Pgc London
What to expect at Pocket Gamer Connects London 2025
Pocket Gamer Connects London - the ultimate gathering for games industry professionals to connect, learn, and thrive in 2025
A New Focus
Hasbro aims to invest up to $150m a year in games
The company has already invested $1 billion to its gaming division
1000 Apps And Counting
Gamelight Celebrates Milestone of 1,000 Mobile Apps Promoted Worldwide
Gamelight has reached an exciting milestone - promoting over 1000 mobile games and apps through its rewarded user acquisition platform.
Cloud Gaming
MTN and Telecoming partnership brings cloud gaming to mobile in South Africa
Players in the region can now stream Steam titles directly to their smartphones
Funding News
KGeN secures $10 million for web3-powered ‘gamer controlled’ economies
The latest raise brings the company's valuation to $500 million
Sinking Spending
Final Fantasy VII: Ever Crisis surpasses $100 million
Square Enix’s RPG hits the mobile milestone after over a year and slowdown in monthly revenue
Dream Deal
Playtika completes acquisition of Dice Dreams developer SuperPlay
The deal could be worth up to $1.95 billion, depending on SuperPlay’s performance in the next three years
Tiktok Webinar
Watch: How to unlock your game’s next level with TikTok
Gain insights into live ops and marketing through TikTok during Q5 and beyond
Royal Arrival
Dream Games launches Royal Kingdom worldwide as Royal Match nears $4 billion
One of the year's most anticipated releases is here after generating $21.2 million in soft launch
New Offerings
Minecraft set for real-world attractions with $110m Merlin Entertainments deal
The strategic partnership will see themed rides, attractions, hotel rooms and retail outlets from 2026 to 2027
Ai Ads
Reforged Labs begins open beta for generative AI-created mobile game ads following $3.9m investment
The open beta allows developers to upload gameplay and automate animated, voiced game ads
Job News
Almedia goes on recruitment drive with 17 new hires
Hires form part of Almedia's growth plans across Europe and North America over the next year
Pgc San Francisco
Save the date: PG Connects will return to San Francisco next year
Join us for the USA edition of our conference series for the global games industry on March 17th and 18th 2025
Adaptation Ahoy
Final Fantasy XIV Mobile is being developed by Tencent’s Lightspeed Studios
Square Enix will publish the mobile iteration of its 2013 MMORPG
Market Growth
Xsolla signs MoU to help transform Busan into a global game development hub
Xsolla plans to open an Asia-Pacific HQ to support game developers
Clash Comeback
Supercell’s Clash Mini to return in 2025 within Clash Royale
The developer hopes to turn Clash Royale into a "strategy hub experience"
Acqusitions
Game District acquires majority stake in Türkiye’s Gleam Games
Gleam Games CEO is now chief strategy officer at Game District
Winners Revealed
Winners revealed for the first-ever Playing for the Planet awards
Gameloft’s Dragon Mania Legends and Trailmix’s Love & Pies each won two awards
Awards And Accolades
AFK Journey, Eggy Party and Squad Busters win big at the Google Play Awards 2024
HoYoverse lands another Google Play win, but not for Zenless Zone Zero
Layoff News
Job cuts at Kwalee following layoffs made earlier this year
Some of those impacted took to LinkedIn to share that they are now looking for new opportunities
Stars Of The Show
Monopoly Go star-powered ad campaign summons Will Ferrell, Chris Pratt, Jason Momoa and Keke Palmer
Will Ferrell’s role as Mr. Monopoly will be an ongoing one as part of a "long-term creative concept"
Ai Safety
SAG-AFTRA's newest agreement secures protections for game voice over localisation
The union hopes it will create more job opportunities for actors involved in video game localisation
Pgc London
First speakers confirmed for Pocket Gamer Connects London 2025
Just some of the 280 speakers bringing you 56 hours of content across 29 tracks this January 20th and 21st
Welcome The Web3 World
Xsolla to launch Xsolla ZK, advancing Web3 adoption for videogames
Xsolla ZK - a bridge between traditional games and Web3
Investment News
Play Ventures secures $140 million to support early-stage game studios
