Releases
Jam City tackles DC and heads into MENA with Heroes & Villains puzzle RPG game
The studio is seeking to expand its free-to-play offerings and licenced titles
Breakdown
Drake Star's Global Gaming Report: Breaking down the numbers, charts and more
What do Drake Star’s charts and graphs tell us about the gaming industry today?
Australian Investment
Screen Australia invests $3 million into gaming as part of the country’s digital entertainment goals
The fund sees 23 games with budgets below $500,000 receive fresh cash influxes
Mobile Masterworks
Mobile Masterworks: Candy Crush
The iconic match3 game single-handedly helped popularise the genre
Investment
Drake Star's Gaming Index rises by 15% private financing worth $700m in Q2 2023
The firm points to major deals like the Activision Blizzard and Scopely acquisitions while noting a lower level of investment
Profile
Speaker Spotlight: Gameloft's Renee Wong on pushing your team without crunching them
The communication specialist talks us through her talk at PGC Toronto, and how you can create a healthy work environment in games
Revenue
With 66 million daily visitors Roblox makes as much money as some small countries, now they want more
The company wants to push a more community-friendly approach to transactions on the platform
Financials
King celebrates 9% year-on-year increase in net revenue
Candy Crush remains the company's top performer, being the USA's top-grossing title for the 24th consecutive quarter
Activision Blizzard Financials
43% of Activision Blizzard’s Q2 2023 revenue came from mobile
Despite growth in every vertical, mobile remains the company’s top performer
Women In Games Series
Jam City’s Radostina Zhekova and Winnie Wen on UA creativity and the rise of female gaming audiences
In part two of their series exploring inspirational women working in games, Liftoff invites Radostina Zhekova and Winnie Wen to discuss user acquisition, creativity and more
Releases
NetEase’s newly-released Justice Online tops the iOS App Store charts
The game was previously tipped to use AI for character dialogue at certain points
Announcements
Hit comic book series Invincible to get new mobile game courtesy of Ubisoft
The series has seen a major boost in visibility thanks to a hugely successful animated show
User Insights
Katya Moskalenko: “Brands need behavioural data to tap into the gaming industry's enormous potential”
Measure Protocol aims to provide brands with valuable user insights to help them make informed decisions
Success In Funding
FIFA AI Soccer League dev Futureverse raises $54 million in series A funding round
The company will use this funding to further its metaverse goals and create more blockchain games
Job News
July's Mobile Movers and Shakers: Roblox appoints new chief partnership officer and Playtika sees a hiring spree
July has seen some significant moves by some of the industry's biggest company's - here's just a few
Lunar Lifting Off
Half Moon: Big Tech is over... Small Tech is where it's at
New studio develops first game made entirely of AI in only five months
Markets
Brazilian mobile market to jump to $5.2bn gross revenue by 2027
Downloads will also rise to 39.1bn, while Africa will still be yet to crack $1bn of mobile revenue
Social Media Manoeuvres
Zynga founder backs LA startup Artie to make games for Threads
Meta’s latest social media platform will be compatible with games on mobile
Game Design
Joel Beardshaw of Ustwo Games on the importance of design pillars
Joel Beardshaw shares the development process behind the mobile first title Desta: The Memories Between
Q&a
Yahaha’s Pengfei Zhang on making game development accessible to everyone
The new Co-Create game editor enables developers to work on the same game no matter where they are
Investment
Scalo leads $3.5m investment in publisher Hexacore
The publisher specialises in mobile Web3 games
Gamerefinery Report
Dragon Ball Legends and Diablo Immortal saw 500% spikes in revenue in June
GameRefinery delves into the state of mobile gaming last month
Loot Boxes
UK game makers agree to impose new restrictions on loot boxes
The controversial game mechanic has been the topic of increasing scrutiny in recent years
Studio Shifts
Neopets dumps the metaverse and crypto as TNT goes mobile
The newly independent studio will be focusing on building a new game called “World of Neopets” for mobile
Profile
Speaker Spotlight: CleverTap Gaming's Solomon Ruiz-Lichter on why some games lack originality
