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
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
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
Mena Month
The opportunity for anime games in MENA
Tamatem group product manager Shorouq Ghneim discusses the company's launch of Land of Heroes and anime's popularity in the region
Marvellous Mena
Lobah on raising $12m and the opportunity for culturalised games in MENA
We talk with Lobah head of product and partnerships Ibrahim El Kawam fresh on the back of the studio's big-money investment
Nintendo App
Nintendo Today mobile app launches to keep fans informed on Switch 2 and more
App is free download but requires a Nintendo account
Investment News
Kameha Ventures launches $27m fund to support game tech startups
The team will provide strategic guidance, mentorship, and long-term backing for early-stage founders
Cloud Partnership
Amazon Luna partners with EA to bring Star Wars and more to cloud gaming platform
The service has expanded to four new regions, now available in 14 countries
Tax Breaks
Alberta scraps plans for video game tax credit
The government will now support the industry through “strategic funding partnerships and investments”
Crossovers
Subway Surfers and Crossy Road collide in first-ever crossover event
Event will include limited edition crossover characters and other surprises
New Partnerships
Anzu and Claritas partner to offer improved attribution metrics for in-game ads
The partnership aims to bring transparency and performance optimisation to in-game advertising
Going Public
Discord could go public this year as IPO plans take shape
Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase are on board for planned flotation
Gdc 2025
GDC 2025 wraps up with nearly 30,000 attendees
Next year's edition will take place at the Moscone Center from March 9th to 13th, 2026
Game Closure
Square Enix to shut down War of the Visions: Final Fantasy Brave Exvius after five years
The title will remain playable until May 29th, 2025
Investment News
Türkiye's Feraset secures $4.5m to expand AI-powered consumer apps
The funds will go towards scaling its marketing efforts and working towards increasing its global subscriber count
Market Report
German games market declined to €9.4bn in 2024 as in-app purchase and hardware sales fell
In-game and in-app purchases fell 3% to €4.6bn ($4.9bn)
Investment News
Planetarium Labs secures $3m funding to expand Immortal Rising 2
The funds will go towards enhancing gameplay mechanics and growing the community
Price Cut
Havok lowers licensing fee for studios with budgets under $20m
Companies will only need to pay $50k to use its tech
New Offerings
GGWP teams up with Unity to launch proactive voice moderation tools
Vivox users can integrate GGWP’s AI to monitor voice and text, offering a full view of user behaviour