[Last week in games] The Epic Games Store is out now on iOS and Android, Borderlands movie grosses $16m globally, and more news!

News in games that caught our eyes in the last week [12th to 18th August 2024]

INDUSTRY NEWS

• Designing streaks for long-term user growth (mindtheproduct.com)

• Apple revises fees and link policies following EU DMA investigation (venturebeat.com)

• Why Global Stock Markets Collapsed, and What Does It Mean for the Gaming Industry? (deconstructoroffun.com)

• Most mobile devs still building new games despite job security risks (venturebeat.com)

• Analyst Bulletin: Mobile Game Market Review July 2024 (gamerefinery.com)

• Why Lifetime IRR is better than ROAS for measuring marketing performance (pocketgamer.biz)

INVESTOR

• Nexon hits record Q2 revenue fueled by Dungeon & Fighter Mobile success (pocketgamer.biz)

• Alan Wake 2 recoups majority of dev costs as Remedy reports H1 revenue rise (gamesindustry.biz)

• Take-Two reports flat bookings of $1.2B for June quarter (venturebeat.com)

• Unity revenue drops 16% to $449m during Q2 (gamesindustry.biz)

• Take-Two reports $1.34 billion in net revenue teamed with a $262 million net loss (pocketgamer.biz)

• Square Enix’s Q1 profits more than triple despite revenue decline (pocketgamer.biz)

• Reforged Labs raises $3.9m in funding round (gamesindustry.biz)

• Netmarble turns a profit after years in the red, with highest quarterly earnings since IPO (pocketgamer.biz)

• Autoverse Studios raises $8M for Auto Legends drag-racing Web3 game (venturebeat.com)

• Krafton H1 24 revenue and operating profit surges to record highs (venturebeat.com)

• FRVR closes $12.7m funding round to "further develop AI-powered game creation" (gamesindustry.biz)

• Keywords acquires Wushu Studios (gamesindustry.biz)

• Krafton hits $1.04 billion in H1 2024 revenue as PC and mobile lead (pocketgamer.biz)

• Krafton leads Eschatology Entertainment's $11.3M Series A funding (venturebeat.com)

• TON Ventures raises $40M fund to support early-stage crypto projects (venturebeat.com)

• East Side Games turns a profit in Q2 as it moves further out of the red (pocketgamer.biz)

• Reforged Studios acquires Ground Shatter and Extra Mile Studios (gamesindustry.biz)

• Mad Crusader to invest $30 million in AA games (gamesindustry.biz)

• Applovin's Q2 revenue hits $1.08 billion, up 44% year-on-year with net income skyrocketing 286% (pocketgamer.biz)

MARKET DATA

• PS5 hits 4m UK sales, 31 weeks slower than PS4 (gamesindustry.biz)

• Keen Games' Enshrouded hits 3M players after 7 months (venturebeat.com)

• Gaming Apps spent $29B on user acquisition in 2023, 40% to U.S. (venturebeat.com)

• Borderlands movie grosses $16m globally (gamesindustry.biz)

• Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery racks up $500 million in revenue (pocketgamer.biz)

• Consumer spending in mobile games projected to reach $109.3 billion in 2024 up 3.3% YoY (pocketgamer.biz)

• China spends $5.1 million on Lilith's AFK Journey in first five days (pocketgamer.biz)

• German games spending dips 6% in H1 2024 to €4.3bn (gamesindustry.biz)

• Board Game Arena surpasses 10M user account milestone (venturebeat.com)

• Newzoo: Global games market expected to grow to $187bn in 2024 (gamesindustry.biz)

• Konami's Powerful Pro Baseball was No.1 in July (gamesindustry.biz)

• Gamescom will have more than 1,400 exhibitors, up 15% from a year ago (venturebeat.com)

• 81% of mobile devs are making new games, but 27% say publishers "take more than they give" (pocketgamer.biz)

• Data digest: ZZZ, Solo Leveling, Harry Potter, DnF drive big numbers, hybrid monetisation grows plus a flurry of financials (mobilegamer.biz)

• Embracer sales drop 24% to $754m due to tough comparisons with Dead Island 2 (gamesindustry.biz)

• Sanlo survey says 81% of mobile gamers are aware of web shops (venturebeat.com)

• Saudi Arabia and UAE to propel Gulf region games spending to $3.24 billion by 2028 (pocketgamer.biz)

• New report says the games industry is "showing signs of a recovery" (gamesindustry.biz)

• Niko Partners: Gulf Cooperation Council markets accounted for $2.24bn in player spending in 2023 (gamesindustry.biz)

NEW GAMES

• Darkside Detective, the satirical, stylish, and spooky mystery game, is out now on iOS and Android (pocketgamer.com)

• New games now: Final Fantasy XIV, Dragon Ball, Power Rangers, fresh Apple Arcade releases and more (mobilegamer.biz)

• Zoeti is a deck-building roguelite with a twist, out now on iOS and Android (pocketgamer.com)

• Puzzle Maniac is an upcoming indie puzzle project for mobile (pocketgamer.com)

• Sky of Tides is a sci-fi adventure game and animated series (venturebeat.com)

• Abalon, formerly Summoners Fate, opens pre-registration for the roguelike card battler on iOS and Android (pocketgamer.com)

• Dragon Ball Project: Multi is Bandi Namco's newest multiplatform DBZ game (pocketgamer.com)

• The Seven Deadly Sins: Idle launches worldwide on iOS and Android (pocketgamer.com)

• Ninja Party is a PvP cross-platform fighting game, now in closed beta (pocketgamer.com)

• Dunk City Dynasty is back from a brief respite with an official global release date (pocketgamer.com)

• K-Pop Academy lets you live out your idol-management fantasies, available now (pocketgamer.com)

• ‘Harvest Moon: Home Sweet Home’ Releases Next Week on iOS and Android From Natsume (toucharcade.com)

• Fall Guys drops onto mobile with Epic Games Store release and is also set to hit the AltStore PAL (pocketgamer.com)

• New games now: Elder Scrolls, Fall Guys, Fortnite and Squid Game incoming as Kart Rider gets cancelled (mobilegamer.biz)

• ‘Age of Empires Mobile’ Releases on October 17th, New Trailer Showcased (toucharcade.com)

• Get a first look at Squid Game: Unleashed on Gamescom opening night (pocketgamer.com)

• SuperGaming's battle royale, Indus is now available in open beta (pocketgamer.biz)

PUBLISHER NEWS

• Arkadium expands into third-party publishing with $1 million developer fund (pocketgamer.biz)

• Hi-Fi Rush studio, shut down by Microsoft, is saved by PUBG's publisher (polygon.com)

• Owlcat Games expands into publishing (gamesindustry.biz)

• VR studio Archiact is closing down (gamesindustry.biz)

• PlanetPlay launches advisory board to drive environmental action in video games (pocketgamer.biz)

• Candy Crush lands on alternative app stores (pocketgamer.biz)

• Film and TV production firm Phiphen launches games publisher (gamesindustry.biz)

• Payload Studios lays off 25% of staff (gamesindustry.biz)

• The Epic Games Store is out now on iOS and Android (pocketgamer.com)

• Kwalee launches Arabic mobile game publishing platform for MENA developers (pocketgamer.biz)

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