Markets
Brazilian mobile market to jump to $5.2bn gross revenue by 2027
Downloads will also rise to 39.1bn, while Africa will still be yet to crack $1bn of mobile revenue
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
Investment
Scalo leads $3.5m investment in publisher Hexacore
The publisher specialises in mobile Web3 games
Studio Shifts
Neopets dumps the metaverse and crypto as TNT goes mobile
The newly independent studio will be focusing on building a new game called “World of Neopets” for mobile
Design
The magic that makes mobile UI look good and feel great
Leanne Bayley of Atomhawk Advance chatted about the UX and UI design that goes into games, and touched on how mobile differs
Investment
More Turkish investment as Fortune Mine Games closes $2m seed round
The move reflects a wide and varied amount of investment in Türkiye
Stocks
EA and other video game stocks see big boost as M&A fever creeps in
Shares are trading ‘in sympathy’ with Microsoft and ABK as the AquiBlizz saga looks set to close
Week That Was
Week in Views - What caught our eyes in the last seven days
The PocketGamer.biz team tackles big money and two stories, about cancelled development and story innovation, from Develop: Brighton this time around...
Structure
A brief chat with Embracer Freemode’s Alex Verrey
As part of Embracer’s in-house PR team and external agency Overload PR, Verrey provides some quick insights
Awards
Why the BAFTAs think mobile stands toe-to-toe with console and PC
We got the chance to speak to part of BAFTA’s game team about their views on the potential of gaming culturally, and where mobile sits in it
Community
How Netspeak fostered a friendly community for mobile MMO Sunshine Days
The studio aimed for a diverse staff and to challenge themselves to build a welcoming player community, co-founder Callum and chief of staff Kyra told us how
Live-ops
Trevor Williams of RallyHere: "We want to ensure that we can democratise live ops games for any size studio."
The chief revenue officer for the live service platform spoke to us about humble beginnings at Hi-Rez and plans for the future
Talks
Should you care what the UK government thinks? UKIE's Daniel Wood things you should
More attention equals better support, but far more scrutiny says the UKIE co-CEO
Launches
How Hi-Rez Studios learned from not launching Rogue Company: Elite
With the game's demise - or at least permanent hold - the lessons learned by Hi-Rez were shared with others
Design & Retention
Trailmix designer Jade Ostle on how pivoting to story and merge2 boosted Love & Pies to 60% D1 retention
The designer hosted a talk at Develop: Brighton discussing the development of Trailmix's first game
Creatives
Ico Partners' Fanny Moreaux on what makes creative partnerships key to an authentic campaign
It's not just twitch streamers and influencers that developers should be focusing on says ICO Partners' communications manager
Development
Rogue Company: Elite’s global launch on indefinite hold
Hi-Rez revealed the news at a talk for Develop: Brighton 2023
No Halo Killer
ID@Xbox's Chris Charla on discoverability and launching into a saturated market
The three day conference opens with a short talk on indie devs from which game makers on all platform can draw insights
Stocks
Playtika bounces back as bank upgrades mobile developer from "Underperform" to "Neutral"
The upgraded rating saw a small but noticeable rise in stock price by 4%
Blockchain
Sega cools off on blockchain gaming after Rovio acquisition
Mobile could be the way forward for the home of the hedgehog
Jobs
Industry Moves: Hirings and Promotions around the Mobile Games Industry; July 10, 2023
Yat Siu joins a crack team of Web3 enthusiasts, CEO of Nine66 goes back to VC and a NetEase vet joins Sega
Acquisition
Keesing Media Group acquires casual games developer CoolGames
The two companies will seek to push further into the casual games market
New Studio
Tokyo Broadcasting System to start new gaming spin-off TBS Games
The new company will focus on console, PC and mobile
Stocks
NCSoft stock down 36.6% since January, with further dip after lacklustre pre-reg for Blade & Soul 2
The company has taken big hits in the past year due to slow performance
Publishing
Marvel Snap publisher Nuverse announces new title, Bleach: Soul Resonance
The publisher will be tackling another major IP, this time from anime
Stocks
Embracer Group fixes financial woes with a $182 million share issue
After recent financial surprises, the company has taken corrective measures… leading to a devalued stock price that's 14% down
Anniversaries
Outfit7’s Talking Tom hits its 10 year anniversary this month
The title will be a decade old on July 13
Strategy
Playstation rumoured to be seeking out partnerships in South Korea
Korea is another major hub for mobile despite speculations it is related to the company’s flagship console
Releases
Classic adventure game Monkey Island returns to mobile
The point & click classic adventure series is back with a brand new instalment
Studios
Plarium co-founder’s WhaleApp startup has raised $50 million and made $80m
Ilya Turpiashvili founded the company after selling Plarium to Aristocrat Leisure
Partnership
Homa to form strategic partnership with mobile studio 8sec
The partnership aims to benefit from the popularity pivot from hypercasual to hybridcasual
Regulation
South Korean game regulatory agency investigated for corruption
An investigation took place as a result of petition by players of gacha titles affected by unpopular age-rating changes
Stocks
NetEase sees stock rally of 85% fuelled by new game releases
Their performance on the Hang Seng Index got a major boost
Legislation
Google, Apple and others now have six months to comply with new digital markets rules
The Digital Markets Act in the EU will see digital “gatekeepers” forced to adhere to new rules
Production
Apple scales back production of highly-anticipated Vision Pro headset
Issues relating to the supply chain and concerns over quality may lead to a significant cut to the originally proposed one million unit production run
Appointments
Sega appoints NetEase alumni as new senior general manager of mobile publishing
Robin Ng served with NetEase from 2019 to 2021
Competition Authority
South African authorities unconditionally approve Activision Blizzard acquisition
Another win for Microsoft despite home-grown struggles
Legislation
Apple to ask US Supreme Court to overturn Epic ruling
The company ask Supreme Court to consider Ninth Circuit ruling
Executive Moves
CEO of Nine66, Kadri Harma, to return to venture capital
Harma has been CEO since late 2021
Appointments
Animoca Brands’ Yat Siu joins Hong Kong taskforce on Web3 development
The executive chairman has been increasingly bullish on Web3
Shutdown
Just Cause Mobile to be discontinued ahead of official release
The title has been in development since it was announced in 2020
Data
ATT opt-in rates for gaming climb to 37% as users grow more data savvy
Adjust data shows acceptance is becoming more widespread thanks to user knowledge and publisher communication
Collaborations
Angry Birds to collaborate with US National Parks Service for 4th of July
The Independence Day celebrations begin on July 3
Milestones
Football Manager 2023 & Touch was SIGames’ most played title ever
The Football Manager series covers PC, console and mobile
Milestones
Rush Royale hits 63 million installs and doubles growth in the US thanks to… Jake Paul?
Publisher My.Games credits the game's success to a two-month long collaboration event
Squad Building
Formation Games appoints new advisory group, including Wargaming and Riot veterans
The studio is the developer behind upcoming football game Club
Ai
Unity pulls the plug on Atlas AI generation tool less than 24 hours after launch
Atlas was released as part of a suite of new, approved, third-party tools offered by the company
Stock Crash
tinyBuild stock crashes 78% after profit warning and CFO departure
The crash has been branded “Worse than Embracer”
Results
Slovakian games made €77 million in 2022
That number only a slight dip from the €80m in 2021
Investment
Scriptic raises $5.7m in funding for AI-driven narrative mobile games
The round was led by perennial investor Bitkraft Ventures
Ranking
AppLovin takes downloads top spot for US companies worldwide
Data.ai's latest shows mobile-first beating the big names to take pole position