New Offerings
Savvy Games Group and PNU’s Applied College sign MoU to equip women for careers in games development
Training will cover areas like concept design, 3D modelling, animation and interactive storytelling
Sporty Celebration
MLB Rivals hits 5m downloads and 1bn pitches as it marks second anniversary
Developer Com2uS is offering players a series of special events and rewards both in-game and on social media
Moving To Mobile
Global Worldwide closes funding round led by Bitkraft Ventures in mobile manoeuvre
The oversubscribed round was "tough" in the current AI landscape, according to chairman and CEO Will Harbin
Apple Troubles
Apple appeals $587m EU fine over App Store practices
The iPhone maker said it was forced to appeal to avoid “punitive” daily fines
New Partnerships
The CoLab partners with Universally Speaking to boost quality of indie games
The collaboration will improve quality and strengthen relationships between publishers and studios
The Power Of Pokemon
Pokémon Go celebrates ninth anniversary and $8.8bn in gross player spending
Total earnings are likely even higher when including alternative stores, Go’s web shop and more
Victorious Valorant
Valorant Mobile hits 40m pre-registrations in China
Riot Games opened pre-registrations on April 21st, exclusively for the Chinese version
Job News
Stillfront recruits Emily Villatte as chief financial officer
She will assume the position on January 7th, 2026 from interim Group CFO Tim Holland
Suites And Services
Keywords’ Liquid Violet expands London studio with new recording and mixing suites
Liquid Violet will now offer end-to-end audio services through a partnership with fellow Keywords subsidiary Laced
Lawsuit Triumph
French court hands suspended sentences to three ex-Ubisoft executives over workplace harassment
All three executives left the company in 2020 following the investigations
Esports Tournament
The Battle of Polytopia Global World Championship set to kick off with $10,000 prize pool
This year's prize pool marks the biggest competitive event in the game’s nine-year history
Podcast | Episode 59
A dark day for Xbox | 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 59...
Vote Now
Voting begins for the Pocket Gamer Mobile Games Awards 2025
Voting for this year's big show has now begun
Zenless Celebration
Zenless Zone Zero celebrates first anniversary with $442.1m, just 23% of Genshin Impact’s year one
HoYoverse’s latest gacha game generated nearly one-third of its lifetime mobile revenue in its launch month
Pgc Barcelona
The value of retargeting players and when to do it
RTB House gaming account director Vera Manhoso talks data preparation and integrating an MMP at PGC Barcelona 2025
New Offerings
NetEase's Destiny: Rising hits 5 million pre-registrations ahead of August 28th global launch
Players who pre-registered early will receive in-game rewards
Acqusitions
RMV IT Services acquires hit mobile game Plane Evolution from Global Champions
Supersonic from Unity will keep its shares and continue as the game's publisher
Marvellous Mena
Gamezop commits $4m to expand in the Middle East with a new office in Bahrain
The company plans to onboard 1,000 new apps and hit $6m revenue within 18 months
Layoffs
Blizzard ends Warcraft Rumble development as company reportedly slashes up to 100 jobs
Move is part of sweeping cuts across Microsoft and its games division
Redundancies
Swedish dev Toca Boca hit by layoffs
Rubik's Match developer Nørdlight has also been closed
New Offerings
Outfit7 unveils 2025 roadmap with three new games
Leading the rollout is My Talking Tom Friends 2 which already has 2 million pre-registrations
Antitrust Heat
Apple faces potential sanctions in Brazil over App Store antitrust violations
Antitrust body recommends fines and behavioural remedies to solve the competition problems
Job News
LEGO Group appoints Fredrik Loving as SVP and global head of LEGO Game
He will report to chief product and marketing officer Julia Goldin
Investment News
Boby.ai secures Revo Capital investment to scale AI products
This is Revo’s second seed investment from its new $86m Fund III, which launched in March
Funding News
Grand Mobile raises $750,000 to grow flagship title Grand Mobile
The deal closed with the company valued at $75m
New Developer Friendly Marketplace
TeleStore: A new developer-friendly marketplace for browser games and web apps
TeleStore aims to reinvent the digital marketplace by making it fair, flexible, and accessible for both developers and users worldwide
Job Losses
Report: King loses 10% of staff as Microsoft makes games division cuts
Candy Crush maker hit hard by redundancies across games group
Funding For Games
Google Play’s Indie Games Fund returns to Latin America with $2 million for 10 studios
Selected studios will receive between $150,000 and $200,000 to grow their game
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