Partnership Power
Sony sets sights on mobile in strategic partnership with NCSoft
A strategic deal has been secured by CEOs Taekjin Kim and Jim Ryan
Valorant Valiance
Riot Games’ Social Impact Fund raises $50 million in five years for charities, education and more
Almost $15 million raised in Valorant alone in three years
Marketing Magic
Supercell's marketing head Iwo Zakowski: "We need to make our games f**king famous and become part of pop culture"
68% of Clash players discover via word of mouth, Chess.com promotion drives 1M+ additional players and more insights from RovioCon 23
Plaice No More
Fishlabs is laying off around 50 employees as Embracer Group restructure continues
The German games developer was bought out by Embracer subsidiary Plaion 10 years ago
Job Losses
Unity lays off 265 as it restructures its deal with digital effects creator Weta
Unity's upheavals continue with a "company reset" on their existing deal with Weta, resulting in the loss of key digital effects talent
Roviocon 23
Sega teases the 'Segaverse' with Rovio acquisition central to its transmedia strategy
Rovio already working on Sonic and Yakuza games and Angry Birds coming to PC/console?
Big Exclusive
Why Gamescom merged with BIG Festival to bring the expo to Brazil
PocketGamer.biz asks Gamescom LATAM CEO Gustavo Steinberg and Game MD Felix Falk why we need another Gamescom
Gamescom Latam
First-ever Gamescom LATAM heads to Brazil in 2024 after merger with BIG Festival
Gamescom LATAM will head to Sao Paulo on June 26th to 30th
Venerable Ventures
Laton Ventures is a new venture capital firm investing in early-stage game makers
Founding partner Görkem Türk has started the firm after more than six years at Google
Taxation Explained
TIGA explains the state of VGEC after UK government’s Autumn Statement
Amendments to draft rules mean companies will be required to disclose connected party transactions when claiming tax relief
Platform Power
KEK Entertainment raises $8M in seed round to build "platform-agnostic IP"
The round was led by Korea Investment Partners with participation from Woori Technology Investment Co, Kona Venture Partners and others
Special Spectacular
Half a million raised for disabled gamers during SpecialEffect’s One Special Day 2023
The annual fundraiser seeks to support gamers with physical challenges via personalised controllers and more
Ten Square Turnaround
Ten Square Games sees record quarterly growth with Hunting Clash MAU up 82%
After a difficult start to the year, performance is looking back on track at Ten Square Games
Speaker Spotlight
Speaker Spotlight: Greg Lee of Team Terrible reveals the REAL 'secret of success'
The founder and CEO of Team Terrible is just one of the star developers, publishers and industry insiders who'll be appearing at Pocket Gamer Connects London in January 2024.
Indian Insight
Are core games the road to success? 49% yearly revenue growth projected in India until 2028
Lumikai and Google’s new report projects a $7.5 billion valuation for Indian gaming by 2028
1999 Reasons To Play
Bluepoch’s debut time travel game Reverse: 1999 reaches $15 million
The latest Chinese gacha game is coming out of stealth with impressive early figures
In Depth
Game Analysis: Deconstructing Idle Bank Tycoon by Kolibri Games
AppQuantum’s Oleg Aliautdinov takes a deep dive into Idle Bank Tycoon. What does get right? What can be improved? And what you can learn from its secrets?
Nft Now
NFTs incoming: Matr1x doubles funding to $20M ahead of its debut Web3 mobile launch
Matr1x Fire is an upcoming NFT shooter on mobile, bolstered by new $10 million funding round
Not So Monkey Dory
One Piece: Thousand Storm is the latest Japanese mobile game reaching end of service
Bandai Namco and DeNA first released the IP adaptation in 2016
Hot Five
Hot Five: AI funding, UK development turmoil and a new player in livestreaming
Our quick-fix roundup of the hottest stories on PocketGamer.biz
Tactical Turnaround
ByteDance to pull back from games and pull the plug on Nuverse plans
ByteDance is now looking to divest from its existing titles and halt production of new Nuverse games
Global Game Jam
Pocket Gamer Connects establishes supportive partnership with Global Game Jam
Interview: the 2024 Global Game Jam coincides with Pocket Gamer Connects London in January
Heads Up
Thunderful explores sale of Bridge Constructor publisher Headup Games nearly three years after €11m acquisition
Company plots "more focused strategy" for the business
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 OpenAI Wars, job crisis (what job crisis?), studio closures and livestreaming's hottest new player…
Growth Potential
MENAP gaming market is poised to grow to $2.8Bn by 2026, but there are challenges ahead
The SHFT Gametech Global Q1 MENAP report underscores the region's opportunities, provided more frictionless payment systems and smart user acquisition strategies prevail
What We're Playing
Mobile Game of the Week: Warhammer 40,000 Warpforge
The legendary Warhammer universe gets its own collectable card battler on mobile
Jobs Crisis
Why is the UK games industry struggling to fill vacancies despite mass layoffs?
