China’s rising chart power, Warzone Mobile’s final months and Pokémon Go’s PvP update | Week in Views
The games industry moves quickly and while stories may come and go there are some that we just can't let go of…
So, to give those particularly thorny topics a further going over we've created a weekly digest where the members of the PocketGamer.biz team share their thoughts and go that little bit deeper on some of the more interesting things that have happened in mobile gaming in the past week.
Craig Chapple
This week we analysed the world’s top grossing mobile games publishers across the App Store and Google Play. This, of course, does not include direct-to-consumer spend, ad revenue or transactions on alternative Android stores.
One of the big stories for January was that Chinese developer Microfun broke into the global top 10 rankings for the first time. The company’s success comes off the back of merge game Gossip Harbor, which has grown into one of the world’s top revenue-generating mobile titles.
The formula was also copied for the less successful Seaside Escape. But by less success I mean a game that’s generated nearly $500 million.
It’s yet another example of Chinese developers finding global success in markets outside of China. None of that estimated revenue comes from China.
In January, Microfun joined fellow Chinese companies Tencent, Century Games and Netease in the top 10.
It’s not just that companies from the country are leading in categories like 4X strategy and merge games. The most impressive feat is they are expanding the revenue ceiling of these genres well beyond their previous peaks.
As Matthew Ball noted in his State of Video Gaming in 2026 report, Chinese game makers have grown their annual share of overseas revenue from 11% to 14% in six years.
"China is eating the video gaming industry," Ball succinctly states.
Paige Cook
Call of Duty: Warzone Mobile servers to shut down in April 2026
April 17th, 2026 marks the end of the line for Call of Duty: Warzone Mobile. The game was delisted from app stores back in May last year, with some features disabled and no new content updates. We knew this was coming, but the final date is almost here.
Activision has already stated that they feel the game brought the Call of Duty: Warzone experience to mobile, but it simply didn’t resonate with mobile players the same way it does with PC and console players.
Looking back on how the game was received it did have its issues and bringing the experience to mobile wasn’t as smooth as perhaps Activision would have wanted.
I remember on release trying it myself and the graphics weren’t great, the game would crash and the overheating was perhaps the worst I’ve ever experienced on a mobile game, even with a high end device. Then there were lots of complaints about bots which players said made the game boring.
In its first month, we reported that Call of Duty Warzone: Mobile generated $6.92 million, compared to Call of Duty: Mobile’s launch month, which brought in over 6 times as much at $44 million.
And maybe this has been part of the problem all along, while I understand the game mode is different, did we ever really need two Call of Duty games on mobile? You’re running the risk of creating competition against yourself, and then add to that there are other popular shooters on mobile to contend with.
It’s a shame the game hasn’t paid off, but ultimately, it may be best for them to focus on Call of Duty Mobile. This shows that bringing a massive IP from console/PC to mobile doesn’t guarantee an instant win.
Aaron Astle
Pokémon Go PvP revamped after competitive players "pushed the system to its limits"
More than seven years on from the introduction of PvP to Pokémon Go, the battle system has been revamped to put greater emphasis on skill and team building - and less on hardware and internet limitations.
Where before, attacks could deal damage mid-turn and a user’s network connection could play a key role in the course of a battle, the latest update now sees damage resolve at the end of a turn instead of during it.
Though it sounds like a simple change, this also means one-turn Fast Attacks should tie when used on the same turn, and Energy rewards should become more predictable. So, at high levels of play, this could have a huge impact on the competitive scene.
It’s a crackdown on undesirable variables like latency from laggier hardware, and overall sounds like a much-needed fix. While I may not be the most competitive player out there, my interest is piqued as to whether this is the first upgrade of many to come as Go approaches its 10th anniversary.
Companies
