Hot Five: Scopely acquires majority stake in Loom Games, Phil Spencer retires, and Unity shares approach all-time low

To help get you primed and ready for another week in mobile gaming, we’ve curated the biggest stories you need to know from the last seven days.

1) Scopely acquires majority stake in Istanbul’s Pixel Flow developer Loom Games at $1bn valuation

Scopely has acquired a majority stake in Istanbul-based Loom Games months after the launch of its debut title, Pixel Flow.

The game is played by millions daily and Loom Games has claimed it is the only casual game released in the last 12 months to break into the monthly top 20 grossing rankings in the US.

2) Matthew Ball's State of Video Gaming in 2026: "China is eating the video games industry"

Matthew Ball’s State of Video Gaming in 2026 report found that despite the games industry reaching record revenues after three consecutive years of growth, private funding fell by 55% year-over-year in 2025.

Other standouts from the report included content sales growth, fewer layoffs and victory for China and Roblox.

3) Unity shares approach all-time low after falling 91% since November 2021

Unity shares plummeted close to a lifetime low, down to $18.36 per share at closing on February 17th.

The price was at its lowest since the summer of 2024, when a record-low range of approximately $15 to $17 was seen between June and August.

4) Why Scopely acquired a majority stake in the Pixel Flow team

PocketGamer.biz spoke with Scopely chief revenue officer and board member Tim O’Brien about Loom Games’ acquisition, which values the business in excess of $1 billion.

"The combination of creativity and immediate traction is extremely rare with a new game, and we see high potential in this group of game makers," he said.

5) Phil Spencer retires as ex-Instacart COO takes top job at Microsoft Gaming

Microsoft executive VP of gaming Phil Spencer is retiring after 38 years at the company and 12 years leading its games division. He will remain in an advisory role through the summer.

Former Instacart COO and Meta VP Asha Sharma has been appointed EVP and CEO of Microsoft Gaming in his place, having spent the past two years as the president of Microsoft’s CoreAI product.