A new bug from Apple, a game from Zynga and a report from App Annie in the news of the week for a mobile developer

New Apple Device Vulnerability

In one of the previous releases, we wrote about a bug that allowed using a specially configured router to enter all iPhones in its area of ​​operation into an endless reboot cycle. This time, the developers have again surpassed themselves ; now they can cause disruptions on your iPhone, iPad or Apple Watch due to a simple text message.



The reason for the failure is the inability to display a specific Unicode string. If you send it with a message on the iPhone, it will stop running the Messages application. And if, in addition, the message appears as a notification on the lock screen, the device will immediately reboot.

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If you received the same message, to restore your device, you need to send yourself a few empty messages, thereby removing the dangerous notification from the lock screen.







Apple is currently working to correct this error.

The future of monetization is view-to-play

The former head of the Rovio gaming division, Jami Laes, founded his own mobile gaming startup, Futureplay Games. In future projects, the studio will bet not on the familiar free-to-play model, but on the view-to-play.

Jami Laez, the former head of the gaming division of Rovio, founded his own mobile gaming startup Futureplay Games and claims that the future of gaming projects lies in a view-to-play model, rather than a free-to-play common today.



The view-to-play monetization model offers the user, instead of a transaction, to simply view video ads to continue playing. According to Jami Laez, this model naturally combines affordable gameplay and advertising monetization. It is easier for users to accept this model than to spend real money in a free game. “We believe in the view-to-play model for a simple reason - it’s cheaper, faster and easier to see ads than to do an IAP,” Laes says.



But somehow it does not look like a "new era in mobile games." Already today you can find a lot of projects where players get game currency for viewing video ads. Perhaps the Futureplay Games will surprise the genre or the platform in order to advertise, but this is still unknown. The team has already entered Kai Auvinen, the former art director of Digital Chocolate, and Mika Rahko, who worked for Rovio as an executive producer, as well as other game development veterans. We will see what happens and if they can surprise the market.

New match-3 from Zynga

Zynga has launched its new game on the mobile market in the quite good match-3 genre. The game is part of the famous franchise, as seen from FarmVille: Harvest Swap.



Well, there is an attempt to pick up a piece of the market, full of sweet carrots, cabbage and apples with pineapples ... in general, he pisses me off other farm products from King. The company clearly hopes to attract some of the people who have already played or played in the hit FarmVille, those who could combine the love of farming with a passion for three-in-a-row games.



Mark Turmell, the creative director of the San Diego studio, said in an interview that those who play in the FarmVille line of games will have certain advantages, since playing one game a player can earn resources for another. And he said that Zynga created the game, not least because it could bring something new to the genre with stagnant gameplay, like this. "We created a new mechanic ... You can drag and drop, or draw a line through different objects, and not just swap them."



The game came out quite recently, we are promised more social things in the future, but there is already a tornado in the game, is it worth it to pull? Let's try, see if someone can drag someone’s blanket, well, or at least a piece of it.

App Annie: game index for April 2015

Mobile analytical company App Annie summed up the previous month . In the review for April 2015: the leaders of the world game charts on the App Store and Google Play, trends in the mobile industry and much more. App Annie presented the results of mobile analytics for April 2015. The report lists the leaders of the App Store and Google Play gaming ratings, trends in the mobile industry and much more.







Such companies as General Adaptive Apps, XPEC and Tencent are approaching the download leaders, but the Finns from Rovio continue to fall - they have lost three more points. In the top 10 of the ranking in terms of revenue, the Chinese company NetEase is rushing in rapidly, adding 24 points. Her flagship project, an RPG called Fantasy Westward Journey, immediately fell to 6th place in the world top box. This is a title based on the same game of the same genre for the PC. The game was released in late April in China and unconditionally holds the championship in all categories in the local App Store. Interestingly, the game has not yet been localized, and in the American market, it has already hit the top hundred best-selling!







On the downloads of games in the top ten, all without any special changes, but with box-office hits more and more interesting. Raven South Korean role-playing shooter climbed to 8th place, while the Chinese MMORPG Fantasy Westward Journey immediately fell to 6th place in the world top box. Perhaps in the near future it will rise even higher, since with localization it can win a much larger audience in Europe and the USA.

Released "Rating of mobile developers in Russia 2015" by Tagline

Tagline published a rating of mobile developers in Russia in 2015 , which is based on a survey of companies specializing in mobile development (to a lesser extent - design), as well as web studios and digital agencies with a production and / or client office in Russia, with the highest weight had the voices of mobile developers. The final position of the company in the rating was influenced by the completed business indicators, as well as the assessment of the portfolio, client list and other important indicators by the experts and moderators of Tagline.



Oddly enough, in the rankings not to meet many mobile developers of game projects that could easily compete with the leaders, but perhaps this is just a problem with the provision of some data that is necessary for participation ...

The creators of the Barbie doll and Animoca Brands will release mobile games together

In our past issues we talked about celebrity games. So I thought that there was nowhere else to fall, but it turns out that there is no. For example, release a game with a Barbie doll. Just kidding All sorts of games are needed, all sorts of games are important!



The rightholder Barbie Mattel and the mobile division of Animoca Brands have announced cooperation and joint plans to release games on Mattel brands. In my humble opinion, this is a rather strange collaboration. Animoca Brands is not the most famous company on the market, although they specialize in creating games by brand. However, everyone can evaluate their portfolio .





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