Readying An Rpg
Immutable partners with Mineloader to speed up development of Guild of Guardians
Focusing on Web2 and Web3 aspects and economies
Releases
World of Tanks Blitz brings 3D skins to mobile
The new dinosaur themed cosmetics are the first in a new wave of more graphically demanding add-ons
Acquivision Blizzard
Microsoft may be winning the Activision war
A new decision by the FTC shows the tides may be turning in the tech giant’s favour
Mena Mobile
Driven by mobile, MENA games revenue predicted to reach $2.8 billion by 2026
Estimated 2022 games revenue was $1.8 billion
Loot Boxes
Austrian Court classifies loot boxes as gambling
The country’s court has issued a fine against Sony in a provisional ruling
Stores
Supercell to bring Clash Royale to web store
The web-based storefront allows users to make purchases for apps directly from Supercell
Monster Magala
Street Fighter: Duel announces Monster Hunter crossover with Gore Magala challenge
A monstrous crossover is on its way
Views Week
Week in Views - What caught our editorial eyes in the last seven days
The Pocketgamer.biz team take their pick of this weeks big news and discuss the demise of hypercasual and publishers taking over the world…
Lists
Unity named one of Fast Company’s Most Innovative
The publication lists 540 companies in a number of categories
Charity
British Racing Greats event to celebrate racing games for charity
The charity event will feature studios from across the racing game spectrum
Live And Kicking
Is it game over for Live Ops games?
We've seen some huge live games get the plug pulled, but are reports of their demise exaggerated? And what makes a LiveOps game fail? Oscar Clark of Fundamentally Games explains
Tell Us A Tale
Telltale Games pushes back release of The Wolf Among Us 2
The company hopes that the delay will help avoid crunch time
Matsuda’s Final Fantasy?
Square Enix board calls for their president to step aside
A proposal suggests that boss Yosuke Matsuda will be replaced by company director Takashi Kiryu
Users
Roblox users rose 20% from 2021 to 2022
The block-building game has slowly edged to the forefront of the metaverse
Spreading Sustainability
10 Weeks To Save The Games Industry – Week 6
Matchmade CEO Jiri Kupiainen and GamesForest.Club's Maria Wagner's quest reaches Lisbon
Podcast
Gaming for good | Podcast
Tiltify's Tom Downie joins the PocketGamer.biz podcast to explore the curiosity of giving and the power of play
Sony Acquisition
Sony reportedly eyeing up acquisition of Take-Two Interactive
The tech giant could be preparing to unleash the latest volley in its arms race with Microsoft
Publishing
Marvel Snap publisher Nuverse follow up with Dragonheir: Silent Gods
Will be working with recently established SRGA studios
Mobile Esports
Global Esports CEO Dr Rushindra Sinha weighs in on the state of mobile esports in India
The sector is ripe for disruption, but may be unsustainable
Legal
Yuji Naka admits to insider trading in Tokyo court
The console and mobile developer and producer most famous for Sonic was arrested on suspicion of insider trading
Acquivision Blizzard
EU unlikely to demand asset dump in Microsoft’s Activision Blizzard battle
The deal has come under scrutiny from regulators worldwide
Partnerships
Rovio announces IMG as their exclusive agent for books and more
The company will manage publishing deals with book and media companies on behalf of Rovio
Global Game Jam
Yahaha Studios’ Global Game Jammers created 80 games in 48 hours
Yahaha played host to 110 jammers in Helsinki to create the country’s biggest hybrid-jam
Olympic Esports
Mobile games included in inaugural Olympic Esports Series
The global competition will culminate in the live finals in Singapore this June
New Studio
Room 8 Group unveils trailer and cinematic production studio Heroic
The studio is led by Head of CG Sandy Heslop
Financials
Playtika to halt development of new games following rocky financials
Playtika’s Q4 2022 financials revealed a few key victories, and losses
New Studio
NetEase funds Studio Flare in Tokyo
Former Marvelous executive vice president Toshinori Aoki will serve as president and CEO
Industry Insight
Building on success: How to focus your expertise to create guaranteed hits
We all learn from our mistakes, but do we equally learn from our wins? Azur Games' Milana Gelmanova explains how they only go from strength to strength
Milestones
The Financial Times places Tripledot as fastest growing company in Europe
The UK-based mobile game developer has snatched the top spot
Ea Layoffs
Electronic Arts lays off around 300 QA workers
The team in Baton Rouge were all contractors working on Apex Legends
Event Latest
Power up your Business: Game Connection America 2023 is here
Game Connection returns on March 20th to 21st in San Francisco - tickets are still available
Milestones
My.Games’ Hustle Castle sees 80 million downloads
The game will also be celebrating its sixth anniversary this year
In It To Win It
Final 48 hours: Pocket Gamer Mobile Games Awards 2023 nominations close this Friday
Get your entries in before midnight March 3
Diving Deep
What’s going on with artificial intelligence in 2023? Here's everything you need to know
Get caught up on everything AI ahead of our next US event - Pocket Gamer Connects Seattle (AI edition) - in May!
Focus
“Hypercasual isn’t dead, it’s just overworked” - Kwalee pivots to hybridcasual
The UK-based publisher are putting their money on hybridcasual
A Heavyweight Event
Fortnite aims for a knockout with its Creed crossover
The Creed Quests event is the latest in a series of tie-ins for the hit game
Phil Spencer Interview
Xbox's Phil Spencer talks Microsoft's moves on mobile, plus Activision Blizzard and AI
“What we realised, and it’s painfully obvious, is that we don’t really have any capability on mobile”
Next Gen Mobile
Tencent’s Arena Breakout to enter global beta
The Tarkov-like mobile extraction shooter was announced in 2021
Financials
Azerion sees positive year of growth following acquisitions
The company will be cancelling the majority of treasury shares to concentrate on cash liquidity rather than stocks
New Acquisition
The Sandbox expands to Germany with acquisition of developer Sviper
Sviper will bring their expertise in development and engineering to the platform
Liftoff Report
Playable ads have the lowest cost per install of all gaming ad formats
Meanwhile native ads offer the highest Day 7 return on ad spend, according to new Liftoff data
Gotta Catch 'em All
Pokémon Masters EX gives players a free Champion of choice in 3.5 year anniversary celebration
Anniversary characters include Marnie, Hop and Bede
Education
Roblox virtual grief education experience has been played 100k times
Created by the nonprofit Experience Camps, the Roblox world is an example of effective education through games
Shoryuken
Tencent’s Street Fighter: Duel arrives in the West
Tencent’s plan to release China-exclusive games abroad takes shape as A Plus Japan take on its European release
Tech
Samsung wants to optimise ray tracing for phones
The graphical fidelity boost for mobile games would be substantial
Industry Report
Venture funding fell 83% in Q4 2022
Konvoy’s 2022 Gaming Industry Report reveals Q4 figures down dramatically year-on-year
Ukie Resignation
Dr Jo Twist OBE moves on from role as UKIE CEO
Sam Collins and Dan Wood will manage the trade body until a permanent replacement CEO is appointed
Global Releases
Tencent’s former China-exclusives go global
The Chinese game giant has gone on a spree of releasing previously Chinese-exclusive games to the West
Children In Gaming
Almost a quarter of children’s games in the UK violate the ICO’s age appropriate design code
The Children’s Code sets out standards which companies must follow in order to stick to data protection law
Releases
Pokémon reawakens Pokémon Sleep and mobile updates
Pokémon Presents 2023 covered a variety of new announcements for the franchise