Mobile's fast risers of 2019 could be leaders in 2020

January 1st, 2020, 11:32 Posted By: wraggster

Last month, we reflected on the increasing influence of console and PC IP on mobile, headlined in October by the launches of Mario Kart Tour and Call of Duty: Mobile. In November, there was no place in the worldwide top ten grossers for those big releases.
Sensor Tower Store Intelligence data shows Activision's Call of Duty: Mobile falling to 24 from 12 month-on-month, though it still brought in an impressive $31.8 million in gross revenue. Nintendo's Mario Kart Tour dropped to 57 from 27, generating $16.4 million. There was still room in the top 30, however, for eight franchises that started life on PC and console -- down just two from October.
New to the overall top ten in November was Sony's hit mobile RPG Fate/Grand Order, which generated $54.3 million, a 10% month-on-month increase. NetEase's Fantasy Westward Journey picked up $53.3 million, despite a fall of 11% from October.

https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articl...eaders-in-2020

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Mobile games made 15 times more revenue than entertainment apps in a single year

December 16th, 2019, 22:16 Posted By: wraggster

The combined revenues generated by mobile games reached $41.5 billion in a single 12-month period -- more than 15 times higher than the $2.77 billion generated by the next biggest category, Entertainment.
That's according to Liftoff's Mobile App Trends Report, which looked at the entire breadth of apps on iOS and Android between September 1, 2018 and August 31, 2019.
During that time, iOS apps made $22.51 billion based on in-app purchases and advertising in games, while Android titles made $18.94 billion. The combined total was 4.27% higher than last year's $39.8 billion. Entertainment apps, meanwhile, made $2.42 billion on iOS, $351 million on Android.
The report also shared average retention rates, with casual games the fourth highest category on Day One, retaining 31.1% of users. This was only beaten by news, comics and social casino games, none of which were higher than 33%. For day seven, casual games' retention average dropped to 9.8%, then to 3.5% on Day 30.
Hardcore games, meanwhile, showed Day One, Seven and 30 retention rates of 29%, 9% and 3% respectively. Midcore games were reported at 29.3%, 7.3% and 2%.
The average time between installation and an in-app purchase for games was reported as one day, 22 hours and 35 minutes -- longer than shopping, dating and finance (the latter of which was one hour, ten minutes).
Games were also the biggest category in terms of the number of downloads. 15.3 million downloads were recorded on iOS and 41.2 million on Android, making for total of 56.5 million. Again, the second biggest category was Entertainment with 8.4 million (2.7 million on iOS, 5.7 million on Android) -- 573% lower than games.

https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articl...es-in-one-year

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PUBG Mobile earned at least $1.3 billion in 2019

December 16th, 2019, 22:00 Posted By: wraggster

PUBG Mobile earned at least $1.3 billion in revenue in 2019, according to estimates from the data firm Sensor Tower.
The Tencent-backed mobile shooter first launched in February 2018, and yet its earnings in 2019 represent 88% of all spending tracked by Sensor Tower. PUBG Mobile's lifetime revenue from the App Store and Google Play has now exceeded $1.5 billion.
The single most valuable market is China, which accounts for $614 million, or 40% of lifetime revenue -- and that is particularly impressive when viewed in context.

https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articl...illion-in-2019

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Subway Surfers is the top mobile game of the decade by downloads

December 16th, 2019, 21:56 Posted By: wraggster

Supercell's Clash of Clans was the top-grossing mobile game of the decade, while Subway Surfers was the most-downloaded, according to mobile data and analytics firm App Annie.
The top-downloaded title from 2010 to 2019, Subway Surfers, passed 2.5 billion downloads in mid-2018, and was the first-ever game to reach 1 billion downloads on Android alone. It has continued to grow since, including reaching the third most-downloaded title for 2019 alone. The game was launched by Dutch developers Kiloo and SYBO Games in 2012, and has since gone on to spawn an animated series and lifestyle brand.
On the list of top-downloaded games in 2019 alone, No.8 Homescapes had reached 223 million downloads by November, and Call of Duty Mobile was downloaded 148 million times in its first month. It was also named Mobile Game of the Year by both Google Play and The Game Awards.
By revenue, Fate/Grand Order was No.1 for 2019 and No.5 for the decade. But for 2010 to 2019, Supercell's Clash of Clans wore the crown. Its last major milestone was grossing an estimated more than $6.4 billion as of earlier this year.
For comparison, Pokemon GO at No.8 for the decade had surpassed $3 billion in lifetime revenue in October of this year.

https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articl...e-by-downloads

