A High Breed
Hybridcasual conquers the $2 billion mark in 2023
The hybridcasual genre is projected to reach $2.1 billion in annual revenue this year
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
Hot Five
Hot Five: Supercell’s path to fame, a Chinese gacha hit and 20M in Web3 funding
Our quick-fix roundup of the hottest stories on PocketGamer.biz
Five New Games
New release roundup: From the return of Dynasty Warriors to a 'brand new' retro-fuelled 16-bit kart racer
We highlight five new games that have broken cover and are all set to do big business
Crossplay Clarity
KEK Entertainment's Georgy Egorov talks crossplay's new prominence as gaming’s "new reality"
The KEK Entertainment founder and ex-Pixonic CEO Georgy Egorov discusses the past decade’s industry changes and the challenges of developing crossplay games
About Accessibility
RovioCon 23 sees unveiling of new industry inclusivity guide
Diversity, equity and inclusion are among Rovio’s focuses in its new playbook
Next For Netflix
Grand Theft Auto remastered trilogy is on its way to mobile with Netflix
Netflix has been increasing its gaming presence, with this latest move the biggest yet
Pokemon Persuasion
Pokémon Go changes tack and adds Pokémon Legends for cross-platform promo
Hisuian Decidueye, Typhlosion, Samurott and Wydeer are on the way from Pokémon Legends: Arceus
Tech Splash
Video games add £1.3 billion to UK economy in "spillover technology"
Ukie and FTI Consulting have partnered for a new report into games tech’s influence on other industries
Partnership Power
Sony sets sights on mobile in strategic partnership with NCSoft
A strategic deal has been secured by CEOs Taekjin Kim and Jim Ryan
Valorant Valiance
Riot Games’ Social Impact Fund raises $50 million in five years for charities, education and more
Almost $15 million raised in Valorant alone in three years
Plaice No More
Fishlabs is laying off around 50 employees as Embracer Group restructure continues
The German games developer was bought out by Embracer subsidiary Plaion 10 years ago
Venerable Ventures
Laton Ventures is a new venture capital firm investing in early-stage game makers
Founding partner Görkem Türk has started the firm after more than six years at Google
Taxation Explained
TIGA explains the state of VGEC after UK government’s Autumn Statement
Amendments to draft rules mean companies will be required to disclose connected party transactions when claiming tax relief
Platform Power
KEK Entertainment raises $8M in seed round to build "platform-agnostic IP"
The round was led by Korea Investment Partners with participation from Woori Technology Investment Co, Kona Venture Partners and others
Special Spectacular
Half a million raised for disabled gamers during SpecialEffect’s One Special Day 2023
The annual fundraiser seeks to support gamers with physical challenges via personalised controllers and more
Ten Square Turnaround
Ten Square Games sees record quarterly growth with Hunting Clash MAU up 82%
After a difficult start to the year, performance is looking back on track at Ten Square Games
Indian Insight
Are core games the road to success? 49% yearly revenue growth projected in India until 2028
Lumikai and Google’s new report projects a $7.5 billion valuation for Indian gaming by 2028
1999 Reasons To Play
Bluepoch’s debut time travel game Reverse: 1999 reaches $15 million
The latest Chinese gacha game is coming out of stealth with impressive early figures
Nft Now
NFTs incoming: Matr1x doubles funding to $20M ahead of its debut Web3 mobile launch
Matr1x Fire is an upcoming NFT shooter on mobile, bolstered by new $10 million funding round
Not So Monkey Dory
One Piece: Thousand Storm is the latest Japanese mobile game reaching end of service
Bandai Namco and DeNA first released the IP adaptation in 2016
Hot Five
Hot Five: AI funding, UK development turmoil and a new player in livestreaming
Our quick-fix roundup of the hottest stories on PocketGamer.biz
Tactical Turnaround
ByteDance to pull back from games and pull the plug on Nuverse plans
ByteDance is now looking to divest from its existing titles and halt production of new Nuverse games
Five New Games
New release roundup: The best new mobile games from sports manga adaptations to risqué word games…
We highlight five new games that have broken cover and are all set to do big business
Increasing Conversions
Adjust and TikTok boast 220% iOS app conversion leap with SKAdNetwork 4
Adjust and TikTok have recorded conversion volumes across 37 apps in the UK, US and Japan
Financial Findings
Huuuge Games’ adjusted net profit rose 80% in the first three quarters of 2023
Q3 2023 was Huuuge’s fifth consecutive quarter of rising YoY EBITDA and they've 'huuuge' hopes for the future
Crowd Of Clans
Supercell’s Clash of Clans team doubled in size in 2023
Supercell set out at the start of the year to grow its team and clearly, it has succeeded
Predicting Prosperity
China’s gaming rebound is go and on track for $47.8 billion revenue this year
Niko Partners projects a 5.2% YoY rise in gaming revenue
Production Power
Layer AI seed round raises $1.8M to bolster generative game art production
The AI-powered productivity tool sees support from The Games Fund, GFR Fund and others
Statistical Significance
Unity’s Supersonic platform launches two big updates enhancing KPI insights
Supersonic updates its A/B testing page and ‘All Games’ page
Tumultuous Times
Almost half of all mobile games are axed in development and 83% don’t last three years
SuperScale’s new report reveals the vast majority of mobile games are shuttered by their third anniversary
Liberating Livestreams
Everything you ever wanted to know about Noice: Is this the future of livestreaming?
