Milestone
Sky: Children of the Light surpasses 270m downloads ahead of sixth anniversary celebration
The anniversary ceremony will honour outstanding user-generated content across ten categories
Investment News
Liftoff secures minority investment from General Atlantic to accelerate growth
General Atlantic joins majority investor Blackstone in backing the AI-driven performance marketing platform
Global Rollout
Supercell rolls out Mo.co to all players worldwide
Developer drops the invite-only model three and a half months after release
Investment News
Behold Ventures raises $58m to fund European game studios
The firm has invested $21m in 18 companies since 2021
New Offerings
Former CVCapital partner Jim Ying launches games M&A and investment advisory firm Mihada Capital
The company specialises in offering financial advisory services to businesses in games, ad-tech, and digital media
Legal Battle
Update: Beresnev Games wins interim injunction against SayGames in Race Master 3D dispute
Court documents show the title has generated more than $100 million to date; IP has returned to the developer
It's In The App
Messaging app EA Connect soft launches on mobile in Canada
Chat feature is already available across platforms in games such as EA Sports FC 25, Madden NFL 25 and NHL 25
Refund Round
FTC distributes $126m in refunds to "tricked" Fortnite players charged for unwanted purchases
Players are able to file for a refund until July 9th, 2025
New Offerings
Game engine Godot rolls out asset store in early beta
“Once we are happy with the new platform, we'll start rolling out paid assets”
Anti-corruption
Perfect World investigates staff and suppliers over alleged corruption
The One Punch Man developer said it will strictly punish any fraudulent or self-serving behaviour that harms the company
For The Throne
Game of Thrones: Kingsroad surpasses $1m on mobile after 36 days
Netmarble’s action-adventure RPG has taken a slower road to seven figures than Legends, Slot Casino or Conquest
Studio Closure
Hypercasual game studio Yayy closes
Following Yayy's closure, CEO Ziad Talge co-founded MyLuigi with AI and cloud expert Sukhdeep Johar, securing $125,000 in funding
Market Growth
Newzoo revises 2025 global games market growth forecast to $188.9bn
Mobile is projected to reach $103.1bn in 2025 and $107.7bn by 2027
Tiktok Sale
Trump: Potential US TikTok buyer will be revealed in next two weeks
The US president described the buyers as a group of “very wealthy people", but that the deal would need China's approval to close
Podcast | Episode 58
The UK games industry's £30m boost and Grow a Garden transforms Roblox | 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 what's inside this week's episode 58...
Nominate Now
Nominations for the Pocket Gamer Mobile Games Awards 2025 end soon
Submit your favourites across 22 categories before Friday, June 27th
Here We Go Again
Apple adds new fees to the EU App Store as it battles with the DMA
Tech giant adds initial acquisition fee, store services charge and Core Technology Commission
Game Jam
Playgama and GameDistribution launch Green Web Game Jam 2025 to tackle environmental challenges
The jam will challenge web developers to focus on using game mechanics to drive responsible behaviour and action
Developer Learning
Carry1st’s Dominion Ero partners with Udemy to launch game development programme for African youth
The Initiative aims to provide a structured learning path covering industry fundamentals
New Offerings
Meta launches gaming accelerator to empower Indian developers
Program will support 20 to 30 emerging Indian game developers and studios in its initial phase
Horse Girls Are Here
Uma Musume: Pretty Derby launches globally today after racing to $2.6bn on mobile in Japan
Cygames’ horse girl game has launched in English more than one year on from reveal, and four years after release in Japan
Candy Crown
King crowns 2025 Candy Crush Saga All Stars champion and dishes out $1m prize pool
Tiago P from Portugal won this year’s tournament, claiming $500,000 in prize money
Crossovers
Garena Free Fire celebrates 8th anniversary with Squid Game crossover
The collaboration will allow Free Fire players to experience Squid Game challenges from the Netflix TV show
New Partnerships
Supercell launches Brawl Stars as minigame on Tencent’s WeChat, Clash Royale following soon
The Squad Busters maker wants to leverage the market’s growth and the rising popularity of lightweight, instantly playable games
Layoffs Imminent
Microsoft to slash more Xbox jobs as part of wider workforce reduction
