Crossovers
Subway Surfers and Crossy Road collide in first-ever crossover event
Event will include limited edition crossover characters and other surprises
Game Closure
Square Enix to shut down War of the Visions: Final Fantasy Brave Exvius after five years
The title will remain playable until May 29th, 2025
New Partnerships
Banijay Rights and Tactile Games partner to launch Simon’s Cat Match on mobile
The title is now available on FireOS, Android and iOS devices
Spending Star
Honkai: Star Rail rockets past $2bn on mobile in under two years
The gacha RPG has taken 10 months longer than Genshin Impact to hit the milestone, but now frequently outperforms HoYoverse's flagship
Investing In India
Qila Games raises $1m to develop hybridcasual games tailored to Indian players
Funds will go towards creating new IPs and expanding its games portfolio
Partner Up
Krafton launches Creator Network to support gaming content creators
Influencers can get in-game rewards, early access to new titles, and event invites
Ready To Rumble
Behind the scenes of Sonic Rumble's delay, development and the Rovio x Sega partnership
Rovio's head of beacon growth Veli Kiviaho teases crossover content and a desire to reach "busier players"
Deal Tracker
Show Me The Money: Jam City agrees Ludia sale, Scopely's rumoured $3.5bn Niantic deal, and MTG acquires Plarium in February 2025
Our deal tracker highlights the key acquisitions, investments, and partnerships from the last month
Funding For Games
Felicity Games raises $3m to boost Indian game publishing and global expansion
Publisher aims to provide Indian studios with the tools and support to compete globally.
New Studio
Virtuos opens new studio in Seoul
The South Korean developer is actively hiring to fill roles in the new office and is open to partnerships
Interview
How STAN aims to become India's Discord
STAN CEO and co-founder Parth Chadha talks building a Discord competitor, untapped opportunities, and identifying gaps in India's games industry.
Raining With Revenue
Wuthering Waves rides the wave to $250m after Version 2.0’s major comeback
Version 2.0 triggered a 178% spending surge on release day, followed by a 169% boost with Version 2.1
Shares Synchrony
Trump tariffs hit Japanese games companies as shares in Nintendo, Sony, DeNA and Capcom fall
US president Donald Trump’s latest 20% tariff on Chinese imports to the US appear to be having a knock-on effect on shareholders’ confidence in Japanese game makers
Expansions
Appcharge expands into North America and Korea with new leadership hires
Sean Megaw will drive North American growth while Jin Woo Hong is set to lead its South Korea operations
Ar Attraction
How Pokémon Go developer Niantic's games stack up ahead of a potential Scopely acquisition
Rumours around Scopely’s potential AR acquisitions gets us diving into the numbers behind Niantic’s whole catalogue
New Deal
Blizzard grants NetEase greater decision-making power over its games in China
Renewed partnership could lead to China-exclusive content like culturally inspired skins
New Offerings
Konami resurrects 30-year-old IP with mobile RPG Suikoden: Star Leap
The title will be free-to-play and feature in-app purchases
Tour For More
Pokémon Go Tour Unova – Global weekend made $19.8m in two days
The free event with optional paid extras saw in-game spending at its highest since the eighth anniversary last July
Valiant Victory
Goddess of Victory: Nikke hits $1bn on mobile during Romantic Valentine event
More than half of that player spending has come from the game’s Japanese players
New Approvals
China approves 110 new games including Plants vs. Zombies 3
The latest game approvals include 107 domestic titles and three foreign games
Branding News
Longstanding games services firm PTW rebrands as Side
"I’m proud that all our employees are now united under one banner"
Investment News
Triple Tap Games secures $1.2m for hybridcasual puzzle games
The team is led by former Crazy Labs and Super Huge Studios staff
China Regulations
Shanghai unveils new online game policies to ease licensing challenges
The city also introduced the Shanghai Online Game Publishing Application Service Platform
Ready To Rumble
Sonic Rumble global launch delayed to spring
The title will launch on mobile and Steam
Critical Hit
Pokémon TCG Pocket surpasses 100 million downloads
Special missions are now available until March 26th, 2025
Event Partnership
Xsolla partners with Pocket Gamer Connects to support mobile developers in 2025
Games commerce company will provide expertise in direct-to-consumer monetisation to developers across the globe
Cross-platform Release
Pokémon Champions is set to launch for Nintendo Switch and mobile
No release date set for the title
Pokemon Day
Pokémon Day 2025: Just how big a deal are Pokémon’s mobile games?
