Marvellous Mena
Yalla Group joins the $1bn Arab companies club with a $1.23bn valuation
The Dubai-based firm is the only gaming and social platform on the billion-dollar list
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
Funding News
DaFluffs Games raises $300k to accelerate work on debut title Dungeon Blast
The Saudi startup will use the funding to expand its team and scale development
Gamescom 2025
Gamescom 2025 concludes with 357,000 visitors from 128 countries
Devcom, soon to be renamed Gamescom Dev, drew 5,400 attendees
New Partnerships
Savvy Games Group signs MoU with Al Jouf’s strategic office to develop games and esports
Savvy and JSDO will co-organise events to attract gamers and esports fans to the region
Funding News
Sheba Joy raises $293,000 in pre-seed funding to scale operations from Saudi Arabia
Funding will expand production, attract top talent, and drive development of new titles
New Offerings
New platform 962.Games launches as a directory for Jordan’s games ecosystem
It serves as a gateway for players, partners, and investors while inviting local developers to join
Investment News
Impact46 invests over $53m in Saudi games studio Kammelna
The studio is best known for bringing the Kingdom’s iconic card game Baloot to mobile
Funding News
Spoilz raises fresh funding to expand its development and live ops capabilities
Investment will fuel globally competitive mobile games and attract top Saudi talent.
Funding News
Starvania Studios raises $1.1m to accelerate growth and fuel its gaming ambitions
Investment enables Starvania to expand its team with Saudi talent and boost global competitiveness
Esports Tournament
Esports World Cup Foundation launches Esports Nations Cup
EA, Krafton, Tencent, and Ubisoft will co-develop the first edition in November 2026
New Partnerships
Savvy Games Group partners with AWS to boost Saudi Arabia’s games technology infrastructure
Savvy CEO Brian Ward says the deal will empower the Kingdom’s developer ecosystem
New Partnerships
Savvy Games Group signs MoU with Unity to boost opportunities for Saudi games developers
Qualifying projects gain free access to Unity’s backend, analytics, ads, and multiplayer tools
New Partnerships
Odeeo partners with AI studio Wondercraft to power multilingual in-game audio ads
Partnership brings personalised audio ads into mobile gaming
New Offerings
Tencent unveils AI game creation suite Visvise at Gamescom 2025
The suite covers animation, modelling, NPC creation, and digital asset management
Cloud Gaming
Samsung expands mobile cloud gaming platform to Europe
Galaxy users in the UK and Germany can now play mobile games without downloads or installs
Funding News
Fahy Studios secures $1.75m to scale its mobile game production
Funds will go towards expanding its capabilities and attracting talent to the kingdom
New Offerings
Aghanim launches new liveops and game hub builders to boost DTC webshops on mobile
The company plans to turn underperforming webshops into high-value DTC channels
Company Misconduct
GungHo reveals $2.35m embezzlement by former senior executive
CEO Kazuki Morishita will take a 30% pay cut for three months as leadership accepts responsibility
Investment News
Exel by Merak invests $300,000 each in 17 gaming startups at its first Demo Day
Over 300 applicants competed for a place in the accelerator
Marvellous Mena
Kucheza Gaming CEO Bukola Akingbade on building Africa’s future through play and education
"African studios must build business models that can sustain themselves right from day one"
Funding For Games
Fateless secures additional $8m to power Godforge toward 2026 launch
The new round brings its total to $14m
Acqusitions
Rewarded play platform Almedia acquires casback firm Zave.it
CEO calls the move a landmark step toward building an engagement engine
Awards Season
Gamescom LATAM 2026 opens submissions for BIG Festival Awards
Last year’s competition drew over 950 games from 71 countries
Make-a-wish
Make-A-Wish launches new initiative to grant games industry-related wishes for critically ill children
Infinite Wishes aims to create new pathways for game companies to fund wishes and spark fresh ideas
