Week In Views
Balatro update delayed to avoid crunch and Monster Hunter Now celebrates second anniversary | Week in Views
The Pocketgamer.biz team pick their highlights from the headlines this week and deliver the stories behind the stories
Growth
Playstack revenue surged 52% in H1 2025 to £30.7m
Balatro and Abiotic Factor sold over 3m units in the first half of the year
Scholarships
BAFTA awards over £277,000 in grants through its 2025 scholarship programmes
The fund provides up to $2,700 each for training, equipment, and other essential costs
Legal Proceedings
Tencent rejects Sony’s claim that Light of Motiram is a “slavish clone” of Horizon
The Level Infinite parent company argues Sony is trying to monopolise common genre elements
Global Launch
Pocketpair confirms Palworld will exit Early Access in 2026 with a major 1.0 update
The studio says that the cleanup work in 2025 will prepare the game for a stronger full release
New Games
New release roundup: Uno Wonder, Bricks Breaker RPG, Angry Birds Rush and more
We highlight the latest new games that have broken cover and are all set to do big business
New Offerings
Fortnite creators will be able to sell in-game items directly from their islands starting in December
Epic says creators will earn 50% of V-Bucks value from sales, rising to 100% through late 2026
Challenges And Opportunities
Lilith Games talks China’s comeback, market maturity and one year of AFK Journey
"While the growth curve looks different, it reflects both the evolution of the industry and the direction we intentionally took with this sequel."
Market Growth
Cross-industry game engine adoption surges, led by Unreal, Unity and Godot
Unreal Engine remains dominant at 65% adoption, with Unity growing to 53% as the second most popular engine
Industry Insights
A developer’s guide to negotiating publishing deals
Wiggin’s Peter Lewin breaks down what indie developers need to know when negotiating publishing deals
New Partnerships
Flexion partners with Microfun to bring Seaside Escape to alternative app stores
Seaside Escape earned $6m net revenue in August
Acquisition
Verve acquires Captify in $30.3m deal to boost data and sales reach
Captify CEO Mike Welch to step down moving into a strategic advisor role
Milestone
Metacore celebrates fifth anniversary alongside Merge Mansion’s five-year milestone
The mobile title has surpassed 60m downloads and $700m in lifetime revenue
Podcast
From offerwall to always-on: Xsolla’s take on player engagement
The PocketGamer.biz podcast team and guests give you the state of play, here's where to get it and what's inside this week's episode
New Offerings
Epic Games launches new open content marketplace Fab
Developers can now access Fab’s full asset library and manage acquisitions
Industry Partnership
Pocket Gamer Connects partners with Global Game Jam
New collaboration aiming to elevate game creativity and games industry networking
Jobs Roundup
September 2025’s Movers and Shakers: Roblox's head of agency partnerships, Women in Games' new community manager, and Epic Games hires Supercell veteran
Our regular roundup of the mobile games industry's movers and shakers
Trade Body
Ukie launches Interactive Entertainment Scotland to champion games sector
IES will represent Scottish studios in government and policy discussions to support industry growth
Industry Outlook
UK games industry generates £12bn annually and supports 73,000 jobs
Despite this growth, TIGA warns the UK lags behind global rivals with its 20.4% tax relief
Monster Milestone
Monster Hunter Now celebrates second anniversary and $271m in lifetime player spending
Originally a Niantic game, Now was purchased by Scopely as part of a larger $3.5bn deal this May
Marvellous Mena
Saudi-based Superbullet Studios aims to let anyone build Roblox games in three days
Founder Erickson Talaue and team are developing EvoLife as both a flagship Roblox game and proof of its AI workflow
Investment News
Lingokids raises $120m to invest in AI and scale learning content
The funding will also help expand partnerships with popular IPs
Pgc Helsinki
"Why your players hate your web store"
Appcharge’s Miikka Luotio discusses the four steps of a web store and which element might be "broken"
Milestone
Fable Town celebrates first anniversary after generating $9m in lifetime revenue since launch
A special three-week Anniversary of Magic event runs until October 2nd to mark the milestone
Ai Ebook
