New Beat
Why the NextBeat team is joining the gamified learning revolution at Duolingo
Co-founders Simon Hade and Olly Barnes discuss why they went from seeking funding to joining the learning platform
M&a
Duolingo acquires majority of team at London studio NextBeat
Acqui-hire will see staff working to expand Duolingo Music
Financials
AppLovin revenue surges 77% to $1.3bn in Q2
Net income rises by 164% Y/Y to $820 million
Ai Ambitions
Unity game engine "competitive advantage" for AI ads platform Vector
CEO Matt Bromberg discusses substantially ramping up the tech firm's AI investments
A New Vector?
Unity pins hopes on Vector AI ads platform to spark revenue growth
CEO Matt Bromberg claims inflection point despite revenue decline
Industry Insights
Can AI replace ad monetisation managers?
GameBiz Consulting’s Damjan Kačar tests if AI can keep up with ad monetisation experts
Speaker Wave
Tencent, Neogames Finland and Critical Force among the first wave of speakers confirmed for Pocket Gamer Connects Helsinki 2025
The first wave of the 150+ expert speakers confirmed to lead our 24-track schedule on October 7th and 8th
Funding For Games
Blue Ocean Games launches Rising Tide 2 to fund the next wave of indie developers
Submissions now open to indie developers and aspiring creators worldwide
Lean Ai Driven Ua Strategies
UA is broken - Here’s how developers can fix it without hiring a bigger team
MStars.AI marketing director Efrain Aldaz explains the shift toward lean, AI-driven strategies
Speaker Survey
Devcom survey: A third of devs prefer minimal AI involvement in game production
Devcom 2025 speakers say early access is still strong as platform exclusivity fades
Acqusitions
Gdev acquires Light Hour Games to expand mobile portfolio
First project is set for soft launch this October
Funding News
SuperGaming raises $15m to fuel global expansion of Indus Battle Royale
Funds will go towards game development, talent acquisition, and original IP creation
Clash Comeback
Is Clash Royale having its Brawl Stars moment?
This July, monthly spend grew by 251% Y/Y and hit its highest since December 2017
Studio Strategy
Inside Wooga’s strategic shift
New MD Dennis Korf on prioritising June's Journey, learning from Claire's Chronicles and what comes next
Epic Vs. Everyone: Linkouts
In the face of ongoing legal change, what are the opportunities for mobile games companies?
"Don’t be surprised if pretty soon players in any part of the world can start making off-platform purchases in-app with zero friction"
New Offerings
My.Games launches business modelling tool for AdsAdvisor
Tool is set to release in H2 2025
New Offerings
Coplay takes over Unity MCP as it reaches key milestones with public beta launch
Coplay now powers over 3,000 Unity development features weekly for studios using AI workflows
Building Blocks
Roblox daily active users surges 41% to 112m in Q2
Revenue and bookings up as losses continue
Funding News
GameRamp raises $5.4m to build AI-powered publishing tools for developers
Funding will support team expansion in the US and India
Pokemon Pickle
The Pokémon Company defends TCG Pocket illustrator in artwork fiasco
The card production team mistakenly provided artist Sie Nanahara with the wrong documents when designing Ho-Oh art
Pgc Helsinki
Bigger, broader, and better value - 2025’s must-attend B2B games event in the Nordics
What you need to know about Pocket Gamer Connects Helsinki, the biggest games industry event in the Nordics, taking place on October 7th to 8th
Marvellous Mena
"I was pleasantly surprised that singers actually want to be in video games"
Masseka Games founder Teddy Kossoko on building a mobile game that monetises celebrity feuds
Switch 2 Sales
Nintendo Switch 2’s launch month sales more than double original Switch’s
Over 5.8m Switch 2s were sold in the console’s first 26 days, helping drive net sales up 132%
Portugal's Egames Lab Consortium
Infinity Games’ André Miraldo on why Portugal is the perfect place to develop its soothing puzzling games
Infinity Games excels at creating relaxing puzzle games, a success André Miraldo, its marketing lead, attributes to the support provided by Portugal
Segment Sales
Capcom generates just 1% of net sales from mobile as segment falls 50% Y/Y
The Japanese developer highlighted PC and console games over mobile in its latest financials
