Spending Star
Honkai: Star Rail rockets past $2bn on mobile in under two years
The gacha RPG has taken 10 months longer than Genshin Impact to hit the milestone, but now frequently outperforms HoYoverse's flagship
Mobile Majority
Double-digit games industry growth labelled "a fantasy" as revenue forecast to hit $237bn in 2025
Mobile game predicted to earn $110.9bn this year, over half of all games software revenue
Lucrative Legendaries
Pokémon Sleep's big revenue strategy returns with first Legendary event of 2025
Previous Legendary events have raked in $16.5m over a combined six weeks
Racing Revenue
Uma Musume: Pretty Derby gallops past $2.5bn in Japan alone
Cygames’ hit horse girl racing game is still awaiting its English release
Celebratory Strike
NetEase’s Blood Strike surpasses 60m mobile installs and $22.9m in time for first anniversary
The US has proven Blood Strike’s most lucrative mobile market in year one, despite accounting for just 7% of downloads
Accurate Actionable Insight
ByteBrew launches LTV Reports in their all-in-one platform.
ByteBrew's latest update gives developers precise player Life Time Value from validated in-app purchases, ad impressions and customer events for accurate actionable insight.
Milestone
Ludus: Merge Arena surpasses 5m players and races past $3m monthly revenue
Developer said it will launch a Clan Wars update at the end of March
Raining With Revenue
Wuthering Waves rides the wave to $250m after Version 2.0’s major comeback
Version 2.0 triggered a 178% spending surge on release day, followed by a 169% boost with Version 2.1
Milestone
RuneScape surpasses $2 billion in lifetime revenue
Titles have garnered over 300 million players worldwide
Major Market
PGC San Francisco 2025 nears after US mobile gamers spend record-breaking $28bn
Monopoly Go was the highest-grossing game on mobile, while Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 took the console crown
Tour For More
Pokémon Go Tour Unova – Global weekend made $19.8m in two days
The free event with optional paid extras saw in-game spending at its highest since the eighth anniversary last July
Valiant Victory
Goddess of Victory: Nikke hits $1bn on mobile during Romantic Valentine event
More than half of that player spending has come from the game’s Japanese players
Playtika's M&a Plans
Playtika allocates up to $450m for “bolt-on” M&A activity over next three years
Publisher reports direct-to-consumer and overall revenue growth in Q4
Pokemon Day
Pokémon Day 2025: Just how big a deal are Pokémon’s mobile games?
Whether it’s Pokémon TCG Pocket or Pokémon Go, the franchise has a few mobile games worth knowing about ahead of today’s Pokémon Presents
A Successful Snooze
Pokémon Sleep hits $150m mark despite slowdown since first anniversary
Japan is the app's most lucrative country at $109m to date
Hot Five
Hot Five: Jam City to sell Ludia, Scopely could acquire Pokémon Go, and Last War hits $2bn
Our quick-fix roundup of the hottest stories on PocketGamer.biz
Mobile Growth
Bilibili's mobile game revenue soars 79% in Q4 sparking company's first-ever profitable quarter
2024 release San Guo: Mou Ding Tian Xia leads the charge in growing games business
Financials
Hasbro gaming segment grows 22% as Monopoly Go adds $112 million to revenue in 2024
Total company sales declined 17% Y/Y to $4.1 billion
Earnings Report
Nexon reports record 2024 $2.97bn revenue in 2024 as Dungeon & Fighter Mobile drives growth
It saw success in three main franchises in 2024 including MapleStory, Dungeon & Fighter, and FC
Financials
Unity revenue falls 25% in Q4 as engine and ads segments see declines
Game engine division Create Solution saw sales fall 47% Y/Y
Sweet Solitaire
Candy Crush Solitaire snaps up $379,000 in first two weeks
Lifetime revenue including soft launch reaches $692k
Financials
Nitro Games reports record $12.3m revenue in 2024
The Finnish developer highlights expanding portfolio and cost control for improved financials
Rainbow Revenue
Rainbow Six Mobile revenue surges as Ubisoft chases a global launch
Ubisoft’s troubled mobile shooter gets a rise in downloads and player spending as publisher aims to improve title's fortunes
Spend And Survive
Last War: Survival surpasses $2bn after record player spending in early 2025
Strategy title generated a record $212m in January 2025
Levelling Up
Netmarble escapes the red with $4.6m net profit after two years of losses
The dev earned $1.95 billion in revenue in 2024
Revenue Milestone
War Robots hits $1 billion in revenue with mobile driving the majority of earnings
