Nordic Games Industry
How hard times are making game developers more creative and resilient
Regional industry experts take the pulse of the Nordic games market ahead of Pocket Gamer Connects Helsinki 2025, October 7th to 8th
Building Up
One Way Eleven’s Miguel Campos on his experiences building a games studio from the group in Portugal
One Way Eleven’s first title, Hanno, is set to be released next year. One of the studio’s founders, Miguel Campos, tells us what it took to get here
Milestone
Kokku recognised as official Unreal Engine Service Partner
Kokku also gained access to exclusive Epic training programs and partner communities
New Offerings
Jam City launches WikiGameJam to create games inspired by Wikipedia
Projects will range from edit-feed browser games to Wikidata-powered trivia apps
Job News
Appcharge appoints ex-StreamElements and Appush execs as CRO and CFO
Appcharge said the hires strengthen its role in the mobile DTC era
Funding News
HYS Games raises $300k to accelerate development on upcoming flagship title
The project is described as a daring double-A game with triple-A ambition
Finnish Games Week
Don't miss three new summits at the heart of this year's Finnish Games Week
Big Screen Gaming, AI Gamechangers, and Beyond Games: Transmedia Summits run alongside PGC Helsinki this October 7th and 8th
Region Report
Download our free Finland games industry report
Grab your copy of our Finland report to get a deep dive into the country's games sector ahead of PGC Helsinki on October 7th to 8th
Off To The Races
Umamusume: Pretty Derby: "To be honest, we weren't sure how a game inspired by Japanese horse racing culture would be received overseas"
We speak with an anonymous developer at Cygames about Umamusume: Pretty Derby’s global launch, localisation nuances and more
Developer Support
Ukie partners with Tencent for second year of the Video Games Growth Programme
Last year’s inaugural programme supported 27 graduating studios
Esports Growth
Fortnite crowns new Global Champions as Epic unveils major competitive updates
A $1m Fortnite Competitive mobile series launches later this year
Winners Revealed
Roblox reveals 2025 Innovation Awards winners
Steal a Brainrot was honoured for Best Creative Direction and recently surpassed 20m concurrent players
New Offerings
Nazara brings popular PC title Bodycam to Fortnite
The launch will feature two new modes, including Gun Game and Team Deathmatch
Milestone
SuperGaming’s MaskGun surpasses 100m players across Android and iOS
To celebrate, the publisher is running a two-week in-game event with rewards and recognition for players
Pgc Aqaba
Discover new prospects in MENA’s growing games market
Gather with the games industry in Aqaba on November 8th to 9th
New Offerings
Roblox creators will now earn 8.5% more from Developer Exchange
UGC platform reveals swathe of new tools including 4D object creation, real-time voice translation and speech-to-text APIs
Funding News
Evolite Studio secures $300k to accelerate development of its next game Noor
Noor is a top-down action game rooted in Arabian mythology
Hot Five
Hot Five: Destiny Rising hits 1m installs, Firaxis layoffs, and how Screw Master 3D scaled to global markets
Our quick-fix roundup of the hottest stories on PocketGamer.biz
The Transmedia Train
Gaming continues its transmedia expansion
Call of Duty becomes the latest major games IP to get the film treatment
Investor Connector
Discover your next big investment opportunity at Pocket Gamer Connects Helsinki 2025
If you aren't looking for new prospects in the heartland of mobile games, you could be missing out on some of the hottest opportunities
New Offerings
Azur Games launches open version of internal analytics platform
Early adopters of Azur Games Analytics are receiving free access during the onboarding phase
New Offerings
Code Maestro Launches in public beta as AI copilot for Unity developers
“Developers often spend more time fixing issues than making games,” said Code Maestro CEO Alexander Goldybin
Week In Views
India's real-money gaming layoffs, Call of Duty heads to the big screen, and Love and Deepspace hits $750m | Week in Views
The Pocketgamer.biz team pick their highlights from the headlines this week and deliver the stories behind the stories
New Games
New release roundup: The King of Fighters AFK, Riftbusters, Retro Bowl 26, and more
We highlight the latest new games that have broken cover over the past week
Layoff News
Firaxis confirms layoffs as part of a development restructuring plan
