Five New Games
New release roundup: The best new mobile games from bad botanists to bunny befrienders
We highlight five new games that have broken cover and are all set to do big business
Gameexpo Summit
Investors connect with hot prospects at MENA's leading games event: Dubai GameExpo Summit
The best MENA market games talents meet international stars in Dubai on May 1st and 2nd
Mena Month
Maysalward CEO Nour Khrais: "The Middle East games industry holds immense potential for innovation and investment"
"We have embraced the concept of globalisation, where we look globally with our product and act locally, from game design to development"
Investment News
Lil Snack lands $3 million in funding for AI gaming tools
The tiny team of four prioritize partnerships over marketing, working with Amazon Prime and BuzzFeed for distribution
Merge And Match
Merge-2 revenue surges 10% while Match-3 flops by 11%
AppMagic data shows the highs and lows of February 2024, from revenue to downloads to winning events
Closure Announcement
French games developer Mi-Clos shuts down operations
"After 14 years, this is the end of the adventure Mi-Clos Studio"
Mergers & Acquisitions
Voldex scores big with acquisition of Ultimate Football on Roblox
The core Ultimate Football team are now part of Voldex.
Baby Brawlers
Brawl Stars collabs with YouTube’s most-viewed video Baby Shark
The partnership brings in-game cosmetics, a new challenge, and a Baby Shark pin to unlock
Mergers & Acquisitions
VoxPop Games acquires Celebrity Games to boost talent integration for indie devs
The initiative also welcomes students from diverse fields who aspire to enter the gaming industry
Mena Games Awards
Don't miss the MENA Games Industry Awards 2024 - Nominations close THIS WEEKEND
Be part of the premier awards celebrating the developers, publishers, investors, and legends who are driving MENA's growing games market
The Big Interview
Why Sensor Tower acquired data.ai
Sensor Tower chief operating officer discusses motivations for the deal and what it means for mobile market intelligence
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