Financials
Unity hits $500m of revenue in Q1 financials
John Riccitiello: “The very nature of our platform will benefit from AI tools”
Interview
From CGI ads to working with some of Hollywood’s biggest stars, what’s next for Merge Mansion?
Metacore’s Sandra Fenyo discusses the company’s smash hit advertising strategy and the likelihood of a Merge Mansion TV series…
New Acquisition
Keywords Studios acquires Hardsuit Labs
The acquisition broadens the company’s suite of developers
Startups
Earning from emotes: Kinetix Emote Infrastructure makes emoting easy
The AI startup has launched a platform to allow devs to more easily add emotes into their games
Holding Out For A Hero
Sony brings its Hero Project incubator program to India
The launch follows the program’s rollout in China
Nintendo Financials
Nintendo made $379 million from mobile games and IPs in the last financial year
The company’s mobile revenue is down, but by no means out
Meet Your Match
Connect with active investors, leading publishers and the next big developers at the Dubai GameExpo Summit!
Secure early access to the best price possible for the Dubai GameExpo Summit and learn more about our unmissable matchmaking events.
The Power Of Play
Lilith Games celebrates its tenth anniversary with a documentary video
The company has released a short documentary highlighting the player base
Releases
Niantic's next big game gamble Peridot officially launches
The new title from the Pokémon Go hitmakers takes a twist on their established AR formula
Financials
EA takes its eye off the ball as mobile growth slows to 1% in Q4 report
Mobile growth year on year drops from 48% to just 1%, but other sectors turn a familiar tidy profit
Infinite Possibilities
Torchlight: Infinite goes cross-platform, launching worldwide on mobile and PC
The free-to-play game is the first in the franchise developed for mobile devices
New Investment
Outfit7 invests in educational startup Hopalai
Hopalai is the mind behind Kobi, an ereader app designed to make reading accessible for all children
Last Call
Your essential guide to Pocket Gamer Connects Seattle 2023 next week
Pocket Gamer Connects Seattle is kicking off next week – don’t miss your last chance to join in and connect with the biggest names in games!
Cars And Comedy
What the Golf? dev Triband launches new Apple Arcade game What the Car?
The latest comedy game from Copenhagen-based indie studio
Sneak Preview
Network with the likes of Amazon, Bango, and Big Fish at Pocket Gamer Connects Seattle next week!
Get a sneak peek of some of the companies joining us in Seattle this May 16-17! Don’t miss your chance to connect with the biggest names in the industry
Preliminary Performance
Krafton reports record Q1 with $407.8M in sales
Plus a 3% year-on-year increase
Collaborations
Jonas Brothers premier new music in Candy Crush Saga
Bypassing traditional routes to market, the musicians will be previewing their new album exclusively within the smash hit mobile game
Break Ups
Fragbite and Tilting Point end their publishing deal
Fragbite will now publish MMA Manager 2: Ultimate Fight in-house
Soft-launch
Bad Piggies 2 comes to selected countries in iOS-exclusive soft launch
Android release to come later
Acquiblizz
Microsoft prepares to appeal against the CMA’s Activision Blizzard ruling
The UK group blocked the biggest acquisition in gaming history last month
Releases
Indie classic World of Goo comes to Netflix Games
The original indie hit from 2008 has been remastered for modern mobile
Voodoo Strategy
Voodoo's hybridcasual strategy is working
The company has built a portfolio of ten hybridcasual games which are generating between $20 and $100 million a year
Finnish Game Awards
Finnish giant Metacore's CEO and co-founder Mika Tammenkoski reflects on a difficult year for the industry
However, Tammenkoski remained bullish about the industry’s potential
Apple Arcade
Fingersoft CEO Jaakko Kylmäoja on Hill Climb Racing’s move to Apple Arcade
What does this move mean for the future of the franchise?
Canada-bound
Pocket Gamer Connects is coming back to Toronto this summer – here’s everything you need to know ahead of the event!
Take your business to the next level and connect with global industry professionals at our next conference in Canada this July 19th to 20th!
Last Chance
Last chance to sign up to pitch your game to experts at PG Connects Seattle this May 16-17!
