Start your week right with our quick take on the stories that are impacting the mobile industry right now.
To help get you primed and ready for another week in mobile gaming, we’ve curated the biggest stories you need to know from the last seven days.
1) Squad Busters is out now! Supercell finally launches a new game
The hottest of hot topics right now, Supercell’s Squad Busters launched globally last week on May 29th, officially joining the studio’s lineup as its sixth fully released game. Featuring popular characters from Clash of Clans, Clash Royale, Hay Day, Boom Beach, and Brawl Stars, not only does Squad Busters leverage Supercell’s IPs but it makes them part of the gameplay loop too.
After all, in this latest release players merge copies of characters to power them up, increase their health, gain ability bonuses, and even increase their size on the field. It’s a feature that was first shown off during the game’s second beta test.
2) Supercell’s big Squad Busters mistake and how they’re missing out on millions
Squad Busters marks an important moment for Supercell as the company’s first global launch in over five years. The company’s year-on-year declines make Squad Busters’ success that much more important, and while the game’s off to a strong start, GameBiz Consulting’s head of ad monetisation, Božo Janković believes there are vast swathes of potential ad revenue being overlooked.
“Put everything into a calculator, and you’ll realise we are talking about 1.2 million USD monthly ad revenue that Supercell is leaving on the table,” he said.
3) Supercell’s Squad Busters the No. 1 most downloaded App Store app in 122 countries on launch day
On launch day, Squad Busters ranked as the most downloaded app on Apple’s App Store in 122 countries, according to Appfigures data provided exclusively to PocketGamer.biz. Countries where it landed on top among all apps – not just games – include the US, UK, Germany, France, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan.
Also on the App Store, Supercell’s latest success ranked as the most downloaded game in 156 countries and most downloaded action game in 160. It made the top 10 apps list for downloads in 147 countries and was a top 10 game for downloads in 171.
4) Game Analysis: The evolution of idle RPG systems
Game design expert Jakub Remiar has examined Lilith Games’ AFK Journey – sequel to AFK Arena – following the new title’s $30 million start. He looked at the streamlined UI, innovations to the inventory, and how AFK Journey invites players to theorycraft more than its predecessor.
“This also greatly helps with monetisation,” he said. “With its amazing cross-platform strategy, especially the fleshed out PC client, it continues to follow the examples of Genshin Impact and Honkai: Star Rail as a AAA mobile game.”
5) Juicy Button Games raises $3 million in seed round led by The Games Fund
Indie studio Juicy Button Games has raised $3 million in a seed round led by The Games Fund. The new Cyprus-based studio has come out of stealth through the announcement with its first 4X strategy game already in development.
Juicy Button Games was co-founded by Total Battle, Pixel Gun 3D and Mighty Party creators Alexander Kravchuk, Anton Sinelnikov and Aleksandr Zaytsev respectively, whose games have generated over $700 million to date. Now working together on a new project, they hope to take on market leaders in China and have assembled a “superteam” on the road to making this a reality.
