AppMagic, a service used to determine the market for mobile apps and games, has raised $3 million in a new round of seed funding.The bulk of it ($2.5 million) comes from Gem Capital, a Cyprus-based company that's previously aided developers like Mundfish and Sad Cat Studios. With the funding, AppMagic plans to build out staff for international territories.Per the press release, that expansion will involve dedicated teams recognizing the "specific sales approaches" for the US, China, Korea, and Japan.Gem managing director Kirill Guskiy explained the firm was impressed with AppMagic growing into "the third-largest mobile marketing intelligence tool" by client numbers. The funding was also spurred by fellow analyst tool Data.ai being acquired by Sensor Tower in March.…
Last week, publisher Skystone Games announced its Early Access shooter Boundary is going offline at the end of June. But what first sounded like a standard tale of an online game going down is actually more thornier than expected.In the announcement for the game's closure, Skystone claimed it'd give publishing rights to developer Surgical Scalpels. It then went on to claim the studio failed to update and improve the game, in turn leading to "growing concerns" from players.But as PCGamer spotted, Surgical Scalpels has a different side of the story. Per the developer's translated post, Skystone allegedly (and abruptly) decided to stop supporting Boundary, a move it called "unreasonable and unfair to [us] and the players.""We immediately negotiated with…
Swedish conglomerate Embracer Group is transforming into three standalone publicly listed companies that will reflect its interest in unique market segments.The move will see Embracer reshuffle some elements of its video game business into a new company called 'Coffee Stain & Friends,' which it claims will become "the leading and most innovative developer of community-driven games for PC/console and mobile.""As a standalone company, 'Coffee Stain & Friends' will be able to better showcase its high margin profile and strong cash flow profile coupled with an enhanced ability to resume and allocate resources towards opportunities to maximize the long-term value creation," reads a press release.Coffee Stain & Friends will operate under two di…
Another shakeup has hit Ubisoft, as chief portfolio officer Sandrine Caloiaro has left the French developer.Per Ethan Gach's Dead Game, Caloiaro left two years into her most recent position. She'd been with Ubisoft for a decade, first starting out as a VP for its consumer and market knowledge team.As Gach noted, her leadership resulted in a "player-first" focus that dictated the direction of Ubisoft's big franchises. This led to an alleged "power struggle" over their creative direction and monetization.It's not clear as to why Caloiaro left, or her future prospects, but Ubisoft claims it was her choice. Its statement called her "instrumental in building…[our] consumer and market knowledge practice, and in accelerating the development of our po…