Hot Five

Hot Five: historic first as mobile game revenue decreases, Riot sues Moonton (again), and Facebook and Instagram intergration confirmed

The hottest news articles on PG.biz

Hot Five: historic first as mobile game revenue decreases, Riot sues Moonton (again), and Facebook and Instagram intergration confirmed

To keep you up to date on the biggest news in mobile gaming, we round up the five most-read stories on PocketGamer.biz each week.

Read on and digest…

1. Mobile game revenue decreased for first time ever in Q1 2022

For the first time in history, year-over-year revenue from mobile games saw a decrease in the first quarter of 2022.

In Sensor Tower’s State of Mobile Gaming 2022 report, which details the top worldwide games and markets for mobile titles, it was found that player spending decreased by six per cent year-over-year this quarter, from $22.6 billion in Q1 2021 to $21.2 billion in 2022.

Compared to the first quarter of 2020, however, current spending is still up by almost 20 per cent.

2. Jeremy Bondy named new CEO of Liftoff

Following the merger of Liftoff and Vungle in October 2021, the firm has named Jeremy Bondy as the firm’s CEO, succeeding founder Mark Ellis.

Bondy commented in the announcement: “We are at a pivotal moment for our industry, with the growth-oriented needs of our customers around the world continuing to grow in both volume and complexity."

3. Riot Games sues Moonton over sustained Wift Rift copyright infringement

Riot Games is again suing Moonton, but this time is alleging a “deliberate and sustained campaign to free ride on Riot’s highly valuable rights in the mobile videogame League of Legends: Wild Rift”.

Riot states in the suit that Bang Bang is a “minimally tweaked version of Mobile Legends” and that “over the years, as Riot updated [Wild Rift], Moonton would copy it.

4. Facebook and Instagram to start NFT integration

Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg announced that creators and collectors are going to be able to display NFTs on their Instagram profiles, withtesting of digital collections on Instagram beginning this week and promises of AR NFTs for Instagram Stories too.

The Etherium, Solana, Polygon, and Flow networks will be integrated into the social media platform, with Facebook compatibility ultimately on the books too, according to Zuckerberg.

5. Voodoo becomes the third-largest global company in app installs

Hypercasual publisher Voodoo has celebrated reaching the six billion downland landmark – although this considerable landmark was reached in February – asserting the company as receiving the third-largest number of app downloads, surpassing the likes of Microsoft, TikTok and Tencent.

The French publisher tweeted: "Voodoo is the only European player among the top six, which is dominated by US and Chinese tech giants."


Editor

Former editor of PocketGamer.biz, Khai can also be found on Vice, Star Trek, and in numerous scientific journals and publications.