Unexplained Outage
It wasn't just you - Apple's App Store and more went down this morning
Even Apple aren't immune to the latest wave of mysterious service outages
State Of Play
72% of women play video games with half of female players being payers
Meanwhile diversity in games is a key issue with 65% of men and 62% of women affirming the point
Super Stars
Brawl Stars crushed Clash of Clans’ monthly revenue in March
Meet the new champion. New features, events, content, and lead producer all help push Brawl Stars to greater heights
Celebrations
Monument Valley is 10 years old today, kickstarting a year of celebrations
The two Monument Valley have games proved pivotal in pushing mobile gaming platforms with a new launch on Netflix Games up next
Game Over
Epic removes Aquiris Game Studios' Wonderbox from Apple Arcade
The official Apple Arcade Reddit has confirmed that Epic-owned Wonderbox is amongst games leaving the service
Online Safety
Facial age estimation tech not ready for parental consent primetime says FTC
Following concerns the FTC commissioners voted 4-0 unanimously to reject the application
Ua Scaling
Game Analysis: Exploring Rivergame’s Last War UA scaling strategy
How does a game earn $2 million and 200k downloads a day? Game design consultant Jakub Remiar shares a deep dive into Last War's unique features and UA strategy
Esports World Cup
Riot Games backs Esports World Cup in Riyadh with new LoL and TFT teams
But as the EWC isn't an official LoL Esports competition Riot will not involved in production or team selection
Investment Incoming
Ludus Ventures invests $1M in Turkish studio Midas Games
Midas Games plans to launch multiple titles later in 2024
Top Topics
10 games industry questions answered: From AI and alternative app stores to layoffs and more
Omdia's analysts and researchers spill the truth on the industry’s key topics, including post-pandemic recalibrations and the "ballooning development costs" of triple-A games
Job Cuts
Ubisoft's woes continue with 45 further redundancies across the globe
The giant continues to shed staff as it gets a grip on falling profits and a slowdown in mobile activity
Investment
A16Z's third Speedrun accelerator is now open with $75 million up for grabs
Only the finest and most ambitious creatives will make the grade, each receiving mentorship and up to $750,000 of investment
Indie Game Devs
Japan launches So-Fu accelerator to support indie game developers
The program will provide indie devs with mentorships, create business connections in the industry and even cover expenses.
Investment News
Wargaming co-founder launches $50 million investment fund Mika Games to support mobile studios
The company aims to invest globally in mobile-first, free-to-play live service games with strong monetisation potential
Mena Month
It’s MENA Month on PocketGamer.biz
We'll be highlighting the exciting teams, projects and major news from the region
Market Insights
MENA games market continues to outpace global growth as it surpasses $7 billion in revenue
Get to know the MENA market ahead of the Dubai GameExpo Summit 2024, coming up on May 1st and 2nd
Sell Outs
Thunderful is selling Headup for €500,000
The company is being bought by Headup's own CEO and founder
Gdc 2024
GDC 2024 draws nearly 30,000 attendees
More than 1,000 speakers led 730 sessions, workshops, and roundtable discussions this year
In-app Advertising
Gaming social platform Discord set to embrace ads for revenue boost
Discord is reportedly hiring more than a dozen workers to see this through
Hot Five
Hot Five: GDC highlights, Tencent’s strategy shift, and Candy Crush’s biggest tournament yet
Our quick-fix roundup of the hottest stories on PocketGamer.biz
Funding News
Laton Ventures secures $35 million for games investments in Turkey and beyond
Founder Görkem Türk tells PocketGamer.biz why he's so bullish on games and how Turkey's rising games industry has helped spur its fund raise
Week That Was
Week in Views - Call of Duty Warzone: Mobile's debut, Palworld inspires Tencent, and GDC 2024 takeaways
The Pocketgamer.biz team pick their highlights from the headlines this week and deliver the stories behind the stories
Podcast | Episode 05
GDC Roundup, EU calls out Apple, and lots of MENA news | Week in Mobile Games podcast
The PocketGamer.biz podcast team give you the state of play every week. Here's where to get it and and what's inside this week's episode 05…
Five New Games
New release roundup: The best new mobile games from Call of Duty Warzone: Mobile to CookieRun: Witch’s Castle
We highlight five new games that have broken cover and are all set to do big business
Mobile Mavens
Mobile Mavens: What do developers think of the Epic Games Store coming to mobile?
