Events
Fifth African Games Week to be held in Cape Town, South Africa
Africa, one of many emerging markets in the mobile gaming industry, will be seeing its African Games Week hosted in Cape Town this December
Staff
Iwan Morris
Job Title
Staff Writer
About Iwan is a Cardiff-based freelance writer, who joined the Pocket Gamer Biz site fresh-faced from University before moving to the Pocketgamer.com editorial team in November of 2023.
Articles by Iwan Morris
Seasonal Events
World of Tanks Blitz sees top Hollywood talent team up to promote Holiday event
The entire World of Tanks lineup are seeing the introduction of new cosmetics, items and quests themed around the team of Mila Jovovich and Arnold Schwarzenegger
Analysis
China may still be top of the mobile game, but India is closing in
India has been picking up the pace in recent years with a view to overtaking China as the biggest mobile market
Updates
Rovio adds first new Angry Birds character in seven years
Rovio’s Angry Birds 2 saw the addition of its first new character in seven years with the introduction of songbird character Melody
Rumour
FTC rumoured to block Activision-Blizzard acquisition deal
The hotly anticipated acquisition of Activision-Blizzard may face another hurdle as outlet Politico reports on rumours the FTC may see to block the deal
Studio Formation
Formation Games are a new studio with talent from the worlds of game dev and soccer
Formation Games specialise in football games and will be led by former FA CEO, Alex Horne alongside ex-Bungie Jonty Barnes and ex-Sports Interective Neil Dejyothin
Milestones
Sleeper hit Hungry Sharks passes 1bn lifetime downloads
Ubisoft's Hungry Sharks franchise had surpassed 1bn lifetime downloads, in a sleeper success story for mobile
Retrospective
Deus Ex GO is dead. Here's what made the GO series so important
With the shuttering of title Deus Ex GO we take a look back at the GO series, Square Enix’s dip into the pool of premium mobile titles
Esports
Riot to refocus League of Legends: Wild Rift esports plans solely to Asia
League of Legends mobile adaptation, Wild Rift, originally was given worldwide plans for esports, however Riot Games have now said they intend to focus solely on the Asian market
Financials
Pearl Abyss sees revenue rise in Q3 2022, above Q3 2021
Overall revenue is up for Black Desert and Eve devs Pearl Abyss, but peaking just over Q3 2021 levels
Shuttering
Embracer to shut down Deus Ex GO, making it unplayable for existing owners
Onoma, formerly Square Enix Montreal, will be removing four games from stores on December 1 then shutting them down completely in January
Preservation
Opinion: Game Preservation isn’t just about disks and cartridges, but mobile games too
Physical, and digital, game preservation has become a contentious topic for players, developers and publishers alike, but it’s not just console and PC we should worry about
Regulations
China claims they have ‘fixed’ the problem of Youth Game Addiction
Chinese authorities have not only been strongly regulating the activities of game companies, but also of players themselves
Investment
Playtika announces $25m investment into Turkish dev Ace Games
The Turkish developer Ace Games attracted a major $25m investment from mobile developer Playtika
Investment
Aoca Game Labs receives investment from Google Play’s Indie Game Fund
The company from Bahia participated in Google’s #WeArePlay editorial, and received a portion of a $2m investment from the corporation
Awards
Tripledot Studios growth strategy pays off with Deloitte Award
Mobile developer Tripledot received the Deloitte UK Technology Fast 50 Award for its rate of growth
Online Harms
Opinion: Riot Games and Ubisoft can’t self-police online harm
Trying to show they care about online harm is good, but the fact is that the problem can’t be solved with AI
Pre-registrations
Call of Duty Warzone mobile surpasses 25m pre-registrations
Warzone Mobile was also the fastest Activision-Blizzard and King mobile game to surpass 15m pre-registrations
International
Chinese game stocks rise after official state newspaper endorsement
An article in People’s Daily lionising the video game industry and its role in pushing technology forward has helped to boost stocks in major Chinese game companies
Statements
Phil Spencer says Activision-Blizzard deal is primarily about mobile gaming
In an appearance on the The Verge’s Decoder podcast, Xbox boss Phil Spencer spoke extensively about the state of Microsoft’s endeavours in mobile
Analysis
Satya Nadella hints at more cross-platform investment so users can 'play everywhere'
CEO of Microsoft, Satya Nadella commented on their intention to push for cross-platform play and argued in favour of the deal
Awards
ADHD awareness game “Full ADHD” wins Reuters Pharma Award
The game, chronicling the life of a character with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, has received multiple awards and benefited from its mobile form
Interview
Dr Jaime Gonzalo of Huawei on the important role of alternative storefronts for mobile gaming
Dr Jaime Gonzalo is the VP of Huawei Consumer Mobile Services in Europe, he talks to us about the challenges facing the industry and the future of mobile
New Releases
Outfit7 announces Talking Tom runner game Talking Tom Time Rush
The studio behind the Talking Tom franchise is set to dip their toes into the popular genre of runner games, with Talking Tom Time Rush, which will launch at the end of the month
Investment
Germany increases funding for game industry support to $72m
The overall funding for game industry support in Germany will now total €70m or $72m, the funding is awarded to game developers to assist with development and other services
Acquisitions
Zynga subsidiary Rollic acquires hypercasual games studio Popcore
The Turkish studio Rollic has closed the acquisition of Berlin-based Popcore games
Collaborations
Riot Games and Ubisoft to collaborate in preventing toxic behaviour in games
The two companies are working together on the “Zero Harm in Comms” research project to combat online toxicity in games
Collaboration
Reliance Games partners with Atari to publish city-builder & management game Citytopia
The Indian developer will partner with Atari to publish the city-builder & management mobile game Citytopia
Investment
Noodle Cat Games, founded by ex-Epic devs, raises $4.1m in funding to support worker-friendly practices
The dev-friendly studio has made efforts to push for a more comfortable working environment in response to stricter demands on devs, and has received significant investment to support their mission
Opinion
Opinion: Events like The Game Awards don't give mobile games enough representation
There is a conspicuous absence of mobile titles at arguably the biggest awards show of the year for gaming
Anniversaries
Rocket League Sideswipe on its 1-year anniversary: a new mode and platform crossover
Psyonix, developer of Rocket League Sideswipe yesterday announced their official 1st anniversary event would go live on November 16th, so 1 year on, what can we learn from it?