Earnings Report
Apple revenue rises to $94bn in Q3 2025 despite $800m tariff-related costs
Americas lead regional sales at $134.16bn followed by Europe and Greater China
Hot Five
Hot Five: Uma Musume’s $22.8m overseas launch, Krafton’s record-breaking H1, and casual games’ strong market growth
Our quick-fix roundup of the hottest stories on PocketGamer.biz
Pocket Gamer Party
Mingle with industry professionals at the Pocket Gamer Party during Gamescom
Registrations now open to join the Cologne party on August 20th
Pgc London 2026
Pocket Gamer Connects London tickets now live - save up to £340 with Super Early Bird offer
Join Europe’s leading B2B games event in 2026 as Pocket Gamer Connects starts the year in London, January 19th to 20th
Games Funding
What makes investors interested in your game
Why understanding evolving investment strategies in games is crucial to developers
Return Of The Tariffs
Trump’s tariffs bite across the globe
More than 90 countries have been impacted, including popular manufacturing hubs for mobile and gaming hardware
Legal Battle
Google loses appeal in Epic Games case that could crack open the Play store
The case could now make its way to the Supreme Court
Event Report
Pocket Gamer Connects Summit Shanghai 2025 unites East and West: First mainland China event marks new era for global games collaboration
We delivered a high-impact Summit in Shanghai, forging new connections across the global games industry
New Games
New release roundup: Kingdom Rush Battles, Wargroove 2, Settris, and more
We highlight the latest new games that have broken cover over the past week
China Growth
Overseas revenue for Chinese developers rises by 11% to $9.5bn in H1 2025
WeChat sales surged by 40% to $3.2 billion in the first half of the year
Competitive Gaming
China plots national esports football team
Chinese FA is looking for cooperation zones to fund the team and provide training and competition venues
On The Leash
The heavy hand of regulation
Regulators continue to fight big tech with mixed results
Market Growth
Casual games market grows 3.6% amid a surge in strategy titles
Casino games saw an 8% rise in downloads but a 15% drop in revenue
Investment News
Good Job Games secures $60m in series A funding
Total investment to date has reached $83m in under six months
Funding News
STAN secures $8.5m funding to power AI-driven growth and games communities
Funds will go towards growing its presence in India and other mobile-first markets
New Rules
Decoding Apple's new App Store business terms in the EU
Futura Digital delves into the latest rules for the EU App Store as the iPhone giant battles with the DMA
Atari Acquisition
Atari offers $5.1m in bid to acquire Thunderful Group
If approved by shareholders, the deal will see Atari acquire approximately 82% of outstanding shares and votes in the company
Industry Insights
First impressions count: Creating the ultimate first time user experience
Elran Ettinger offers insights on creating the best first impressions on players
Happy 10th Birthday Heroiclabs
A heroic ten years
"We kept seeing studios reinvent the wheel: building complex backend systems from scratch instead of focusing on the game itself... we knew there had to be a better way."
Pubg Plan
PUBG 2.0 will broaden from battle royale to UGC and games platform
Krafton is "speeding up the process" of reworking the game with wide-ranging modes
Crossovers
Mattel and Halfbrick unite to bring Masters of the Universe to Jetpack Joyride
The event runs until August 20th
Collaboration
Outfit7 partners with Miraculous for limited-time Talking Tom Hero Dash event
This marks the first time a character from Miraculous appears in the Talking Tom universe
New Partnerships
Clear Angle Studios expands into South Africa via Robot Air partnership
The move eliminates the need to import scanning personnel and gear for South African shoots
Ai In Games
Level up your game with the AI Gamechangers Summit
Gain key insight on the many ways AI impacts game making, and changes the course of the industry
Actionable Insight For Every Dept
Inside the data systems of gaming's global hits: The tech stack behind billions in revenue
Find out how ThinkingData is unifying data analytics and live ops into a single scalable platform for developers and publishers worldwide