Games industry round-up: The hottest stories across the mobile, blockchain and influencer sectors

• 1 Mobile news and insight

  

  Four years on: The rise, fall and rise again of Kim Kardashian: Hollywood

  Kim Kardashian: Hollywood is a go-to example of how the games industry can partner with celebrities successfully. But it wasn’t all clean sailing.

  After early struggles French dev Oh BiBi has its eyes on the big time with $21m investment

  French developer Oh BiBi’s COO discusses how the studio fought back from tough times in its early stages to its recent $21 million funding round.

  Why MZ CEO Gabe Leydon has left mobile games for blockchain data outfit Satori

  MZ is one of mobile gaming’s most infamous studios, behind games such as Game of War, Mobile Strike and Final Fantasy XV: A New Empire. Now its CEO Gabe Leydon has left the multi-billion dollar studio behind for spin-off blockchain data company Satori. But why?

  “The stories that they told us were so moving": The making of My Child Lebensborn

  Teknopilot’s Elin Festøy goes through how the team made the title, which depicts the story of the Lebensborn children and their subsequent treatment after World War II.

  Indie dev lambasts recently flush publisher Voodoo for ‘clone’ Hole.io

  Casual games publisher Voodoo's Hole.io is a clone of upcoming iOS release Donut County, according to the latter game's indie developer Ben Esposito.

  
  

• 2 Influencer news and insight

  

  Here are the five hottest stories from our sister-site InfluencerUpdate.biz for the last week.

  VidCon's new grant will give an emerging YouTuber $2,000 every week

  Creator convention VidCon has announced that it will give an emerging YouTuber $2,000 every week to support rising YouTubers.

  Playstation Access' Hollie Bennett on how making YouTube content can improve your career

  Playstation Access' Hollie Bennett on how developing YouTube skills can improve your career no matter where you are.

  E3 2018 propels Twitch to new concurrent viewer record

  LA video games showcase E3 this year helped Twitch set a new viewer record of 2.9m concurrent users.

  Mobcrush releases a new streaming tool allowing creators to broadcast on multiple platforms at once

  Mobile tech platform Mobcrush has released a new streaming tool for iOS, allowing creators to broadcast on multiple platforms at once.

  Infographic: The evolution of social media

  On Social Media Day, Vamp CEO Aaron Brooks takes us through the evolution of the format in a lovely infographic, from Six Degrees to Selfie Mania.

  
  

• 3 Blockchain news and insight

  

  Here are the five hottest stories from our sister-site BlockchainGamer.biz for the last week.

  How blockchain platform Ultra plans to become Steam on steroids for PC games

  “You can buy games, resell games, buy game items, play games, play in tournaments, bet on tournaments and get tokens for engaging with advertising and through affiliate fees when your friends join.”

  WAX’s Malcolm CasSelle on building the ultimate game item marketplace on the blockchain

  “This is a marketplace-as-a-service, enabling everyone to have their own Amazon.”

  Comparing the revenue split for blockchain PC game distributors

  Following our recent interview with blockchain PC game distribution outfit Ultra, I thought it was time to start digging into the sector more deeply.

  OPSkins claims early success for blockchain VGO item economy

  According to DappRadar, VGO is already top-ranked in the Collectibles category with a 7-day transaction volume valued at 394.42 ETH (around $180,000) and 9,929 transactions.

  B2Expand introduces the Blockchain Game Summit

  Established by the video game studio, B2Expand, the Blockchain Summit aims to connect both blockchain and game developers to build a more collaborative, democratic future for both.