Interview
"The golden opportunity in Egypt is its talent pool"
2024 Studios co-founder Ahmed Najeeb discusses what his studio is up to and the opportunities and challenges facing Egypt's games industry
Hypercasual Web3
“Hypercasual might be dead in web2 but it’s a money pit in web3”
CEO of Mirai Labs Corey Wilton discusses bridging the gap between web2 and web3 games and how hypercasual may be the key
Smashing Sales Strategies
Super Smash Bros. creator Masahiro Sakurai warns of market research producing "average and mediocre" games
"Targeting isn’t as reliable as people claim, and market research is based on past results"
Mobile Marketing
Why attribution and marketing mix modelling aren't delivering results for games marketers
Incrmntal CEO and co-founder Maor Sadra delves into the mobile marketing landscape and analyses privacy challenges and solutions for campaigns
Legal Advice
Tax benefits for IT and games developers
Futura Digital co-founder Alexandra Kurdyumova and associate Roman Motorin delve into tax relief options for developers
Mobile Mavens
Mobile Mavens: Are games able to capitalise on cultural sporting moments?
Our Mavens share their thoughts on how sporting events can benefit the wider games industry
Interview
Naphora Games Group co-founder on incubating developers and why the next generation will focus on smaller teams
"The games market is rapidly changing, with many unpredictable trends, making long-term projects riskier and more costly"
Pgc Helsinki
Isabel Davies: EU’s Digital Fitness Fairness Check could cause "big overhauls" in 2025
The regulation of free-to-play is a complex topic due to its ever-changing nature, but next year’s check could really change the game…
Web3 Wins
What mobile game makers can learn from web3 and blockchain
Isn't it time that mobile gave web3 a break? Andy Adams, head of business development at Stardust spells out where web3 is winning and where mobile can learn, unite and prosper
Transforming Trends
Live ops, hypercasual and artificial intelligence: Keeping up with the trends in 2024
The games industry moves fast, but brand collabs can still be the way to go with careful planning
Indie View
"The joy of seeing people play your games and appreciate your work makes it all worth it": Lucid Labs discuss indie development
Lucid Labs came 2nd at the Very Big Indie Pitch in Dubai - we discuss their road to the Big Indie Pitch
Mena Insight
"To get to any audience you have to be aware of their cultures and Africa is a place of many ancient cultures"
AN Games founder Ahmed Fawzy on the company's work within MENA, new initiatives and future plans
Direct To Consumer
The Future of Gaming: Transitioning to D2C with cutting-edge payment solutions
Discover how Direct-to-Consumer is transforming the gaming industry in our exclusive interview with Sebastian Totté, Noda's Head of Gaming
Super Sakurai
Super Smash Bros creator Masahiro Sakurai warns that game updates "won’t mean anything" without a strong base game
Sakurai believes that game development shouldn't be about fixing everything with live ops later
Epic's Warzone
It's game (back) on: Apple have waived through Epic’s App Store submission. For now…
Though after an apparent change of heart over the weekend Apple MAY still require changes to Epic's App Store if it's ever to see the light on iOS
Interview
Babil Games' CEO Ghina Al-Sharif on leading the company, effective localisation and MENA challenges
We talk emerging technologies, such as AI, and the importance of maintaining a company culture
Gotta Play Them All
I played Pokémon Go for 365 days… And it's still only Niantic’s second-best game…
PG.biz's Aaron Astle goes in deep on Pokémon Go to mark its eighth birthday, and finds a game that still has plenty of room for improvement
Mobile Moments
"Without a shadow of a doubt the launch of both app stores that year was game-changing"
AdInMo's COO Joanne Lacey reflects on the early days of mobile and delivers her pick of its biggest breakthroughs
Interview
"As an industry, we need a success story - a studio that achieves a major hit that captures widespread attention"
FitNot Games founder Abdallah Elshabrawy on the African games market and the region's latent potential
Mavens
Mobile Mavens: The industry wades in on sexist ads, aiming to “drive meaningful change”
Our industry experts discuss why sexist ads are being created and what we can collectively do to combat them
Interview
Spoilz CEO Musab Almalki on exploring AI in game development, MENA growth and funding challenges
"There's a discernible shift towards mobile gaming, with players increasingly seeking high-quality, localised content."
Women In Games
Navigating privacy and boosting one of mobile’s biggest hits: Miaomiao Li on her work at Rovio
As part of Liftoff's Women In Games Series, Pocketgamer.biz speaks to Miaomiao Li, Performance Marketing Manager at Rovio.