Noice is aiming to boost stream engagement through audience participation and its predictive interactive gameplay
Signing Up For Supercell
Supercell to hire "first ever" Brawl Stars producer alongside new staff for Clash Royale and mo.co
Supercell has been expanding its team in recent times and wants to make three more key hires
Studio Shuttering
Supercell-backed studio Papukaya is closing down after three years
The Helsinki-based studio aimed to reach non-gamers with experimental titles
Profit Power
NetEase profits up 23.4% as Justice and Racing Master drive strong Q3
Q3 financials reveal 11.6% revenue increase with over 80% from games and related services
Hot Five
Hot Five: Unity 6, Monopoly Go’s major milestone and Supercell’s creator support
Our quick-fix roundup of the hottest stories on PocketGamer.biz
Five New Games
New release roundup: The best new mobile games from Warcraft Rumble to pixelated monster catchers
We highlight five new games that have broken cover and are all set to do big business
Pioneering Peridot
Niantic bringing generative AI to Peridot for "surprising" AR encounters
Peridot taking augmented reality to a new level with AI pets reacting to the real world
Major Monopoly Milestone
Monopoly Go changes the game with a record-breaking $1 billion in seven months
It's the fastest ever casual game to hit the important $1 billion milestone
Financial Findings
Embracer's Q2 sales up 13%... but 900 employees are out
As the company rounds out a tough year bet sales have risen 13% while mobile sales rose 2%
Mobile Media
Ad networks down in 2023, with only four of the top 20 players showing an increase
Apple Search Ads and Google lead on respective platforms, with only Meta ads making the top five on each
Major Milestone
June’s Journey’s $1billion revenue makes German gaming history
Wooga’s flagship has reached the $1 billion mark just after sixth anniversary - the first game from Germany to do so
Skills Shortage
68% of UK games developers are suffering from skill shortages
TIGA’s new report reveals that most game studio hires are of pre-established industry workers
Sale Rumour
ByteDance is reportedly in talks to sell Moonton
After its massive 2021 acquisition, ByteDance is supposedly looking to roll back and focus on "core business"
Military Move
14% of Playtika’s Israeli employees summoned to military reserves
Approximately 150 of Playtika Israel’s 1,100 employees have joined the country’s military reserves
Gravity Gravitas
Gravity’s mobile revenues rise 95.7% YoY with worldwide Ragnarok success
YoY results show a strong performance in 2023, but figures are down from the last quarter
Web3 World
SBI Holdings reveals ¥100BN fund to bolster Web3 in Japan
Sega and Square Enix are already well underway on their blockchain journeys, and up to 200 other devs could join them through SBI’s support
Rising Revenues
Nexon’s Q3 2023 smashes records with 78% revenue rise in North America and Europe
This marks the sixth consecutive quarterly report with double-digit growth
Meta Manoeuvres
Tencent backs Meta’s VR push into China after a 14 year ban
Meta and Tencent are teaming up to bring a new lower-spec VR headset to China, pitched between Quest 2 and 3
Uk Acquisitions
BFI: More than 50% of UK games developers are now owned by overseas entities
The US accounts for 49% of overseas transactions followed by China’s 15%
Publishing Power
Top Chinese publishers accounted for 38.7% of October’s mobile revenue
Tencent, NetEase and miHoYo continue to triumph and Goat Games rises up the ranks