on Android Solution for marketers (pocketgamer.biz)