Sensor Tower Report
37 of July's top 100 mobile game publishers came from China
Chinese publishers accounted for nearly $2 billion for the month
Staff
Lewis Rees
About Lewis Rees is a journalist, author, and escape room enthusiast based in South Wales. He got his degree in Film and Video from the University of Glamorgan. He's been a gamer all his life.
Articles by Lewis Rees
Krafton Financials
Krafton's latest figures show 28% decline from record first quarter 2023
The company generated $294.2 million in the second quarter of 2023
Roblox Financials
Roblox hit a record $680.8 million in revenue in the second quarter of 2023
The figure represents a 15% year-on-year increase from $591.2 million
Rumours
Are Silent Hill and Metal Gear coming back to mobile?
Konami’s latest financial report hints at new mobile games for two of its biggest franchises
Financials
Mobile now accounts for 53% of Take-Two’s revenue
One year on from its acquisition of Zynga mobile dominates Take-Two’s Q! 2023-2024 financial report
On The Right Track
Honkai: Star Rail races to $500 million in worldwide sales
The game has pushed miHoYo to second place in global game publisher sales rankings
Interview
Global Champions founder and CEO Gokhan Celiker on achieving a milestone four million downloads
We spoke to Celiker about the company’s success and their work with Supersonic on Plane Evolution
Scopely X Flexion
Scopely is bringing more of its titles to alternative app stores with Flexion
Monopoly GO! is available on alternative app stores already, with Stumble Guys coming soon
Pokemon Go
Pokemon Go is the USA’s fourth most downloaded mobile game of all time
Seven years on the game remains a smash hit worldwide with 168 million downloads
Collaboration
Drest announces new collaboration with Copenhagen Fashion Week
The collaboration will highlight the designers taking part in the event
Genre Report
Arena and adventure games are set to exceed $4.7 billion in revenue in 2023
The post-apocalyptic genre saw a significant surge in downloads
Web3 Goes Mobile
Inside Animoca Brands and Yuga Lab's Wreck League web3 strategy
Developer nWay hopes to make waves with web3 and web2 releases of the same game
Funding
Zibra AI raises $500,000 from a16z Speedrun
The funding brings the company's total investment so far to $2.5 million
Job News
FunPlus appoints industry veteran Alexandre Amancio to leadership role
Amancio joins the team as SVP and head of world building and IP Strategy
Financials
Unity celebrates a record quarter with $533 million in revenue
The company’s revenue increased 80% year-on-year
Gaming In China
China’s gaming market climbed by 20% in July
July offered strong evidence for a rebound in the country’s gaming market
Job News
WAGMI appoints EA veterans to leadership roles
Esteban Gil and Brent Pease will assist the company in its web3 goals
Google Goes Blockchain
Inside Google’s blockchain content policy
The tech giant has recently revealed its policy on in-app blockchain and NFT and commentators are digging deep as to what it all means
Artificial Intelligence
AI startup Inworld raises another $50 million for a $500 million valuation
The new investment follows the company’s work on AI-driven non-player character experiences
New Release
Anything World launches its 3D models on the Unity Asset Store
Unity users can now access their library of rigged 3D animated models and more
Anniversary
Fireproof Games prepares for the tenth anniversary of The Room
The cross-platform hit will be on sale across platforms in September
Indie Funding
Google opens applications for its latest Indie Games Fund
The tech giant will distribute $2 million to small studios in Latin America
Chinese Restrictions
China to implement new restrictions on children's smartphone use
Just when it looked like China legislation was opening up, new moves to restrict the market are afoot
Financials
EA delivers a record $1.9 billion in net revenue in the first quarter of 2023
Mobile accounted for only a small percentage of the 9% YOY increase, despite FIFA Mobile success
Partnership
Reactional Music and Amanotes announce new partnership
The partnership aims to bring music and gaming closer than ever before.