The number of affected staff was not disclosed
Crossovers
Scopely partners with Nickelodeon for a Stumble Guys and Avatar crossover event
Aang, Zuko, Toph, Sokka, and Appa all become playable characters
Accelerator Program
a16z Speedrun opens applications for its sixth accelerator program
The 12-week program starts January 2026 with up to $1m in funding
Adaptations
Amazon’s live-action Tomb Raider series to begin filming in January 2026
Sophie Turner confirmed to star as Lara Croft
Pgc Summit Korea
Unlock new business opportunities in Korea
Come meet the world's fourth biggest games market
Funding News
Symmetric Studio secures $300k to grow debut title Valley of Fog
The game blends dungeon crawling with city building in a hybrid casual experience
The Long Game
Gameloft on adapting tools, tech and teams to sustain Minion Rush's 12-year run
Gameloft’s Kateryna Skrypnik shares how live ops, community feedback and a Unity migration have kept Minion Rush running for over a decade
Industry Insights
The ins and outs of retention in an idle game with merge and puzzle elements
Oleg Nalimov shares on Gold & Goblins the genre-blending mechanics, monetisation and live updates that turned the game into a $60m success
Investment News
GDEV increases stake in Zombie Miner developer Royal Ark to 57%
The move strengthens Gdev’s strategic partnership while keeping studio independence
Crossovers
SYBO teams up with Supercell for Subway Surfers and Brawl Stars crossover event
The four-week event brings themed unlockables, new modes, and exclusive content to both games
Investment News
Bitkraft Ventures says it will double down on India investments despite real-money gaming ban
The firm will double down on gaming studios, esports, and interactive media
Acqusitions
Aonic acquires Prime Insights in $250m deal to build global rewards platform
Prime Insights CEO Benjamin Ritzka stays on and reinvests to become a top Aonic shareholder
Pgc Helsinki
Rovio talks optimised ad placements, player segmentation and Beacon
Rovio principal product manager and team lead of Beacon product management Niina Ojala highlighted the uses of Beacon throughout a game’s lifecycle at PGC Helsinki 2024
New Offerings
Activision partners with Paramount to develop Call of Duty movie
Paramount will produce and distribute the live-action film, expanding the franchise to new audiences
Region Focus
The state of Finland's games industry in 2025
We speak with local industry experts about what's happening in the Finnish games industry and where it goes next
Global Top Five
BIGO Ads marks five-year streak in IAB Tech Lab certification programme
BIGO Ads Achieves Five Consecutive Years of IAB Tech Lab Open Measurement SDK (OM SDK) Certification, Setting New Global Ad Transparency
Showdown Shutdown
Sword Art Online Variant Showdown will end service on October 30th
Bandai Namco Entertainment is closing down the troubled title after almost three years
Strategic Move
Savvy eyes multibillion-dollar deals in China and Asia amid US-China tensions
Currently ranked 8th globally, Savvy is pushing to climb the publishing charts
Acqusitions
Qiddiya acquires Evo operator RTS to expand its role in global esports
The acquisition supports Evo’s vision for original content and deeper live event experiences
Genre Strategies
FreePlay talks 2bn downloads and hybridcasual's rapid growth
"We consider creatives production to be one of our core strengths," says head of publishing Ivan Spijarskiy
Destiny Downloads
Destiny: Rising surpasses 1m installs on Apple’s App Store
NetEase Games’ latest release ranked as the third most-downloaded game on launch day on iOS
Changing Times
Navigating payment freedom: Gaining a lead in the new app store landscape
Ben Cousens shares on monetisation strategies in the new app store economy
Romantic Revenue
Anime-style dating sim Love and Deepspace surpasses $750m
Infold Games’ departure from the Nikki series has proven fruitful, three-quarters of the way to $1 billion
Job News
Microsoft names Rare's Louise O’Connor as chief of staff at Xbox Game Studios
She will focus on driving collaboration across Xbox Game Studios while supporting its leaders and teams
Strategic Move
Nintendo rebrands Warpstar as Nintendo Stars to spearhead its transmedia strategy
Nintendo Stars will oversee merchandising, licensing, and events tied to the company’s film projects
Pgc Helsinki
Why your boss should send you to Pocket Gamer Connects Helsinki 2025
Compelling reasons why attending PGC Helsinki October 7th to 8th is a must