Milestone
My.Games' Castle Duels surpasses $1m monthly revenue
The game's lifetime earnings is now over $6m since it launched in 2024
Staff
Isa Muhammad
Job Title
MENA Reporter
About Isa Muhammad is the Lead MENA Reporter at PocketGamer.biz, spearheading the team's Middle East & Africa games coverage. He's been in games media for over seven years and is steadily writing his way to the sharp end of journalism. If he's not reading, playing games or catching up on his favorite TV shows, he's probably writing about them.
Articles by Isa Muhammad
New Partnerships
Saudi Esports Federation partners with PUGB Mobile to expand competitive opportunities
The partnership will merge the Saudi eLeague with the PUBG Mobile National Championship
Game Optimisation
Hypercasual games see 78% boost from story-driven ads despite low spend
New AppsFlyer report finds that top 2 percent of ad creatives in games still drive 53 percent of total spend
New Offerings
PvX Partners launches business intelligence suite Lambda
Tool is designed for financial planning and decision-making
In-game Advertising
Report: Mobile leads in reach while PC and console drive deeper ad engagement
New report from Anzu finds that advertisers can benefit by combining the deep engagement of PC and console with the broad reach of mobile
New Partnerships
Stillfront’s Dorado Games and Bytro Labs join forces to launch the Supremacy Franchise
Both companies have now formed Twin Harbour Interactive
Layoff News
EA layoffs hit hundreds in company wide restructuring
Around 100 staff were let go at Respawn and 200-300 more company wide
Winners Revealed
Unity for Humanity Grant 2025 winners revealed
Winners will receive a share of Unity’s increased $600,000 Charitable Grant
Studio Seizure
Russia seizes Lesta Studios over Wargaming’s support of Ukraine
Wargaming pulled out of Russia and Belarus in 2022 and sold all of its local assets to Lesta Studio
Regulations
New South Korean law mandates foreign game companies to appoint domestic representatives
Firms with ₩1 trillion in sales or 100,000 users must comply
Expansions
Animoca Brands opens first Middle East office in Dubai
Omar Elassar will lead the new hub as managing director and head of global strategic partnerships
New Offerings
Appcharge launches Live Store Sync for real-time monetisation updates
“Instead of five minutes, it takes five seconds to update your store," said Appcharge CTO Amit Porat
Lawsuit
Update: Roblox and Discord hit with lawsuit over alleged sexual exploitation of minor
Despite being aware of safety tools on Roblox, the plaintiff's parents believed these measures were insufficient
Earnings Report
Krafton reports record Q1 2025 revenue of $608 million
Inzoi is now the fastest-selling title in the company’s history
Game Jam
Thatgamecompany and Coreblazer partner for online game jam
A cash prize of $4000 will be offered to the best overall winner
Big Plans Ahead
Blizzard selects Nexon for Overwatch Mobile distributions and a new Starcraft game
NCSoft and Netmarble also participated actively in the bidding process
Job News
Jetapult recruits AI experts Oz Silahtar and Dr. Arjun Jain to boost development efficiency
The company's GamePac AI suite is designed to allow studios to integrate AI into their daily workflows
Investment News
True Gamers secures $5m to expand across MENA and Europe
The company previously landed $45m investment to build esports facilities in the KSA
Job News
NetEase global investments head Simon Zhu steps down after 12 years
VP of corporate development Ken Li will take over the role
Games Incubator
Krafton’s Gaming Incubator taps six Indian startups for second cohort
Developers will receive financial support ranging from $50,000 to $150,000
Cloud Gaming In Mena
The Game Company launches AI-Powered cloud gaming platform
Launch comes after it raised $10m in funding earlier this year
Layoff News
Meta cuts jobs at Reality Labs
Number of employees affected was not revealed but Meta confirmed the cuts impacted teams working on Quest products
New Office
Savvy Games Group opens first permanent HQ in Riyadh
New HQ now houses both Steer Studios and Mirai, bringing them under one roof
Resilient Growth
Flexion grows revenue 9% in 2024 by doubling down on alternative app stores
“We’ve already moved beyond the era when Google and Apple controlled everything,” said Flexion CEO Jens Lauritzson
