Extreme Expenses
Thunderful lost $59 million in 2023 after Q4 profit fell 574%
Thunderful is laying off approximately 100 staff in the first half of 2024 to cut costs
Staff
Aaron Astle
Job Title
News Editor
About Aaron is the News Editor at PG.biz and has an 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
Multiplat Microsoft
What does Microsoft's "more games to more people on more devices" mean for mobile?
Microsoft walks a fine line with Xbox fans while naming the first four titles coming to other platforms
Excited Spenders
More games are making millions as player spending on 2023 releases soars
The US, UK, China and other markets all show an increased willingness to spend on new releases
Player Power
TreesPlease Games plants one million trees via LongLeaf Valley
The game from ex-Square Enix staff has already led to one million trees being planted in Africa, Asia and Latin America
Invincible Introduction
Ubisoft launches first Invincible mobile game for the 21-year-old franchise
Invincible: Guarding the Globe is set in the Invincible universe with a brand-new story
Install Increase
ATT consent reached 39% in 2023 as racing games turbo-charged installs
Action games generated the most installs and longest play sessions of 2023, but racing games saw the largest year-on-year install increase
Data Deluge
Mobile game downloads fell for the first time ever in 2023 to 88 billion
The Indian market downloaded over double the mobile games of any other region, but didn’t make the top 20 for spending
Profitable Performance
Com2Us escaped the red in 2023 despite "negative seasonality"
Com2Us’ financial report reveals a difficult Q4 but overall successful 2023
Monster Milestone
Monster Hunter Now's half-year anniversary reveals time-limited monetisation tactics
Plus, the Monster Hunter series is 20 years old in March, with plenty of celebratory content on the way
Time To Tour
Pokémon Go Tour: Sinnoh gives players power over time and space
The annual Pokémon Go Tour has returned for its fourth year, this time focused on Sinnoh
Esa Event
ESA's charity speedrun event is now on, raising money for Make-A-Wish
Raising funds for Make-A-Wish and children with critical illnesses, the ESA’s winter event is taking place this week
Booted From Blizzard
136 jobs cut as Blizzard axes 68% of employees in Ireland
Blizzard’s Cork office employs around 200 people, roughly half of all its employees in the Republic of Ireland
Nitro Numbers
Nitro Games sees record Q4 revenue but the year’s net results remain red
Autogun Heroes supported a successful Q4 and pushed Nitro Games to a stronger 2023, but the dev’s not in the green just yet
Hot Five
Hot Five: Supercell revenues decline, Ubisoft’s mobile games plummet, but MTG signs a Monumental acquisition
Our quick-fix roundup of the hottest stories on PocketGamer.biz
Five New Games
New release roundup: The best new mobile games from pixelart potions to arcade action
We highlight five new games that have broken cover and are all set to do big business
20th Century And Beyond
Reverse: 1999 surpasses $50 million with increasingly monetised Japanese audience
Bluepoch’s launch title has surpassed $50 million in just over four months since global release
Moderately Mobile
Embracer sees record $1.2 billion in Q3 earnings after axing 1,400 staff
Restructuring plans are "tracking well" but are unlikely to reach all targets by end of the fiscal year
Moving From Mobile
Only 7% of Ubisoft’s net bookings are from mobile, down 28% YoY
Ubisoft’s console lineup has brought in the bulk of its bookings in Q1-Q3
Pr Power
1SP Agency acquires Renaissance PR for "superagency" status
Renaissance PR founder Stefano Petrullo has worked with gaming names from TiMi Studio to Koei Tecmo
Publishing Power
Nitro Games strikes Autogun Heroes publishing deal with Unity’s Supersonic
Autogun Heroes originally launched in 2023 with Nitro Games as developer and publisher
Applovin Ai
AppLovin reveals AI ad creative tips as its SparkLabs team triples production
Generative AI is becoming increasingly prominent in the industry, with features such as content-aware fill becoming a boon for ad creatives
Head Hiring
Former EA exec and mobile app recruitment specialist Jeff Chaiken joins Skybound Entertainment
Jeff Chaiken joins Skybound as senior vice president and head of corporate development and strategy
Gacha Giants
Genshin Impact is top for gacha earnings while Honkai: Star Rail slides
Three of the top five gacha games have had a great start to 2024, but who's moving up and who's moving down in the earnings charts?
