Hot Five

Hot Five: Former Zynga execs launch Dice: Heroes of Whitestone, Tencent raises $3 billion, and Roblox’s Chinese app removed from mainland stores

The hottest news articles on PG.biz

Hot Five: Former Zynga execs launch Dice: Heroes of Whitestone, Tencent raises $3 billion, and Roblox’s Chinese app removed from mainland stores

To keep you up to date on the biggest news in mobile gaming, we round up the five most-read stories on PocketGamer.biz each week.

Read on and digest…

1. Former EA, Zynga execs to launch debut mobile title RPG Dice: Heroes of Whitestone on January 18

Wimo Games has revealed that RPG Dice: Heroes of Whitestone, its debut mobile title, will launch on iOS and Android on January 18, 2022.

Heroes of Whitestone is a "tabletop-inspired" character battler RPG where players rally adventurers through turn-based battles.

2. Freeze on games sees around 14,000 studios close in China in 2021

An estimated 14,000 games development studios have shut down since a freeze on new games licences in China.

The National Press and Publication Administration, tasked with approving new games in China, has not published a list of approved titles since July 2021.

3. Roblox removes Chinese app LuoBuLesi to rebuild

Since launching in July 2021, Roblox has now removed its LuoBuLesi app from the Chinese market.

The game was launched as a platform distinct from the global Roblox in a partnership between Roblox and a Tencent affiliate, and vanished from mainland app stores on December 8, 2021.

4. Tencent raises $3 billion from sale of Sea Group shares

Tencent has raised $3 billion after decreasing its share in Singapore tech firm Sea Group, a holding company for e-commerce platform Shopee and Free Fire developer Garena.

Tencent still maintains a substantial majority share in Sea Group which it plans to preserve. Sea revealed that Tencent has also decreased its voting share in the company to 10 per cent.

5. In-game ads expected to generate $14 billion by 2028

Research Dive has suggested that in-game advertising methods have caused substantial growth within the games industry.

This comes according to a new report from the firm which predicts that by 2028, the in-game advertising market will grow at a CAGR of 11.2 per cent from last year and will generate almost $14 billion.


News Editor

Aaron is the News Editor at PG.biz and has an honours degree in Creative Writing.
Having spent far too many hours playing Pokémon, he's now on a quest to be the very best like no one ever was...at putting words in the right order.