We sit down with CleverTap's senior director of global gaming to chat ahead of PGC Toronto
Profile
Speaker Spotlight: Moloco's Brendan O'Connor on the value of holistic marketing
We sat down with Moloco's Brendan O'Connor to talk about common mistakes in the games sector and holistic marketing
Design
The magic that makes mobile UI look good and feel great
Leanne Bayley of Atomhawk Advance chatted about the UX and UI design that goes into games, and touched on how mobile differs
Marketing
Federica Nocerino: “Marketing is connecting at the right time with the right person”
Women in Games ambassador Federica Nocerino shares her marketing expertise with the attendees at Develop Brighton
Africa Accelerates
Africa’s gaming revenue is more than 90% mobile
Newzoo and Carry1st report reveals Africa stands on the precipice of $1 billion in gaming worth
Investment
More Turkish investment as Fortune Mine Games closes $2m seed round
The move reflects a wide and varied amount of investment in Türkiye
Sustainable Phones
Europe will require all phones to have user replaceable batteries by 2027
The regulation aims to extend the lifespan of gadgets and improve sustainability
Tiktok Gaming
Gaming-related videos on TikTok received over three trillion views in 2022
A new report examines the app’s thriving community of gamers
Feature
Working AI into your art pipeline: expectations VS reality
Belka Games experiments with various AI art pipelines and shares the results
Fishing Clash
The Major Fishing League is coming to Fishing Clash in a new esports partnership
The move comes as part of a marketing partnership with Ten Square Games
Paid Games' Performance
Google Play or App Store? June data shows stark contrast in platform popularity of paid games
Curated Data.ai stats reveal the most downloaded paid games and top revenue generators per platform
Stocks
EA and other video game stocks see big boost as M&A fever creeps in
Shares are trading ‘in sympathy’ with Microsoft and ABK as the AquiBlizz saga looks set to close
Week That Was
Week in Views - What caught our eyes in the last seven days
The PocketGamer.biz team tackles big money and two stories, about cancelled development and story innovation, from Develop: Brighton this time around...
Unmissable Tracks
Dive into Web3, artificial intelligence and the evolution of games at Pocket Gamer Connects Helsinki
Insightful talks, the best kept industry secrets and much more revealed at this September’s PG Connects
Blockchain Gaming
Google to allow NFT in apps and games sold through Google Play
The move marks a significant shift in policy for the tech giant
Structure
A brief chat with Embracer Freemode’s Alex Verrey
As part of Embracer’s in-house PR team and external agency Overload PR, Verrey provides some quick insights
Investment
Binance Labs commits $15 million to web3 games platform Xterio
The investment will see Xterio integrate AI and launch its token on the BNB chain ecosystem
New Acquisition
Lightspeed Studios acquires developer Lucid Games
Lucid is best known for its game Destruction AllStars
Bring It On
Skill-based game developer Bring It On raises $4 million in seed funding
The company will invest the money in the creation of skill-based games
Awards
Why the BAFTAs think mobile stands toe-to-toe with console and PC
We got the chance to speak to part of BAFTA’s game team about their views on the potential of gaming culturally, and where mobile sits in it
Book Extract
Read an extract from John Romero’s autobiography today
Free: an introduction to Romero’s mobile work, taken with permission from Doom Guy: Life in First Person
Doom Guy
John Romero on his career, Doom's legacy and the promise of mobile
Interview: with his autobiography about to drop, an industry legend talks to PocketGamer.biz about his love of programming and his advice for developers
The Future Of Sony
Sony to invest $2 billion into extended reality research
The tech giant is aiming to take gaming to the next level
Multiple Milestones
My.Games' Tacticool reaches 30 million downloads milestone with $75 million in revenue
More than 1 billion users are registered in My.Games’ titles across its library
Interview
Immutable Games’ CSO Justin Hulog on bridging the gap between Web3 and mobile
We spoke to Hulog about his work, Web3, and the blockchain’s potential on mobile devices
Promotion In Partnerships
Roblox appoints Christina Wootton as chief partnerships officer
Wootton has been with Roblox for close to a decade