Registration closes for our popular Very Big Indie Pitch competitions in Seattle today! Submit your game for consideration before midnight tonight.
Socialpeta Report
More than 7.8 million new ad creatives were released in Q1 2023, with video ads on the rise
North America had the highest number of unique advertisers for the period, but lagged in creatives per advertiser
Celebrating Indies
Celebrate indie excellence with The Big Indie Zone Audience Choice Award sponsored by ByteBrew at PG Connects Seattle!
PG Connects Seattle attendees will vote on the best indie games in the Expo area, join us in celebrating the best in indie talent.
Investment
Phantom Gamelabs joins Supercell’s family of investees
The studio has received an undisclosed amount from the Finnish gaming giant
Ai In Gaming
Magmic uses ChatGPT to power Hasbro’s Scattergories
Now the popular AI tech will allow the game to create more creative categories
Finnish Game Awards
How did mobile do at the Finnish Game Awards?
Mobile saw big success at the Finnish game industry’s biggest night with Pako Highway scooping game of the year
Cloud Gaming
Fortnite is back on iOS
The title will be available on multiple devices, including iPhones and iPads via Amazon Luna
New Games
Apple Arcade quietly drops 20 new games
Apple's pushing a whole new wave of titles on their platform
Last Chance
Last chance to apply to PG Connects Seattle’s industry-leading matchmaking events!
The deadline to apply for our Investor Connector and Publisher Speedmatch matchmaking events is tomorrow! Apply while you still can.
Last Chance
Last chance to save up to $170 on your PG Connects Seattle ticket – prices rise at midnight tonight!
Secure your ticket to our Seattle show before prices rise at midnight tonight! You can save as much as $170 using our Midterm discount.
Legal
Krafton & NetEase get their day in court over PUBG inspiration dispute
Despite being settled back in 2019 Krafton still claims that two of NetEase’s titles infringe their copyright
Devil May Duel
Devil May Cry’s Dante is coming to Street Fighter: Duel
Dante will join the game's roster as part of the upcoming Devil Invasion event
Layoffs
600 jobs go as Unity completes their largest round of layoffs yet
The company is making an effort to “streamline” operations
Apple Buyback
Apple expected to announce $90 billion in dividends and new stock buyback
Analysts expect the company to announce the buyback in its quarterly report later today
Stillfront Financials
Stillfront Group celebrates 5% year-on-year increase in revenue
Net revenue rose to 1,758 MSEK, however organic net revenue fell 5%
Funding
Frantic Games raises $2.4m in pre-seed funding
The studio will use the fund to specialise in hybrid casual mobile games
Networking Opportunities
Discover networking and matchmaking opportunities at the Dubai GameExpo Summit this Summer!
Learn more about the opportunities for developers available at our upcoming Summit in Dubai, coming up June 21st-22nd.
Blog Posts
Rovio reveals the secrets of their level design
The studio’s latest blog post unveils some inside details
New Ad Markets
AppLovin brings performance-based buying to CTV to AppDiscovery
App marketers can now tap into massive CTV supply across hundreds of ad-supported TV apps and 300 channels
Markets
Mobile proliferation pushes gaming market growth
According to new global gaming market report
Rovio Financials
Angry Birds Dream Blast was at the top of the Rovio pecking order in Q1
The game saw gross bookings of 23.9 million euros
Anniversaries
It's been 10 years since Angry Birds Friends
Time flies… But what did the lesser-known Angry Birds hatchling bring to the (bird) table?
Blazing Trails
Tilting Point braves a new frontier with Oregon Trail: Boom Town
The new game puts a new spin on the Oregon Trail franchise
Unmissable Opportunities
Connect with The Pokémon Company, Big Fish and more at PG Connects Seattle’s Careers Zone!
Register your interest for PG Connects Seattle’s Careers Zone for a free ticket to the show and recruitment opportunities with lead gaming companies this May 16-17th!
Anzu Addition
Meta veteran Nerissa MacDonald joins Anzu global sales role
Bringing more than 20 years’ experience from Adform, Sizmek and Meta