Big Screen Gaming Summit
Big Screen Gaming Summit: Unpacking the future of PC, console, XR, blockchain and UGC
Half-day multi-track event filled with talks and panels coming to Pocket Gamer Connects Helsinki on October 7th
Triumphant Trot
Uma Musume: Pretty Derby picks up 57% of mobile revenue outside Japan in two months since global launch
Cygames’ horse girl racer has earned $46.8m overseas since June 26th, 2025
Roblox Rising
Roblox’s peak concurrent user count hits record 47.4m as Steal a Brainrot and Grow a Garden compete
Steal a Brainrot has become the platform’s second experience to hit 20m concurrent users
Seismic Shift
India's games companies scramble as real-money ban wipes billions off market
The legislation has seen companies and investors lose hundreds of millions of dollars from a previously fast-rising industry
Jobs Roundup
August 2025’s Movers and Shakers: Playtika promotions, Appcharge's senior hire, SayGames' new head of PR, and more
Our regular roundup of the mobile games industry's movers and shakers
Marvellous Mena
17 MENA game studios graduate from the first Exel by Merak accelerator cohort
Each startup secured $300,000 in funding plus access to global mentorship
Funding News
FitNot Games secures $300k to expand development on culturally-inspired titles
Funding will accelerate work on ALI, a story-driven 2D isometric stealth game set in Egyptian folklore
New Offerings
Unity launches Ad Quality as a free standalone SDK for all publishers
The tool gives developers transparency and control over in-game ads across 25 networks
Funding News
Superbullet Studios secures $300k to scale Roblox game development
Funding will fuel marketing for flagship title SuperbulletAI, production scaling, and team expansion
Pgc Helsinki
Why Pocket Gamer Connects Helsinki 2025 delivers more value to sponsors
Find a smart sponsorship that boosts your brand visibility among a global games industry crowd
Marvellous Mena
Yalla Group joins the $1bn Arab companies club with a $1.23bn valuation
The Dubai-based firm is the only gaming and social platform on the billion-dollar list
Pgc Helsinki
PG Connects and Helsinki Film Lab introduce new summit linking games with TV, film, music and other arts
Beyond Games: The Transmedia Summit coming to PGC Helsinki on October 7th
Finland Report
Finnish games industry's revenue and profit declines in 2024 despite Supercell boon
Despite the declines, the Finnish games sector remained among the five largest in Europe in 2024
Stopping Support
Square Enix to shut down Final Fantasy Brave Exvius and Dragon Quest of the Stars in Japan
Both games will celebrate their 10th anniversaries in the weeks before end of service, set for October 31st
Funding News
DaFluffs Games raises $300k to accelerate work on debut title Dungeon Blast
The Saudi startup will use the funding to expand its team and scale development
Gamescom 2025
Gamescom 2025 concludes with 357,000 visitors from 128 countries
Devcom, soon to be renamed Gamescom Dev, drew 5,400 attendees
Hot Five
Hot Five: Mobile Games Awards winners revealed, India bans real-money games, and NextBeat shutting down Beatstar
Our quick-fix roundup of the hottest stories on PocketGamer.biz
New Partnerships
Savvy Games Group signs MoU with Al Jouf’s strategic office to develop games and esports
Savvy and JSDO will co-organise events to attract gamers and esports fans to the region
Funding News
Sheba Joy raises $293,000 in pre-seed funding to scale operations from Saudi Arabia
Funding will expand production, attract top talent, and drive development of new titles
New Offerings
New platform 962.Games launches as a directory for Jordan’s games ecosystem
It serves as a gateway for players, partners, and investors while inviting local developers to join
Ai Insights
How a solo creator scaled a daily game to 1,000 users without writing a single line of code
Columbia business school grad Brandon Newquist explains how he leveraged AI tools to build and scale The Sphinx Riddle
Investment News
Impact46 invests over $53m in Saudi games studio Kammelna
The studio is best known for bringing the Kingdom’s iconic card game Baloot to mobile
Funding News
Spoilz raises fresh funding to expand its development and live ops capabilities
Investment will fuel globally competitive mobile games and attract top Saudi talent.
