Investment News
True Gamers secures $5m to expand across MENA and Europe
The company previously landed $45m investment to build esports facilities in the KSA
Downloading Dragons
Puzzle & Dragons 0 opens pre-registrations ahead of late May release
The latest entry will join a series with over 90 million downloads to date
Monster Milestone
Monster Strike surpasses $11bn in 11 years with Japanese dominance
Mixi’s flagship has surpassed $1bn in annual player spending five times, twice since Western shutdown
Job News
NetEase global investments head Simon Zhu steps down after 12 years
VP of corporate development Ken Li will take over the role
Hot Five
Hot Five: Apple’s DMA violation, Discord CEO steps down, and Blue Ocean Games launches $30m fund
Our quick-fix roundup of the hottest stories on PocketGamer.biz
Week In Views
What an IPO means for Discord, Pocketpair challenges Nintendo, and Switch 2 fuels apps surge | Week in Views
The Pocketgamer.biz team pick their highlights from the headlines this week and deliver the stories behind the stories
Dma Hits
The EU deals out tepid DMA fine to Apple, but potentially meaningful change
The European Commission is trying to enforce its rules. What happens next?
Layoff News
Meta cuts jobs at Reality Labs
Number of employees affected was not revealed but Meta confirmed the cuts impacted teams working on Quest products
New Games
New release roundup: Once Human, Delta Force Mobile, Pandoland, and more
We highlight the latest new games that have broken cover over the past week
Resilient Growth
Flexion grows revenue 9% in 2024 by doubling down on alternative app stores
“We’ve already moved beyond the era when Google and Apple controlled everything,” said Flexion CEO Jens Lauritzson
New Office
Steer Studios moves into new Riyadh office to support growth
The company said its new HQ provides more space to constantly expand its team
Investment News
Hogo Games secures funding at $5m valuation
Funds will go towards developing new projects and growing existing titles on mobile and PC
Jobs Roundup
April 2025's Movers and Shakers: New CEOs at Discord and GoodVille, Supercell appoints head of marketing, and more
Our regular roundup of the mobile games industry's movers and shakers
Making A Difference
American Cancer Society partners with Besitos to fight cancer through mobile games
Rewards earned for mobile games via KashKick will trigger matching donations to the ACS
New Partnerships
Reach Labs and B3 partner to power user discovery in open games ecosystem
The platform will harness social network effects and financial incentives
Regulations
Dutch ad regulator rules against My.Games over in-game purchase disclosures
The complaint raised several issues with the game, including failure to display loot box probabilities
Might And Magic
Ubisoft’s Might and Magic Fates TCG to be powered by web3 platform Immutable
Trading cards will only be available in "eligible regions", indicating NFT elements
Industry Outlook
Games M&A soars in Q1 2025 with $4.4bn in deals
Led by Scopely’s $3.5bn acquisition of Niantic's games division
Jobs News
Discord CEO steps down
Former King president Humam Sakhnini takes top job
Funding For Games
Blue Ocean Games launches $30m fund to support indie game developers
Funding is tied to objective market-validation milestones
Apple Fined
EU slaps Apple with $570m fine for violating Digital Markets Act
Tech giant must comply with the Commission's decisions within 60 days or face periodic penalty payments
Robux Regions
Roblox introduces regional pricing
The pricing model will be updated periodically to keep in line with market conditions
Layoff News
Report: Intel to cut 20% of its workforce in new restructuring move
The layoffs are a key part of Tan’s efforts to turn around Intel after years of setbacks and leadership missteps
Mobile Majority
80% of Roblox users are on mobile, contributing 46% of Robux revenue
iOS owners contributed 30% of 2024’s Robux revenue, compared to 16% generated via Google Play
Earth Day
Subway Surfers, Monument Valley 3, Pikmin Bloom: The mobile games raising awareness on Earth Day 2025
Various mobile developers have launched new content to celebrate and raise awareness for Earth Day
Earth Day
“The time for taking drastic action is now and it starts with all of us"
TreesPlease Founder and CEO Laura Carter discusses how games can be used for good in the battle against climate change
Guilty Google
Google found guilty of illegal ad tech monopolies
But the tech giant plans to appeal
Expansion Excitement
Netflix Games "in this to win"
But Netflix co-CEO, president and director Gregory Peters admits "frankly, we can improve everything that we're doing"
Accelerator Program
Saudi Arabia’s NEOM to welcome 10 studios for largest Level Up accelerator cohort
Initiative designed for teams that have developed a minimum viable product or a vertical slice of their game
Hot Five
Hot Five: Clash of Clans: The Epic Raid board game, Machine Zone CEO out, and Final Fantasy XIV Mobile’s tentative launch date
Our quick-fix roundup of the hottest stories on PocketGamer.biz
Valorant Mobile
Riot Games’ Valorant Mobile set for China launch
Hero shooter coming to global markets at a later date
Podcast | Episode 50
AppLovin and Machine Zone layoffs, celebrity marketing, and Supercell's aversion to soft launch | Week in Mobile Games podcast
The PocketGamer.biz podcast team give you the state of play every week. Here's where to get it and what's inside this week's episode 50...