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Call of Duty Mobile made almost $87m in its first two months

December 9th, 2019, 18:54 Posted By: wraggster

Call of Duty Mobile has generated just short of $87 million in its first two months on app stores, although spending slowed in its second month.
A new report from Sensor Tower shows the mobile free-to-play shooter made $31 million last month, which combined with the $55 million in its opening month of October puts revenues well over $85 million.
Unsurprisingly, the US is the game's biggest market, accounting for 42% ($36 million) of its total spend. Japan was the second largest, contributing 13.2% ($11 million) of its revenues, with Britain in third at 3% ($2.6 million).
Most of the revenue -- 59.2%, more than $51 million -- came from iOS. This is more than the $10 million PUBG Mobile earned on the platform during its first two months, but less than the $66 million achieved by Fortnite.

https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articl...rst-two-months

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NetEase launches its own cloud gaming platform in beta

December 9th, 2019, 18:51 Posted By: wraggster

NetEase has begun beta test of its own cloud gaming service, picking up on a trend that fellow industry giants (including rival Chinese company Tencent) are collectively beginning to embrace.
According to Chinese outlet GameLook (as translated by TechNode), the service went live this month and currently only supports mobile games, though PC games are planned for down the line.
The launch roster includes support for 38 different games, 20 of which are published by NetEase. Tencent's Honor of Kings and Bilibili's Fate/Grand Order are included as well. Games can be played either by visiting the website through a phone browser, or through a dedicated app for Android. Graphical quality is adjustable based on connection speed.

https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articl...atform-in-beta

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Call of Duty Mobile made almost $87m in its first two months

December 5th, 2019, 21:40 Posted By: wraggster

Call of Duty Mobile has generated just short of $87 million in its first two months on app stores, although spending slowed in its second month.
A new report from Sensor Tower shows the mobile free-to-play shooter made $31 million last month, which combined with the $55 million in its opening month of October puts revenues well over $85 million.
Unsurprisingly, the US is the game's biggest market, accounting for 42% ($36 million) of its total spend. Japan was the second largest, contributing 13.2% ($11 million) of its revenues, with Britain in third at 3% ($2.6 million).
Most of the revenue -- 59.2%, more than $51 million -- came from iOS. This is more than the $10 million PUBG Mobile earned on the platform during its first two months, but less than the $66 million achieved by Fortnite.

https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articl...rst-two-months

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Call of Duty Mobile is Google Play's best game of 2019

December 4th, 2019, 21:32 Posted By: wraggster

Call of Duty Mobile received three total honors in Google Play's best games of 2019, including the top spot as best overall game.
It also won the users' choice award, and a spot in the best five competitive games alongside Supercell's Brawl Stars, Rumble Stars Football, Tacticool - 5v5 shooter, and Tennis Clash: 3D Sports.

https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articl...t-game-of-2019

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ColEm v4.8

November 26th, 2019, 18:26 Posted By: wraggster

ColEm v4.8 is released. ColEm is a ColecoVision emulator. ColEm will run software written for the ColecoVision video game console. ColEm package itself does not contain any games. You should place your own game files onto the SD card before running ColEm. Please, do not run any software you do not own with ColEm. The author cannot and will not tell you where to find free ColecoVision games.

ColEm v4.8 Changelog:
Fixed state saves for games using SRAM.
Fixed wrong SRAM contents being saved.
Fixed SGM AY8910 wave effects.
Now updating sound every 8 scanlines.
Now muting AY8910 channels when Fnum is set to 0.
Enabled AY8910 sound channels in ColEm-Unix.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...s.colem.deluxe

http://fms.komkon.org/ColEm/

http://www.emucr.com/2019/11/colem-v48.html

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Call of Duty: Modern Warfare sold 4.75m digital units in its launch month

November 25th, 2019, 18:28 Posted By: wraggster

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare set the record for best digital game launch this year, selling an estimated 4.75 million digital units in October according to SuperData.
In its October digital games market report, SuperData has Call of Duty: Modern Warfare as the bestselling digital title on console and the sixth bestselling title on PC (by total earnings). Activision Blizzard's first-person shooter only launched at the end of the month, on October 25.
Modern Warfare was beat out on PC by League of Legends at No.1, several popular games in China -- Dungeon Fighter Online, Fantasy Westward Journey Online II, and Crossfire -- and World of Warcraft, which is still enjoying a boost from the launch of World of Warcraft Classic in August.

https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articl...s-launch-month

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Why are developers betting on Apple Arcade?

