Indie Devs
Sony’s Shuhei Yoshida and Greg Rice dish the do’s and don'ts of indie games development
Day two of Develop: Brighton opened with plenty of advice for indie games developers
Exclusive Deal
Voodoo signs partnership with Audiomob for audio ads
Deal sees ads provider become exclusive audio partner for the top 50% of the publisher's inventory
Unreal Engine Tips
How Ripstone developed The Queen’s Gambit for Netflix: “Unreal can do mobile and it can do it well”
Ripstone’s head of partnerships Jamie Brayshaw takes us through the journey of working with a big IP and developing a mobile game in Unreal Engine
Strategic Sustainability
Netmarble’s mobile gamers have higher satisfaction than its PC cohort
Sustainability Report 2024 finds that a 24/7 inquiry service builds trust and boosts sales
Investment News
Voice-enabled Volley secures $55 million in Series C funding round
The startup develops AI-powered games that can be played via voice commands
Keeping Cookin'
Celebrating 10 years of Cooking Fever and Nordcurrent’s sustained success
Viktorija Trofimova, the company’s co-founder and CEO talks expansion, attracting talent and how to keep a game hot for a decade
Survival Guide
The games industry survival guide for 2024: Cockroaches, pivoting and bracing for the new normal
Industry experts discuss the state of the industry, how to stay in business during tough times, and the importance of compassion to those impacted by layoffs
Design Tips
How to make your games perfect for mobile
At Develop: Brighton, V Buckenham, creator of mobile games creation platform Downpour, gave some great tips on designing for "the lump in your pocket"
Podcast
Inside Nostra's game-changing lock screen experiences | Podcast
The PocketGamer.biz podcast team and guests give you the state of play every week. Here's where to get it and what's inside this week's episode…
Toon Turnaround
Toon Blast surpasses $2.5 billion with newfound revenue resurgence
Peak Games’ 2017 title is on the rise again with its best H1 since 2021
Industry Insights
How mixing science with creativity can boost your game's success
At Develop: Brighton The Experimentation Group’s Tom Storr explained King's approach to iteration and experimentation and how you can do the same
Finding Funds
Felicity Games raises $700K in pre-seed to test 10 games within a year
Funds were raised from DeVC, Visceral Capital, and many angel investors
Disney Deal
Disney and GungHo strike deal to launch Disney Pixel RPG later this year
The gacha RPG will feature characters from across Disney’s properties, from Stitch to Mickey Mouse
Going Cross Platform
For Super Evil Megacorp cross-platform development is all about "the three C’s: controls, camera and character"
Director of product management Tom Westall gave his cross platform dev tips during day one one Develop: Brighton
Facing Setbacks
Kristian Segerstrale: The best companies “are punched in the face a few times”
The Super Evil Megacorp CEO discusses industry challenges and how Vainglory's fall led to a company reset and new strategy
Studio Journey
How Rockbite Games escaped closure, found a publisher, and earned a hit
Rockbite Games founders Avetis Zakharyan and Gevorg Kopalyan share the candid story of how they went from near closure to finding success in the mobile market
Super Sakurai
Super Smash Bros creator Masahiro Sakurai warns that game updates "won’t mean anything" without a strong base game
Sakurai believes that game development shouldn't be about fixing everything with live ops later
Pgc Helsinki
Win an indie ticket or expo table at PG Connects Helsinki
Enter our exclusive competition for indie developers and win either a free ticket or a whole expo table plus two tickets for this October's event!
Slumbering Success
Pokémon Sleep earns $100 million with its eyes shut
Living the dream: With one week to go before its first anniversary, Pokémon Sleep has caught plenty of Zs but even more cash
Epic's Warzone
It's game (back) on: Apple have waived through Epic’s App Store submission. For now…
Though after an apparent change of heart over the weekend Apple MAY still require changes to Epic's App Store if it's ever to see the light on iOS
Android To Apple
Pre-registrations for SuperGaming’s eagerly awaited Indus on iOS are now open
The India-focused battle royale has already attracted 11 million pre-registrations on Android
Triumphant Trio
Zenless Zone Zero has earned almost $25 million in five days
AppMagic estimates suggest HoYoverse’s latest launch is behind those of its Genshin and Honkai stablemates, despite 50m+ downloads in 72 hours
Hot Five
Hot Five: Apple fees hit ads, Squad Busters’ first month reviewed, and Pokémon Go's eight years on top
Our quick-fix roundup of the hottest stories on PocketGamer.biz
High Hopes
Supercell's great expectations
For almost any other studio, Squad Busters would be a major hit. But is it enough for Supercell?
Interview
Babil Games' CEO Ghina Al-Sharif on leading the company, effective localisation and MENA challenges
We talk emerging technologies, such as AI, and the importance of maintaining a company culture
Podcast | Episode 19
Is Squad Busters a success or failure? | 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 and what's inside this week's episode 19...