Acquisition
Playtika acquires Azerion's Youda Games portfolio for upwards of $89.1 million
Azerion is selling the portfolio as part of its business refocus with an earnout agreement potentially pushing the price even higher
Anniversary
My Talking Tom turns 10
10th anniversary events include a collaboration with MrBeast to support a hospital in the Philippines
Milestone Sales
MLB 9 Innings achieves quarter of a billion dollars in lifetime sales
The franchise is officially North America’s number one mobile baseball game
Report
Japan’s consumer spend set to surpass $12.6 billion in 2023
RPG continues to dominate, but hypercasual is on the rise
Deals
Deals Digest: July 2023's biggest deals at a glance
From Tencent’s acquisition spree to the latest moves in Web3, here are this month's biggest deals from around the mobile games world
Apple V Epic
Epic Games appeals to the US Supreme Court in latest Apple legal clash
The move follows Apple’s own appeal filing earlier this month as Epic seek to make a 2021 ruling stick
Privacy
Apple enters the ATT endgame as its quest for privacy enters its final battle
Now they'll require developers to explain their use of certain APIs with non-compliant apps rejected by App Store Connects from Spring 2024
Success In China
China’s gaming reportedly hit a record gamer base in the first half of 2023
The opening session of ChinaJoy delved into the country’s gaming industry
Monster Hunter
Monster Hunter Now opens for pre-registration ahead of September 14 release
The game will bring the hit franchise to mobile for the first time
Digital Education
United Nations calls for crackdown on mobile app use in schools
UNESCO has called on countries worldwide to evaluate how technology is used in school
Tencent Acquisition
Tencent acquires visual novel company Visual Arts
The move follows the company’s acquisition of Techland earlier this week
China Licensing
Is China's gaming output back on track?
With 88 new licences granted, could the country’s regulatory issues be coming to an end?
Financials
Capcom saw $311.7 million in net sales in quarter one 2023
The company is forecasting net sales of over $994 million by the end of the fiscal year
Gaming In India
India’s gaming industry draws the line between 'online' and 'real money' gaming
The move comes in the wake of India announcing a new 28% tax on games
Data.ai Report
In-app spending hit a record $67.5 billion in the first half of 2023
Mobile spend has returned to growth following declines in 2022
Venture Funding
Valhalla Ventures launches $66 million fund for gaming investment
The firm is targeting “audacious entrepreneurs” across games and mobile
Apple Vs. Consumers
Apple's "anti-competitive" App Store woes continue with a $1 billion class action lawsuit
The suit accuses the company of acting anti-competitively with its imposition of a 30% fee on in-app purchases
Download Report
Garena Free Fire rides Spider-Man's success to top June 2023's most downloaded mobile games
The results are in with familiar names rubbing shoulders with old classics
Stillfront Financials
Stillfront earned over $174 million in revenue in Q2 2023
Mashup and casual titles remain the company’s most profitable, however other genres are gaining momentum
Gameanalytics Report
USA game ad revenue to reach $130 billion in 2025
But currently only accounts for less than 6% of total ad spend in the USA
Gaming Report
India accounted for 15.29% of game downloads in the first six months of 2023
One of the world’s biggest mobile gaming markets continues its meteoric rise
Clash Of The Titans
Eggy Party's success intensified NetEase & Tencent's war for casual supremacy
The tech giants have long been at the top of the mobile games space, but NetEase's recent win has raised the stakes
Job News
July's Mobile Movers and Shakers: Gameloft appoints a new lead game designer while MYSTiC gets a new CMO
July has seen some significant moves by some of the industry's biggest company's - here's just a few
Success In Funding
Singapore’s Eyeball Games raised $1.5 million for blockchain pool game
The fund highlights Singapore’s growing place in the mobile gaming industry
Ubisoft Financials
Ubisoft saw $298 million in net bookings in Q1 of the 2023-24 fiscal year, but mobile faltered
The gaming giant saw huge success, but struggled on gaming’s biggest platform