New Partnerships
Kiddopia teams up with Moonbug to bring Little Angel characters to learning platform
The first set of Little Angel-themed games will launch in 2025
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
WHO teams up with Goodville to launch new virtual health assistant ‘Sarah'
Players can interact with Sarah through an in-game chat
Tiktok Ban
US court rejects TikTok's bid to halt pending ban
ByteDance must divest TikTok by January 19th, 2025 or face a ban
Leaving Soon
Netflix removes GTA 3 and Vice City from gaming library after one year
GTA: San Andreas is still available to play for now
New Offerings
Samsung takes cue from NYT as it introduces games to News app
The Six trivia game is currently available to Galaxy users in the US and Canada
Milestone
Balatro has sold over 3.5 million copies
The card game also won the 2024 Mobile Game of the Year at The Game Awards
Awards Season
Balatro wins Mobile Game of the Year at The Game Awards
Balatro also won Best Debut Indie Game and Indie Game of the Year
Milestone
Pokémon Trading Card Game Pocket hits 60 million downloads
This comes ahead of Mythical Island expansion later this month
New Partnerships
Epic Games partners with Telefónica to pre-install Fortnite and the Epic Games Store on Android
The deal extends to 2025 and players will be able to download third-party games in the future
Mena Market
EsportsXO partners with Abu Dhabi Gaming to open regional headquarters in the MENA region
The partnership is expected to create new job opportunities over the next five years
Crossovers
Buzz Lightyear joins Brawl Stars in Toy Story crossover
Buzz debuts today and will be available to play from December 12th until February 4th, 2025
Winners Revealed
Apple unveils 2024 App Store Awards winners
AFK Journey, Squad Busters and Balatro among this year's winners
Closure Announcement
Glow Up Games shuts down after facing ongoing industry challenges
The studio aimed to build authentic and inclusive game experiences
Milestone
Infinity Nikki has surpassed 10 million downloads worldwide
The game generated $4m in gross revenue on mobile four days after its launch
Anniversary
My.Games marks Rush Royale's fourth anniversary with special birthday event and $370m revenue milestone
Since its launch, Rush Royale has garnered over 90 million downloads
Funding For Games
Beam Ventures launches in Abu Dhabi with $150m fund to support game studios
The firm will also launch an accelerator program that focuses on early-stage web3 gaming and AI start-ups
Jobs In Games
Jobs in Games: Rababa Games' Mohammad Al-Aghar Rawashdeh on how to get a career as an environment artist
In this series, we highlight the talented team members working in the games industry and how they got their break
New Studio
Clear Angle Studios opens new studio in Culver City
The new studio has already supported five major film productions and three games industry projects
More Games
Arkadium unveils six new games to end the year with 18 releases
Platform invests heavily as browser-based gaming grows in popularity
Job News
Duolingo taps former Halo franchise head Bonnie Ross as board member
Ross has over 30 years of experience in the games industry
Acqusitions
Build A Rocket Boy acquires UK developer PlayFusion
PlayFusion CEO and CTO Mark Gerhard will join company as co-CEO
Job News
Bitkraft Ventures recruits ex-JetSynthesis Gaming CEO Anuj Tandon as partner
Investment firm aims to expand presence in India’s fast-growing games market
New Partnerships
Xsolla partners with StarNest to launch game development academy in Azerbaijan
Xsolla is also considering establishing its regional headquarters in Baku
Esports Growth
PUBG Mobile commits $10 million to 2025 Esports circuit prize pool
Next year's event will feature over 20 tournaments across various regions
Mena Market
UAE leads MENA start-up investments in November with $146m across 11 deals
Saudi Arabia followed with 23 startups raising $94 million
Ubisoft Buyout
Tencent and Ubisoft in talks over potential management-led buyout
The PUBG publisher also aims to block hostile takeovers as it awaits the family’s agreement
Acqusitions
Reforged Studios acquires South Africa’s Yellow Lab Games
Yellow Lab Games will continue operating independently
New Studio
PTW opens new studio in Charleston
The company said the new studio will feature “state-of-the-art" facilities for next-gen testing
Ai In Games
Google’s AI Genie 2 brings images to life by transforming them into playable 3D worlds
“Games play a key role in the world of artificial intelligence research”
Milestone
Block Blast! surges past 40m daily active users
The game has garnered over 200m downloads since its launch in 2021
Funding News
Cyprus-based studio Top App Games secures $10m funding
The studio aims to launch new mobile titles and explore new genres
Lawsuit
Apple faces £785 million UK lawsuit over App Store commissions
The UK Competition Appeal Tribunal has allowed the suit to proceed
Indefinite Delay
Nintendo delays Alarmo clock public sales in Japan
Non-Nintendo Switch Online subscribers will have to wait before purchasing the alarm clock
Investment News
Fortnite UGC studio Creators Corp gets $2 million investment from Lumina
The team has developed over 15 games and boasts over 220m active users
Expansion Plans
In-game advertising firm Gadsme opens first US office
Company looks to expand in the US and Europe with new branch and multiple hires
Plagiarism Accusations
NetEase's Onmyoji accuses HoYoVerse of plagiarism over trailer similarities
The new Honkai: Star Rail's latest Sunday update is set to release today
Jobs In Games
Jobs in Games: Usiku Games' Rolex Oduor on how to get a career as a sound designer
In this series, we highlight the talented team members working in the games industry and how they got their break
New Partnerships
Nazara and Lysto pen Letter of Intent to launch The Growth Protocol
New initiative designed for digital marketing and growth applications on the blockchain
Eco-conscious Gaming
Demi Lovato partners with PlanetPlay to raise funds for reforestation and ocean conservation
Fans can access exclusive Demi Lovato avatars in games like Subway Surfers, Love & Pies and more throughout this month
Funding News
Playgama lands $3 million to simplify HTML5 game distribution
The company is building a Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) ecosystem which includes access to various distributors and platforms
Resilient Growth
Apple's App Store ecosystem in China hits $519 billion in developer sales
Developers kept over 95% of the revenue without paying commissions
Fundraising
SpecialEffect raises £600,000 for gamers with disabilities in One Special Day campaign
The annual campaign has raised over £3 million across eight years
Investment News
Nazara continues M&A push with Funky Monkeys and LearnTube investments
The firm has also pumped $17.74m into subsidiaries to boost ownership
New Game
SuperPlay secures licence to launch Disney Solitaire
The game is currently soft launched in Columbia and the Philippines
Expansion
Apple set to open new Dublin office
Apple plans to take up roughly 60,000 square feet at its new space in the city centre
Job Losses
Report: Lilith Games cuts 40 staff as Project Party undergoes changes
Title has not been cancelled, according to reports
Marvellous Mena
"Cultural authenticity is at the core of our design process"
Chroma Pixel CEO and founder Edwin Kapesa discusses the company’s shift away from traditional storefronts and game-based learning programmes
Acqusitions
Tencent acquires majority stake in Wuthering Waves developer Kuro Games
Studio claims it will remain independent following the deal
Acqusitions
Nazara subsidiary Nodwin Gaming acquires Trinity Gaming for $2.8 million
Games and esports firm plans to strengthen Trinity’s portfolio in emerging markets like Southeast Asia, Africa, Central Asia, and the Middle East
Gaming Trends
India's competition watchdog launches probe into Google's real-money gaming policies
The investigation is expected to conclude in next two months