Hot Five: Squad Busters 2.0, Tencent’s game sales up 24%, and Sonic Rumble’s tentative 2025 release

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) Squad Busters 2.0: "I’d say this is the biggest change to a game of this scale from Supercell and possibly ever"

Squad Busters 2.0 has brought major changes to Supercell’s 2024 title, with overhauled victory conditions, Hero squad leaders and layers of strategy required before battles begin.

Supercell head of marketing Rob Lowe shared that while the studio doesn’t regret launching Squad Busters in the way it did, the audience targeted was ultimately too broad. This update reflects a refocus on "more experienced mobile gamers".

2) Tencent game sales up 24% Y/Y to $25bn in Q1 with Honor of Kings, Delta Force and Brawl Stars pulling their weight

Tencent earned ¥180 billion ($25bn) in revenue during Q1 2025, up 13% year-over-year. 24% of that revenue came from games, which contributed ¥42.9bn ($6bn).

Q1 earnings were bolstered by evergreen titles Honor of Kings and CrossFire Mobile, in addition to newer releases like Dungeon & Fighter Mobile in China and Delta Force.

3) Sega still aiming for Sonic Rumble 2025 release after last-minute delay

After multiple delays, Sega still plans to launch Sonic Rumble in 2025.

The studio postponed the battle royale mobile game indefinitely just one week before its May 8th release, with no rescheduled date given at the time. Now, via Sega’s financial report, the game was noted to still be launching sometime this year.

4) Biggest ever Dubai GameExpo Summit draws over 1,400 game professionals from 70 countries to engage with the vibrant MENA games market

The Dubai GameExpo Summit 2025 powered by Pocket Gamer Connects, in partnership with Dubai Department of Economy and Tourism (DET), drew more than 1,400 industry professionals from 70 countries across MENA, Asia, Europe, the Americas, Africa and Australasia.

Spanning two days and nine tracks, the summit featured a lineup of over 75 speakers.

5) Aristocrat Leisure hit with $74m Big Fish impairment charge after cuts

Aristocrat Leisure has recorded a AU$114.9 million ($74m) impairment loss after the restructuring of subsidiary Big Fish Games.

The decision was announced earlier this year to reduce the publisher's portfolio, significantly cut investment and halt new game development at Big Fish. Now that all remaining Big Fish assets have been fully impaired, Aristocrat Leisure suggested no further losses will occur.