Closures
Stranger Things: 1984 developer BonusXP to shut down
The company behind Stranger Things: 1984 and Stranger Things 3: The Game is shuttering after 11 years
Reports
Apple does not collect commission on 90% of $1.1 trillion in app store sales
Apple seems to be missing out on a sizeable slice of the pie
Tune Into Connected Tv
Get connected: How to leverage connected TV for growth - webinar
What new opportunities does Connected TV offer to app marketers? Hear from a panel of experts as they outline the tips tricks and best practice for making it work.
Happy Anniversary
Ni No Kuni: Cross Worlds celebrates first anniversary
The game is introducing new customisation options to celebrate the milestone
Milestones
Indian shooter Battle Stars passes two-million players within three weeks of launch
Yet more evidence of the thriving Indian market for mobile games
Redundancies
Gwent team sees 30 employees axed after ceasing of updates
Though CD Projekt Red stands by its commitment to community tools intended to help keep the game alive
Green Gaming
FunPlus joins 2023 Green Game Jam
The game maker is launching an environmental awareness campaign in State of Survival
Steps To Success
Supercell’s Alex Roque on the secrets of Clash of Clans’ Builder Base mode
The game mode received a significant rework in November
Insider Trading
Sonic creator Yuji Naka sentenced to two and a half years in prison
Naka pleaded guilty to insider trading in March
Last Chance
Grab your ticket to Pocket Gamer Connects Toronto before midnight tonight and save up to $380 CAD!
Last chance to use our Early Bird discount and save $380 CAD for our Toronto conference this September!
Schedule Reveal
Learn all about Web3, artificial intelligence and the metaverse at the Dubai GameExpo Summit: The conference schedule is now LIVE!
Don’t miss seeing the jam-packed schedule for our leading games industry Summit taking place this June 21st-22nd in Dubai!
Legislation
Brazil's app store tax takes aim at foreign developers
New tax laws mean that the Brazilian government gets a bigger slice of the pie, with Apple holding back cash in order to adhere
Milestones
Bleach: Brave Souls surpasses 75 million downloads
The title is based on the popular manga and anime series
Interview
How the Mini Metro developer “beat the odds” to build a premium mobile games studio
Dinosaur Polo Club co-founders Robert and Peter Curry defied industry trends and built a hit franchise
Acquiblizz
Microsoft and the UK's CMA begin their appeal tribunal on July 24
Microsoft hopes to change the CMA’s mind regarding its acquisition of Activision Blizzard
Interview
Noah Rosenfield talks Addagrams: “People enjoy investing in the betterment of themselves.”
The word game recently released on iOS and Android
Diving Into Dubai
Why Dubai is the most crypto-ready city in the Middle East
Get to know more about Web3 and blockchain presence in the UAE’s biggest city.
Awards Ahead
BAFTA Game Awards 2024 applications open early
Entries submitted late will be charged a fee to compete
Huuuge Financials
Huuuge Games hit all-time high EBITDA for Q1 2023
Earnings are up 91.8% to $27.6 million, but revenue drops 14.6%
Advertising
Bidstack brings its intrinsic advertising to two new mobile racing game studios
The company's platform for adding themed, unobtrusive ads to games has just gained two new partners
Newzoo Report
Mobile gaming declined 6.7% in 2022
The platform remind the largest segment in the gaming industry
Going Green
Outfit7 joins Green Game Jam 2023
The game maker has donated $60,000 to help protect wildlife in the Amazon
Zynga X It Gets Better
Zynga partners with the It Gets Better Project to kick off Pride celebration
The collaboration will see pride events held in fifteen of the company’s games
Silent Hill
Silent Hill: Ascension debuts new trailer
The title is the latest massively interactive live event developed by Genvid
Women In Games
Zynga's Paula Neves shares her journey from psychology to mobile marketing
From a psychology major in Brazil to a Senior Product manager with Zynga in Montreal, Pocketgamer.biz finds out more about Paula Neves' journey in games
Events
Devolver Digital showcase to return this month as part of Summer Games Fest
The event will see Devolver’s usual eccentric style on full display
Aquiblizz
South Korean regulators approve Activision Blizzard deal
The approval puts further pressure on the UK CMA
Job News
Massive Entertainment founder Martin Walfisz appointed CEO of Thunderful Group
Walfisz will assume his new role later this year
Survey
Apple’s VR headset will be “iPhone moment” say industry professionals
Attention is currently focused outside of games, but if the price comes down the scene may be set for another App Store explosion
Event Latest
Unlock Your Business's Full Potential at Game Connection Europe 2023
The two-day B2B conference is back in Paris on November 2-3
Research
UK video games research set to explore economic value of game industry
The research will cover all platforms including mobile
Honkai: Star Rail
MiHoYo is aiming for pole position in China’s market
A month on from the release of Honkai: Star Rail, and the game continues its meteoric rise
Feature
Animal Restaurant: How to Earn $2,000,000 in IAPs with a Cute Mobile Game
Analysing Animal Restaurant's path to success with AppQuantum
Legends Landing
Pokémon Masters reaches 50M downloads with Legends: Arceus crossover on the horizon
This marks the first time characters will come from Hisui to modern-day Pasio
Job News
Former GameAnalytics CEO Ioana Hreninciuc joins AI image creation startup PicFinder
PicFinder is one of the fastest growing generative AI startups with more than 100 million images created
Subs As Service
Subscription is death (without upsell)
Because a great subscription service simply isn't enough. Fundamentally Games' Oscar Clark explains where you're letting your most faithful customers down and leaving their cash on the table
New Studio
NetEase unveils Japanese studio PinCool Inc.
The studio will be led by Dragon Quest veteran Ryutaro Ichimura
New Launch
Supercell launches new title Flood Rush into beta
The game surprise-launched at the end of May
Collaborations
BGMI goes all-in on esports with new voice pack collaboration
The collaboration features popular Indian esports personalities from the team S8UL
Investgame Report
Gaming deals cooled down significantly in Q1 2023
Despite decreases across the board, there’s reasons to be optimistic about gaming investment in the year ahead.
Feature
How to accelerate ASO with ChatGPT
Azur Games ASO manager Zlata Kazantseva shares how the team used ChatGPT to create keywords and texts in Survive Squad
Back For Good?
BattleGrounds Mobile India is back: So what happened?
With the game set to return to storefronts, how exactly did Krafton get into so much trouble in India?
Alternative Storefronts
Razer adds Supercell titles to in-game rewards programme
Razor Gold is the first third-party storefront to sell in-game currency for Supercell titles
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 new mobile platforms, app store invasions, celebrity developers and… Have you seen my $2bn? I could have sworn it was right here…
Collaborations
PUBG Mobile to collab with Colombian music star Karol G
The international artist has collaborated with the likes of Shakira, Nicki Minaj and Bad Bunny
New Journeys
Angry Birds Journey soars to new heights in latest update
The update introduces new elements to the game
Roundup
Revenue Report: Games financials roundup: May 2023
Who's up? Who's down? Here's the latest quarterly financial results from around the world of mobile games, all in one place
Mavens
Mobile Mavens: Activision Blizzard: So what will happen next?
We asked our industry experts for their thoughts on the deal that rumbles on and continues to divide opinions. Here's what they said.
Ai Arrives
ChatGPT’s official iOS app releases in the UK
The AI generation tool is now available on iOS devices
Good Game
GamesAid raised £120 thousand for charitable causes in 2022/2023
AFK, The Clock Tower Sanctuary, and Autistica Plays are among the recipients of donations