Subway Surfers
Sybo talks “evergreen” Subway Surfers success
CEO Mathias Gredal Nørvig discussed the success of the game at GDC
Feature
The hyper-casual landscape in 2023: Trends and insights for developers
Azur Games publishing lead, Sergey Martinkevich shares insights on the development and monetization of hyper-casual games
Data
Mobile Global Esports collaborates on AI-driven data analysis
Data from players will tie them to physical locations in order to target special offers
New Hires
Softonic appoints BBC veteran Andy Webb as VP of Product
Webb will spearhead the company’s mobile strategy
Artificial Intelligence
Ubisoft clarify the use of AI-script writing Ghostwriter
The tech has not yet been implemented but Ubisoft are already reassuring human creatives of their safety
Aaa Vs. Mobile
Why are AAA publishers still struggling to make it on mobile?
Mobile gaming dominates the games space, but AAA game makers are failing to effectively enter the market
User Acquisition Augmented
Start with UA Automation: Scale your mobile apps, while saving time & costs
With the costs and complexities of user acquisition campaigns increasing - how can games companies utilise automation to keep costs down - and stay in control?
Financials
Mag Interactive's Q2 strategy pays off, delivering highest ever revenue
Their interim report indicates that Mag Interactive are back on track for the year ahead
Ten Square Financials
Ten Square reports $116 million in revenue in 2022
The company’s revenue is down compared to 2021, but already shows signs of rebounding
Appointments
Room 8 appoints David Lalonde as head of mobile service line
Will oversee growth strategy for growing portfolio of studios
Milestones
My.Games’ Left to Survive hits 60 million players worldwide
One of a number of milestones for the company and their subsidiary studios
Netease Anime
NetEase Games enters the world of animation with Anici Anime
The new brand will further the company's interests outside of games
Don’t Miss Out
10 reasons why you need to attend Pocket Gamer Connects Seattle!
Join us in Seattle for the most anticipated conference of the summer! You can currently save up to $280 with our limited time Early Bird discount
Executive With Experience
Debbie Bestwick to step down as Team 17 CEO after more than a decade
She will continue working with the company in a new role
Ai Integration
Moonlander.ai delivers multiple AI tools under one game dev SDK
The kit aims to lower the barrier to entry for aspiring developers to make use of AI power
Sensor Tower Report
The USA, India, and emerging markets are leading the way in app installs
But predictions state that China is poised for a resurgence in the coming period
Equality In Games
Zynga India spearheads tech meetup for women in games
The meetup followed International Women’s Day
Passionate Players
CS:GO reaches new player record as gamers aim to test Counter Strike 2
1.5 million gamers played concurrently on 25 March
Financials
NetDragon announces 2022 full-year financial results
Coming off the back of significant partnerships and deals in 2022
Data
Mobile game spend up almost 30% compared to pre-pandemic levels
Mobile bounces back after a dip in 2022
Huuuge Revenue
Huuuge saw a 57.3% year-on-year increase in net profit in 2022
The company hit a record high adjusted EBITDA of $82.3 million
Pokemon Power
Indian Pokémon Unite tournament boast biggest prize pool ever
The esports event takes place between April and June with $75,000 up for grabs
Granting Games
Spring has sprung. 86 new Chinese game licences flower this March
The 2023 tide continues to turn with as the volume of new Chinese licence approvals continues to grow
Game Accelerators
Wings Interactive announces Elevate mobile game accelerator in collaboration with Netflix
As with other projects from Wings, the aim will be to elevate indie game development
Newzoo Report
Paid competitive mobile gaming set to generate $16 billion in revenue by 2024
The gaming segment will account for an estimated 14% of the mobile market
Indian Market
Nazara CEO: Indian market playing catch up with game monetisation
Despite the growth of India’s mobile gaming sector, the country trails in effective monetisation
Stellar Star
HoYoverse’s Honkai: Star Rail to release in April 2023
Mobile and PC releases are coming ahead of PlayStation launch
A Game Of Risk
81% of biggest mobile games are vulnerable to basic cyberattacks
Promon finds that a mere 1 in 357 games could identify malware
Releases
PlaySide Studios announces Dumb Ways to Die 4
Pre-orders are now open with a teaser trailer and the announcement of a release date
Dubai Gameexpo Summit
Dubai GameExpo Summit powered by PG Connects announced for June 21-22
Two-day summit for the global games industry to take place alongside Dubai’s large scale GameExpo event attracting thousands of consumers
Racing Ahead
Ace Racer zooms to 1 million downloads as devs showcase new technology
The tech behind NetEase’s graphically enhanced new game was shown off at last week’s GDC
Appointments
Nexon appoints two new directors to its board
The announcement is in addition to the reappointment of three directors
Vote Now
Have you voted for the Pocket Gamer Mobile Games Awards 2023?
