Anniversary Arrival
Pokémon Masters highlights fan favourite characters for fourth anniversary
Popular main series characters come with new outfits and partner Pokémon for a limited time
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
Coming To Conquer
Command & Conquer's latest Legions blasts onto mobile
Command & Conquer: Legions is due to launch this year after a closed beta coming soon
Birds Of A Feather
Sega to finalise Rovio acquisition next week
Sonic and Angry Birds to be one big family as Sega takes 96.3% of shares
Financial Fuel
Konami’s profits back on track with 22% rise in quarter one
Video games account for the most profit, but not the biggest proportional rise
Mindful Of Mental Health
79% of devs are increasingly pressured to release unfinished games
New data from Sauce Labs reveals the state of play from the game dev frontlines with staff exposed to bullying and threats online
Pokemon Presents
Pokémon Presents provides updates on five Pokémon mobile games
Whether you’re in bed or on the go, there’s a mobile game for everyone
Nintendo Numbers
Nintendo's mobile future unclear despite “tripled” revenue
The latest financial report muddies the waters by including LEGO and The Super Mario Bros. Movie in the same financial category…
Mega Mobile
Mobile is gaming’s strongest platform in a market set generate $187.7 billion this year
Newzoo's 2023 Global Games Market Report expects mobile games to generate $92.6 billion
Major Milestone
InnoGames' Forge of Empires surpasses $1 billion in lifetime revenue
Forge of Empires is responsible for half of all revenues
Subscription Success
Paid subscriptions redeem Apple’s Q3 after hardware sales fall
Apple’s Q3 2023 sees 1% revenue fall but surpasses 1 billion paid subscriptions
Gem Games
Gem Capital’s new $50M fund will invest in fledglings of F2P, midcore and more
Investments to be made in pre-seed, seed, and Series A rounds
Moving To Mobile
Mobile exclusive Assassin’s Creed Codename Jade launches first closed beta
The open-world game is available on iOS and Android until 11 August 2023
Subscription Success
Mobile games using a subscription model almost triple in a year
Liftoff and Appsflyer report that mobile games represent almost 30% of subscription-based apps
Startup Speedrun
a16z Games announces Speedrun 2024 with $75 million investment pool
Startups are encouraged to enter for the next event starting in January
Ai Activity
Homa's AI hackathon just built 10 new AI tools in just 48 hours
The company's first Internal Gen AI Hackathon saw 10 teams create new tools to a strict deadline
Routes Arrive
Niantic flies the AR flag with new features in Pokémon Go
Routes in Pokémon Go is a new feature being rolled out ahead of eagerly anticipated Niantic/Capcom collab, Monster Hunter Now
Mihoyo Milestone
MiHoYo makes $8 billion in user spending with 73% from Genshin Impact
Honkai: Star Rail makes up 6% of the total in just a few months
Innovation Insight
Innovating in a saturated market: Virtuos’ Matthieu Cheynut on the state of play for growing your games
When to invest and when to cut back. Virtuos’ business development director for Europe Matthieu Cheynut shows the road ahead
Germany Grows
Germany on the rise with 46% growth in games companies since 2020
A 15.5% rise in games companies was observed in 2022
Lunar Lifting Off
Half Moon: Big Tech is over... Small Tech is where it's at
New studio develops first game made entirely of AI in only five months
Social Media Manoeuvres
Zynga founder backs LA startup Artie to make games for Threads
Meta’s latest social media platform will be compatible with games on mobile
Africa Accelerates
Africa’s gaming revenue is more than 90% mobile
Newzoo and Carry1st report reveals Africa stands on the precipice of $1 billion in gaming worth
Paid Games' Performance
Google Play or App Store? June data shows stark contrast in platform popularity of paid games
Curated Data.ai stats reveal the most downloaded paid games and top revenue generators per platform
Multiple Milestones
My.Games' Tacticool reaches 30 million downloads milestone with $75 million in revenue
More than 1 billion users are registered in My.Games’ titles across its library
Promotion In Partnerships
Roblox appoints Christina Wootton as chief partnerships officer