November 25th, 2019, 18:26 Posted By: wraggster

Like Xbox Game Pass before it, Apple Arcade is vying to prove that the subscription model can transform the games industry just as it has other forms of entertainment. However, unlike Game Pass, the mobile service stands to reach a far broader audience thanks to the ubiquity of the devices that carry it.
Apple Arcade is still very new, having only launched in September, but it already has 100 games in its catalogue. At a recent event in London, head of content strategy Nicola Sebastiani said he believes this is "unprecedented within platform launches." The variety of games on offer is not insignificant, again speaking to the wider audience developers can reach through smartphones (and tablets, Macs and Apple TV, as the firm kept reminding us).
This reach is "invaluable" to studios like Italian startup 34bigthings, said co-founder Guiseppe Franchi. The developer's Arcade offering, sci-fi shooter Redout: Space Assault, is a prequel to the original Redout, which mainly appealed to hardcore PC gamers. With touch screen controls, or the ability to pair your device with a controller, 34bigthings has made Space Assault more accessible in the hopes of attracting a broader range of players.

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Southeast Asia is the world's fastest-growing mobile games market

November 22nd, 2019, 23:07 Posted By: wraggster

Southeast Asia is the current fastest-growing mobile games market in the world, and is expected to grow 17% year-over-year in 2019 according to Newzoo.
Per the market researcher's report on the Southeast Asian games market (consisting of Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam), the region will generate $2.6 billion in mobile games revenue in 2019, and $4.3 billion in revenue in 2019, up 13% year-over-year.

https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articl...e-games-market

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Google Stadia app has been downloaded over 175k times

November 22nd, 2019, 23:00 Posted By: wraggster

Though we don't have sales numbers on Google Stadia's launch, an extremely rough approximation can be gleaned from the number of downloads of the mobile app, which stand at over 175,000 according to Sensor Tower.
The app appears to be effectively necessary to use Google Stadia, as it is the only way to purchase games and allows users to cast games to their browsers or TVs via Chromecast. While those who have not purchased Google Stadia can still download the free app from the App Store or Google Play, without an access code received from purchasing Stadia, the app is useless.
Sensor Tower has shared that 90.7% of all downloads of the Stadia app were on Android, while the rest were on iOS. The platform split may be at least in part due to the fact that Stadia can only be played on mobile via Pixel phones, making it a more appealing prospect to those already going through the Play Store in the first place.

https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articl...ver-175k-times

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Minecraft Earth has been downloaded 1.4m times in the US

November 22nd, 2019, 22:59 Posted By: wraggster

Minecraft Earth launched in the US last week, and though its slow rollout is sparking interest, it still has a ways to go before it catches fellow location-based AR giant Pokemon Go.
According to a report from mobile analyst Sensor Tower, Minecraft Earth saw 1.4 million downloads in the US since its launch on November 12. In total, US users represent 86% of all Minecraft Earth downloads, which globally stand at nearly 2.5 million.
Minecrafth Earth has had a slow-but-steady rollout, with a beta in select cities earlier this year and the initial launch in October starting in Australia and New Zealand.

https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articl...imes-in-the-us

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Apple Arcade may be accelerating premium game decline, but not by much

November 19th, 2019, 22:02 Posted By: wraggster

Apple's answer to the struggles of premium mobile titles, Apple Arcade, may have already managed to accelerate the decline of such titles not on its service, though said decline was already chugging well along on its own.
Sensor Tower reports that paid game revenue on the App Store declined 13% from the period of August 20 through September 18 this year to September 19 through October 18 -- Apple Arcade's launch month. Some of that decline can be accounted for by a normal seasonal drop, though the decline over the same period last year was only 4%.
That's still a significant difference, but it may also be attributed at least in part to the ongoing decline of premium titles on the whole, a process that's been steady since 2015. Per Sensor Tower's findings, premium games have grossed a total of $337 million on the App Store year-to-date as of September 30, which is less than 2% of all App Store revenue. That number was much higher in 2015, with full-year paid game revenue totals reaching nearly $642 million -- 5.4% of all revenue. Apple Arcade would need approximately 11.7 million subscribers paying for 11 months (after the one-month free trial) to equal the amount of money generated by paid games on the App Store in 2015.
In fact, free game revenue has increased each year from 2014 through 2018, while premium game revenue has declined both in dollar amount and share of all revenue since 2015. So have new game releases, with paid game releases on the App Store going from 26% of all new releases in 2014 to 7% of new releases so far in 2019. Currently, nearly 13% of all App Store games are paid.

https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articl...ut-not-by-much

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Paid subscriptions coming to Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp

