Hot Five
Hot Five: Supercell’s strategy, Aptoide vs Google, and the UK Games Fund’s £28.5m pledge
Our quick-fix roundup of the hottest stories on PocketGamer.biz
Staff
Aaron Astle
Job Title
News Editor
About 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.
Articles by Aaron Astle
Page 1 of 45
Next »
Page 1 of 45
Next »
Disney Deluge
Disney Solitaire celebrates first anniversary with $230.9m in player spending
Total earnings are likely higher including D2C and ad revenue
New Games
New release roundup: Jetpack Joyride Racing, Mongil: Star Dive, Chill with You: Lo-Fi Story, and more
We highlight the latest new games that have broken cover over the past week
Studio Startup
Barcelona-based Side Quest Games establishes to make sports games for "underserved" fans
The studio has been co-founded by Alexandre Besenval and Oscar Jardi
Jobs Roundup
April 2026's Movers and Shakers: Scopely, Rovio, Blizzard, Ubisoft, King, and more
Our regular roundup of the mobile games industry's movers and shakers
Enhancing Esports
ESL FACEIT Group teams up with KICK for esports streams
Viewership of Counter-Strike and Dota 2 competitions will aim to expand in the MENA region
Titan Tech
Supercell’s Titan engine: Spanning flagships to "the cheapest, oldest Android handset" in the world
The "homegrown" engine is built for mobile and aims to enable reach to as many players as possible
Game Pass
Xbox Game Pass "too expensive for players", as per leaked memo
New Microsoft Gaming EVP and CEO Asha Sharma’s internal memo has been leaked
Disney Development
Epic Games reportedly developing a Disney extraction shooter
A Bloomberg report suggests the new game will launch in November this year
Uk Valuation
UK games market hit record £8.8bn in 2025
Latest figures from Ukie highlight impacts of digital software, mobile and transmedia
New Games
New release roundup: Borderlands Mobile, Netflix Playground, Sea of Stars, and more
We highlight the latest new games that have broken cover over the past week
Discord Developments
Selfless spending, linked accounts and how developers get the most out of Discord
Discord senior developer Anthony Tešija talks increasing play sessions and getting users spending on games they play, as well as games they don’t
Afk Arena Anniversary
AFK Arena celebrates seventh anniversary and over $1.5bn in lifetime earnings
The game is now being surpassed by sequel AFK Journey, but remains among Lilith Games’ most lucrative titles over its lifetime
Gearing Up
Exel Gaming Accelerator reopens with up to $300,000 in funding for third cohort
The programme is particularly designed for startups looking to grow in Saudi Arabia
Dragonfire Dawn
Game of Thrones: Dragonfire opens pre-registrations with 10m target
The tactical title has five tiers of rewards depending on the number of pre-registrations reached
Mario Money
The Super Mario Galaxy Movie jumps to $372.6m at box office in five days
Nintendo and Illumination’s sequel title follows 2023’s The Super Mario Bros. Movie, the first film based on a game IP to surpass $1bn
Resurgence Revenue
The Division Resurgence makes $717,000 in first seven days
Ubisoft’s new shooter fell slightly short of Rainbow Six Mobile’s recent week-one earnings, but peaked higher
M&a Milestone
Games industry M&A hits $7.7bn in Q1 2026 led by Savvy Games Group
Mobile led M&A during the quarter, with deals by Scopely, NCCSOFT, Nazara and others
Hot Five
Hot Five: Inside King’s London studio, how h8games reinvented itself, and Sonic Rumble’s rebrand
Our quick-fix roundup of the hottest stories on PocketGamer.biz
New Games
New release roundup: The Division Resurgence, Dredge+, Toy Command, and more
We highlight the latest new games that have broken cover over the past week
Exclusive Inside Look
Inside King’s London headquarters: "We have people in the London studio working on all of our titles"
PocketGamer.biz receives an invitation into King’s London office, to speak with president Todd Green and others
Planetary Plans
Closed beta for HoYoverse’s Petit Planet will feature new neighbours and enhanced Starsea Voyages
Fans can sign up for the beta test coming April 21st, available on PC and mobile
Sonic Shift
Sonic Rumble rebranded to Sonic Rumble Party as it adds new features and removes game modes
The party royale has made an estimated $1.6m on mobile
Sporting Surprise
Candy Crush takeover at the Intuit Dome aims for broader brand recognition
Among the mascots, actress Anna Faris was revealed to be inside the Bubblegum Troll
Model Analysis
Fire Emblem Shadows earns just $578,000 in first six months, less than 1% of Fire Emblem Heroes