Free AI Gamechangers ebook: Key insights into how developers are harnessing AI
Download our 37-page collection of interviews with CEOs and experts sharing real-world insights on making AI work for your business
Key Hires
DTC platform Stash names ex-Homa president Henry Lowenfels as CEO
Company makes wave of senior hires as it plots mission to democratise direct-to-consumer for all studios
New Offerings
Apple debuts dedicated Games app in iOS 26
Apple Games app now serves as a central hub for App Store titles
Tiktok Sale
US and China reach framework agreement for TikTok sale
Follows years of political disputes over ByteDance’s ownership
Delayed Release
LocalThunk delays Balatro update to avoid crunch and burnout
Despite the delay, Balatro 1.1 will still release as a free update across all platforms when it’s ready
Job News
Roblox recruits Unity's Mike Schoelch as new head of agency partnerships
Schoelch will lead agency development within the company's global brand partnerships and advertising division
Epic Grant
Cascadeur receives $50,000 Epic MegaGrant to develop dedicated Unreal Engine Live Link plugin
Over 40% of Cascadeur users rely on Unreal Engine
Esports Tournament
NetEase Games launches Dunk City Dynasty Global Championship 2025
Teams from seven regions will compete for the $100,000 prize pool in the offline finals
Soft Cancel
EA Sports FC Empires canned
EA Sports FC Tactical looks like it could be next up after it was last updated in April
New Offerings
Hungry Studio partners with Govee to bring Block Blast designs into home spaces
Since its 2021 launch, the game has reached over 200m players worldwide
Super Mario Movie
Nintendo releases first trailer for The Super Mario Galaxy Movie
The sequel is set to release on April 3rd, 2026
New Offerings
Roblox launches The Takeover event to showcase genre diversity
The Takeover spans 48 games, from survival titles like Pressure to roleplay experiences such as Dress to Impress
Investment News
Square Enix invests in Brazil's Nuuvem to build web-based games platform
The platform soft-launched with 12 titles and plans to onboard over 100 games by year’s end
Funding News
LocusX raises $2.1m for AI-powered bug-fixing tools
“We built LocusX to solve debugging, one of the most frustrating and expensive parts of the process,” said LocusX CEO Francois Pelland
Licencing
Steer Studios secures Warner Bros license for new Tom and Jerry mobile game
The title marks the soft launch of Steer's second release
Week In Views
Forty years of Mario's influence and Nintendo's latest patent stirs debate | Week in Views
The Pocketgamer.biz team pick their highlights from the headlines this week and deliver the stories behind the stories
Mobile Mavens
Four decades of Mario: What the industry has learned from one of gaming's most iconic characters
As Super Mario Bros celebrates its 40th anniversary our Mobile Mavens discuss the legacy of one of Nintendo's most loved characters
New Games
New Release roundup: Dragon Ball Gekishin Squadra, Match Dreams, Underwatermelon, and more
We highlight the latest new games that have broken cover over the past week
Investment News
Testronic secures “significant" investment to fuel global growth and expansion
The company will refocus on core regions in the US, Europe, and Southeast Asia
New Patent
Nintendo secures a new patent for summoning sub-characters in games
Games using similar mechanics could now face copyright risks
Company Growth
AppLovin shares jump as it joins S&P 500
Move comes as the ads firm's share price surges
Job News
Blizzard names Walter Kong as SVP and head of live games and mobile development
Before rejoining Blizzard, Kong led product management and operations at Epic Games
New Offerings
Blueberry Stage launches on Roblox to host virtual performances with K-pop group aespa
aespa to headline the debut show on September 12th with an exclusive live performance
Market Growth
Newzoo: Global games market set to hit $188.8bn in 2025
Mobile remains the largest segment at $103bn, holding a 55% market share
Building Up
One Way Eleven’s Miguel Campos on his experiences building a games studio from the group in Portugal
One Way Eleven’s first title, Hanno, is set to be released next year. One of the studio’s founders, Miguel Campos, tells us what it took to get here
Milestone
Kokku recognised as official Unreal Engine Service Partner
Kokku also gained access to exclusive Epic training programs and partner communities