The Finalists are live until midnight April 6th
Online Scalability
The co-developer of PUBG Mobile unveils new optimisation model for virtual worlds
Exclusive interview with Tencent-owned Lightspeed Studios at GDC about new XPR tech for scaling up games
Views Week
Week in Views - What caught our editorial eyes in the last seven days
The Pocketgamer.biz team take their pick of this weeks big news and discuss artificial intelligence, gambling and… fishing?
Expert Insight
Spencer Arons of Rodeo Interactive: “I would be lying if I said we could have made our game without extensive knowledge of the platform and engine.”
Rodeo Interactive’s lead programmer talks tech to innovate on Roblox
Ad Tools
Mobvista launches new XMP platform for cross-channel monitoring
The dashboard lets developers track multiple analytics for their campaigns
Acquiblizz
Microsoft's Activision Blizzard deal inches closer as the UK's CMA flips its decision
The authority has backtracked on its previous findings and is satisfied that the deal WON'T affect console competitors. But cloud gaming remains an issue
Dev Tools
Unity take the next step, teasing AI development tools in new video
While developing with Unity has always been fast, it looks like it might be about to get a whole lot faster…
Acquiblizz
This week in the Microsoft x Activision Blizzard deal
All the latest in one place as the EU and CMA flip-flop opinions and a conclusion draws nearer
State Of Play
Xsolla's Chris Hewish on generative AI: “You have to ask: ‘is more actually better’?”
At Xsolla’s Live at GDC 2023 event the president of Xsolla spoke about cloud gaming, AI, web stores and more.
Clever Stuff
CleverTap's new platform aims to boost live ops revenue and more
Unveiled at GDC 2023, CleverTap Gaming is an all-in-one solution for customer engagement
Q&a
Looty on monetising Roblox: “You need to throw away a lot of what you already know about building games”
Chris Haga, president of Looty Games, the creators of fantasy roguelite game Ruin, explains what makes Roblox a winner
Take-two Hearts Gameclub
Take-Two Interactive has acquired mobile retro-games subs service GameClub
The publishing giant has acquired the subscription-based start-up for an as yet undisclosed sum and purpose
Tencent Financials
Tencent’s revenue increased 0.5% year-on-year in Q4 2022
The company saw a small rebound following a turbulent year
Female Gamers
74% of women play mobile games daily
While 67% see mobile gaming as a vital source of ‘me time’
Spreading Sustainability
10 Weeks To Save The Games Industry – Week 9
Matchmade CEO Jiri Kupiainen and GamesForest.Club's Maria Wagner's journey nears its end as the pair finally reach Finland and Sweden
Partnerships
Fishing Clash to cease distribution in China as NetEase closes subsidiary studios
The game's loss is being cited as a knock-on effect of NetEase and Blizzard parting ways
War In Ukraine
Supercell blocks its games in Russia and Belarus
After phasing out titles, the last of Supercell's games are now inactive with a block in place until at least June 1
German Gamers Graded
Mobile Gamers of Germany 2023: Who’s a Heavy Player?
adjoe and Appinio report reveals that over a quarter of German mobile gamers play for more than five hours per week