Since closing the funds in June 2023, Play Ventures has already made eight investments
Finding Funds
Embracer to contribute $423 million towards Asmodee’s near $1bn debt repayment
Funds will change hands provided Miniclip’s Easybrain acquisition is successfully completed
Monopoly Money
Monopoly Go revenue falls 58% in October but remains a top 10 grossing game
Scopely’s hit casino game still isn’t board of making bank, and neither are celebrities
Waves And Workflows
Niantic to offer AR services outside games with Niantic Spatial Platform
The Pokémon Go maker is combining technologies to deliver new "spatial experiences"
Developers Contest
Supersonic launches hybridcasual competition for mobile game developers
Developers can receive up to $10,000 per month based on KPI
Partnership
Xsolla and Com2uS forge strategic partnership to offer payment and backend services to developers
Both companies are looking to expand their collaboration with new directions for cooperation
Candy Crushed
King stops supporting Candy Crush Blast and Candy Crush 3D
The titles appear to have been used more broadly as gameplay tests
Super Raise
SuperScale raises $1.2 million for analytics service SuperPlatform
New toolset provides datapoints across marketing, product and finance into a single AI-powered platform
Job Changes
PlayStation’s Olivier Courtemanche named head of mobile in executive shakeup
Justin Kubiak has been named as the company’s new head of business development and partnerships
Podcast | Episode 36
Games industry M&A hits overdrive with Plarium and Easybrain deals | 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 36...
Pokemon Power
Pokémon Trading Card Game Pocket surges past $100 million in 17 days
The card collector game is averaging almost $6.4 million per day in player spending
Parental Control
New Roblox safety features give parents more control
Some updates are launching today, with all changes expected to be fully implemented next year
Warcraft Wave
Warcraft Rumble is making the move to PC with monthly mobile earnings down 92% in first year
Blizzard Entertainment plans to launch the game on Battle.net to allow simultaneous play with World of Warcraft
Funding For Games
Merak Capital launches $80 million fund to support MENA games start-ups
The accelerator consists of a brief virtual bootcamp, followed by a 14 to 16 week core program
London Fringe Events
Thrive in 2025 - Maximise your networking at Pocket Gamer Connects London
Fringe events to level up your networking for indies, developers, publishers, investors and more
Layoff News
AMD cuts 1,000 staff as it pivots to AI
“As a part of aligning our resources with our largest growth opportunities, we are taking a number of targeted steps"
Legal Proceedings
Apple sued for £3 billion over 'anti-competitive' iCloud concerns
The tech giant is accused of charging excessive fees and locking 40 million UK customers into its iCloud service
Six Month Milestone
Solo Leveling: Arise hits 50m players and $139m revenue in first six months
But player spending in Netmarble’s RPG is on the decline
Dual Listing
Art outsourcer Winking Studios begins trading on the London Stock Exchange
Market cap projected at £66 million
Investment Round
Former Supercell devs at Bit Odd raise $18m investment
Funding round led by Griffin Gaming with participation from Makers Fund, Index Ventures and others
Studio Support
SayGames to invest $30 million in hybridcasual studios over next three years
Publisher will back studios worldwide over the next three years
Jobs News
Ubisoft recruits new chief people officer
Sébastien Froidefond will lead the company's global people strategy
No-brainer?
Miniclip purchases Easybrain from Embracer for $1.2bn
Casual games developer moves on after it was purchased for $640 million back in 2021
Mobile M&a
Microsoft eyes potential mobile studio acquisition
"We’re not going to grow the market with $1,000 consoles"
C-level Drama
Report: Disney eyes EA's Andrew Wilson as potential CEO
Wilson is one of three external candidates that are being considered for the job
Sweden Stands Strong
Swedish games industry revenue hit $3.3 billion in 2023
Domestic sales saw a rise of 6.4% year-over-year