Investment
Saudi stakes a $50 billion+ claim in the gaming world - Nintendo, Activision, EA & more
Move over Tencent, Savvy Games and the PIF are THE new market makers in the global games portfolio
King Of King
Five trillion levels later… Celebrating 20 years of King and 10 years of Candy Crush
We catch up with King’s president Tjodolf Sommestad for their state of play, their possible place under Microsoft’s wing and where he's at in his quest to ‘make the world more playful’
Success In China
MapleStory M surpassed $55 million in its first 35 days on the Chinese market
The game’s success in China pushed the game over $600 million in lifetime revenue
Now In Numbers
71% of the biggest mobile games use a Unity SDK
data.ai finds over 50% of the top 100 revenue earners are built on Unity
Monopoly Go's Top Ten Secrets
Ten things you may have missed in the #1 mobile game “MONOPOLY GO!”
Learn how Scopely tapped into creative freedom and nostalgia - from iconic 80’s movies to classic literature and more - to build a timeless MONOPOLY universe
Gaming Strikes
Screen Actor’s Guild authorises video game strike
98.32% of voters chose to open the door for strike action
Licence List
Chinese licence approvals are on the up this September, but just how high?
September matches top month of 2023 with 89 new game approvals
Devolver Financials
Subscription champion Devolver Digital blames subscriptions for fall in revenue
The company’s revenue in the first half of 2023 fell 17% year-on-year
Q&a
CEO Martin Kwasnica on the return of Cherrypick Games
Cherrypick Games newest title Kingdoms: Merge & Build is on Apple Arcade now
Reaching The Finishing Line
Mario Kart Tour to receive final new content in October
The game isn’t closing services, but will only recycle existing content from then on
Next Steps
East Side Games co-founder Joshua Nilson leaves after 14 years
A mutual parting of ways comes with optimism for the future
Next Stop: Everywhere
What is Everywhere? Inside Leslie Benzies' new game
The GTA legend has unveiled details of his latest project
Surging Shares
Capcom: "We wanted to get on mobile sooner" as shares rise 6%
Monster Hunter Now supports a surge in shares; it looks like mobile is the way to go
Unity Runtime Fee
Unity removed its terms of service “because the views were so low”
The company’s recent Unity Runtime Fee changes go against the previously established terms of service
Acquisition
Supercell acquires majority stake in Australian developer Ultimate Studio
The acquisition is key in Supercell's aim to expand beyond mobile
Chairman Comes
miHoYo co-founder Cai Haoyu steps down as chairman… Liu Wei steps up
Cai Haoyu will focus on research and development to push the company forward
More Metacoreans
Careers Spotlight: Metacore
Find out more about Metacore, the Helsinki-based mobile studio behind Merge Mansion and the studio's approach to careers and building an effective, happy team
Interview
Frederick Hoffman on Newfangled’s small beginnings to striking deals with Netflix
The indie studio’s Paper Trail title will be releasing on Netflix and other platforms early next year
Alternative Distribution
India gets another alternative app store with PhonePe’s Indus Appstore
The Indian market boasts a number of alternative app stores
Indian Expansion
Mobile is key to Capcom’s expansion goals in India
Company COO Haruhiro Tsujimoto believes Capcom may sell more games in India than China within a decade
Hot Five
Hot Five: Unity, Unity, Unity… Backlash dominates in PR nightmare, devs look to Unreal, and miHoYo busies itself with AI
Our quick-fix round up of the hottest stories on PocketGamer.biz
Prices
Console price for console quality: Resident Evil 4 to be $60 on iOS
The game is set to emulate previous ‘lite’ versions
Latam Analysis
Chile leads the way in installs in Latin America with a 35% increase
Adjust analyses the performance of one of the world’s fastest growing mobile markets
Rumbling Rise
Monster Hunter Now reaches five million installs in first week
Niantic and Capcom’s latest location-based game sees strong start after three million pre-installs
Panel Thoughts
Our Incredible Indies panel reflects: Unity cannot be trusted
Our panellists from PGC Helsinki follow up their thoughts on the Unity situation
Unity Runtime Fee
Unity back down: "I am sorry"… But the Runtime Fee stays
It's official: Unity have changed their fee restructure plans. But the unpopular Runtime Fee is still present. This is how they plan to put things right
Unity Runtime Fee
The United Game Devs give their verdict on Unity's big backdown
The group of developers - currently 1052 strong - who have signed up to take Unity to task have not been pacified by the latest changes
Roblox Lay Offs
Roblox downsizes talent acquisition team
30 members of staff were let go on Monday
Week That Was
Week in Views - What caught our eyes in the last seven days
The Pocketgamer.biz team take their pick of this weeks big news including internal leaks on the future of Xbox, Brawl Stars success, the expansion of Pokémon Go and more
Interview
Scopely co-founder and Embrace CEO Eric Futoran: “Mobile is the most personal technology of our lives.”
