Celebrating In Style
1 great night, 22 winners: The Mobile Game Awards reveals 2023’s mobile standouts
From storytellers to mobile legends, who won big at this year’s Mobile Game Awards?
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
About Apple
Is Apple set to allow app sideloading in iOS 17?
Predicting the future of Apple after changes to European law
Golf Gaming
What the Golf? adds levels inspired by Among Us in latest update
New levels are exclusive to the Apple Arcade version for now
China Changes
Why you should be optimistic about mobile gaming in China
Game licence approvals offer new opportunities to Tencent, miHoYo and others
China Changes
Chinese game licences in 2023 could surpass the past two years combined
Niko Partners points out the positives of recent changes in China
Football Funds
Soccer Manager creator Invincibles raises £1m for two new games
Investment is the latest in repeat funding from Mercia
Adverts With Ai
Adludio raises $2.5M for mobile ad platform with AI technology
Investment from Mercia’s venture capital trust
Sporting Ai Soccer
FIFA’s new mobile game is built around AI footballers
It marks their first game independent of long-time partner EA
Collaborations
Fire Emblem Heroes may have just teased another Engage crossover
Nintendo has repeatedly pushed mobile as a cross-promotional tool
Nintendo Announces
Nintendo and DeNA officially establish joint venture Nintendo Systems
The latest step in a seven-year partnership
Here For Hybrid
Accessibility "crucial" for successful hybridcasual games
An analysis of the hybridcasual market by Sensor Tower and Homa reveals new key tips
Various Visits
Tim Cook represents Apple in visits to miHoYo and other Chinese partners
Meeting creators behind games like Genshin Impact
Executive With Experience
Debbie Bestwick to step down as Team 17 CEO after more than a decade
She will continue working with the company in a new role
Ai Integration
Moonlander.ai delivers multiple AI tools under one game dev SDK
The kit aims to lower the barrier to entry for aspiring developers to make use of AI power
Passionate Players
CS:GO reaches new player record as gamers aim to test Counter Strike 2
1.5 million gamers played concurrently on 25 March
Pokemon Power
Indian Pokémon Unite tournament boast biggest prize pool ever
The esports event takes place between April and June with $75,000 up for grabs
Granting Games
Spring has sprung. 86 new Chinese game licences flower this March
The 2023 tide continues to turn with as the volume of new Chinese licence approvals continues to grow
Stellar Star
HoYoverse’s Honkai: Star Rail to release in April 2023
Mobile and PC releases are coming ahead of PlayStation launch
A Game Of Risk
81% of biggest mobile games are vulnerable to basic cyberattacks
Promon finds that a mere 1 in 357 games could identify malware
Racing Ahead
Ace Racer zooms to 1 million downloads as devs showcase new technology
The tech behind NetEase’s graphically enhanced new game was shown off at last week’s GDC
Seed Secured
Mystic Games seed round aims towards bringing Web3 mobile games "into the mainstream"
Veterans from King, Rovio and more looking to democratise digital ownership
Collaborations
NetEase’s Vikingard re-collaborates with MGM’s Vikings
The mobile strategy game and historical drama series crossed over once before back in September of 2022
Microsoft Merger
EU delays decision on Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard
Relax. The $69 billion acquisition decision has been pushed back to May 22
British Gaming
Study finds one in three Brits are gaming during remote working hours
Ages 35 to 44 most likely to use work devices for personal activities
Platform Partnership
ByteBrew partners with Mintegral to offer ad measurements and tracking tools to users
The 2021 startup has accrued 5,000 devs so far
Major Milestone
Bitcoin Miner surpasses 1 million players and becomes the biggest play-and-earn game
A week of celebratory events set to take place
Audio Ads
Odeeo and Any Ever partner to offer new touchpoint for audio campaigns
Establishing in-game audio ads in Germany
Reported Restructuring
UK-based Team17 is supposedly laying off employees from art and design teams
The publisher is currently aiming to restructure
Web 3 Ip
Brazilian Web3 dev Jungle raises $6 million in funding round
Web3 mobile shooter expected to launch later this year
Roblox Reveals
Stefano Corazza: AI will enable new Roblox users to create much faster
Roblox Studios head Stefano Corazza discusses the future of AI on Roblox
Back On Track
Genshin Impact revenue reached an 11-month high in February as Chinese devs flourish again
Sensor Tower data found 40 of the top 100 revenue earners last month were in China
Women In Gaming
International Women's Day 2023: Bringing attention to women’s role in gaming
International Women’s Day is here and we'll be celebrating all week
A Team Of Veterans
Former Riot Games execs raise $55 million in Series A for new studio Believer
Investments came from Lightspeed Venture Partners, Bitkraft, 1Up Ventures and more
Buying Back
Modern Times Group has repurchased 176,970 of its class B shares
The company’s repurchase programme aims to increase shareholder value and optimise capital structure
Readying An Rpg
Immutable partners with Mineloader to speed up development of Guild of Guardians
Focusing on Web2 and Web3 aspects and economies
Mena Mobile
Driven by mobile, MENA games revenue predicted to reach $2.8 billion by 2026
Estimated 2022 games revenue was $1.8 billion
Monster Magala
Street Fighter: Duel announces Monster Hunter crossover with Gore Magala challenge
A monstrous crossover is on its way
Gotta Catch 'em All
Pokémon Masters EX gives players a free Champion of choice in 3.5 year anniversary celebration
Anniversary characters include Marnie, Hop and Bede
Shoryuken
Tencent’s Street Fighter: Duel arrives in the West
Tencent’s plan to release China-exclusive games abroad takes shape as A Plus Japan take on its European release
A Plus With Pikachu
Pokémon Go Plus + hardware works with your favourite Pokémon apps
The dedicated Pokémon accessory is back, powering up your Pokémon Go and Pokémon Sleep experiences this summer
Plans For Progress
Sky Mavis has "more aggressive" plans for Axie Infinity this year
Following a difficult 2022, during which $625 million was stolen from its Ronin Network
Artificial Intelligence Intrigue
Are AI chatbots coming to Tencent and NetEase games?
Many technology firms are considering services like that of ChatGPT
Forming A Partnership
WeMade partners with Nine66 to boost reach and develop talent in Saudi Arabia
The partnership represents a commitment to support gaming ecosystems
Chinese Culture
Tencent and other Chinese gaming companies to help promote Chinese culture
Big name companies are aiming to deliver "broader value"
New Reports
Embracer Group sees 128% sales increase but hardly any rise from mobile
The Q3 financial report reveals 2% rise in mobile revenue
Eyes On Ai
What could generative AI do for Roblox?
Roblox CTO Daniel Sturman envisions a "force multiplier for generative AI"
Hypercasual Hits
FreePlay doubles downloads in past year to reach one billion installs milestone
Coming from a portfolio of 18 titles
Acquisitions Abound
Paul Wedgwood’s Supernova Capital acquires Mi-Clos Studio and Little Red Dog Games
Ownership of IPs like Out There and Rogue State included
Immersion And Ai
Inworld AI’s report finds 99% of gamers are excited for AI NPCs
78% of players would talk to NPCs more if they were smarter
A Taste Of Mobile
Fanta rebrand includes mobile game launch to better reach Gen Z
Fanta Digital Ride n Sip includes motion control gameplay