ClashOfClans
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Iran bans 'Clash of Clans' for encouraging tribal conflict
The Iranian government has been censoring internet for years to keep its citizens from exposing themselves to content it deems inappropriate or radical. Now the people have been saved from another toxic scourge: The mobile game Clash of Clans. The country's Ministry of Justice has recommended the app be blocked under the auspices of protecting youth from its influence, which the government claims promotes tribal warfare.
'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.
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]
Daily iPhone App: Solara stands out from the clash of clones
Clash of Clans is one of the freemium sim titles making lots of money on the App Store, and so it's no surprise that the market has been flooded with clones lately; games where you build up a town Farmville-style, and then send troops from that town out into the world to complete quests. Solara is one of these: You use gold earned by building shops in town to create more buildings and unlock heroes, and then you can use those heroes to defeat monsters and earn more gold. But what sets Solara off from the rest of games like this on the App Store is its design and charm. This isn't just a generic freemium title. First time iOS developer Esper Labs has put plenty of heart into the different facilities you build and the heroes you level up, and that extra effort makes the game's familiar cycle shine. Unfortunately, Solara still leans a bit too much towards the casual side for some hardcore fans -- personally, I'd like a little more action in the battles. As it is now, they essentially just play out without any input from the player, which can be frustrating when you've made a mistake lining up your team. Most of the depth comes from choosing your heroes to fight, which all have different skills and strengths. But it'd be nice to see a developer try to really make the periodic fights in these games actual tests of skill or game knowledge, rather than just animations (which are skippable, even) playing out as they go. Still, Esper Labs is looking for that huge Clash of Clans audience, and that audience is completely fine with just letting the game play itself. If you haven't tried one of these games yet, or maybe have gotten tired of just playing CoC all the time, Solara's worth a look. It's a well-made game with a cycle that's just as addictive as always, and of course it's free to play. I do wish, however, that instead of just adding its design talent to the standard formula, Esper Labs had tried to add a little bit more.
