Funding News
Kohort closes fundraising round to fuel expansion beyond mobile
The funds will go towards platform development
Market Report
US video game spending hit $59.3 billion in 2024 led by mobile
Mobile is the most popular platform with 72% of households
Power Of Playables
Playable ads: When ads feel like experiences, not interruptions
AdQuantum Design’s creative production director Ivan Razmakhov talks playable ads, seamless experiences and potential developments
Funding For Games
Yarnhub Animation raises $2.1m to develop WWII title
The team also plans to develop games using Unreal Engine 5, the same technology behind its animated films
Layoff News
Jagex cuts operational staff to refocus on player experience
Project Zanaris is also delayed
Switch 2 Release
Nintendo Switch 2 is out now: Hardware specs, launch games and an $8bn industry opportunity
The Nintendo Switch 2 is finally here, with a bigger screen, 120fps and GameChat functionality
Stay Denied
US court rejects Apple’s request to delay ruling that broke open the US App Store
“May next week’s WWDC be the Apple-led celebration of freedom that developers and users have long deserved," says Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney
Job Losses
Playtika layoffs hit Best Fiends and Redecor teams
Redundancies come shortly after Wooga saw around 50 job cuts
Winners Revealed
Apple reveals 2025 Design Awards winners
Balatro clinched best game in delight and fun category
Summer Special
Albums, battle passes and milestones: Mobile’s top event types to introduce this summer
AppMagic analyses the three summer event formats that can fit "seamlessly" into almost any live ops schedule
New Partnerships
RevenueCat and Paddle partner to simplify web and mobile subscriptions
“Our goal at RevenueCat has always been simple: help developers make more money," said RevenueCat CEO and co-founder Jacob Eiting
Partnerships
Moloco and Xiaomi partner to expand global ad reach with machine learning
Brazil, India, Turkey, and Germany account for most of Xiaomi’s ad exposure
Esports World Cup
Esports World Cup Foundation partners with Amazon in three-year deal
“With Amazon, we are bringing esports into everyday digital lives for millions of people around the world,” said Esports World Cup Foundation COO Mike McCabe.
Community And Culture
Socialpoint’s Akshay Bharadwaj talks striving to surprise and "the Barcelonian collaborative spirit"
The Barcelona-based studio has been maintaining Dragon City, Two Dots and Monster Legends for over a decade
Funding For Games
Games Scale Up Fund awards £850,000 to six Welsh studios
Applications for Games Development Fund between £10,000 and £50,000 is ongoing until June 5th, 2025
Store Strategy
Epic Games Store hits 40m mobile installs and eyes 70 by the end of the year
Epic web shops are planned to launch in July
Lauding Legislation
Tim Sweeney: "Revenue is shifting away from useless gatekeepers and middlemen"
Epic Games’ CEO celebrates legislative changes at State of Unreal 2025 and promises to "keep fighting" for developers worldwide
Studio Closure
Zynga to shut down Torchlight 3 developer Echtra Games after four years
Echtra Games is listed as having 61 employees on its LinkedIn page
Market Report
Asia and MENA games markets hit $86.6 billion in 2024
Revenue is projected to reach $96bn by 2029
Surfing In The Sun
Subway Surfers heads to Barcelona in new World Tour event
The in-game setting has been chosen for the 201st World Tour, and happens to coincide with PGC Barcelona 2025
Mergers & Acquisitions
Siyata eyes $126bn mobile games market with Core Gaming merger
Core Gaming CEO Aitan Zacharin will lead the combined entity
New Partnerships
Khalifa Fund and Inovartic partner to support UAE games startups
Support will come in form of incubation, specialised training, and financial aid
Industry Insights
Nine facts about the mediation space in 2025
GameBiz Consulting's Božo Janković takes a deep dive into the performance of platforms MAX and LevelPlay
Web3 Way
Quranium secures Animoca Brands investment with focus on web3, AI, metaverse and games
Mobile games will be a key focus, as will security against present and future threats
Ceo Change
Turborilla hires ex-Kwalee John Wright as new CEO effective immediately as Tobias Andersson steps back
Andersson has stepped back into a board member role as the company enters its "next chapter"
Growing Gamers
Roblox game Grow a Garden beats Steam with record concurrent user high of 8.9m
