Investment News
Playable Factory gets strategic investment from Ludus Ventures
“It will enable us to become a stronger player globally and accelerate our expansion into new markets." said Playable Factory CEO Berat Oğuz
Match-3 Maps
Zynga’s Game of Thrones: Legends is taking a Google Maps-powered twist with Dragon Egg Hunt event
The match-3 title has surpassed $14 million in gross player spending
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
Tools To Thrive
Top tools to help you thrive in 2025 at Pocket Gamer Connects San Francisco 2025
Celebrating its 50th edition, the global conference brings together the industry's brightest minds, making the North American edition an event you can't afford to miss
Sponsored
Mastering non-conventional UA channels - emergence, growth and trends for 2025
How important are non-conventional user acquisition channels in the game marketing mix today?
Consumer Law
UK government rejects calls to strengthen consumer protections against live service shutdowns
But the government states it "will monitor this issue”
Monetisation Strategy
Inside the experiment: How TXG and Shallot Games are increasing revenue in casual games
Tom Storr shares how consultancy group The Experimentation Group and Shallot Games are boosting monetisation in Coffee Golf
Regulations
Apple shares compliance steps following Vietnam's new app store game licensing rules
The iPhone maker advises developers to first obtain a license from Vietnamese authorities
Acqusitions
Voldex acquires hit Roblox game Brookhaven
Voldex said the acquisition will expand its user base to more than 145 million monthly active users
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
Layoffs Imminent
Sumo Group announces strategic shift, layoffs expected to follow
“Unavoidably this transition will have an impact on our studios and people,'' said CEO Carl Cavers
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
Layoffs
AppsFlyer lays off 100 employees in restructuring move
AppsFlyer cites realigning investments, accelerating value creation and focusing on high-impact initiatives as part of its reasons for the cuts
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
Gaming Trends
ESA issues warning as games industry could suffer amid Trump tariffs
Video game consoles prices could increase by 40% and smartphones by 26%
Funding For Games
Laton Ventures lands $50 million fund to support pre-seed and seed gaming startups
The firm has previously made five early-stage investments across Türkiye, the US, and Europe
Deal Tracker
Show Me the Money: Nodwin’s $55M Esports Deal, Grand Games’ $30M funding, and Pokémon’s $400M smash | January
Our deal tracker highlights the key acquisitions, investments, and partnerships from the last month
Mabinogi Mobile
Nexon’s Mabinogi Mobile set to release in March 2025
Nexon’s mobile adaptation of the 2004 MMORPG is finally on its way more than four years on from reveal
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
Funding For Games
Goat Gaming lands $4 million to expand AI-powered web3 games on Telegram
The brand said its AlphaAI suite will power the launch of hundreds of games in 2025
Gaming Trends
Games industry hiring "velocity trending upward" after 6,000 layoffs in early 2024
Games job expert Amir Satvat analyses the hiring rate in comparison to layoffs
Pgc San Francisco
Pocket Gamer Connects San Francisco 2025 - the ultimate indie developer experience awaits
Pocket Gamer Connects San Francisco 2025 is a must attend for indie developers, and here's why...
Hot Five
Hot Five: AI content regulations, Love and Deepspace’s first anniversary, and Monster Hunter series hits 100m unit sales
Our quick-fix roundup of the hottest stories on PocketGamer.biz
Demographic Insights
The reward(ed) generation: What Gen Z’s financial trends mean for your mobile games studio
ZBD’s Ben Cousens shares insight on how to capture the Gen Z audience
Five Days Of Networking
Five days of unmatched networking at Pocket Gamer Connects San Francisco 2025
Celebrate Pocket Gamer Connects' 50th global conference with full-week MeetToMatch access, connecting 2,000+ industry professionals across San Francisco
Milestone
Neopets surpasses 400,000 MAUs under new management
The brand's revival includes mobile games: Tales of Dacardia and Faerie Fragments
Games History
Video Game History Foundation launches digital library in early access
“For free. For everyone. Wherever you are."
New Offerings
Netflix Games shelves titles and doubles down on IP originals
The streaming giant said the cancellations are part of adjusting its portfolio
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
Ai Safety
U.S. Copyright Office rules AI-generated content without human input won’t be protected
An “extremely low” level of creativity is still needed
Investment News
Social games platform Little Umbrella lands $2 million in funding
It will use the funds to scale its live ops operations and fast-track the launch of new titles
New Offerings
Paper Boat Apps teams up with Mattel to bring Barbie to Kiddopia
The collaboration will bring Barbie-themed games to the children's learning platform later this year
Acqusitions
Nodwin Gaming acquires esports broadcaster StarLadder for $5.5 million
StarLadder will become a fully-owned subsidiary of Nodwin and will retain its brand
Five New Games
New release roundup: Bump! Superbrawl, LOK Digital, DinoBlits and more
We highlight the latest new games that have broken cover and are all set to do big business
Very Big Indie Pitch
Club Soko's unique style wins the Very Big Indie Pitch at Pocket Gamer Connects London
Find out who took the top three spot at PGC London's big indie pitching content
Financial Outlook
Xbox hardware sales plummet but Game Pass hits new records
Gaming revenue declined 7%, driven by a 29% drop in Xbox hardware sales
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
Storytelling Reinvented
Reimagining Storytelling: How AI Makes Narratives More Personal and Interactive
Storytelling has always been about connection - through books, films, or games - Talefy explains how AI can help make those connections deeper, stronger and more personal
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
Funding News
Dream Games seeks $2.5 billion in debt and equity to double valuation
The Turkish firm plans to use the funding to buy out existing investors and set a valuation of nearly $5bn
Live Ops
Rockbite Games: What we didn’t know about live ops until we released a hit
Founders, Avetis Zakharyan and Gevorg Kopalyan share on their live ops journey
Milestone
Curve Games' Human: Fall Flat has sold 55 million units
The game's Vilnius-based developer is currently developing Human Fall Flat 2
Delivering Deals
Report: Games industry M&As valued at $10.5 billion in 2024 with 21% volume increase
Drake Star’s Global Gaming Report 2024 highlighted the biggest investors of the year from venture capitalists to games studios
New Ip Holder
Kukouri Mobile Entertainment shuts down game operations and sells IPs to Social First
“Unfortunately Pixel Worlds has not been a commercially viable product for some time,” said Kukouri CEO Petri Piipari
Jobs In Games
Fingersoft welcomes back Teemu Närhi as CEO
Teemu previously served as the company's CEO from 2014 to 2019
Lucrative Love
Love and Deepspace celebrates first anniversary and over $400m after record-breaking month
The dating simulator made $61 million in December 2024
Midnights On Mobile
40% more North Americans are playing mobile games at 1AM than global average
Mobile players are most active at 8PM worldwide, but some regions stay up later than others
Esports Integrity
Olympic Esports Games 2025 in Saudi Arabia delayed
Concerns have been raised about the tight 2025 timeline, uncertainties over game titles, venues, dates, and qualification methods
Growth Drivers
VR games surge on Android as Meta Quest 3 drives 60% growth
Android VR game downloads saw a 198% increase in December 2024 compared to April 2023
New Partnerships
Aptoide partners with My.Games to expand game distribution beyond major app stores
Rush Royale and the survival shooter Left to Survive will be added to the store