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36 teams are joining the ‘Clash Royale’ eSports league
Today, mobile game company Supercell announced that teams from 36 organizations from around the world will be added to the hit (and very, very lucrative) title Clash Royale's eSports league. The biggest names in competitive gaming will field squads, including Cloud9, Team SoloMid, Immortals, NRG, Complexity, Team Dignitas and Counter Logic Gaming.
'Dawn of Titans' shrinks an epic strategy game onto your phone
This year alone, 1.4 billion smartphones will be sold, giving more people access to gaming devices than ever before. But with more than 1,000 new apps flooding the App Store every day, it's increasingly difficult for new titles to make an impact. Every so often, a game like Pokémon Go comes along, proving that if you have the right "hook," you can find a massive audience. NaturalMotion believes technology is its hook. The British gaming studio started life creating animation engines, with its software used for everything from The Lord of the Rings movies to Grand Theft Auto V. It then packed that tech into mobile games like Clumsy Ninja that, thanks to their visual edge, quickly topped the App Store. That success led to the studio being bought for $527 million by casual-gaming giant Zynga. It's been nearly three years since the acquisition, though, and the pressure is on for NaturalMotion to deliver a fresh hit.
Tencent buys the game company behind 'Clash of Clans'
As Candy Crush and Kim Kardashian have taught us, there's a lot of money in cheesy mobile games. Tencent has purchased Clash of Clans maker Supercell in a deal that values it at $10.2 billion. The Chinese company will acquire Softbank's 73 percent share of the game maker, which grossed $1.35 billion in 2015. The exact purchase price wasn't disclosed, but to pay for it, Tencent formed a consortium and is raising additional debt. Supercell will continue to operate independently from its headquarters in Helsinki, Finland.
The 10 most-tweeted commercials from Super Bowl XLIX
It was a great night for Rob Gronkowski and the New England Patriots, but it wasn't so good for our friend Russell Wilson of the Seattle Seahawks. It also was a great night for brands trying to hold your attention for seconds with ads to get you talking on Twitter. From the usual highbrow suspects selling soda and beer, to toe fungus medication and superglue, here's our take on the most-talked about spots from last night's big game.
Zynga continues to hemorrhage cash for the third quarter in a row
Zynga -- the company that used to take all your cash before you started giving it to Class of Clans and Candy Crush Saga -- is continuing to be exceedingly generous by spending all its cash without making any back, according to its newly released earnings report. The company, which is responsible for your Words with Friends and Farmville addictions, lost $57 million in its most recent quarter, following losses of $62.5 million and $61 million in Q2 and Q1, respectively. Despite the discouraging numbers, Zynga CEO Don Mattrick was surprisingly upbeat following the report, noting that he is "encouraged by the results of the quarter" and promising that the transitional period the company is going through will eventually pay off. King -- which has yet to come up with an original game idea -- and Clash of Clans developer Supercell have been thoroughly wiping the floor with Zynga for a while now, and it seems the company is just beginning to realize that there is no winning that fight. Zynga is now pushing its Zynga Sports 365 franchise as an evergreen option that could bring the company back into the black, so we'll have to wait and see how that goes.
Clash of Clans follow-up Boom Beach hits iOS tomorrow
Mobile developer Supercell will release a follow-up to its free-to-play hit, Clash of Clans, exclusively for iOS tomorrow, Apple announced. Boom Beach expands on Clash of Clans' premise, challenging players to build a shoreline outpost and fortify it from enemy attacks. Like Clash of Clans, players can level up in Boom Beach by attacking other players' settlements, robbing them of gathered resources while advancing in the leaderboard ranks. Developer Supercell announced last month that Clash of Clans earns over $650,000 in microtransaction revenue daily. Clash of Clans currently ranks as North America's single highest-grossing mobile app across all categories on both iTunes and Google Play. [Image: Supercell]
The waiting game: Hands-on with Clash of Clans
Before November 2013, I had never heard of Supercell's Clash of Clans. I'm not much of a mobile gamer, choosing mostly to use my iPad as a machine through which to stream Firefly episodes while I do the dishes or sweep up the immense piles of dog fur created by my ancient German shepherd. But a Thanksgiving holiday spent with friends obsessed with the game piqued my curiosity, as did the fact that Clash of Clans had helped Supercell earn roughly $2.4 million per day through most of 2013. So, a bit begrudgingly, I joined my friends in a clan. And raided goblin villages. And built myself a nice little town. But mostly what I did was wait.