Whether it’s Pokémon TCG Pocket or Pokémon Go, the franchise has a few mobile games worth knowing about ahead of today’s Pokémon Presents
A Successful Snooze
Pokémon Sleep hits $150m mark despite slowdown since first anniversary
Japan is the app's most lucrative country at $109m to date
New Partnerships
The9 and Qing Cheng partner to dominate China’s lower-tier mobile games market
The9 will hold a 51% stake in the joint venture while Qing Cheng will own 49%.
Mobile Growth
Bilibili's mobile game revenue soars 79% in Q4 sparking company's first-ever profitable quarter
2024 release San Guo: Mou Ding Tian Xia leads the charge in growing games business
Mena Guide
Seven reasons why you can't ignore the MENA market
Discover why the MENA region is becoming a global hotspot for business growth in the games industry
Company Restructure
Big Fish Games to halt new game development and reduce investment in portfolio
Aristocrat Leisure fails to find a buyer for Big Fish following a review of its games business
Spend And Survive
Last War: Survival surpasses $2bn after record player spending in early 2025
Strategy title generated a record $212m in January 2025
Esports World Cup
Esports World Cup Foundation partners with Tencent for China expansion
A ''development team'' will also be formed to increase esports engagement and industry collaboration in China
Levelling Up
Netmarble escapes the red with $4.6m net profit after two years of losses
The dev earned $1.95 billion in revenue in 2024
Podcast | Episode 42
How Brawl Stars succeeded and Squad Busters struggled, and AppLovin's $900m games fire sale | Week in Mobile Games podcast
The PocketGamer.biz podcast team give you the state of play every week. Here's where to get it and and what's inside this week's episode 42...
Earnings Report
Nazara reports $61.5 million revenue in Q3 FY25 as gaming segment grows 53%
Gaming growth is fuelled by Fusebox Games acquisition and strong performance from Animal Jam
Capybara Cash
Habby’s Capybara Go surpasses $100m in gross player spending
The US is this text-based roguelike’s third-biggest market despite being among the latest launch regions
Pokemon Power
Pokémon Trading Card Game Pocket has a "very high retention rate compared to other DeNA games"
DeNA made $120.4m in games profit during TCG Pocket’s release quarter, versus $9.7m in Q2
Mena Expansion
Roblox rolls out Arabic language support
The UGC platform has seen daily active users grow by an average of 80% across five MENA countries
Profitable Pokemon
DeNA’s games business profits up 8,126.8% after Pokémon TCG Pocket’s success
Nine months into its fiscal year, DeNA attributed profits surge in part to Pocket’s "strong performance"
Leadership Change
Koei Tecmo appoints Hisashi Koinuma as new CEO
He will replace co-founder Yoichi Erikawa as president and CEO effective from April 2025
Expansions
Mobile ad platform Adjoe opens new offices in Tokyo and Singapore
The ads platform has tapped industry experts to lead its Asia-Pacific expansion
Shifting Up
Shift Up revenue up 30% to $151m in 2024 despite decrease in Goddess of Victory: Nikke sales
The South Korean developer acknowledged "fierce" competition in the industry but asserted Goddess of Victory: Nikke’s "possibility of long-term success"
Financials
Sega’s net sales slide down 8% year-over-year as Football Manager 25 skips release
Entertainment division saw 8% growth during the past nine months
Ai In Games
KGeN and Mira Network partner to build AI agents in games
KGeN will also use Mira's APIs, like Generate, Verify, and Verified Generate to create gaming AI tools
Esports In Mena
Olympic Esports Games in Saudi Arabia delayed to 2027
The IOC did not provide a reason for the delay, but confirmed that qualification will begin this year
Financials
Mobile sales slump hits Square Enix profits
MMOs have proven Square Enix’s only growing games segment nine months into the current fiscal year
Dubai What To Expect
What to expect at Dubai GameExpo Summit 2025 the premier hub for MENA game industry investment
Discover exclusive insights, unmatched networking, and investment opportunities in the fastest-growing games market