Show Me the Money: Nodwin’s $55M Esports Deal, Grand Games’ $30M funding, and Pokémon’s $400M smash | January
The mobile games industry is fast-paced and it’s easy to miss out on the big news.
To that end, we’ve put together a roundup of the big deals from the past month to help keep you on track on everything from mergers and acquisitions, investments, partnerships and more.
Below you’ll find the key deals we reported from the past month, as well as other investment news.
You can learn more about M&A and investment trends at Pocket Gamer Connects. We’re heading to San Francisco on March 17th to 18th, and Dubai on May 7th to 8th.
Head on over to the PGC website to book meetings with publishers and investors, network with the industry, and gain insights from expert speakers.
M&A
https://www.pocketgamer.biz/former-annapurna-employees-take-over-private-division-portfolio/
https://www.pocketgamer.biz/pocket-worlds-acquires-ai-driven-ugc-platform-infinite-canvas/
https://www.pocketgamer.biz/kukouri-mobile-shuts-down-game-operations-sells-ips-to-social-first/
https://www.pocketgamer.biz/nodwin-gaming-acquires-esports-broadcaster-starladder-for-55-million/
Investments
https://www.pocketgamer.biz/grand-games-lands-30m-in-series-a-funding/
https://www.pocketgamer.biz/aonic-invests-10m-in-mega-fortuna-as-part-of-70m-acquisition-plan/
https://www.pocketgamer.biz/social-games-platform-little-umbrella-lands-2-million-in-funding/
We spoke with Jetapult Co-Founder and CEO Sharan Tulsiani on the Pocketgamer.biz podcast to explore how Jetapult’s partnership-driven approach sets it apart from traditional VCs.
Games industry growth
https://www.pocketgamer.biz/level-up-roas-get-your-gaming-growth-guide-for-2025-and-beyond/
https://www.pocketgamer.biz/mobile-growth-drives-africas-games-industry-to-1-billion-in-revenue/
https://www.pocketgamer.biz/90-of-developers-plan-to-launch-at-least-one-game-in-2025/
https://www.pocketgamer.biz/72-of-mobile-devs-plan-to-increase-ua-spending-in-2025/
https://www.pocketgamer.biz/mobile-app-downloads-hit-136-billion-in-2024-as-revenue-surges-to-150bn/
https://www.pocketgamer.biz/vr-games-surge-on-android-as-meta-quest-3-drives-60-growth/
https://www.pocketgamer.biz/royal-match-earned-51-of-all-match-3-revenue-in-2024/
The key to success: How top 100 downloaded games implement interstitial ads and related in-app purchases
In this guest article GameBiz Consulting’s Božo Janković shares a deep analysis on how the top 100 downloaded games tackle ad implementation.
Milestones
https://www.pocketgamer.biz/netflixs-squid-game-unleashed-mobile-game-surpasses-10m-downloads/
https://www.pocketgamer.biz/pokemon-trading-card-game-pocket-smashes-400-million-in-10-weeks/
https://www.pocketgamer.biz/infinity-nikki-styles-up-16-million-in-launch-month-on-mobile/
https://www.pocketgamer.biz/pokemon-sleep-snoozes-past-140m-in-time-for-15-year-anniversary/
https://www.pocketgamer.biz/pixion-reaches-124m-in-total-investments-for-web3-rpg-fableborne/
Partnerships
https://www.pocketgamer.biz/audiomob-opens-mena-headquarters-in-abu-dhabi/
https://www.pocketgamer.biz/gordon-ramsay-is-in-fking-hay-day/