The current founder of Embrace shares all on the challenges and potential of mobile
Acquiblizz
The CMA gives Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard its provisional approval
The UK's competition watchdog has long been the largest remaining hurdle in the deal's way
Acquisitions
Roblox acquires Finnish AI voice moderation start-up Speechly
The company specialises in real-time voice moderation tech and other tech such as real-time transcription
Clampdown
Uma Musume Pretty Derby yanked from Chinese app stores two weeks after launch
The game's sudden withdrawal may be due to the gambling connection of its horse racing themes
Triple-a Goes Mobile
Will mobile lead the cross-platform future of triple-A gaming?
Today marks the launch of Apple’s most powerful iPhone ever. Zibra AI's Alex Petrenko examines what it could mean future of gaming on mobile
Embracer Group
Embracer Group will need to “continue making tough decisions”
Speaking at a company Q&A, CEO Lars Wingefors confirmed that more closures are on the horizon
Iphone 15
Apple's iPhone 15 is out today: What's new and what's the verdict?
The iPhone 15's power could be a game changer with the ability to bring high end games to mobile for the first time
Comment & Opinion
"Your mobile game studio is dying. Here’s how to save it"
Village Studios founder Will Luton takes a deep dive into the changing mobile industry and how developers can survive this evolving market
Ai Development
miHoYo co-authors science paper outlining bold AI intentions
The paper examines the rise and potential of AI in game development
Legalities
Unity's Runtime Fee: Is it even legal?
Top legal companies have offered their thoughts on Unity's unpopular introduction of its proposed Runtime Fee
Job News
Gameloft Brisbane appoints Manea Castet as studio manager
The hire sees Gameloft expand its focus to encompass PC and mobile
Surveys
Mobile game dev salaries increased an average of 21% in 2023
A game dev survey showed broad increases but there are some dips in some countries
Nascar Goes Mobile
Hutch announces new mobile game created in collaboration with NASCAR
The partnership follows successful collaborations with Formula One and Turn 10 Studios
Indian Market
Indian gaming market set to generate $868 million in revenue in 2023
96.8% of Indian gamers play on smartphone or tablets
Unity Runtime Fee
The United Game Dev's collective protest letter to Unity has 1052 sign-ups
Right now 1052 developers (and counting) are removing ads payments to Unity until the Runtime Fee Farrago is ironed out
Under The Microscope
Brawl Stars $2bn revenue is just the icing on Supercell's success
But how's the rest of Supercell's stellar line-up doing? Which games are still making the big bucks and which will be next for the chop?
Q&a
Behind the scenes with Ubisoft RedLynx for the making of Gwen’s Getaway
Managing director Celine Pasula and producer Jon Kauppinen share insight into their new game's creation and future plans
Q&a
The challenge of IP rights as Netflix expands further into games
Netflix Games drawing on the power of its powerful intellectual property makes sense, but does it present any challenges? Marks & Clerk associate Erik Rõuk shares his thoughts
Roblox Rollout
Roblox pauses rollout of a controversial new user generated content policy
Moves to mandate a pop-up when users purchased items from other experiences have been put on hold
Making Myths
Spectarium raises €5M in Seed Round to bolster personalised AI RPG Myths
Each player will have a unique experience by leveraging AI technology
Unity Runtime Fee
No love lost: AppLovin helpfully releases tool to switch from Unity to Godot or Unreal
AppLovin wades into the Unity Runtime Fee fiasco following its failed attempts to acquire the company