Hypercasual Hero
Mobile revenue exceeds Take-Two’s expectations, making over $2 billion in nine months
Take-Two subsidiary Zynga accounted for 51% of the holding company’s earnings in the latest quarter
Lead Layoffs
Popcore undergoes "wave of layoffs" impacting key staff
Employees appear to have been let go on February 12 2024
Mtg Manoeuvre
MTG pulls the trigger on a Monumental Kongregate acquisition
The two studios will join with MTG taking 30% of the new company which will be led by Monty Kerr, current Monumental CEO
Japan Generation
Japan generates 50% of worldwide geolocation game spending
Niantic and Square Enix lead the way for player spending in location-based games
Web Store Wave
Niantic moves Pokémon Go redeem codes exclusively to web store
As the use of web stores grow in popularity, it's Niantic's turn to play the game with exclusive offers on board
Hot Five
Hot Five: Apple and Roblox embrace AI, a Match Factory milestone, and Warframe mobile gets further funding
Our quick-fix roundup of the hottest stories on PocketGamer.biz
Five New Games
New release roundup: The best new mobile games from time travel masters to Netflix spinoffs
We highlight five new games that have broken cover and are all set to do big business
Microsoft Mucks Up
FTC cries foul at Microsoft’s 1,900 layoffs with Activision Blizzard merger under threat
Microsoft counter claim that Activision Blizzard were already planning layoffs before taking them on
Indonesia's Intentions
Publishing in Indonesia? New laws could require you to set up a company there
The Indonesian government is looking to update its legal requirements for game publishers in order to avoid being "just a spectator"
Mighty Mobile
Krafton earned record-breaking $1.4 billion in 2023 with 66% from mobile
Krafton’s mobile earnings grew by 34.5% in Q4
Roblox Victory Rally
Roblox rises with $2.8 billion in revenue and 68 million DAUs in 2023
Roblox users spent 60 billion hours on the platform in 2023
Rpg Revenue
Netmarble net loss down 65% in 2023
RPGs advanced Netmarble’s Q4 to its strongest quarter of the year
Dena Data
DeNA pulls back from China as game profits fall 95%, but there’s optimism for Q4
DeNA’s games made a loss in Q3, though its livestreaming revenue is on the rise
Digital Deal
Nitro Games receives further €3.5 million to continue Warframe mobile development
Digital Extremes’ popular IP turns 11 this year with a mobile version on the way
Translation Tech
Roblox introduces AI powered chat translator supporting 16 languages
Roblox continues to find new applications for AI, this time implementing a real-time chat translator, with more features to come
Super Mario Success
Nintendo’s mobile and IP sales are up 93.4%
Nintendo reveals $9.38 billion earned in total sales across the first three quarters of its financial year
Tencent Turnaround
China approves 32 overseas licences including Nexon and Tencent’s Mobile DnF
While an unstable landscape for games, China continues to prove a lucrative one
Peak Performance
Match Factory! surpasses $20M… With 99% coming from iOS
Peak Games’ Match Factory! has taken the 3D puzzle world by storm since its August 2023 release
Mega Mobile
A huge 72% of 2023 game revenues came from mobile
Xsolla’s State of Play report reveals the latest gaming trends and a trajectory akin to e-commerce
Hot Five
Hot Five: Layoffs stack up, strategic investments are abound, and Nintendo finds cause for mobile celebration
Our quick-fix start-the-week roundup of the hottest stories on PocketGamer.biz
Fire Emblem Burns Bright
7 years of Fire Emblem Heroes: Evolving beyond an SRPG into Nintendo’s only billion-dollar mobile game
Fire Emblem Heroes is seven years old today, and I’m still playing…
Five New Games
New release roundup: The best new mobile games from RPG gachas to Web3 tower defence
We highlight five new games that have broken cover and are all set to do big business
Ip Investigation
The Pokémon Company will "investigate" IP infringement after questions raised around Palworld
Palworld's monster designs are being compared with Pokémon's as questions around IP and copyright swirl
Atelier Arrival
Koei Tecmo’s Atelier Resleriana launches worldwide today
The first mobile main series Atelier game releases globally four months on from Japanese launch
Nierly Over
Square Enix to shut down Nier Reincarnation in April
The third entry in the Nier series is approaching end of service, coming just after the third anniversary in Japan
Pgc London
AI vs NFTs… What’s really the next big thing in games?
Panellists at PGC London discuss the various technologies prevalent in recent years and where they may be going next
Pgc London
King’s senior UX writer Greta Septinia talks conversion and "actionable microcopy" in Candy Crush
At PGC London, Greta Septinia discusses content design at King