This could mark the fourth major layoff at Xbox in the past 18 months
Portfolio Prowess
FreePlay surpasses 2bn lifetime installs after expanding into hybridcasual
The developer and publisher’s games are available in more than 175 countries, with standouts including Count Masters, Twerk Race 3D and Zombie Apocalypse
Google Games
Google quietly launches HTML5 games hub Instant Games on select Android devices
The new app allows users to access a selection of games without downloading them separately
Gateway To Chinajoy
ChinaJoy 2025 to break records, now with one-day industry access via Pocket Gamer Connects
Pocket Gamer Connects Summit Shanghai on July 30 includes one-day entry to ChinaJoy
Roblox Record
Roblox’s Grow a Garden hits industry record 21.3m concurrent users, surpassing PUBG, Fortnite and more
The Roblox experience more than doubled its 8.9m record set in May
Market Growth
MyGamez ranked among Top 30 iOS Publishers in China for May 2025
Sales revenue of the Chinese mobile game market in May was $2.9bn, a month-on-month increase of 3.69%
Industry Outlook
Supercell CEO Ilkka Paananen on AI labs, rising costs, and why mobile games need reinvention
"Mobile games are no longer cheap" - but innovation is still the priority
Funding News
Motorica raises €5m to accelerate AI-powered character animation and expand globally
“We're not here to upend the animation workflow, we're here to liberate it,” said Motorica CEO Willem Demmers
Sequel Strategy
Shadowverse: Worlds Beyond surpasses $20m in first week
Cygames’ strategy card game sequel quadrupled the original Shadowverse’s week one earnings
Major Milestone
Kingshot surpasses $100m in just 117 days
Century Games has blended strategy and survival genres once again, leading to another hit game growing month-over-month
Netflix Games
Netflix to delist over 20 mobile games from its library in July
Games leaving include Monument Valley 3, which had a major Netflix-exclusive launch
Expansions
True Gamers expands in Saudi Arabia with four new esports venues in Riyadh
The agreement marks the company’s first multi-location launch in Saudi Arabia
Digital Markets Act
Apple in last-minute talks with EU to avoid fresh DMA fines
EU regulators had given the company two months to comply following a $570m fine
Lagos Games Week Takeaways
Five takeaways from Lagos Games Week 2025: Strong networking, weak panels, and 'one hit' debate returns
The two-day event had no major announcements, but there were still plenty of talking points around the state of the African games industry
Eternally Earning
SD Gundam G Generation Eternal surpasses $100m in two months
Bandai Namco’s recent release peaked at $3.5m in daily player spending
New Name
Honor of Kings rebrands to Honor of Kings Plus with "biggest version update yet"
Tencent’s flagship is the highest-grossing mobile game in the world, with a revamp coming shortly after record revenue
Crossovers
Bluey joins Fruit Ninja Classic+ in exclusive Apple Arcade event
The collaboration runs from June 19th to August 13th, 2025
Game Closure
DanMachi Battle Chronicle to shut down this September
Distribution and customer support will end across all platforms, including the App Store, Google Play, and PC
Expansions
SciPlay invests $4m to expand Cedar Falls studio amidst hiring push
The company has over 900 employees, including 145 in Cedar Falls and follows a hybrid model
Government Support
UK Government launches £30 million Games Growth Package
Investment strategy aims to boost country's games sector and help plug skills gaps
Podcast | Episode 57
The solitaire gold rush and Finland's new immigration rules bite | 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 what's inside this week's episode 57...
Lagos Games Week
“There's no big game that's made by just one studio"
Virtuos business development manager Soukayna Ennaji discusses industry outsourcing and growing Africa's games industry
Lagos Games Week
Lagos Games Week 2025 kicks off week of talks, exhibitions and showcases
The event will feature global players like Ubisoft, Ustwo Games and Nintendo’s Digital Schoolhouse
Root Raising
Social platform Root raises $9m in seed funding ahead of closed beta
Funding was led by Headline Ventures and Konvoy Ventures
No Deal
Tencent denies Nexon acquisition reports
The idea of a Chinese company purchasing South Korea-founded Nexon sparked backlash from the Korea Game Society
Funding News
Habby invests $2m in Istanbul studio Mavis Games
Casual games developer aims to expand its team as it looks to scale its portfolio