Winners Revealed
Savvy Games Group and HP conclude GameOn GameJam with winning teams revealed
Winners to join Savvy Academy’s three-month Incubator Program in collaboration with Xsolla
Job News
Spin Master appoints Marc De Vellis as EVP and president of its Digital Games Creative Centre
He will oversee flagship platforms Toca Boca and PikNik
Mentorship
Supercell opens applications for AI Innovation Lab in San Francisco
Open to individuals or teams of up to three, with a cap of 20 participants
New Offerings
Hidden Door launches social role-playing platform for co-creative storytelling
Players can step into fictional worlds like Pride and Prejudice, The Wizard of Oz, and The Crow
Crossovers
Subway Surfers and 8 Ball Pool unite for their first-ever crossover event
Month-long collaboration features exclusive themed content, characters, and rewards
New Offerings
Discord launches social SDK for in-game voice and messaging integration
SDK gives developers access to Discord’s 200m monthly users
Expansions
Felicity expands to Singapore with $1m APAC growth plan
New hub will focus on high-growth markets like Vietnam and Thailand
Marvellous Mena
Dubai to host first Middle East government pavilion at Gamescom 2025
Pavilion to spotlight Dubai’s goal of becoming a top 10 global games hub by 2033
New Offerings
Xsolla unveils Unity SDK to give developers more monetisation freedom
The move is part of Xsolla’s push to boost direct-to-consumer revenue across mobile, PC, and web
Strategic Move
Xsolla expands platform reach with SDKs for Windows Store and Epic Games Store
Partnership with Pley and Discord Bot launch expands cross-platform reach
Investment News
Arcanix secures funding to accelerate live ops platform growth
Funding will accelerate product development, early partner onboarding, and European team growth
Milestone
Fable Town surpasses $1m in monthly revenue
The merge-3 title has 2.3m installs and $7.5m in lifetime earnings
Training Camp
Maliyo Games opens applications for 2025 GameUp Africa Bootcamp
12-week remote program covers game art, design, and audio
Online Safety
Roblox open-sources Sentinel AI to detect harmful chat messages
Now open-source so other platforms can integrate the technology
Jobs In Games
Jobs in Games: Rababa Games' Mohammad Al-Qawasmeh on how to build a career as a programmer
In this series, we highlight the talented team members working in the games industry and how they got their break
Adaptations
Disney+ adapts hit mobile game Twisted-Wonderland into anime
Disney Twisted-Wonderland: The Animation will premiere on October 29th 2025
Job News
Ex-King CEO Riccardo Zacconi joins Layer AI board
Layer AI is used by over 200 studios including Zynga, Tripledot, and SciPlay
New Partnerships
ZBD brings real-money embedded rewards to mobile games
TapNation’s Idle Bank is among the first to integrate ZBD’s SDK
Online Safety
PlaySafe ID report: Cheating makes 42% of players consider quitting games
Study shows 71% would verify their identity to stop cheaters
Earnings Report
Mobile powers Take-Two bookings growth to $1.4bn in Q1
CEO Strauss Zelnick signals continued focus on mobile direct-to-consumer growth
Investment News
Impact46 invests $6.7m in five Saudi game studios
Investments align with Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 and National Gaming Strategy
Acqusitions
Chinese publisher XD Inc acquires 5.3% stake in Miao for $14m
Deal values studio at approximately $264m
Earnings Report
Konami's games division grows 14% in Q1 as eFootball soars
eFootball surpasses 850m downloads across PC, console, and mobile
Earnings Report
Netmarble revenue falls to $502m in Q2 despite promising new launches
Seven Knights Re: Birth and RF Online Next were the company’s biggest revenue generators last quarter
Regulations
Japan orders Apple and Google to open payment systems and level app store competition
New guidelines will take effect from December 18th 2025
Milestone
Castle Duels celebrates first anniversary with 3.5m installs and $13m lifetime revenue
My.Games launches Creator Programme to reward and monetise community talent