China Growth
Overseas revenue for Chinese developers rises by 11% to $9.5bn in H1 2025
WeChat sales surged by 40% to $3.2 billion in the first half of the year
Competitive Gaming
China plots national esports football team
Chinese FA is looking for cooperation zones to fund the team and provide training and competition venues
Market Growth
Casual games market grows 3.6% amid a surge in strategy titles
Casino games saw an 8% rise in downloads but a 15% drop in revenue
Investment News
Good Job Games secures $60m in series A funding
Total investment to date has reached $83m in under six months
Funding News
STAN secures $8.5m funding to power AI-driven growth and games communities
Funds will go towards growing its presence in India and other mobile-first markets
Atari Acquisition
Atari offers $5.1m in bid to acquire Thunderful Group
If approved by shareholders, the deal will see Atari acquire approximately 82% of outstanding shares and votes in the company
Pubg Plan
PUBG 2.0 will broaden from battle royale to UGC and games platform
Krafton is "speeding up the process" of reworking the game with wide-ranging modes
Crossovers
Mattel and Halfbrick unite to bring Masters of the Universe to Jetpack Joyride
The event runs until August 20th
Collaboration
Outfit7 partners with Miraculous for limited-time Talking Tom Hero Dash event
This marks the first time a character from Miraculous appears in the Talking Tom universe
New Partnerships
Clear Angle Studios expands into South Africa via Robot Air partnership
The move eliminates the need to import scanning personnel and gear for South African shoots
Pgc Barcelona
Tilting Point’s Sylvain Etard talks rewarded platforms, retargeting and the "UA jungle"
Etard spoke at PGC Barcelona 2025, revealing insights into reaching users
Accidental Artwork
Pokémon TCG Pocket removes two illustrations after "incorrect materials" used in latest expansion
The card production team mistakenly provided the artist with the wrong documents
Funding News
JECO secures $1.3m to streamline game development and creative workflows
JECO aims to transform how developers interact with hardware and build for the future
Market Report
More than 15,000 new web games were released in Q2 2025
New Playgama report shows Unity still leads web game development, powering 55% of all new titles
Milestone
CSR Racing franchise has surpassed $1 billion in player spending
Milestone comes after 13 years on the track
Milestone
InnoGames has surpassed €2 billion in lifetime revenue
Tribal Wars, Grepolis, and Elvenar each contributed over €200m to the milestone
Record Revenue
Krafton generates $1.1bn revenue in record-breaking H1 2025
Mobile accounted for 62% of the total sum, though performed better in Q1 than Q2
Football Fiends
EA surpasses high-end guidance range with $1.3bn net bookings this Q1
This marked a 3% Y/Y increase driven mainly by full game sales
Market Growth
Japan and Korea games market to hit $30bn by 2029
Niko Partners report shows a market dip is expected in 2025 but long-term growth remains steady
New Partnerships
Make-A-Wish taps Raptor PR to lead games industry comms campaign
The campaign will focus on thought leadership, media outreach, and speaker engagement
Revenue Race
Uma Musume: Pretty Derby makes 50.3% revenue outside Japan in first global month
Japan, the US and Canada are currently the anime gacha’s top markets
Ai Ahoy
Playful.AI kicks off first Game Jam with a $7,000 prize pool, where AI features are must-have
The winner will receive $4,000 and a launch partnership opportunity
Revenue Rise
Take-Two’s mobile portfolio accounts for 52% of $5.6bn net revenue in latest fiscal year
Mobile spending was up 7% Y/Y, driven by Match Factory and Toon Blast
Closed Beta
Bandai Namco opens closed beta sign-ups for Digimon Alysion
Progress made during the beta will not carry over to the final game release
Milestone
FIFA Rivals surpasses 1 million downloads
Over 15m matches played and 16m goals scored since release
Lawsuit
Sony sues Tencent over alleged copycat of Horizon game series
Monetary damages and a court order are being sought to stop IP infringement
Crossovers
Monopoly Go taps into Marvel IP with The Fantastic Four
The collaboration celebrates the cinematic return Marvel's first family
Mobile Games Awards
Final hours to vote in the Pocket Gamer Mobile Games Awards 2025
Last chance to make your voice heard as the Pocket Gamer Mobile Games Awards 2025 voting closes midnight July 31st
Funding News
Drizz raises $2.7m to reinvent mobile app testing
Every app team is accelerating with AI, but testing still lags behind,” said Drizz CEO Asad Abrar
Spending Surge
Shadowverse: Worlds Beyond daily revenue spikes 786% with first new card set Infinity Evolved
Cygames’ latest card game has generated $66.7m in its first six weeks on mobile
App Store Changes
Apple overhauls App Store age ratings with new categories
Developers can now set a higher minimum age requirement than Apple's default rating
Podcast | Episode 62
Apple's regulatory wins and 2025's top genres | 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 62...
Acquisition Aftermath
Napster Corp lays off staff after "overlaps" post-acquisitions
The number of redundancies is unknown, but the company continues to employ hundreds of full-time staff
Earnings Report
Hasbro sees 16% revenue boost in Q2 2025
Monopoly Go licensing pulls in $44m
Loads Of Layoffs
Layoffs to cost 100,000 years of collective games industry experience
As veterans leave the games sector, Amir Satvat calculates the years of experience lost since 2022
New Offerings
Candy Crush to launch official dessert cookbook this October
The candy-themed cookbook is now available for pre-order
Milestone
My Talking Tom Friends 2 surpasses 10 million downloads
Outfit7 achieves its highest-ever preregistration conversion rate with this launch
New Partnerships
Gadsme partners with Konami to bring immersive ads to games and esports
The agreement opens new opportunities for brands and advertisers to reach audiences
Strategic Move
Nazara spins off Nodwin Gaming ahead of fresh funding round
The new capital raise will dilute Nazara’s stake in Nodwin to below 50%
New Partnerships
Entrust partners with PlaySafe ID to combat cheaters and boost player safety
The move supports upcoming UK rules that require stronger online child protection
New Partnerships
Sony acquires 2.5% stake in Bandai Namco
Sony expands Japanese IP footprint with 16m share Bandai Namco deal
Online Safety
42% of parents say the games industry doesn't do enough to protect kids online
Social media tops parents’ safety concerns with TikTok singled out by 52%
Top 50
Nominations open for PocketGamer.biz's Top 50 Mobile Game Makers 2025
We're also putting together special lists for Southeast Asia and MENA - all to be unveiled later this year!
Bringing Back Buttons
Soolra iPhone case doubles as retro controller: "Mobile gaming has been held back by touchscreens for too long"
The company also has its own emulator with open source, properly licenced and public domain games preloaded
Market Growth
Global games market to hit $196 billion by 2026
Venture capital funding in games dropped to $193m in Q2 2025
Celebration Is Coming
Game of Thrones: Legends celebrates first anniversary and $23.6m in lifetime player spending
Ned Stark was the most-used Champion of year one, though he died 110m times
Earnings Report
Ubisoft Q1 revenue falls 3.9% to $365m as publisher reorganises into ‘creative houses’
Mobile also accounted for 10% of net bookings
Studio Closure
Sandsoft shuts down Riyadh and Barcelona studios
The Saudi mobile company moves to double down on publishing
Acqusitions
Gaijin Entertainment acquires Fortnite map The Pit from creator Geerzy
The company said it sees a profitable and scalable opportunity with Fortnite’s creator engagement model
Pgc Barcelona
FunPlus’ Guillaume Colomb talks narrative, theme and how to "feed the brain"
Colomb spoke at PGC Barcelona 2025, revealing insights into three key elements of a deep game experience