The vehicle shooter celebrated its 10 year anniversary last year and regained its licence in China
Hot Five
Hot Five: Unity’s latest layoffs, Supercell’s record $3bn year, and AppLovin’s plans to sell off apps business
Our quick-fix roundup of the hottest stories on PocketGamer.biz
Week That Was
Who will buy AppLovin's games studios, Olympics esports delayed, and DeNA's profits surge | Week in Views
The Pocketgamer.biz team pick their highlights from the headlines this week and deliver the stories behind the stories
Segment Sales
Embracer’s net sales down as mobile profits dive and headcount plummets
Entertainment and services outearned PC and console sales in the latest quarter
Ads Vs Apps
AppLovin to sell apps business for $900m as it focuses on ads
But ads firm didn't disclose which company would acquire its games portfolio
Capybara Cash
Habby’s Capybara Go surpasses $100m in gross player spending
The US is this text-based roguelike’s third-biggest market despite being among the latest launch regions
Profitable Pokemon
DeNA’s games business profits up 8,126.8% after Pokémon TCG Pocket’s success
Nine months into its fiscal year, DeNA attributed profits surge in part to Pocket’s "strong performance"
Royal Revenue
Royal Kingdom surpasses $50m in player spending
Revenue for the title is on the rise after racking up $13.5m in January
Shifting Up
Shift Up revenue up 30% to $151m in 2024 despite decrease in Goddess of Victory: Nikke sales
The South Korean developer acknowledged "fierce" competition in the industry but asserted Goddess of Victory: Nikke’s "possibility of long-term success"
Financials
Sega’s net sales slide down 8% year-over-year as Football Manager 25 skips release
Entertainment division saw 8% growth during the past nine months
Pubg Push
Krafton makes record-breaking $1.9bn with mobile revenue up 35.7% in 2024
Operating income also hit a record high, attributed to the success of the PUBG series
Financials
Mobile sales slump hits Square Enix profits
MMOs have proven Square Enix’s only growing games segment nine months into the current fiscal year
Hot Five
Hot Five: Fire Emblem Heroes’ voting power, Candy Crush Solitaire broadens the brand, and Pokémon TCG Pocket hits half a billion dollars
Our quick-fix roundup of the hottest stories on PocketGamer.biz
Week In Views
UK rejects calls for stronger consumer protections and Nintendo's Fire Emblem Heroes hits $1.3bn in revenue | Week in Views
The Pocketgamer.biz team pick their highlights from the headlines this week and deliver the stories behind the stories
Platform Power
EA’s Q3 revenue down 3% YoY, as mobile is only platform with GAAP growth
Live service sales more than doubled full game sales revenue in the quarter
Sequel Success
Archero 2 makes $32.8m in first 30 days from player spending
Habby’s Archero sequel peaked at $1.4 million on January 25th
Voting Value
Nintendo’s Fire Emblem Heroes: eight years, $1.3bn revenue and the value of player voting
Fire Emblem Heroes celebrates its eighth anniversary with latest Choose Your Legends poll results
Switch Ascension
Nintendo Switch sales surpass 150m units, but company profits down 42%
Mobile and IP-related business accounted for 5% of total revenue over the first nine months of the fiscal year
Revenue Result
Meta earned $164.5 billion in 2024 but VR/AR division made another loss
The company’s VR/AR segment made an operations loss of $17.7 billion
Pokemon Power
Pokémon Trading Card Game Pocket rockets past $500m in just 22 days more than Pokémon Go
Pokémon Go took 75 days from global launch to its first half-billion, versus TCG Pocket’s 97 days
Mobile Matters
Konami profits up 41.8% as eFootball surpasses 800m installs
Mobile’s Professional Baseball Spirits A was used in the eNippon Series of the Prospi A Pro League
Week In Views
Marvel Snap lands new publisher and Pokémon Sleep surpasses $140m | Week in Views
The Pocketgamer.biz team pick their highlights from the headlines this week and deliver the stories behind the stories
Mobile Monsters
Capcom's operating income drops 38%, but Monster Hunter series hits 100 million sales
"Digital contents" have contributed $189.9 million out of total $201.3 million operating income this year
Royal Revenue
Royal Match earned 51% of all match-3 IAP revenue in 2024 as casual genre made $15.2 billion
Meanwhile, Monopoly Go earned 55% of casual casino’s earnings
Lucrative Love
Love and Deepspace celebrates first anniversary and over $400m after record-breaking month
The dating simulator made $61 million in December 2024