November 18th, 2019, 21:58 Posted By: wraggster

Nintendo has revealed plans to introduce a two-tier paid subscription model to Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp.
Released in October 2017, the mobile adaptation of one of Nintendo's flagship franchises has grossed around $111 million lifetime revenue.
However, following the surprise implementation of the subscription model in Mario Kart World Tour, Nintendo has given the greenlight for a similar system for Pocket Camp.
There is currently no information on the pricing and limited detail on features, but according to an in-game update the two tiers will offer very different perks around admin and storage.

https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articl...ng-pocket-camp

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Call of Duty Mobile beats Mario Kart Tour's first month downloads

November 17th, 2019, 21:28 Posted By: wraggster

Call of Duty Mobile is behind only Pokémon Go in terms of first month downloads, according to new data from Sensor Tower.
The Tencent-developed game was downloaded 148 million times in its first month -- more than Mario Kart Tour, but still behind Niantic's Pokémon Go based on Sensor Tower's estimates.
Call of Duty's peak day was October 1, when it was downloaded 24 million times across the App Store and Google Play. The US was its key territory, with 23.6 million downloads, but India was a notable second place with 16.2 million.
https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articl...onth-downloads

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Call of Duty and Mario Kart front a siege of PC and console IP on mobile

November 17th, 2019, 21:09 Posted By: wraggster

Tapping a large entertainment IP to drive interest and downloads in a mobile game is nothing particularly new in the mobile market. But as the world's top PC and console publishers increasingly take the space seriously, the impact of the biggest gaming properties is becoming ever more noticeable.
The two biggest mobile launches recently have been Nintendo's Mario Kart Tour and Activision's Call of Duty: Mobile, which have proved to be two of the most successful app releases ever.
During October, Call of Duty: Mobile generated some 148 million downloads, according to Sensor Tower Store Intelligence estimates, making it the top mobile game globally for unique installs. That's substantially more than Mario Kart Tour, which took second place with 40.3 million downloads. During September, Nintendo's latest had driven up 86.2 million unique installs.
While casual and hyper-casual games such as SayGames' Sand Balls continued to flood the top download charts, there was still room for other big console and PC IP like PUBG Mobile -- the fourth most downloaded game in October with 22.5 million installs, thanks in large part to its popularity in India.

https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articl...c-ip-on-mobile

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iOS Jailbreaking: Checkra1n

November 8th, 2019, 21:07 Posted By: wraggster

For the last few iOS releases, jailbreaks were always released a few months after the version(s) they support were made public with the exception of iOS 12.4 due to a blunder from Apple. However, things are just about to change as checkra1n, a jailbreak for iOS 13, will be coming next week!

According to numerous tweets, various jailbreak community veterans including xerub, siguza and ih8snow worked on making checkra1n with Luca Todesco (@qwertyoruiopz) leading the whole effort meaning that the jailbreak will doubtlessly be of very high quality.
Over the last few weeks, there have been numerous reports of progress being made with the jailbreak and in terms of features, these can be summed up as:

• The jailbreak has been demonstrated running on iOS 13.1.2, 13.1.3 and even 13.2
  • Presumably, the jailbreak will also support future versions of iOS 13 and maybe even other versions of iOS as it uses an unpatchable bug found in the boot code which is flashed at the factory and read-only
• When you install checkra1n, an application for managing it is added to your home screen and this presumably lets you install the package manager of your choice
  • From what?s currently known, the package managers provided include Cydia, Zebra (an package manager that takes many cues from Cydia) and Installer 5

• http://wololo.net/2019/11/02/ios-jai...-developments/

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Fortnite tumbles down digital spending charts

October 23rd, 2019, 18:31 Posted By: wraggster

The games industry may be a bit off-stride as it enters the holiday sales season. Superdata released its monthly sales report today, saying that worldwide digital spending on games in September was down 1% to $8.9 billion.
Part of that dip was attributable to new releases not living up to expectations, while another part was due to one established hit suffering a steeper drop. Superdata estimated that Fortnite revenue across all platforms was down 43% month-over-month, making it the worst month of sales for Epic's hit since November of 2017.
That decline was mirrored on Superdata's charts, where Fornite had been number one on consoles in August, but fell to seventh in September. On the PC charts, Fortnite slid from sixth to ninth.
As for the disappointing new releases, FIFA 20 did little to spark the series fortunes, as Superdata reported FIFA in-game spending declined slightly for the month. The firm attributed that to a tough comparison against last year's FIFA, which might have benefitted from launching in the wake of the FIFA World Cup in Russia.

https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articl...pending-charts

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