Growing Catalogue
"Games are a long-term bet for Netflix"
VP of External Games Leanne Loombe discusses the entertainment company's plans for its games division
Treasure Hunt
Bringing real life adventure to mobile with augmented reality game Swords
Future House Studios' Adam Sidwell shares development challenges and vision for the fantasy mobile title Swords, featuring real life treasure hunting and grand prizes
Fragmentation
The great divides of the global games industry
Raptor’s Rana Rahman explores the increasing sense of fragmentation in the video games industry and what impact resisting that reality could have
Pgc Helsinki
Fingersoft CEO Jaakko Kylmäoja on how "the best game required the best environment"
Speaking a Pocket Gamer Connects Helsinki 2023, Kylmäoja highlighted Fingersoft’s office culture as one of its most important strengths
Interview
UMX Studio CEO Ali Alharbi on their upcoming game, company expansion and MENA opportunities
"The quest for experts, the uncharted terrain of an emerging industry - these are riddles awaiting solutions"
Browser Breakthrough
"It's hard to distinguish from a native experience. And all at the click of a button"
Raf Mertens, CEO of CrazyGames on their new browser-based tech, offering multi-player experiences with zero installation required
The Next Level
Ironhide co-founder Pablo Realini talks Kingdom Rush 5 and premium's place in 2024
"When designing your monetization strategy you can’t be too greedy and compromise the game you have set out to create"
Interview
"Our mission is to challenge stereotypes and provide a platform for African voices in the gaming industry"
Eyram Tawia, CEO and co-founder of Leti Arts shares his vision for the evolution of the games sector in Africa
Interview
Steer Studios CEO Yannick Theler on Grunt Rush, MENA region growth and a new console division
"We aspire to develop a diverse range of games across various platforms, including consoles. In fact, we started building our console division at the beginning of this year"
Interview
Five years of My.Games: From new releases to finding success in the Asian market
We caught up with Elena Grigorian who reflects My.Games’ first half of the year and shares on upcoming plans after celebrating the company's five year anniversary
The Dawn Of Mobile
“Almost overnight we went from an extremely fragmented market to one where everyone was aiming for a single device”
Mobile Entertainment Magazine’s former editor and executive editor reflect on the beginnings of mobile
Global Launch
Can Honor of Kings make it in the West? Meet the team going for global glory
We spoke with Honor of Kings chief designer, Dean Huang, head of localisation, Henry Li and its head of esports, Feng to find out why now is Honor of King's time to strike
Looking Back
A brief history of the mobile games industry
We take a look back at the last decade and a half of mobile gaming, analysing the key trends that built the industry we have now, and what the future holds for the sector
Advancing Ai
King’s head of AI/ML Luka Crnkovic-Friis: "The changes are immense, fundamental, and very hard to predict"
Luka Crnkovic-Friis’ work in AI has been utilised by Harvard, NASA, and now it's behind the scenes at King
Hot Topics
Mobile Mavens: Are today's everlasting, live ops games holding back new innovation?
Our industry experts weigh in on the power of long, and enduring games. Do endless liveops keep the market ticking? Or stop new devs from breaking through?
Road To Helsinki
Devsisters’ Chris O’Kelly talks upselling IP to fans across multiple games without cannibalisation
17% of mid to high spenders spend on two Devsister games cumulatively
Road To Helsinki
Metacore's Teppo Soininen: “Anybody who has put a game into soft launch knows there’s still plenty of space for f*ck ups.”
The Metaccore game lead underscores the importance of concept testing in his talk from Pocket Gamer Connects Helsinki 2023
Race To The Top
Fingersoft CEO Jaakko Kylmäoja: Building the world's most downloaded racing games
Lego Hill Climb Adventures is out now, joining a series that's so far seen over two billion downloads. Here's the inside story on the latest Hill Climb and Fingersoft's plans for the future
Road To Helsinki
Kinoa's Hen Gelberg on “The true power of LiveOps”
Kinoa's chief business development officer and co-founder discusses the core components of live ops and how to best unlock their true potential
Out Now!
A galaxy far, far away… Why Star Wars: Hunters took six years to hit the target
Upon the games release, we get the inside story on the long awaited game from Zynga’s executive vice president Yaron Leyvand
Interview
Deluxe Creation Studios CEO Edu Shola on developing games in Africa, funding and future plans
"Funding is a general challenge and it’s not limited to the game space but it just happens to be more difficult in games, especially here in Africa."
Preparing For Success
Suffering from success: How to stop your game's popularity from becoming your biggest headache
Metaplay CPO and co-founder Teemu Haila on the importance of building foundations for success before, not after the fact
Mena Insight
"Operating a studio in MENA involves tough challenges: Cultural diversity, localisation, payment infrastructure and talent acquisition"
Jana Games Studio founder Seifeddine Wassim Haddar on the state of play for MENA and importance of community building
Place Search Ad Here
Mobile's broken app store discoverability
How Steam, Google Play and Apple's App Store compare and how platform holders prioritise ads over useful recommendations for users
Mobile Mavens
Mobile Mavens: The industry has its say on Squad Busters ability to draw in “untapped audiences” with its “influence from a range of genres”
With Squad Busters set for a global release at the end of the month we asked the industry what it thinks of the Supercell's soft-launched sixth game
Mobile Mavens
Mobile Mavens: The industry wades in on Squad Busters from its “transformative impact” to being “corporate box ticking”
We asked the industry what it thinks of the sixth Supercell game to get a global launch
Ready For Launch
"Squad Busters is a love letter to Supercell IPs"
Supercell CEO Ilkka Paananen, Squad Busters game lead Eino Joas and marketing head Rob Lowe discuss the game's origins and why it's heading for a global launch on May 29th
Mainstream Mobile
Mobile gaming's journey to the mainstream
Kristan Rivers, co-founder and CEO of in-game advertising platform AdInMo, looks at the last decade of the industry and why brands are queueing up for its future