Transmedia
A Minecraft Movie and The Last of Us fly the transmedia flag
A look at the successes and failures of games spinning off into other entertainment mediums
Game Jam
Savvy Games Group and HP launch climate-themed Game Jam in Saudi Arabia
The top three teams will then join the Savvy Incubator program in September
Minecraft Movie
A Minecraft movie soars past $550m at the box office
The film initially made $301m globally in its first two days
New Games
New release roundup: Disney Solitaire, Jetpack Joyride Racing, TMNT: Shredder’s Revenge and more
We highlight the latest new games that have broken cover over the past week
Board Game Branding
Clash of Clans: The Epic Raid board game to launch on Kickstarter with early pledge reward
Supercell has teamed up with Maestro Media to launch the project on Kickstarter this month
Job Losses
Machine Zone CEO out as AppLovin lays off 97 staff
Machine Zone CEO and design director out as ad tech firm makes another round of job cuts
Web3 & Ai
Saga’s Rebecca Liao on how AI agents can power mobile game retention
Saga’s CEO on bringing a Hero Hunters game character to life
Mo.co Milestone
Supercell’s Mo.co surpasses $2.5m in under a month
The Clash of Clans maker’s latest title launched globally on March 18th
Indian Iphones
Apple airlifted $2bn worth of iPhones from India in March to evade Trump tariffs
The imports marked a substantial increase from January and February
Layoff News
Niantic Spatial lays off 68 staff after $3.5bn games business sale to Scopely
The redundancies affect the newly formed company which launched with $250m in funding
Marketing Strategies
Dream Games taps LeBron James, Jimmy Fallon, Shakira and more for Royal Kingdom marketing campaigns
Actors from The Big Bang Theory also brought in for celebrating marketing campaigns
Market Report
Gaming VC deals rose 35% in Q1 2025 to $373m
But deal value was down 41% year-over-year
Done Deal
SayGames’ idle arcade games portfolio surpasses $300m
SayGames is publishing LoadComplete’s Chainsaw Juice King as the "first of many partnerships" with South Korean studios
Minecraft Mobile
Minecraft’s daily mobile revenue hits three-year high at $969,000 after A Minecraft Movie’s release
The mobile version has its most lucrative day since Christmas 2021 on April 12th, 2025
Developers Contest
Neowiz launches indie game dev program with a $115,000 prize pool
The contest is open to all indie game developers, teams, and entrepreneurs at no cost
Expansions
KGeN opens MENA HQ in Bahrain
The new office will serve as a bridge between gaming, communities and global publishers
New Partnerships
Rise Worldwide and Blast partner to boost India’s esports scene
The joint venture will lead to new games, teams, sponsors, and investments
Game Analysis
Trillions upon trillions of variations: A data-driven look at a midcore battler’s meta
Azur Games’ Vasily Novoselov takes a deep dive into the data that drives the midcore battler Kingdom Clash