Games industry roundup: The success of Anno 1800, Nintendo pulls mobile games from Belgium, and blockchain game Battle Racers raises $52k

• 1 PC game news and insights

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

  $1.2bn and almost six years later: How Microsoft supports indies with ID@Xbox and Game Pass

  US boss Chris Charla and EU head Agostino Simonetta tell us more

  Why Anno 1800 became the fastest-selling entry in the 21-year-old franchise

  Creative director Dirk Riegert tells us more

  44.5 per cent of The Witcher 3 sales between 2015 and 2018 were on PC

  And over 60 per cent of sales to date are digital

  Australia and New Zealand games markets worth combined $3.1bn in 2018

  Former worth $2.8bn; the latter $355.6m

  Xbox: More research is needed into the effects of games, but we also need to take responsibility

  "Things are a bit spotty and the story isn't complete and we need to learn more"

  
  

• 2 Mobile game news and insights

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

  Battle royale Garena Free Fire generated $90 million in Q1 2019

  Garena Free Fire has performed exceptionally well in Q1, raking in the cash in unlikely markets such as Brazil and Thailand.

  Blizzard learned a "huge number of lessons" from Diablo Immortal reveal

  The reveal of mobile game Diablo Immortal at Blizzcon proved a controversial one and Blizzard J. Allen Brack has admitted the company failed to articulate to its most ardent fans that PC games will always be a core part of the developer.

  Nintendo pulling Fire Emblem Heroes and Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp in Belgium amidst loot box concerns

  Belgium's laws on loot boxes as gambling - which makes them illegal - has caused concern for Nintendo, which has taken the drastic step of pulling some of its games from the Belgium market altogether.

  Weekly global mobile games charts: Game for Peace the second top grosser in China behind Honor of Kings

  Tencent's PUBG Mobile replacement in China Game for Peace has stormed the App Store chart, becoming the second top grosser for the week of May 6th, as well as the second most downloaded free title.

  User acquisition for beginners: A checklist

  AdColony's Troy Nicolaou offers advice on putting together an effective UA campaign.

  
  

• 3 Blockchain game news and insights

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

  Theta Labs secures new funding led by Samsung NEXT and Blockchain

  Theta Labs has managed to close brand new funding thanks to a round led by Samsung NEXT and Blockchain. According to Mitch Liu, the CEO of Theta, the collaboration with these two companies is part of a longer-term re-alignment strategy.

  Battle Racers raises $52k in the first hours of its pre-sale

  Pre-sales are always a challenge for blockchain games, but this isn’t something that Battle Racers has to worry about.

  Hashed leads $2.5 million investment into blockchain UGC platform The Sandbox

  Forthcoming blockchain user-generation content and gaming platform The Sandbox has announced it’s raised $2.5 million.

  Unlocking free-to-play blockchain games: 4 barriers developers must overcome

  Game developers are notorious for jumping on the latest trend and emerging technology. In a mad dash to reimagine business models and player experiences, game companies are aggressive about taking the lead on competition.

  Space Misfits’ KickStarter raises $42,000

  One of the newest entrants to the Enjin multiverse, Space Misfits, is coming up to the start of its alpha. Ahead of this, its Kickstarter has been making some good progress with the fundraising goal of $50,000.