New Office
Steer Studios moves into new Riyadh office to support growth
The company said its new HQ provides more space to constantly expand its team
Investment News
Hogo Games secures funding at $5m valuation
Funds will go towards developing new projects and growing existing titles on mobile and PC
New Partnerships
Reach Labs and B3 partner to power user discovery in open games ecosystem
The platform will harness social network effects and financial incentives
Regulations
Dutch ad regulator rules against My.Games over in-game purchase disclosures
The complaint raised several issues with the game, including failure to display loot box probabilities
Industry Outlook
Games M&A soars in Q1 2025 with $4.4bn in deals
Led by Scopely’s $3.5bn acquisition of Niantic's games division
Funding For Games
Blue Ocean Games launches $30m fund to support indie game developers
Funding is tied to objective market-validation milestones
Apple Fined
EU slaps Apple with $570m fine for violating Digital Markets Act
Tech giant must comply with the Commission's decisions within 60 days or face periodic penalty payments
Layoff News
Report: Intel to cut 20% of its workforce in new restructuring move
The layoffs are a key part of Tan’s efforts to turn around Intel after years of setbacks and leadership missteps
Job Cuts
Devolver Digital cuts 40% of staff at Reigns developer Nerial
The layoffs were due to “issues” with some of the company's recent releases
Investment News
Rise of Fearless launches with $700,000 funding goal to empower African gamers
Funding will go towards improving gameplay and expanding into the web3 ecosystem
Lawsuit
Pocketpair pushes to invalidate Nintendo’s patents in Palworld lawsuit
Nintendo and The Pokémon Company are seeking ¥5 million ($32,800) and an injunction against Pocketpair
Accelerator Program
Saudi Arabia’s NEOM to welcome 10 studios for largest Level Up accelerator cohort
Initiative designed for teams that have developed a minimum viable product or a vertical slice of their game
Game Jam
Savvy Games Group and HP launch climate-themed Game Jam in Saudi Arabia
The top three teams will then join the Savvy Incubator program in September
Minecraft Movie
A Minecraft movie soars past $550m at the box office
The film initially made $301m globally in its first two days
Marvellous Mena
How Steer Studios launched Grunt Rush while training a new development team
"We juggled training the team, building production pipelines, and developing the game all at once, whilst gradually bringing in experts throughout production to support."
Interview
SuperPlay's CEO on launching Disney Solitaire and delivering back-to-back hits
"We don't develop something not to launch it. We develop something to go all in and make it a top-grossing title"
Unity China
Unity 6 pulled from China in favour of localised engine
Change aligns with Unity's strategy to comply with local regulations
Funding News
Boby.ai lands $1.25m to build AI-powered mobile apps
Company co-founded and led by former Playable Factory CEO Gökçe Nur Oğuz
Layoff News
Niantic Spatial lays off 68 staff after $3.5bn games business sale to Scopely
The redundancies affect the newly formed company which launched with $250m in funding
Marketing Strategies
Dream Games taps LeBron James, Jimmy Fallon, Shakira and more for Royal Kingdom marketing campaigns
Actors from The Big Bang Theory also brought in for celebrating marketing campaigns
Market Report
Gaming VC deals rose 35% in Q1 2025 to $373m
But deal value was down 41% year-over-year
Developers Contest
Neowiz launches indie game dev program with a $115,000 prize pool
The contest is open to all indie game developers, teams, and entrepreneurs at no cost
Expansions
KGeN opens MENA HQ in Bahrain
The new office will serve as a bridge between gaming, communities and global publishers
New Partnerships
Rise Worldwide and Blast partner to boost India’s esports scene
The joint venture will lead to new games, teams, sponsors, and investments
New Offerings
Wuhan opens first mini-game incubation base in China
Tencent, AWS and others have reportedly signed on to launch operations at the new base
Esports In Mena
Savvy Games Group and Saudi Esports Federation Sign MoU to boost Saudi Arabia esports sector
The MoU will create internship opportunities for graduates of the Saudi Esports Academy