Wootton has been with Roblox for close to a decade
Anniversary Arrival
King of Avalon surpasses 100 million installs in time for seventh anniversary
FunPlus’ strategy MMO reaches seventh anniversary with celebrations underway
For Glory
Apps VS Mobile Games: Who came out on top in H1 2023
Data.ai report reveals insights into consumer spending during the first half of the year
Goliath Games
June’s three most lucrative mobile games all came from China
Sensor Tower reports on the 10 biggest revenue generators worldwide
India To Implement
India plans to hit online mobile games with 28% tax
There is no distinction being made between games of skill and chance
Reconsidering Remote
Is remote working losing its luster? Michail Katkoff shares thoughts on new survey
Deconstructor of Fun’s survey looks at hybrid and remote working within the games industry
Joining In Japan
New studio Denkiworks aims to bring "East meets West" perspective with Project Tanuki
A trio of former Q-Games designers and programmers have formed a new Kyoto-based studio
Making Magic
Harry Potter: Magic Awakened generated $2.3 million in first week of global release
NetEase’s version generated $1.3 million; Warner Bros. Games’ made $1 million
Making Money
From Peak Speed to Honkai: Star Rail – who to watch in the Chinese games market
Sensor Tower’s June report reveals 39 of top 100 global publishers come from China
Beckoning Blockchain
Mighty Bear Games is swapping blockchain platforms days before new game launch
Mighty Action Heroes to release in open beta on Arbitrum
Prospering Poland
Poland enters top three European countries in games industry workforce size
A new report finds Poland has overtaken Germany in workforce size, though remains behind in revenue
Pokemon Permeates
Pokémon Go is seven years old today… And I'm playing it for the first time…
In time for Pokémon Go’s seventh anniversary I finally give it a try and discover a game that prioritises mobile gaming perfectly
Pokemon Power
More than 600 billion Pokémon caught as Pokémon Go approaches seventh anniversary
Celebration details revealed for upcoming anniversary
Viking Variety
NetEase’s Vikingard begins final crossover arc with MGM’s Vikings
"The Final War" adds Ivar the Boneless and Torvi from the TV show as new characters
Legislation
South Korea could enforce an approval system for Chinese games
The Game Industry Promotion Law may soon be amended based on overseas practices
Sonic Speculations
Microsoft acquiring Sega? Rumours get extinguished by COO Shuji Utsumi
The Federal Trade Commission’s suit against Microsoft reveals notions of acquiring Sega… Which went precisely nowhere
Sprouting Seeds
Pikmin Bloom introduces crossover content promoting first mainline game in ten years
Nintendo and Niantic promote new Switch game Pikmin 4 with special costume in Bloom
Barbie On Board
Barbie hits Stumble Guys in mass-multimedia promo campaign
It's getting harder to miss the arrival of the Barbie movie with mobile a prime promo target
Finding Funds
Mythical Games raises a further $37million, hitting a valuation of over $1billion
Investors include Animoca Brands, MoonPay and veterans from Activision Blizzard
Let's Get Gaming
YouTube gets into games with new Playables product
Employees are starting to test the platform's first steps into games as it moves beyond video
Series Surge
In-game Ads solution Anzu raises $48M in Series B funding
Funding round led by Emmis Corporation and supported by many new high-profile investors
Finding Funds
Pixion Games raises $5.5 million for Web3 RPG Fableborne
Investments come from Blizzard, Shima Capital and more
Roblox On A Roll
Stefano Corazza: Roblox’s generative AI has seen a "promising start" but is only just beginning
Roblox Studios head Stefano Corazza reveals progress in Roblox AI usage
Coming To Kwalee
Kwalee hires Adrian Garton as VP of HR in mission to find the industry’s "best talent"
Garton has more than 25 years’ experience in HR
On The Up
June's China game approvals make it 2023's biggest month yet
In an incredibly consistent year, approvals have eked ahead to 89
Eyes Open
Anzu and Lumen’s two-year study finds that in-game ads come out on top
In-game ads have higher viewability and lead to higher purchase intent, study finds