Cloud gaming's broken promises, inside DoubleDown, and Pokémon's new movie | 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
Xbox Game Pass to launch cloud gaming limits in November
Tomorrow I’ll have been in the games industry (or reporting on it) for 15 years.
And if there’s one thing I’ve heard consistently in that time, it’s about the death of console and why the next generation will be the last.
Fast-forward to 2026, here we are again. This time the (very real) concern centres on rising hardware costs.
Meanwhile, cloud gaming has been part of the industry since I stepped into it. Well, at least the concept. OnLive came and went, Sony acquired Gaikai for $380 million and then kind of did nothing with it for the longest time.
We’ve since had various versions of cloud gaming, including through PlayStation (eventually!), Xbox, Nvidia GeForce Now and Google’s Stadia (remember how that was going to change everything?).
Sure, cloud gaming has picked up some users over time. There’s even been some chatter about it being the future of console gaming as console hardware looks to get ever more expensive.
But this week that emerging narrative took a blow, as did the cloud gaming market, when Xbox announced it will now have a 15 hour limit(!) for Game Pass Ultimate subscribers. Then 10 hours for Premium subscribers and five hours for Essential subs. You can buy more time, though.
Xbox seems highly confused as to what’s causing a rise in hardware and cloud gaming costs, but will never openly talk about the key role played by its parent company Microsoft in this.
“We’re introducing this model because the cost of providing cloud gaming grows as more people use it and play for longer," said Xbox in a post. By the way, "more people using it" is kind of undefined and will apparently only impact around 4% of Game Pass subscribers. Curious.
Cloud has never caught on in over 15 years. Now Xbox is saying it’s too expensive under the current model. I guess everything is under the Game Pass business.
I had thought cloud gaming might be forced onto consumers in the future, simply to fight rising hardware costs, maybe creating adoption. But now I’m not so sure. Particularly when the big tech companies and console giants aren't really getting behind it with any gusto.
See you in 15 years for the same conversations?
Mariam Ahmad
DoubleDown Interactive's Faith Price on D2C growth, ageing apps and the real cost of AI
I spent the week at SLICE by Seattle Indies, where I had the very fun job of hosting the Big Indie Pitch.
Seeing so many indie developers get up and pitch games that were genuinely strange, creative and completely different from one another was a real highlight. FISH.OS, Stardozing and Hands of Hell took the top three spots, and they were all memorable for very different reasons.
Then I put my editorial hat back on and spent the rest of the week talking to people across the Seattle games scene. First up was a trip to DoubleDown Interactive’s office to speak with Faith Price - you can read that interview in the link above.
I also had the chance to sit down with Chris Zimmerman, Bernie Yee and Andrea Roberts, among others, and came away with a lot of conversations about audiences, sustainability, creativity and just how difficult it is to make games that actually break through now.
It was a bit of a personal moment getting to interview the studio head of Sucker Punch, Chris Zimmerman - Ghost of Tsushima is one of my all-time favourite games, so I was probably a little more excited about that one than I should admit!
The week was a nice reminder of why I love covering this industry: lots of smart people, fun games, strong opinions and plenty to write about. Keep an eye out for all the interviews and Big Indie Pitch write ups, which are soon to come.
Aaron Astle
Pokémon: Wild Card animated movie unveiled ahead of 2027 release
A new feature-length Pokémon movie is on the way, as Pokémon: Wild Card has been confirmed “coming 2027 and beyond”.
The new animated movie is inspired by the TCG. It marks the Pokémon IP's latest transmedia move in an age full of games-turned-movies, which The Pokémon Company International was of course quick to tap into - releasing films since the 90s.
In fact, there are more than 20 Pokémon films to date, mostly following the adventures of Ash Ketchum. Yet, what was once an annual expectation has been absent for more than half a decade. This will actually be Pokémon’s first new feature film in the post-Ash era. The first since 2020, or 2021 in the West.
The name of the new movie's protagonist is currently unknown, but he is described as an aspiring Pokémon Trading Card Game player. The Pokémon Mimikyu also appears to be taking a central role.
From the teaser, it appears Wild Card will focus on physical cards, but I'm curious if the rocket-powered success of mobile game TCG Pocket has also been a factor in development, and whether we’ll see anyone playing the digital card game in-universe.
It is one of the most successful new mobile games of recent years, after all, heading towards $1.8 billion in lifetime player spending by AppMagic estimates.
Whatever earned Wild Card the green light, I'm excited for this one. I've watched all the Pokémon movies over the years, so I've really been feeling their absence. Here’s hoping that, like Detective Pikachu, this one gets a theatrical release too.
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