Collaborations
Challengermode and PUBG partner to fund amateur esports tournaments
The esports platform Challengermode and PUBG Mobile have partnered to integrate support for, and fund, amateur esports across the globe
Analysis
How Supercell’s biggest update of 2022 rocketed Clash Royale's revenue
Supercell’s latest update to their card-based battler Clash Royale brought in a big boost to revenue, Nadir Garouche broke down some of the reasons for this
Anniversaries
Candy Crush Saga on its 10th Anniversary: New features and over three billion downloads
Candy Crush Saga, one of the earliest examples of worldwide success in smartphone games, celebrates its ten-year anniversary today with some interesting numbers and new features
Financials
Krafton sees slow 2% growth in Q3 financials and 12% sales dip for PUBG mobile, but stays committed to Indian market
Although Krafton has faced many challenges continuing the operation of PUBG Mobile in India, according to its Q3 financials the company remains committed to the market
Investment
Big Pixel Studios veterans' Landmark Games raise $4.6m investment for co-op mobile game
The studio, comprised of industry veterans has raised at least $4.6m in investment to continue the development of their co-op mobile game “Sea of Souls”
Acquisitions
Krafton to acquire The Ascent developer Neon Giant
Krafton’s financials reveal that the company is set to acquire developer Neon Giant, responsible for their debut game “The Ascent”
Acquisitions
Matchingham Games acquires two IPs from Pow Games in $11.7m deal
UK-based Matchingham have reportedly cut a deal with Pow Games to acquire Food Match 3D and Tile Match: Home Design Puzzle from the Turkish-based developer
Awards
Mobile games dominate TIGA Awards 2022
The 2022 TIGA Awards saw mobile companies win numerous accolades for their work, including Kwalee, ustwo and Space ape games
News
EU Parliament votes to adopt resolution recognising importance of video game ecosystem
The EU Parliament yesterday officially adopted a resolution to provide greater support to the video game industry in the EU, including proposals for a digital preservation system
Updates
SKAdNetwork 4.0 and how the new changes affect developers
SKAdNetwork is what advertisers on the iOS platform rely to study analytics, and the 4.0 version contains some key differences to understand
Financials
Playstudio financials see continuous growth and expansion of their PlayREWARDS platform
The Las Vegas based studio acquired mobile developer Brainium earlier in the year and has already accredited strong quarterly revenue performance to this
New Releases
Last War: Shelter Heroes from TinyBytes Games launches today from early access
The Chile-based studio TinyBytes will now officially launch their newest game, Last War: Shelter heroes from early access into full release
Nexon Financials
Nexon financials offer evidence to support industry analysis, and boast substantial growth
Nexon, the company behind games such as DNF Mobile, released their financials for Q3, and their results showed record revenue, rising in some areas and dipping in one key market
Studio Collabs
Capcom to collaborate with Tencent’s TiMi studios for Monster Hunter mobile game
Capcom will work alongside TiMi to produce a game based off the popular Monster Hunter franchise for mobile
Asia Pacific Market
Riot Games to no longer publish major titles through Garena in SEA
Riot Games previously published its major titles League of Legends and Teamfight Tactics through Singaporean publisher Garena, but will now produce and manage online services themselves.
Trade
Finnish/Saudi-Arabian trade deal could kickstart further economic collaboration to come
Although the recently announced Finland and Saudi-Arabia trade deal mainly covers more fundamental aspects such as travel and freight, it marks closer relations that could increase other economic interaction
Regulations
China’s game regulations pose a major potential threat to mobile game business in the country
Unclear regulations, licensing freezes and more are all major challenges for both domestic and foreign game companies operating in China. Particularly for the largest platform, mobile
Financials
Take-Two's mobile division is now the dominant revenue stream for the company, boosted by Zynga
Take-Two’s recently released financial report for the Q2 period indicates an elevated level of revenue from their mobile division, but their forecast is cautious about further success
Studio Move
Miniclip expands Miniclip Netherlands in move to new offices in Zoetermeer
Miniclip has expanded and moved Gamebasics, now Miniclip Netherlands, to purpose-designed refurbished offices in the city of Zoetermeer