Shadows and Heroes share an IP but opt for different genres and monetisation models
Fortnite Figures
Fortnite lands 5.7m downloads on Google Play after comeback, but chart rankings are mixed
Epic Games’ flagship peaked at second in the global download charts, but has topped Brazil and Mexico’s for over a week
Hot Five
Hot Five: Wuthering Waves 3.0 and beyond, Budge Studios’ Nickelodeon partnership, and Roblox to take cut of in-game brand deals
Our quick-fix roundup of the hottest stories on PocketGamer.biz
Personal Pets
How Monopoly Go's Pets Season sparked 12,000 fan submissions and community engagement
This two-month season includes players’ pets as stickers, brand-new Style Tokens and a charity initiative
Update Insights
Developing Wuthering Waves: "Every addition requires months or longer to meet our quality standards"
The Kuro Games team talks narrative foundations, engagement, version 3.0 and beyond
Hot Five
Hot Five: GDC 2026, ByteDance to sell Moonton, and Candy Crush’s "incredibly valuable" feedback loop
Our quick-fix roundup of the hottest stories on PocketGamer.biz
New Games
New release roundup: Fortnite, Taimanin Squad, Goritaire, and more
We highlight the latest new games that have broken cover over the past week
Finding Fortnite
Fortnite is back on the Google Play Store today
Epic’s flagship returns after more than 5.5 years
Major Milestone
King’s Farm Heroes Saga officially hits $2 billion
PocketGamer.biz has learned that Farm Heroes Saga reached the $2 billion lifetime revenue mark
Candy Campaign
How a Candy Crush video series triggered an "incredibly valuable" feedback loop
Fans give constructive feedback off the back of behind-the-scenes series Crush & Tell
Nominations Named
No mobile games nominated for Best Game at BAFTA Games Awards 2026
Nominations are now public, and mobile’s appearance is sparse
Tencent Tech
Tencent showcases AI lighting tech MagicDawn at GDC
Open-world MMO Roco Kingdom: World was used as a demonstration of new capabilities
Hot Five
Hot Five: Loom Games' $1bn exit, Scopely’s 15th anniversary, and Kingshot’s $800m first year
Our quick-fix roundup of the hottest stories on PocketGamer.biz
New Games
New release roundup: Nova Drift, Subnautica: Below Zero, Overcooked! All You Can Eat, and more
We highlight the latest new games that have broken cover over the past week
Kingshot Crown
Kingshot’s first year: $800m, 11 months of growth, but backlash from whales
Century Games’ Kingshot was the most lucrative new mobile release of 2025
Jobs Roundup
March 2026's Movers and Shakers: Pokémon’s product marketing manager, multiple King promotions, founding Rocket Game Talent, and more
Our regular roundup of the mobile games industry's movers and shakers
Bossfight Comeback
Squid Game: Unleashed dev Boss Fight Entertainment relaunches as indie studio Bossfight
The original studio was shuttered under Netflix due to a change in course at the streaming giant
Compatibility Test
Rovio’s Beacon tech "indispensable" to its own games but less compatible with Sega’s
Sega has yet to achieve "the level of results that had been expected" prior to Rovio’s acquisition
Friends And Features
Discord expands its Social SDK with native mobile linking and focus on friends
Discord users will now see a linked friend’s status in-game, such as competing or watching
Scopely Celebration
Scopely celebrates 15 years with more than $15bn in lifetime revenue
The publisher has achieved over 150bn hours of playtime across its portfolio
Rainbow Six Start
Rainbow Six Mobile snaps up $1.6m in first 14 days
Player spending has been led by the US since global launch, already surpassing any country with soft launch access
Building A Brand
Angry Birds: "unfair advantage", marketing strategies, and competing in the UA auction
We speak with Rovio’s VP of marketing Luis de la Camara during Pocket Gamer Connects London 2026
Clash Comeback
Clash Royale celebrates 10 years and $4.9bn in player spending after resurgence
2025 was a major comeback year for the title, bolstered by changes to daily battles, influencers and more
Trump's Tariffs
Nintendo is suing the US government over Trump’s tariffs
Nintendo’s net profit were up 51% with the Switch 2’s release, but may have seen even greater growth without tariffs in the US
Hot Five
Hot Five: Google cuts mobile games fee, AppsFlyer halts $1.9bn sale talks, and Hay Day Match unveiled
Our quick-fix roundup of the hottest stories on PocketGamer.biz
New Games
New release roundup: Stoneage Idle Adventure, Hatch Dragons, Angry Birds Friends, and more
We highlight the latest new games that have broken cover over the past week