Games Jobs Live director Colin Macdonald and One Player Mission owner Kim Parker Adcock discuss the sector's leaky bucket problem
Pitching Time
Pitching your game: Big Indie Pitch manager Sophia Aubrey Drake's advice for indies
We sit down with the Big Indie Pitch Manager, Sophia Aubrey Drake, to learn about her experiences with the indie community
Podcast
My.Games’ Elena Grigorian on smart strategies for surviving an industry downturn | Podcast
The PocketGamer.biz podcast team and guests give you the state of play every week. Here's where to get it and and what's inside this week's episode…
Q&a
Anime at your fingertips: Crunchyroll on it’s new Game Vault offering
Crunchyroll’s EVP of emerging business Terry Li on the creation of the Crunchyroll Game Vault and their big plans for the future
Cyber Monday Offer
Be part of the future of the games industry with these extended Cyber Monday offers
Unlocking the Future of Games: Cyber Monday Discounts on Tickets for Pocket Gamer Connects London and San Francisco2024 - Grab Your Golden Opportunities Now!
Five New Games
New release roundup: The best new mobile games from sports manga adaptations to risqué word games…
We highlight five new games that have broken cover and are all set to do big business
Black Friday Offers
Unlocking the Ultimate Games Experience: Black Friday Deals on Pocket Gamer Connects London and San Francisco!
Speaker Spotlight
Speaker Spotlight: Tilting Point's Enric Pedró on community building and why too many developers neglect player feedback
Pocket Gamer Connects London is coming January 22nd to 23rd. Time to meet some of the leading industry names that will be on stage at the event
Increasing Conversions
Adjust and TikTok boast 220% iOS app conversion leap with SKAdNetwork 4
Adjust and TikTok have recorded conversion volumes across 37 apps in the UK, US and Japan
Q&a
Unlocking the potential for Web3 on mobile
Immutable’s Chris Clay shares his experience on the mobile market and what impact it could have on Web3 games development
Financial Findings
Huuuge Games’ adjusted net profit rose 80% in the first three quarters of 2023
Q3 2023 was Huuuge’s fifth consecutive quarter of rising YoY EBITDA and they've 'huuuge' hopes for the future
Pgc Stories
PGC Stories: "Back in 2012 I lamented the absence of a mobile games-specific conference"
Ex-Frameplay senior director business development Laith Al-Janabi share his favourite PGC memories
"ai'll Be Back"
OpenAI's chaos is over: Sam Altman is back on the throne. So what just happened and what's next?
The former CEO is back in the hotseat and just what is 'Project Q*' anyway?… Welcome to the anything-can-happen all-bets-are-off too-big-to-fail business of artificial intelligence
Crowd Of Clans
Supercell’s Clash of Clans team doubled in size in 2023
Supercell set out at the start of the year to grow its team and clearly, it has succeeded
Predicting Prosperity
China’s gaming rebound is go and on track for $47.8 billion revenue this year
Niko Partners projects a 5.2% YoY rise in gaming revenue
Production Power
Layer AI seed round raises $1.8M to bolster generative game art production
The AI-powered productivity tool sees support from The Games Fund, GFR Fund and others
Debtmarble
Netmarble cuts losses by 90% in Q3 despite revenue decline
Workforce reduction and original IP stem losses, but publisher still has $1.29 billion short-term debts
Ai On Board
Analytics specialist Sensor Tower are producing AI-driven insights reports
The market intelligence company has turned to AI to produce new reports appearing online now
Statistical Significance
Unity’s Supersonic platform launches two big updates enhancing KPI insights
Supersonic updates its A/B testing page and ‘All Games’ page
Industry Insights
Publishing perfection: Making the most of today's landscape: Part two
Kwalee’s John Wright discusses some of the common challenges developers are facing and how to combat them by finding the right publisher
Tumultuous Times
Almost half of all mobile games are axed in development and 83% don’t last three years
SuperScale’s new report reveals the vast majority of mobile games are shuttered by their third anniversary
Q&a
"All the stars aligned. Now it’s full steam ahead!" MTG's CEO Maria Redin looks back at 2023
With a busy year almost in the rear view mirror, Maria Redin talks Modern Times Group's success and the challenges ahead
Liberating Livestreams
Everything you ever wanted to know about Noice: Is this the future of livestreaming?
Noice is aiming to boost stream engagement through audience participation and its predictive interactive gameplay
Download State Of Play
Xsolla releases first ever State Of Play report, offering insight into the future of mobile games
Mobile services giant's State Of Play report created to be a 'strategic compass' for mobile games businesses, covering development, payments and key trends for 2024