Games industry roundup: Epic opens studio in Cologne, Dr. Mario makes $1.4m in first month, and Cooking Mama heads to the blockchain

• 1 PC game news and insights

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

  Epic Games opens new Cologne studio

  The German studio is part of the company’s plan to expand its focus on new streaming technologies and interactive media.

  Q2 GPU revenue down 20% year-on-year at Nvidia

  Computer hardware giant Nvidia has reported a 20 per cent decline in revenue from the GPU segment of its business.

  Xbox's Spencer takes issue with Google's no lag Stadia promise

  Microsoft's games boss Phil Spencer has said that companies involved in games streaming should not promise an experience free of lag.

  THQ Nordic acquires three new studios, Dead Island 2 has another new dev and there's more Saints Row on the way

  European publishing giant THQ Nordic has added two developers to its portfolio in addition to an investment outfit. It also confirmed that a new Saints Row title is in development.

  Only 19 developers have backed G2A’s proposed key blocking tool

  Global digital marketplace G2A’s proposed key blocking tool only has 19 studios supporting it. The company stated the tool would only go ahead if 100 devs signed up.

  
  

• 2 Mobile game news and insights

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

  New Zealand hyper-casual start-up JaffaJam wants to shake up the sector

  The new studio is headed up by CEO Jon Beattie and former SEGA producer, COO Alex Humphries. Its first game Mountain Madness is built on its BubbleGum tool, which the company is making available to third-party developers.

  Investor bails Loot Crate out after company goes bankrupt

  Nerd subscription box firm Loot Crate has filed for Chapter 11 voluntary bankruptcy in Delaware, with an investor stumping up cash to keep the company afloat in the aftermath.

  Dr. Mario World’s first month revenue is Nintendo’s lowest on mobile to date

  Nintendo’s Dr. Mario World has ended its first month of launch with $1.4 million in revenue, the lowest number made by any mobile game from the Japanese firm.

  Huawei unveils new Android rival HarmonyOS

  The company said the first use-cases for the brand new OS will be smartwatches, smart screens, in-vehicle systems and smart speakers. The first smart TVs using HarmonyOS are due to launch later this year. However the company is likely to bring the OS to smartphones eventually.

  Tencent was the top grossing global apps publisher in July

  Earning an estimated $679 million in user spending for the month, the Chinese company saw a growth of 39 per cent year-on-year from July 2018. This estimate does not include sales from third-party Android stores.
  

  
  

• 3 Blockchain game news and insights

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

  Sentiment remains positive for blockchain games, with The Sandbox the most anticipated title

  Following our first Blockchain Game Sentiment Survey in January, we’re back to take the pulse of the industry, both in terms of how 2019 has panned out so far, and what’s expected in the future.

  Cooking Mama: Cookstar giving players a taste of blockchain (maybe)

  Cooking Mama is coming to Nintendo Switch with some very interesting new features. While it’s expected to launch during the fall of 2019, Planet Digital Partners has announced that Cooking Mama could be hitting the blockchain.

  WAX claims $400 million-worth of lifetime NFT trading

  As WAX prepares to complete its transition from ERC20 to native tokens – deadline 30 August – CEO William Quigley has released some interesting stats on the project’s progress so far.

  Terra Virtua and WAX bring ‘millions’ of NFTs to the Virtual Reality world

  Having previously collaborated in order to bring a wide range of weapons to the virtual world. With the latest joint announcement from Worldwide Asset eXchange (WAX) and Terra Virtua, that list is about to explode in size.

  DMarket launches new ‘multi-million’ dollar platform

  DMarket has invested a considerable amount of time and resources into the process of decentralizing markets for users. To be more specific, for those looking trade in-game assets and monetize their time.