Congratulations
Unity for Humanity Grant winners revealed
The results of Unity's annual competition are in, with winners and honorees receiving bespoke grants from a pool of $500,000
Pgc Helsinki
Want to be a speaker at Pocket Gamer Connects Helsinki this October?
Build your brand with an audience of games industry professionals
Acqusitions
Keywords Studios green lights £2 billion EQT Group buyout offer
EQT Group has until Saturday, June 15th 2024 to seal the deal or walk away
Skills Gap
Evolving the leadership at Sumo to bridge the industry skills gap
Jenny Muhlwa shares her insight into the gaming industry's skills gap and how Sumo’s Evolve leadership programme aims to deliver the goods
Hot Five
Hot Five: AppLovin revenue surges 48% Y/Y, Plarium and Big Fish up for sale, and a look inside Merge Mansion's growth
Our quick-fix roundup of the hottest stories on PocketGamer.biz
Financials
Tencent first quarter revenue sails past $22.5 billion - up 6% year-on-year
The company enjoyed huge growth in Q1, highlighting the performance of Honor of Kings and the Supercell portfolio as key components to their success
Job Cuts
Phoenix Labs cancels projects and lays off staff in new restructuring
"This restructure has not come easily, and truly has been the last resort to ensure Phoenix Labs can survive, and thrive in the long term"
Podcast | Episode 12
Xbox's mobile games store and Unity vs. AppLovin | Week in Mobile Games podcast
The PocketGamer.biz podcast team give you the state of play every week. Here's where to get it and and what's inside this week's episode 12…
M&a
ByteDance sells Red Alert Online dev C4 Games for $35.8 million
Film and entertainment firm says Red Alert can generate "considerable revenue" in the future
Week That Was
Week in Views - From Aristocrat's big gamble to Take 2's big game…
The Pocketgamer.biz team pick their highlights from the headlines this week and deliver the stories behind the stories
Launch Day
Supercell's Hay Day returns to China's App Store after four year absence
Farming simulator launched on May 15th, published by Tencent
Earnings Report
Take-Two's mobile bookings make 53% of their total and GTA 6's release date gets locked in
Their latest financials show fiscal year net revenue remained flat year-on-year at $5.35 billion, while net losses increased to $3.74 billion
Anniversary
Minecraft celebrates its 15th birthday with discounts, in-game surprises and daily rewards
There's multiple celebrations afoot in Minecraft, not least the game's first ever special offer pricing
Subbed Off
There’s no room for a successful subscription service in games
Despite offering a great deal, it makes little sense for platform holders and developers and doesn't fit with player habits at scale
Five New Games
New release roundup: The best new mobile games from a battle royale to a console classic remake
We highlight five new games that have broken cover and are all set to do big business
Gaming Trends
2023 games revenue forecast drops to $183.9 billion, down $3.9 billion
Newzoo's latest report reins in their previous projected total, alongside dips in mobile gaming revenue
Key To Communications
Powerful PR: How great comms can boost your game's success
ZiMAD’s Anastasia Zaiceva explores the importance of communications in the gaming industry and how success can depend on the quality of your comms
Award Winners
All the results from The Finnish Games Awards 2024
Last night the Finnish games industry's annual blowout celebrated the great and good in games live from Ravintola Töölö in Helsinki
Talent Time
Nominations for the Pocket Gamer Mobile Games Awards 2024 are live!
Make sure your favourites take home the trophies. Submissions for all 22 categories is now open and closes on June 17th
Net Casting
Aristocrat Leisure eyes potential sale of Plarium and Big Fish Games
Casino firm is undertaking a strategic review of its non-social casino games as Product Madness stays off the chopping block
Gaming For Good
Niantic celebrate Earth Day success with 3.4 million players taking part
The numbers are in and this year's Niantic eco-drive proved to be bigger than ever
Earnings Report
Ubisoft posts record bookings for FY24 as mobile division shrinks
Mobile accounted for 4% of net bookings
Xsolla State Of Play
Xsolla Releases Quarterly Insights Report
The Xsolla Report: State Of Play offers insight on the future of gaming and game development and a preliminary analysis of spring 2024 metrics and upcoming trends
Metrics Boost
Behind the scenes: How adding sandwich offers to an idle merge game boosted three metrics at once
AppQuantum's Oleg Nalimov shares how new innovative offers were key to Gold & Goblins renewed success
Going Global
Honor of Kings set for June 20th global launch after $15 billion+ revenue in China
Tencent takes another stab at taking its blockbuster MOBA to global markets
Mobile Mavens
Mobile Mavens: Can Xbox's mobile games store succeed?