Our Mobile Mavens share their thoughts on the Epic Games Store coming to mobile, covering just how impactful it may or may not be in the future
Loads Of Layoffs
Sega lays off 240 employees and sells Relic Entertainment
Sega Europe, Creative Assembly and Sega HARDlight are all affected by the layoffs
Studio Suite
Pocket Worlds’ Highrise surpasses 40 million users as it unveils new development tools
Highrise Studio allows creators to make content that can be integrated into Highrise 4.0
Big Bucks
King’s Candy Crush All Stars tournament is back and bigger than ever with a $1 million prize pot
King’s VP of marketing for Candy Crush Saga, Luken Aragon shares how the All Stars tournament came to be and what it means for the continued Candy Crush legacy
Something To Sell
Embracer to sell Borderlands dev Gearbox to Take-Two in $460m deal
Gearbox games from Borderlands and Homeworld to Duke Nukem will fall under Take-Two’s possession
Green Gaming
$700,000 raised in Playing for the Planet’s Green Game Jam 2023
40 games were entered into the Green Game Jam, focused on preserving three endangered species
Major Milestone
Hypercasual developer FreePlay surpasses 1.5 billion downloads
The company's portfolio has generated 500 million installs during the last year alone
Funding Influx
Illuvium raises $12M funding for blockchain games
An open-world creature collector, city builder and autobattler will feature interoperable blockchain elements
Mena Market Growth
Sandsoft and NetEase establish joint venture Stellar Gate Games to publish games in MENA
The new venture will support companies with publishing, marketing, live ops and esports activities in the region
Performance Boost
Game Analysis: How Supercell sparked a Brawl Stars resurgence
Gradient Universe founder Oxana Fomina dives into pivotal changes that Supercell implemented to improve the games performance
King Calls
King appoints ex-TomTom and Zalando exec Eric Bowman as CTO
Steve Colins steps down from the role to explore AI and return to investment world
Dubai Gamexpo Summit 2023
Super Evil Megacorp’s Taewon Yun: "Gen AI is like a goldmine surrounded by a minefield"
Super Evil Megacorp chief business officer Taewon Yun’s talk at Dubai GameExpo Summit 2023 powered by PG Connects focused around AI and Web3
Iteration Inspiration
Report: Tencent's top studios developing Palworld-like mobile games
TiMi and Lightspeed studios are reportedly developing mobile games inspired by Palworld
Web3 Expansion
Nexon expands to UAE with new blockchain game subsidiaries
Publisher establishes Nexon Universe Global and Nexpace in region as it aims to expand blockchain initiatives
All About Ads
Intrinsic ads make players 5% more likely to consider in-game spending
Anzu and Happydemics find intrinsic ads to have the highest recall rate, brand identification and purchase consideration
Esports Growth
True Gamers gets set to build $280 million esports island in Abu Dhabi
True Gamers is currently in talks with investors to raise the $280 million it needs to acquire the island and commence building facilities
Optimising Opportunity
How Supply Path Optimisation can supercharge user acquisition for gaming advertisers
Ad expert Liftoff highlights how developers can get more from their ad campaigns through a smarter approach to the supply path.
Securing Spending
32% of spending players in mobile games plan to cut back in 2024
Mistplay’s 2024 Mobile Gaming Spender Report reveals that 54% of big spenders make three or more purchases per month
New Partnerships
Tamatem Games relocates HQ to UAE after Abu Dhabi investment
The backing aims to help fuel publisher's growth and strengthen the UAE's overall gaming ecosystem
Massive Savings
Last chance to snag Early Bird tickets for Dubai GameExpo Summit! Don't miss out on major savings before midnight Thursday
Secure your seat, savings and success in Dubai's games industry!
Podcast | Episode 04
Sensor Tower acquires data.ai, Epic Games Store is coming to mobile, and Apple's antitrust woes | Week in Mobile Games podcast
The PocketGamer.biz podcast team give you the state of play every week. Here's where to get it and and what's inside this week's episode 04…
Gdc Takeaways
5 takeaways from GDC 2024: The games industry reckons with key challenges, Godot competes with Unity, and AI was the big trend without the big announcements
Meanwhile, the big news came from outside the house, and UGC is no longer flying under the radar - but it's not sky high either
Team Tencent
Tencent "focusing on fewer bigger budget games" as it shifts away from IP strategy
Publishing giant moves Assassin's Creed Jade team to DreamStar as part of new focus on internal products and fewer big franchise bets
Revenue Rivals
Call of Duty Warzone: Mobile generates $1.4m in first four days
Shooter launched globally on March 21st after racking up more than 50 million pre-registrations
Milestone
Now.gg hits 100 million users, introduces platform fee of up to 5%
Developers can retain 95% to 100% of their game revenue for a platform fee of 5% for in-game transactions
Clamping Down
EU's DMA bites as it opens non-compliance investigations into Apple and Google
Meta, Google and Amazon also potentially in hot water as EC threatens big fines for rule breakers