SoftBank buys Clash of Clans developer Supercell, pushes into mobile gaming
Cellular carriers benefit from mobile gaming -- it drives some customers to buy high-end phones, after all -- but it's rare that networks have a big stake in the category. That changes today, as SoftBank (with help from game developer GungHo) has bought Supercell, best known for producing Clash of Clans. SoftBank will run Supercell as a subsidiary, but it's taking a largely hands-off approach that lets the Finnish company manage its own affairs. As to the reasons behind the $1.5 billion deal? The telecom believes that Supercell shares a similar goal of defining entertainment for "the next hundred years." The software designer, meanwhile, sees a chance for international expansion. Neither party is outlining its near-term plans, but the buyout gives Supercell the kind of monetary clout normally reserved for established game giants.
Clash of Clans developer reconsiders iOS exclusivity
Having already made it big in the free-to-play scene on iOS with Clash of Clans, Finnish app development house Supercell may be headed to Android in the hopes of scoring further success overseas. "You can't be global without being in Asia, and you can't be big in Asia without being on Android," Supercell CEO Ilkka Paananen notes in an interview with the Financial Times. At the time of this writing, Supercell's microtransaction-driven Clash of Clans is seated at position No. 110 on the iPhone App Store's Top Free app chart, but ranks a much more favorable No. 3 on the Top Grossing list. That shouldn't come as much of a surprise, as the company has already boasted that its daily revenue tops US$2.4 million. By spreading its wares to Android, the company could gain a foothold in regions where Apple's mobile devices aren't quite as popular, which could beef up its income even further. However, Supercell's iPhone exclusivity has paid off for them in other ways, such as plenty of App Store promotion that undoubtedly boosts sales. In fact, both of Supercell's iOS games -- Clash of Clans and Hay Day -- are currently being promoted in Apple's "Only on iOS" collection on the front page of the App Store. At the end of the day, Supercell has to do what's best for its bottom line, but if the revenue gained by going multi-platform can't surpass the perks of iOS exclusivity, it could pay to stay put. [via TNW]
MV Guide: August 15-21, 2011
MV Guide is a weekly rundown of the MMO gaming events planned on Massively's Livestream channel. Every week, the Massively staff logs in to play various MMOs live and in person, and we'd love for you to drop by the channel and visit. We have a combination of regular weekly games and new surprises, so you'll find a variety of titles to take a look at. During livestream events, you can participate in the live chat, ask questions to learn about the game, and simply spend some time with Massively staff and readers. (Of course, livestream events are subject to the whims of outside forces like server-side gremlins once in a while.) Follow along after the jump to see what's scheduled for this week!
Gunshine releases new gameplay video
It's summer, so you know what that means: It's time to lie back and bask in the Gunshine. Er... wait, what? Oh, right! Forget the outdoors; Gunshine wants you to stay in and get a nice monitor tan as you blast and slash your way through the baddies of Dawnbreak city. To help entice you to come play, the game's creator Supercell has released a new gameplay video to show players what to expect from the action RPG. So if romping through a scummy city while filling everything in your path full of lead sounds like a good time to you, head on past the cut for the brand-new trailer, and don't forget to check out our own Beau Hindman's hands-on coverage of the game.
First Impressions: Gunshine
Gunshine is a good example of a game that will probably be lumped into the "Facebook game" category. I bring this up only because the game uses Facebook as a vehicle for its content, yet it also takes advantage of some of the social aspects of the network. The truth is that it launches in its own window, so really it's as much of a "Facebook game" as Free Realms is. Many MMORPGs of all shapes and sizes use Facebook's social tools occasionally at the same level that Gunshine does. So let's be clear: There is no farming or coin-clicking in Gunshine. It is simply a top-down shooter, and a cute one at that. While I soloed most of the time in the game, I was aided by the occasional extra player or rented NPC mercenary. What I found was a game that has a lot of potential, makes great use of Flash, and is a good amount of fun. But I found plenty of issues as well. Join me past the cut and I'll tell you about it.
