Pubg Push
Krafton makes record-breaking $1.9bn with mobile revenue up 35.7% in 2024
Operating income also hit a record high, attributed to the success of the PUBG series
Staff
Aaron Astle
Job Title
Features & Data Editor
About Aaron is the Features & Data Editor at PG.biz and has a First-Class honours degree in Creative Writing.
Having spent far too many hours playing Pokémon, he's now on a quest to be the very best like no one ever was...at putting words in the right order.
Articles by Aaron Astle
Turkish Totals
Turkish games industry success "deeply rooted" in mobile with total $935m in capital since 2020
investgame’s Five Years of The Rising Gaming Empire: Türkiye report found Dream Games has seen the highest level of investment of any Turkish games studio
Financials
Mobile sales slump hits Square Enix profits
MMOs have proven Square Enix’s only growing games segment nine months into the current fiscal year
Jordan Investments
Jordan eyes significant investment to grow local games and tech sectors
Speakers at the online event Expanding Horizons: Doing Business in Jordan discussed establishing private businesses in Jordan, employment law and more
Hot Five
Hot Five: Fire Emblem Heroes’ voting power, Candy Crush Solitaire broadens the brand, and Pokémon TCG Pocket hits half a billion dollars
Our quick-fix roundup of the hottest stories on PocketGamer.biz
Five New Games
New release roundup: Candy Crush Solitaire, Doodle Jump 2+, The Art of Fauna and more
We highlight the latest new games that have broken cover and are all set to do big business
Platform Power
EA’s Q3 revenue down 3% YoY, as mobile is only platform with GAAP growth
Live service sales more than doubled full game sales revenue in the quarter
Sequel Success
Archero 2 makes $32.8m in first 30 days from player spending
Habby’s Archero sequel peaked at $1.4 million on January 25th
Match-3 Maps
Zynga’s Game of Thrones: Legends is taking a Google Maps-powered twist with Dragon Egg Hunt event
The match-3 title has surpassed $14 million in gross player spending
Voting Value
Nintendo’s Fire Emblem Heroes: eight years, $1.3bn revenue and the value of player voting
Fire Emblem Heroes celebrates its eighth anniversary with latest Choose Your Legends poll results
Switch Ascension
Nintendo Switch sales surpass 150m units, but company profits down 42%
Mobile and IP-related business accounted for 5% of total revenue over the first nine months of the fiscal year
Revenue Result
Meta earned $164.5 billion in 2024 but VR/AR division made another loss
The company’s VR/AR segment made an operations loss of $17.7 billion
Pokemon Power
Pokémon Trading Card Game Pocket rockets past $500m in just 22 days more than Pokémon Go
Pokémon Go took 75 days from global launch to its first half-billion, versus TCG Pocket’s 97 days
Mabinogi Mobile
Nexon’s Mabinogi Mobile set to release in March 2025
Nexon’s mobile adaptation of the 2004 MMORPG is finally on its way more than four years on from reveal
Mobile Matters
Konami profits up 41.8% as eFootball surpasses 800m installs
Mobile’s Professional Baseball Spirits A was used in the eNippon Series of the Prospi A Pro League
Hot Five
Hot Five: AI content regulations, Love and Deepspace’s first anniversary, and Monster Hunter series hits 100m unit sales
Our quick-fix roundup of the hottest stories on PocketGamer.biz
Five New Games
New release roundup: Bump! Superbrawl, LOK Digital, DinoBlits and more
We highlight the latest new games that have broken cover and are all set to do big business
Mobile Monsters
Capcom's operating income drops 38%, but Monster Hunter series hits 100 million sales
"Digital contents" have contributed $189.9 million out of total $201.3 million operating income this year
Royal Revenue
Royal Match earned 51% of all match-3 IAP revenue in 2024 as casual genre made $15.2 billion
Meanwhile, Monopoly Go earned 55% of casual casino’s earnings
Delivering Deals
Report: Games industry M&As valued at $10.5 billion in 2024 with 21% volume increase
Drake Star’s Global Gaming Report 2024 highlighted the biggest investors of the year from venture capitalists to games studios
Lucrative Love
Love and Deepspace celebrates first anniversary and over $400m after record-breaking month
The dating simulator made $61 million in December 2024
Midnights On Mobile
40% more North Americans are playing mobile games at 1AM than global average
Mobile players are most active at 8PM worldwide, but some regions stay up later than others
Snapping Back
Marvel Snap secures new publisher Skystone Games after "surprise" takedown
Second Dinner’s hit game went down in the US alongside the temporary TikTok ban
Web3 Way
Pixion reaches $12.4m in total investments for web3 RPG Fableborne
The latest round was led by Delphi Ventures with further support from Animoca Brands, Sky Mavis and more
Tenuous Tiktok
Rumour: Microsoft is in talks to purchase TikTok, says Trump
President Donald Trump has claimed several companies have "great interest" in TikTok, including Microsoft
Resolution Revolution