It's Not Over Yet
Apple's store police just rejected Epic's App Store submission
Epic's App Store is trapped in limbo as Apple's notorious policy police reject Epic's first stab at getting onto the newly 'open' post-DMA iOS
Week That Was
Week in Views - Apple's gateway price cuts, World of Tanks crazy crossovers, and who needs game devs anyway?
The Pocketgamer.biz team pick their highlights from the headlines this week and deliver the stories behind the stories
Developer Stories
“Apple blocked my account and deleted all my other apps. Instantly $3,000 in daily revenue was gone”
Apple is 'famous' for the opaque nature of its App Store regulations. Here developer Viktor Seraleev shares his nightmare app launch story and why he intends to sue Apple
Gotta Play Them All
I played Pokémon Go for 365 days… And it's still only Niantic’s second-best game…
PG.biz's Aaron Astle goes in deep on Pokémon Go to mark its eighth birthday, and finds a game that still has plenty of room for improvement
Critical Hit
Pokémon Go catches nearly $8 billion in eight years
Niantic's blockbuster fell to its lowest revenue since 2017 - but its web shop could be hiding true player spend
Branching Out
Kwalee takes 3.58% minority stake in Devolver Digital via new equity placing
Devolver have successfully raised around £7.9 million in new investment through recent moves to boost their balance sheet
Resilient Growth
Dungeon and Fighter: Origin hits $500 million revenue in its first month
The game made $233.5 million from the Apple App Store alone in June
State Of Play
Two-thirds of Chinese mobile gamers play mini games
650 million players drive mini games growth while gamers aged 18-22 now play more hours per week than those aged 23 and up
Five New Games
New release roundup: The best new mobile games from Zenless Zone Zero to Zen Koi Pro+
We highlight five new games that have broken cover and are all set to do big business
Nintendo Know-how
Nintendo doesn’t trust AI to make its games
President Shuntaro Furukawa would rather keep making games the Nintendo way rather than hand the reins to AI
He Shoots. He Scores
Sporty Group acquires Jon Hare's Sociable Soccer
Hare's spin on the legendary Sensible Soccer is now part of the SportyBet company's portfolio of betting and gaming brands
Top Charts
June 2024 mobile game charts: Dungeon & Fighter Mobile hits No. 1, and Supercell rises to No. 2
Our monthly look at the global mobile game rankings across the App Store and Google Play
Jobs In Games
Roblox appoints former Xbox and Netflix man Jerret West as CMO
Roblox will leverage West's experience with global teams to drive international growth
Mobile Moments
"Without a shadow of a doubt the launch of both app stores that year was game-changing"
AdInMo's COO Joanne Lacey reflects on the early days of mobile and delivers her pick of its biggest breakthroughs
Back To Blast
Netflix's latest big name release is Microsoft's Minesweeper from 1990
The classic puzzle game first made its first appearance on desktops around the world as part of Windows 3.11's Windows Entertainment Pack
Web3 Watch
Animoca Brands eyes IPO in Hong Kong or Dubai for 2025
Co-founder Yat Siu says the company is confident about going public, likely in the second half of 2025
Shortlist Showcase
Meet the Finalists: Pocket Gamer Mobile Games Awards 2024 in association with Gamelight
Every category, every shortlisted nomination showcased for the most important vote you'll cast this week
Battle Over Bots
Skillz files lawsuit against rivals Voodoo over alleged "straight-out lies", bots, and rigged tournaments
Their latest suit claims Voodoo has falsely advertised Blitz - Win Cash and harmed Skillz market share
Game Over?
Finnish startup Bitmagic raises $4 million for AI platform able to create games from text prompts
With Supercell as an investor the company has launched its platform on Steam Playtest as it seeks to "make game creation accessible to everyone"
Billions Buyout
Keywords Studios sells for £2.1 billion in £24.50-per-share EQT buyout
The deal concludes the company's recent $145.8 million M&A strategy and it will now be acquired itself
Revenue Boost
What are 'skip-its' and how will they affect ad monetisation in 2024?
Božo Janković discusses the rise of a new monetisation option and how it's offering a new avenue for revenue generation in mobile gaming
Interview
"As an industry, we need a success story - a studio that achieves a major hit that captures widespread attention"
FitNot Games founder Abdallah Elshabrawy on the African games market and the region's latent potential
Zenless Zenith
Zenless Zone Zero to launch globally with DOUBLE Honkai: Star Rail’s pre-registrations
The game finally lands across the world today and tomorrow and we've got the latest launch figures and exactly WHEN it'll hit your timezone
Expansion On Hold
Rumour: Apple is delaying its plans for an East Coast campus by four years
The tech giant has taken on over 600 workers in Raleigh, North Carolina to date