Games
How To Develop Global Multiplayer Games Using Cloud Spanner
Most modern video games require years of investment to produce, both in terms of development time and capital. The length of development is influenced by a number of factors, such as scale, development platform, scope, and type of game. Gamers often expect global multiplayer experiences on Day 1, which means that the success of a …
How Battle Passes Can Boost Engagement And Monetization In Your Game
Introduction Battle passes (or season passes) have grown increasingly popular in mobile games. With as many as 30 of the top 100 games on Google Play now featuring a battle pass. Recently, game developers have continued to invest in and innovate with battle passes as a primary method of driving engagement, retention and monetization. This …
Insights Into Latin America’s $3.5 Billion Mobile Games Market: Players, Payers, Revenues, Esports & Market Dynamics
This article is part of a partnership between Newzoo and Google. The mobile games market in Latin America is vast and growing, generating $3.5 billion in revenues via consumer spending in 2021, as shown in our new Global Games Market Report (download the free version here). In this article, we will explore some of our actionable …
Succeeding In 4x Strategy Games
Co-authored by Howard Chen, Developer Growth Consultant at Google Play and David Eckelberry, VP and General Manager at Scopely. They discuss the game genre, how the Scopely team approached Star Trek™ Fleet Command, and how other game developers can find success in the genre on Google’s Apps, Games, & Insights podcast. Read the full Google …
Developing For Equality And Building Inclusive Apps
No one wants to be an outsider. From big corporations to small businesses, and in our day-to-day lives, being inclusive is now part of how we live and work. This article explains the approach to inclusivity taken at Drops and explores how we brought lesser-known indigenous languages to our learners. Drops: the language game Drops …
Celebrating The Developers Behind The Best Apps And Games Of 2020
Today, we announced Google Play’s annual Best of 2020 awards, highlighting the year’s best apps, games and digital content. None of this would be possible without the developers that created the amazing content that made a profound impact on us in 2020, or should we say a Genshin Impact … From miHoYo Limited to …
Green Game Jam: Environmentally Conscious Gaming
This year, Space Ape Game brought together 11 rival game studios to encourage 250 million players to do something practical about caring for the environment. How the story began Around this time last year, we decided Space Ape should start taking responsibility for its part in the climate crisis. We put together a small team …
Pre-launch Testing For Mobile Games: Tools And Best Practices On Google Play
A guide to Google Play’s pre-launch tools The months leading up to a game’s release are critically important to make it a lasting success. Due to the potential costs of launching and running a game, developers are increasingly running more layers of testing before release to ensure any problems are fixed before the public is …
Microsoft Acquires Game Studio Ahead Of Xbox Launch
One day before the official start of pre-orders for the new Xbox Series X and Series S, Microsoft bolstered its video game line-up with the acquisition of ZeniMax Media, parent company of Bethesda, the game studio and publisher behind iconic franchises such as The Elder Scrolls, Fallout and DOOM, to name only a few. The deal, valued …
The Biggest Free-To-Play Cash Cows Of 2019
Shortly after its launch in September 2017, Fortnite took over the lives of millions of teenagers around the world, becoming what was definitely the biggest gaming hype of 2018. By March 2019, Fortnite had amassed 250 million registered players and despite being free-to-play, the cross-platform game also turned into a major financial success for its developer Epic Games. According …