Resolution Games celebrates 10 years and over 30 million players across VR, mobile and more
The Swedish developer has just launched its third Apple Vision Pro title, Gears & Goo
Loads Of Layoffs
Moon Active reportedly lays off "dozens" of staff despite "record revenues exceeding $2 billion" in 2024
Employees are believed to have been impacted in Israel and across Moon Active’s worldwide sites
Polar Night Pulled
Atelier Resleriana to end global services after just 14 months
The latest entry in the Atelier series has earned almost $57.7 million on mobile worldwide 90% of which has come from players in Japan
Charity Collaboration
3% of Monument Valley 3’s profits will go to IFRC’s Disaster Response Emergency Fund for next three years
ustwo games and the IFRC will partner to help players learn about flood relief efforts worldwide
Ea Estimates
EA lowers estimates for FY2025 after Global Football’s Q3 "slowdown"
EA’s net bookings prediction for FY2025 has adjusted from a maximum $7.8 billion down to $7.15 billion
Successful Sleep
Pokémon Sleep snoozes past $140m in time for 1.5 year anniversary
The Pokémon sleep tracker has slowed down in earnings these past six months with fewer Legendary events
Ecosystem Examination
UK’s CMA to investigate Apple and Google’s mobile ecosystems "in parallel"
These two investigations form the second of three "areas of digital activity" the CMA intends to examine
Hot Five
Hot Five: Hay Day’s "growth virality", Pokémon TCG Pocket’s biggest expansion yet, and the hottest topics on PGC London panels
Our quick-fix roundup of the hottest stories on PocketGamer.biz
Five New Games
New release roundup: A Kindling Forest, Tengami, Hardcore Leveling Warrior and more
We highlight the latest new games that have broken cover and are all set to do big business
Space-time Smackdown
Pokémon TCG Pocket’s Space-Time Smackdown will shift to 2000s nostalgia with 140+ new cards
The next expansion will jump from Generation 1 to Generation 4 and is set to monetise Sinnoh fans
Partnership Power
Pokémon TCG Pocket partners with McDonald’s as player spending hits record low
Players in the US can earn Pack Hourglasses and Wonder Hourglasses with their Happy Meal purchase
Brand Boost
Team17 Group rebrands to everplay after "improved" performance in H2 2024
Team1, Astragon and StoryToys will remain distinct developers and publishers under the rebranded parent company
Pgc London 2025
PGC panel talks privacy, first-party data and avoiding a "last minute scramble"
PGC London panellists discuss privacy changes, the Digital Markets Act, ATT and the value of first-party data
Pgc London 2025
"Only 27% of people describe their manager as highly effective": Learning to lead, retain employees, and free up time
Leadership development trainer Andy Coley talks nurturing problem-solving and freeing up managers’ time
Pgc London 2025
"The number one job of narrative is to make a game less weird"
MY.GAMES head of narrative Armando Troisi talks the interaction between gameplay and narrative
Pgc London 2025
"Almost all" Subway Surfers installs are organic: Building a brand with "snackable" gameplay and memes
Sybo senior brand manager Adam Collier shared tips and tricks to building a hit brand at PGC London
Pgc London 2025
Epic Games Store Mobile will do "all of the things developers want facilitated", but what about premium?
Epic Games’ Sarah Thomson and Walter Somol spoke with premium developers at PGC London 2025
Pgc London 2025
Supercell reveals rise in Hay Day active users with "growth virality" 12 years on
Hay Day general manager Maya Hofree talks new features, new campaigns, and doing right by old fans
Pgc London 2025
Vera Manhoso: Focusing on UA is "holding back your mobile game" - focus on retargeting too
RTB House gaming account director Vera Manhoso talks UA and retargeting working in tandem
Pgc London 2025
"The Digital Fairness Act is probably being drafted as we speak"
At PGC London 2025, video games lawyer Isabel Davies spoke about potential legal changes to F2P and "addictive" user retention strategies in the coming years
Pgc London 2025
PGC panel talks rewarded UA’s renaissance and the "clear" demands of users
Panellist Lenny Rabin advised against copying another game’s rewarded UA model, instead suggesting a focus on personal goals and targets
Pgc London 2025
A VC’s perspective on AI in games: "AI is going to change and replace lower development-effort work"
AI.Fund principle Maximilian Seeburg says its time to "make games smarter"
Understanding Ua
72% of mobile devs plan to increase UA spending in 2025 as reward-based campaigns rise
95% of those using reward-based marketing campaigns feel at a competitive advantage
Pgc London
PGC London 2025 approaches as UK player spending hits record $1bn in single year on mobile
AppMagic data suggests that 2024 was the most lucrative year on record for mobile games in the UK
Five New Games
New release roundup: Cassette Beasts, Turnip Boy Robs a Bank, Trials of Mana+ and more
We highlight the latest new games that have broken cover and are all set to do big business