We ask industry experts for their thoughts on Microsoft's upcoming marketplace that aims to compete with Apple and Google
Financials
Nexon banks on $22bn IP Dungeon & Fighter being a mobile hit in China as Q1 revenue declines
Franchise has generated more than $22 billion to date, as publisher eyes as much as a 90% boost to China earnings with mobile release
Financials
Netmarble cuts losses but revenue falls in Q1 after lack of new game releases
Publisher set to launch Raven 2 in May and four more titles during the second half of 2024
Blockchain Breakthrough
Immutable Games' Guild of Guardians launches today on iOS and Android
The long-awaited blockchain game has already earned over a million pre-registrations and a limited launch in Canada
Interview
"Merge Mansion is a very young game. We still have big plans and many surprising twists in store"
Metacore’s CBO Tapio Tuomola on four years of success for Merge Mansion and what's coming next…
Epic Breach
Epic Games hit with €1.1m fine for unfair commercial practices in Netherlands
The ACM has set a deadline of Monday, June 10 2024 for Epic to address the violations
Gaming Trends
65% of Gen Z gamers spend over 3 hours a day playing video games
The study from ZBD also shows that 34% find online gaming too toxic while 57% prefer playing casual mobile games
Rising Stars
Genshin Impact still pulls in the big bucks while Squad Busters' soft launch teases blockbuster success
Sensor Tower's monthly gaming pulse for April reveals which games are the ones to watch
Partnerships
Ukie partners with Tencent Games for Video Games Growth Programme
Applications are now open for applications for companies wishing to be part of the programme
Jobs News
PlayStation names new CEOs Hermen Hulst and Hideaki Nishino
The duo replace Jim Ryan, who exited the company after 30 years
Investment Round
Gorilla Capital invests in Lola Panda educational apps developer BeiZ
Funding set to help expand the educational apps, which have been downloaded over 40 million times, into new regions and languages
Platform Expansion
Mobile legend Stumble Guys is now on PlayStation 4 and 5 with cross-progression
With more than 50 million players every month and boasting more than 600 million downloads, the mobile smash also confirms a Switch version coming soon
Podcast
Tripledot Studio’s Akin Babayigit on understanding the business behind great games | Podcast
The PocketGamer.biz podcast team and guests give you the state of play every week. Here's where to get it and what's inside this week's episode…
Pgc Helsinki
Introducing Finnish Games Week 2024 featuring PG Connects Helsinki
Five days of games industry excellence takes place in Finland from September 30th to October 4th
Road To Victoy
Squad Busters puts on another 10m pre registrations in 11 days
Supercell's upcoming global launch has just passed its 30m total pre registrations target way ahead of schedule
Acqusitions
PlanetPlay's parent company acquires Playmob to battle climate change
PlanetPlay CEO Rhea Loucas says, "Through the combination of our gaming and sustainability efforts, we can all collectively make a difference for our planet"
In Depth
Matej Lančarič's Squad Busters deep dive: Under the skin of 2024's biggest launch yet
UA and marketing expert Matej Lančarič examines the changes made throughout the game's development and its ongoing global launch strategy
Job Cuts
Playtika eliminates CRO and COO positions in new job cuts
CEO Robert Antokol will now oversee all former COO and CRO direct reports
Resignation
Marc Whitten is out at Unity
His resignation is on the table and he'll be paid off at the end of the year with, as yet, no plans for his replacement
Soft Launch Guys
Stumble Guys dev Kitka Games soft-launches new mobile title Battle Guys: Royale
New title promises to be "most streamlined, easy-to-learn - hard-to-master" battle royale game of 2024
Layoffs
Square Enix braces for layoffs in US and Europe
IT, publishing and Square Enix Collective teams set to be hit by redundancies
Job Losses
Australian dev Mighty Kingdom layoffs of 28% of staff
Studio expects annualised cost savings of $2.1 million
New Way To Ua
Subscrible raises $300,000 to launch ad-free mobile games platform
Start-up aims to reduce UA costs and provide “uninterrupted” gaming
Pgc Helsinki
Save up to £490 on Pocket Gamer Connects Helsinki - this week only!
Super Early Bird discounts end at midnight this Thursday, May 16th
Ad Strategy
Why diversified revenue streams are the key to maximising monetisation
As the monetisation landscape shifts, mixing up your ad strategies can ensure that no money gets left on the table