TheGamingEconomy’s Daily Digest brings you the prevalent business stories in gaming. In today’s news: Discord raises USD$100m (£80.5m); thousands of games removed from China iOS store; and Animoca Brands acquires GAMEE. Discord raises USD$100m (£80.5m) Voice and video chat platform Discord has announced that it has raised USD$100m (£80.5m) in funding from Index Ventures, valuing the San Fransisco-based firm at an estimated USD$3.5bn (£2.8bn). The investment will be used to support the implementation of new features and to support the platform’s expansion [...]

TheGamingEconomy’s Daily Digest brings you the prevalent business stories in gaming. In today’s news: Apple terminating Arcade games for retention; PlayBrain raises USD$6m (£5m); and Mountaintop Studios formed. Apple terminating Arcade games for retention Apple Inc. is reportedly cancelling development contracts with partners for its Apple Arcade service as it seeks to improve customer retention on the fledgling platform. According to anonymous sources speaking to Bloomberg, Apple has been informing developers of certain in-production titles that their new titles lacked sufficient engagement, [...]

TheGamingEconomy’s Daily Digest brings you the prevalent business stories in gaming. In today’s news: Grishin Robotics raises USD$100m (£80.1m) fund; China iOS games to require government approval; and FaZe Clan gains stake in CTRL. Grishin Robotics raises USD$100m (£80.1m) fund Silicon Valley investment firm Grishin Robotics, founded by Mail.ru Group Founder and Chairman Dmitry Grishin, has raised USD$100m (£80.1m), in a move which will see the vehicle expand from its traditional territory of hardware into video gaming and interactive entertainment, alongside educational [...]

TheGamingEconomy’s Daily Digest brings you the prevalent business stories in gaming. In today’s news: Apple faces European antitrust investigation; FirstMark raises USD$650m (£515m) fund duo; and Eidos-Montréal to open Eidos-Sherbrooke. Apple faces European antitrust investigation Apple is facing a formal antitrust investigation by the European Commission over claims the California-based tech giant is stifling competition by taking a high rate of commission on payments to third-party developers through the mandatory use of its App Store in-app payment system, whilst simultaneously promoting its [...]

In this special exclusive contributed piece, Dimoso CEO Jacki Vause considers the fine art of publishing mobile games to China. Vause is a widely respected veteran of the tech, mobile and PR space, has been named one of PCR’s Top-30 Women in Mobile, and is an experienced entrepreneur and founder. — China should be considered by all mobile games developers who are looking to take their games global. Over the years I have represented many developers and publishers both from the East [...]

TheGamingEconomy’s Daily Digest brings you the prevalent business stories in gaming. In today’s news: Google rolls out hypercasual platform for low spec devices and networks; CD Projekt now Europe’s second-largest game company; and Oculus making ‘significant headway’ against HTC’s VR effort. Google rolls out hypercasual platform for low spec devices and networks Google’s experimental tech ‘workshop’ Area 120 has launched Gamesnacks, a new HTML5-based mobile gaming platform that supports lower-spec phones, as well as networks such as 2G and 3G. Geared towards fast [...]

In this special contributed feature by Wilhelm Voutilainen, senior game analyst at GameRefinery looks at what we can learn about mobile gaming by looking back to the previous year, pulling insights from the company’s considerable pool of data. — So here we are in 2020 – not just a new year, but the start of a whole new decade. We’ve returned to our desks full of heady optimism, and focused on the future. Looking back at the past year can often be [...]

TheGamingEconomy Daily Digest brings you the trending business stories in gaming. In today’s edition: Nintendo open to cloud gaming; only two new releases in best-selling Steam Games of 2019; and 12 million subscribers forecast for Apple Arcade. Nintendo open to cloud gaming Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa has stated the company is open to cloud gaming in an interview with Nikkei, however he tempered this by stating that dedicated hardware will not become defunct, at least within the next decade. While console rivals [...]

TheGamingEconomy Daily Digest brings you the trending business stories in gaming. In today’s edition: Team17 picks up Yippee Entertainment; Worldwide Christmas spend on apps tops USD$277m (£209.6m); and Nexon sells off mobile development subsidiary for JPN¥1 (£0.007). Team17 picks up Yippee Entertainment Long-standing UK developer and publisher Team17 has acquired Yippee Entertainment for close to £1.4m. Founded in 2011, Yippee develops own IP alongside end-to-end creation of games on a third-party basis. The company has also served as a digital publisher. Now wholly owned [...]

TheGamingEconomy Daily Digest brings you the trending business stories in gaming. In today’s edition: Nintendo Switch to launch in China on December 10th; Mario Kart Tour is most downloaded game of 2019; and Owlcat Games raises USD$1m (£770,000). Nintendo Switch to launch in China on December 10th The Nintendo Switch will launch in China on Tuesday December 10th, according to an official news briefing which took place this morning. The console, which will be marketed as “The Tencent Nintendo Switch” will be [...]