The Cost Of Privacy
Apple’s privacy overhaul “leading to massive adverse effects to SMBs”, says Alex Gurevich
“As much to blame for a recession as inflation”
Success In The Industry
L8 Studios closes pre-seed investment round
The round included participation from WePlay Ventures and Lima Ventures
Operatic
Opera and GameMaker launches mobile games publishing platform GX.games in beta
Web platform intended to allow mobile games publishing of GameMaker titles on iOS, Android, and desktop
New Hire
Big Fish Games appoints Gary Rosenfeld as head of business development
Rosenfeld will hold the same title for parent company Pixel United in North America
Powerhouse Partnership
Appodeal partners with Adjust to enrich its growth platform with attribution insights
New partnership enables every Appodeal user to access UA and attribution data from a single dashboard
New Appointment
Mattel appoints Mike DeLaet as global head of digital gaming
DeLaet will oversee the company's portfolio of digital games
Ready To Launch
Diablo Immortal nearing launch in China after delay
Sources claim delays were a result of social media post taken as criticism of China’s president
Quarterly Report
Ubisoft Q1 2022 report shows 9.8% sales decline
Mobile performance is strong, but other platforms have seen cancellations
A New Step For Jagex
Jagex makes its first acquisition with Pipeworks Studios
US-based developer is the Runescape creator's first studio investment
The Company Is Branching Out
Room 8 Studio structural change leads to exclusive mobile games dev unit
At least two entities, including the mobile games dev and trailer production, will branch out from the studio
Much Ado About Nothing
The Nothing Phone (1) reviews round-up – a "near perfect", potential "iPhone killer"
Sounds too good to be true but not a handset for gaming: here’s what everyone are saying about Nothing’s new phone
Hardware
The all-new Nothing Phone (1) starts shipping today
What it is, where to find it and how to order - complete with full specification
Quarterly Report
Mobile revenue continues to increase for Stillfront Group
Mobile represents almost 80 per cent of revenue, with strategy titles growing the most over Q2 2022
Breaking The Blockchain
Minecraft bans NFTs
Concerns regarding inclusivity were key in the decision
New Hire
Former Meta exec joins Xsolla as senior country manager
Sebastian Totté was at Meta for seven years, most recently as strategic partner manager, before joining Xsolla
Roe V. Wade
Take-Two stands up for reproductive rights
The company released a statement yesterday
Highway To Helsinki
Get to know the billion-dollar Finnish games industry and where it’s heading
Discover the spiritual home of mobile gaming ahead of Pocket Gamer Connects’ grand return to Helsinki this September 27-28
Home Of The Hoyoverse
miHoYo selects Singapore as metaverse division headquarters
HoYoverse development will be focused in the city state
What’s Your Persona?
EA patents player-centric content framework
Gamers could get an individualised in-game experience in a manner akin to ad personalisation
Anniversary Achievements
Outfit7’s My Talking Angela 2 celebrates first anniversary and 300 million downloads
Anniversary celebrations include game update and song release
Making Changes
Google Play to allow alternative billing systems, but only for non-gaming apps
Changes to be made as a result of the Digital Markets Act
Stranger Things Have Happened
Netflix remains tight-lipped on mobile games plans in Q2 financial report
Loss of 970,000 subscribers significantly less painful than 2 million predictions
Rift Up
League of Legends: Wild Rift exceeds $500 million in lifetime revenue
The company’s mobile portfolio has exceeded $828 million to date
A Studio In Seattle
NetEase Games’ new studio Jar of Sparks hopes to build "new franchises"
Founding member of Xbox Live Jerry Hook to lead the studio
Xr Appointments
XR Games expands executive team
The company has appointed a new chairman and non-executive director
Connect At Gamescom
Connect with metaverse experts at the Metaverse Mixer at Gamescom!
Meet both the Pocket Gamer team and metaverse experts at the cutting edge of this growing field during Gamescom 2022!
Deal Me In
Drake Star: 2022 games industry deals on track to exceed $150 billion
Drake Star partner Michael Metzger speaks with PocketGamer.biz on the highs and lows of games industry deals in H1 2022, and why IDFA is driving deals in the mobile sector
Apple Exodus
15 games set to leave Apple Arcade service
Over the Alps and Spidersaurs among those leaving the service
Salary Transparency
InnoGames publishes salary bands for 80% of employees
Salary transparency is a matter of fairness, says COO Michael Zillmer
The Future Of Esports
Riot Games and Amazon Web Services team up on esports content
Partnership will unlock data analytics integration
A Dream Of Crypto Spring
UK Treasury pushing forward with NFT development
The plans come despite the recent crypto crash
Hiring Now
Top 10 mobile games industry job vacancies this week
King, Zynga, Rovio, Hutch, Chimera Entertainment, and more
New Zealand Game Awards
Grimguard Tactics wins New Zealand Game Award for Excellence in Audio
The latest mobile game to be honoured at the ceremony
Contests Galore
Supersonic Superstars 2022 winners announced as ironSource’s SuperSonic SuperSummer begins
Tall Man Run and Move Animals win first and second prize
Swedish Success
Sensor Tower: Embracer Group takes the top spot for Q2 Google Play downloads in Europe
Ranking fifth of all publishers worldwide for the quarter
The Future Of Fashion?
Supermodel Karlie Kloss partners with Roblox
The Fashion Klossette Designer Showcase profiles a team of designers in temporary pop-up shops within the metaverse platform
Government Clamps Down On Loot Boxes
UK government demands games industry reevaluate loot boxes
The government stopped short of a crackdown
Riccitiello Apologises
Unity's John Riccitiello apologies for calling some devs "fucking idiots"
"To our friends in the Unity community, I owe you this"
Value Ad
Adverty launches industry-first streaming video technology for In-Play ads
Adaptive streaming video advertising from the partnership between SeenThis and Adverty brings innovative programmatic video ad formats to the gaming world for the first time
¥1.1 Million Fee
Shanghai tech firm fined $163,000 for unlicensed game publication
One of the country’s harshest penalties for such cases
Bytedance And Meta Reign Supreme
Apps are earning more revenue than games for the first time ever
Spending in non-game apps has grown more than twice the rate as games
The Power Of Partners
Netflix and Microsoft partner for new subscription plan
The ad-supported Netflix subscription plan aims to provide "more options" to consumers
Listen To This
Spotify acquires Heardle for an undisclosed sum
The acquisition has hit a sour note with some consumers, with it no longer available in multiple territories
Life, The Metaverse, And Everything
44% of gamers would accept advertising in exchange for free services in the metaverse
Globant and YouGov polling reveals gradually escalating interest in advertising and play-to-earn models in the metaverese
Game Licenses
NetEase and Tencent denied licenses in China
The companies were absent from the list of 67 new game approvals
Tracks On Tracks
Get an exclusive look into the content at the highly anticipated Pocket Gamer Connects Helsinki 2022
From discovering Finland’s Finest to mapping the metaverse, find out what you’ll learn this September
Latency And Lag
Edgegap: lag and latency are major problems for mobile gamers
Mobile gamers experience lag and latency at greater rates than PC/console, with 34% quitting games entirely as a result
Event Latest
TIGA Awards returns this November - here’s how you can get involved
The prestigious awards ceremony to take place on Thursday November 10 th 2022 in London
Merger News
Unity and ironSource announce merger
The companies will collaborate on a new platform that will embed Unity tools with monetisation indicators during games creation
Very Big Indie Pitch
Addagrams inventive additions to the word genre see it crowned Mobile Big Indie Pitch champion
Winners breakdown