Funding News
Starvania Studios raises $1.1m to accelerate growth and fuel its gaming ambitions
Investment enables Starvania to expand its team with Saudi talent and boost global competitiveness
Esports Tournament
Esports World Cup Foundation launches Esports Nations Cup
EA, Krafton, Tencent, and Ubisoft will co-develop the first edition in November 2026
New Partnerships
Savvy Games Group partners with AWS to boost Saudi Arabia’s games technology infrastructure
Savvy CEO Brian Ward says the deal will empower the Kingdom’s developer ecosystem
New Partnerships
Savvy Games Group signs MoU with Unity to boost opportunities for Saudi games developers
Qualifying projects gain free access to Unity’s backend, analytics, ads, and multiplayer tools
Week In Views
Safe In Our World creates new mental health accreditation and Moshi Monsters Kickstarter comeback | Week in Views
The Pocketgamer.biz team pick their highlights from the headlines this week and deliver the stories behind the stories
Gamescom Insights
4 takeaways from Devcom and Gamescom 2025: The DTC revolution, Asian publishers make a splash, and room for optimism
We analyse some of the big stories and trends coming out of Europe's largest games expo
Game Closure
NextBeat to shut down Beatstar and Country Star
The servers are set to close on October 31st 2025
Sound Search
Sony AI and Audiokinetic launch AI-powered Similar Sound Search for Wwise
AI search in Wwise will allow sound designers to find and experiment with audio using text or reference sounds
Expanding Partnerships
DMCC and Xsolla announce Accelerator and Incubator Programme at Gamescom 2025
The new programme aims to connect MENA talent with global publishers and investors
New Games
New release roundup: Valorant Mobile, Mini Sudoku, Coffee Pool and more
We highlight the latest new games that have broken cover and are all set to do big business
Pgc World Tour
Join major 2025/26 games industry event world tour
Key cities and new locations to gather with the games industry at Pocket Gamer Connects in 2025 and 2026
New Era
Outfit7 on growing a global IP with the next era of My Talking Tom Friends 2
Ante Odić, TT&F games division president discusses building a scalable player led sequel
Best Of The Year
Pocket Gamer Mobile Games Awards 2025 winners revealed
Check out who beat the competition in each of this year's 24 categories
Regulation Ramps Up
India bans real-money games but looks to legitimise esports as competitive sport
The Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Bill 2025 will ban ads and social media promotion of real-money games, whether skills-based or chance-based
New Partnerships
Odeeo partners with AI studio Wondercraft to power multilingual in-game audio ads
Partnership brings personalised audio ads into mobile gaming
Play Policy
Google Play policy update restricts pre-registrations, discovery and more to higher-tier fee payers
Changes also allow developers to more flexibly link to payments outside of an app
Mobile Games Awards 2025
Balatro wins hearts as the People's Choice at the Pocket Gamer Mobile Games Awards 2025
Solo developer LocalThunk picks up the People’s Choice award for a $30m mobile game first intended "for myself and a few friends"
Behind The Scenes
Behind Black Deck’s rise: A case study in product, monetisation, and trust
SayGames’ Katya Sabirova shares on Black Deck’s journey from early struggles to a $30M hit
Nordic Games Industry
Growth, challenges and future opportunities in the Nordic games market
Expert insight into the Nordic games market ahead of PG Connects Helsinki, October 7th to 8th
Mobile Games Awards 2025
Pokémon Trading Card Game Pocket wins Game of the Year at the Pocket Gamer Mobile Games Awards 2025
Making $1 billion in 204 days makes TCG Pocket the very best, like no Pokémon mobile game ever was…
Mobile Games Awards 2025
Scopely triumphs as Best Publisher at the Pocket Gamer Mobile Games Awards 2025
Monopoly Go, Pokémon Go… It’s all go!
New Offerings
Tencent unveils AI game creation suite Visvise at Gamescom 2025
The suite covers animation, modelling, NPC creation, and digital asset management
Cloud Gaming
Samsung expands mobile cloud gaming platform to Europe
Galaxy users in the UK and Germany can now play mobile games without downloads or installs
Mobile Games Awards 2025
Supercell is crowned Best Developer at the Pocket Gamer Mobile Games Awards 2025
Record revenue, portfolio-wide growth and Clash Royale’s ‘Brawl Stars moment’ help Supercell come out on top
Funding News
Fahy Studios secures $1.75m to scale its mobile game production
Funds will go towards expanding its capabilities and attracting talent to the kingdom
New Offerings
Aghanim launches new liveops and game hub builders to boost DTC webshops on mobile
The company plans to turn underperforming webshops into high-value DTC channels
Company Misconduct
GungHo reveals $2.35m embezzlement by former senior executive
CEO Kazuki Morishita will take a 30% pay cut for three months as leadership accepts responsibility