Steam’s highest concurrent users in a single game was achieved in 2018, with 3.2m players in PUBG: Battlegrounds
New Offerings
Roblox unveils License Manager to let developers build with popular IPs
The tool is set to launch in Q3
Done Deal
Pokémon Go under new ownership as Scopely closes $3.5bn Niantic deal
Pokémon Go, Monster Hunter Now, Pikmin Bloom and their associated development teams have officially been acquired
Pgc Helsinki
Pocket Gamer Connects Helsinki returns in 2025 with expanded format and future focused agenda
One Ticket. Three Events. Unlimited opportunities this October 7th and 8th, 2025
New Partnerships
Appcharge partners with AppsFlyer to bridge mobile and web store analytics
The strategic partnership aims to fill a gap in measuring lifetime value (LTV) and campaign optimisation
New Offerings
ZiMAD launches World Hunger Day campaign in Magic Jigsaw Puzzles and Domino
50% of proceeds will be donated to The Hunger Project
Events
Beyond the booth: The strategic power of events in mobile games industry communications
Raptor PR’s CEO and founder Rana Rahman discusses the link between events and communication strategy
Women In Games
Women in Games advocates for stronger inclusion following UK supreme court ruling
The organisation said it will work with policymakers, studios, schools, and grassroots groups to make the games industry truly inclusive
Hot Five
Hot Five: Apple’s dedicated gaming app, Minecraft's mobile revenue surge, and earnings per install rise industry-wide
Our quick-fix roundup of the hottest stories on PocketGamer.biz
New Offerings
Stash launches in-game popups on iOS to boost off-platform conversions
“With the changes to Apple’s US guidelines, developers finally have more freedom to guide players toward better value,” said Stash co-founder Justin Kan.
Podcast | Episode 55
Apple faces further EU fines and Trump tariffs chaos continues | 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 55...
Week In Views
FTC drops the Microsoft Activision antitrust case and mobile games have returned to growth | Week in Views
The Pocketgamer.biz team pick their highlights from the headlines this week and deliver the stories behind the stories
New Games
New release roundup: Puzzle & Dragons 0, Game of Thrones: Kingsroad, Summoners War: Rush, and more
We highlight the latest new games that have broken cover over the past week
Child Safety
Texas passes child safety law requiring age checks on app stores
Law is effective from January 1st
Market Report
Minecraft mobile revenue surges 44% following movie release
New Sensor Tower report also shows a 77% increase in DAUs for Fallout Shelter
Million Milestone
Dunk City Dynasty achieves 1m downloads in first five days
This latest NetEase Games title has topped App Store charts in the US, the Philippines, Thailand, Malaysia and more
Tariffs
Trump gets temporary reprieve on tariffs after appeals court ruling
“The ruling by the U.S. Court of International Trade is so wrong, and so political,” said President Trump
Dynamic Dtc
DTC evolving fast after App Store ruling as web shops alone leave "a lot of untapped potential on the table"
Appcharge chief marketing officer Gil Tov-Ly talks Epic vs Apple, the implications for DTC and the latest tools bolstering conversion
Under Pressure
Apple faces further DMA fines as EU gives compliance deadline
Tech giant has less than 30 days to comply with ruling against anti-steering measures
Tariffs
Trump tariffs overturned as court upholds limits on presidential trade powers
President’s administration has filed an appeal challenging the court’s authority as trade policy is thrown into uncertainty
Expansions
Side opens new studio in São Paulo
The firm plans to more than double its workforce within a year
Gamescom Latam
Gamescom LATAM organisers address developer concerns and mismanagement claims
They clarified that public funding from São Paulo was R$1m, not R$22m as previously stated
New Offerings
Apple to launch dedicated gaming app across all devices this year
App is set to be unveiled at WWDC on June 9th
Sneaky Deal
Apple acquires Sneaky Sasquatch developer RAC7
Move marks tech giant's first deal for a studio
Revenue Rise
Mobile games successfully "squeezing" more revenue per install as average player spending rises 11% despite 7% install fall
Appfigures’ latest report suggests average consumer spending per mobile game install rose to $1.52 in 2024