Roblox’s one trillion YouTube views, Asia dominates mobile’s biggest launches, and Netflix teams up with FIFA | Week in Views
The games industry moves quickly and while stories may come and go there are some that we just can't let go of…
So, to give those particularly thorny topics a further going over we've created a weekly digest where the members of the PocketGamer.biz team share their thoughts and go that little bit deeper on some of the more interesting things that have happened in mobile gaming in the past week.
Craig Chapple
Netflix partners with FIFA to launch football simulation game ahead of the FIFA World Cup 2026
Netflix sealed a deal to bring the FIFA franchise back into gaming this week.
It comes a few years after EA and the world’s football governing body cut ties after the publisher refused to pay higher fees for the licence, reported at $1 billion - reportedly twice as high as previously agreed.
As an aside - also in the last week, football fans were up in arms over hiked up prices of World Cup tickets. FIFA relented a bit. So, you have to ask, how much is Netflix paying for this licence?
Anyway, Netflix said it was working with Delphi Interactive to build the new game in time for World Cup 2026. On its LinkedIn page, Delphi says it “builds triple-A games based on the most desirable IP franchises in the world”. It also calls itself “the architects behind 007: First Light with IO Interactive”. The latter studio, of course, is the team actually building it.
The announcement says Delphi is the developer and publisher. But a cursory look on LinkedIn doesn’t show any actual developers connected to the firm.
It’s a huge deal that FIFA is back in games (oh, it’s also now in Roblox too. Perhaps an even bigger deal!). But I’m curious which development team is actually building the game and how long it's been working on this “newly reimagined FIFA football simulation game”.
I have a hard time believing it will be anything to rival EA Sports FC, built on decades of experience and tech. A tough challenge, too, to topple the likes of Konami’s eFootball.
I guess we’ll see what form the game comes in. I don’t expect a rival to these titles, but rather a small experience that lasts some of the summer.
Paige Cook
Roblox content surpasses one trillion all-time views on YouTube
Roblox’s latest numbers, which state that the platform has surpassed one trillion all-time views on YouTube, are huge. This is according to its 2025 Roblox Replay, which also said that in July and August, one in every five game-related videos posted on TikTok globally had mentioned Roblox.
Despite concerns about the platform's safety, which always seem to arise, Roblox has become a major cultural platform, mainly for the younger generation who are clearly still heavily invested in watching it on the likes of YouTube and TikTok when they aren't playing it.
Platforms like Roblox and Fortnite have come to dominate the UGC space, and these constantly evolving worlds are showing they can keep up with changing trends and keep players coming back for more.
Roblox has had a huge year with experiences like Steal a Brainrot and Grow a Garden both amassing millions of players and Fortnite, well that's doing something with famous partnerships on a level unseen in any other game right now.
As UGC tools become more accessible, we are likely to see more creators get involved and more growth for UGC in 2026.
Aaron Astle
Asia dominates 2025’s biggest mobile releases as top 10 new games make $2.2bn
As 2025 draws to a close, I took a look at the biggest new mobile releases of the year. Kingshot took the crown with almost $600 million in gross player spending, based on AppMagic estimates, making Asia the winner of another year.
In fact, four of the five biggest releases were developed in Asia, with Team Jade’s Delta Force in second at over $43m, Bandai Namco’s SD Gundam G Generation Eternal in third at $300m, and Habby’s Archero 2 in fourth at over $175m.
Rollic’s Color Block Jam ranked fifth, the first of two exceptions to Asia’s dominance in the top 10. It was a stronger showing for Western games than in 2024.
Also noteworthy is their release times. This year, the five biggest games were all available during H1, suggesting more regular spending that accrued over the year - hence their top rankings. Meanwhile, in 2024, latecomers like Pokémon TCG Pocket jumped up the charts near the end of the year, overtaking most the competition despite a short window of availability.
2025’s top performers also came closer in revenue, where 2024 had some heavy hitters who took a much stronger lead. So, there’s an argument to be made for this year’s list reflecting a healthier industry, even if the top games last year generated $800m more collectively.