February 28, 2024

Layoffs Looming

Trouble at the top for Esports as ESL Faceit Group lays off 15% of staff

Up to 300 people are expected to lose their jobs across departments and seniority levels as "sustainable growth ambitions and profitability" take priority

February 28, 2024

Ai Practices

Apple faces pressure from major shareholders to disclose AI plans

Investors argue that Apple's silence on all things AI impairs their ability to assess future risks (and make money right now)

February 28, 2024

Share Surge

DeNA shares on fire, surging 24.4% after Pokémon Trading Card Game reveal

The Pokémon Trading Card Game Pocket mobile game is a collaboration between The Pokémon Company, Creatures Inc and DeNA

February 28, 2024

Big Brands

Mattel gets together with Zynga's Rollic for an all-new Barbie game on mobile

Some of gaming's biggest names get together for a "mass market" Barbie game on mobile that aims to deliver "best-in-class immersive entertainment"

February 28, 2024

Scuti Incentives

Scuti.ai raises $10 million to incentivise player spending

The AI platform looks to retain players through rewards on its platform

February 28, 2024

Going Green

How the video games industry can promote an eco-friendly future with PlanetPlay

CEO Rhea Loucas and head of business development Felix Bradshaw discuss how collaborating with PlanetPlay helps the planet and ups your game

February 28, 2024

Pokemon Presents

Pokémon’s power in full force as five big mobile games align for updates

Pokémon Go, Masters, Unite, Sleep, and Café Remix all have updates planned around Pokémon Day

February 27, 2024

Pokemon Presents Pocket

Pokémon Trading Card Game Pocket is the latest leap for mobile

The latest Pokémon Presents event has revealed a digital card game for collecting, trading and battling

February 27, 2024

Financial Outlook

Playtika no longer up for sale as it pays share dividends and promises more M&A

Their latest numbers have prompted the company to pause its "strategic alternatives process" which saw them halting work on new titles and changing direction

February 27, 2024

Job Cuts

Sony Interactive Entertainment axes 900 staff across the globe

Around 8% of PlayStation's global gaming staff will be laid off, with only the UK studios affected being named so far

February 27, 2024

Partnership Pathway

Smartphones to come pre-installed with Web3 game in Mystic Games and Jambo partnership

New JamboPhones launched in Africa, Southeast Asia and Latin America will come with Call of the VoYd pre-installed

February 27, 2024

Star Speaker

Wizards of the Coast’s Eugene Evans to discuss the key pillars of making a great game with IP at PGC San Francisco

Evans to host session 'Expanding Brands Through Mobile: 3 Things to Know When Licensing for a Mobile App'

February 27, 2024

Project Packup

Die Gute Fabrik enters indefinite hiatus as funding dries up

The studio’s co-founder Nils Deneken will return as CEO if funding is found to complete they're current project

February 27, 2024

Retention Tips

How to generate lasting player loyalty with omnichannel messaging

CRO of OneSignal, Josh Wetzel explains how using a multi channel approach to engaging with players can help with long term retention

February 27, 2024

Empowering Players

Ex-Homa staff raise $1.5 million for UGC platform PlayMakers

Start-up aims to make suite of tools available to any developers looking to add user-generated content to their games

February 26, 2024

Financials

Unity shares fall 18% despite revenue growth to $2.2 billion in 2023

Cost-cutting measures bite as company closes offices and pulls back from Professional Services and hardware units

February 26, 2024

Festival Fundraising

ESA’s winter charity speedrun raises $85,000 for Make-A-Wish International

Fundraising records were broken by a Sonic the Hedgehog game

February 26, 2024

Installs For India

Ludo King surpasses 1 billion Play Store downloads in meteoric moment for Indian games industry

Ludo King is the first Indian mobile game to surpass the one billion install figure

February 26, 2024

App Marketer Insights

What game marketers need to know about driving user acquisition through ad campaigns

Liftoff's VP of Global Sales, Joey Fulcher dives into the results of the company's recent survey to lift the lid on why App Marketers are optimistic about the future - despite market challenges

February 26, 2024

Educational Games

Rovio launches two new educational Angry Birds games to make learning fun

Angry Birds Eggstraction and Angry Birds and the Multiplication Portal keep the series moving forwards

February 26, 2024

Generative Gen 3

"The future of generative AI is hybrid": Qualcomm brings on-device AI to next-gen mobiles

Qualcomm unveiled its latest tech at Mobile World Congress Barcelona, including the FastConnect 7900 mobile connectivity system

February 26, 2024

Jobs Cuts

EA lays off staff after sunsetting MLB Tap Sports and F1 Mobile Racing

“Unfortunately, the game was unable to meet our performance expectations".

February 26, 2024

Hot Five

Hot Five: Microsoft goes multiplat, Fortnite to return to iOS, but global games industry layoffs continue

Our quick-fix roundup of the hottest stories on PocketGamer.biz

February 26, 2024

Star Speaker

Gamefam CEO Joe Ferencz to share UGC insights for Roblox and other platforms at PGC San Francisco

Ferencz will take part in the session 'The UGC Gaming Takeover: Where are Roblox & Other UGC Platforms Headed?'

February 23, 2024

Week That Was

Week in Views - Tough talk, turning tides and big players go mobile

The Pocketgamer.biz team pick their highlights from the headlines this week and deliver the stories behind the stories

February 23, 2024

Cross Platform Success

Nitro Games and Digital Extreme's Warframe on mobile is off to a flying start

Three days after release, the iOS only game is approaching 400,000 downloads with an Android version on the way

February 23, 2024

Eu Excluded

Why has Apple killed Web Apps in Europe?

Once the only way to get your app on iPhone, Steve Jobs "sweet solution" is now officially dead in Europe as Apple gets heavy handed following the EU's digital markets act

February 23, 2024

Podcast

The PGC Wrap-Up: Webshops, AI, avoiding Apple fees and more! | Podcast

The PocketGamer.biz podcast team and guests give you the state of play every week. Here's where to get it and and what's inside this week's episode…

February 23, 2024

Star Speaker

Netflix’s VP of external games Leanne Loombe to speak at PGC San Francisco

Loombe will be a speaker on our roundtable entitled ‘Walking the Walk: Are Games Companies Actually Championing Inclusivity and Diversity?’

February 23, 2024

Chinese Market

My.Games executive producer Boris Burangulov on bringing War Robots back to China

“The Chinese market is of great importance to us being one of the key regions in the gaming industry”

February 23, 2024

Five New Games

New release roundup: The best new mobile games from psychological sequencing to Invincible iteration

We highlight five new games that have broken cover and are all set to do big business

February 22, 2024

Extreme Expenses

Thunderful lost $59 million in 2023 after Q4 profit fell 574%

Thunderful is laying off approximately 100 staff in the first half of 2024 to cut costs

February 22, 2024

New Partnerships

Zeptolab's Om Nom Stories lands 25 season deal with Disney+

The collaboration with Disney+ offers Cut the Rope a new audience, bridging the gap between gaming and animated series

February 22, 2024

Community Growth

Networking event Unwind is now the South Australian Games Association

“Our goal is to grow the South Australian games industry into the largest state games sector in Australia," says SAGA

February 22, 2024

Multiplat Microsoft

What does Microsoft's "more games to more people on more devices" mean for mobile?

Microsoft walks a fine line with Xbox fans while naming the first four titles coming to other platforms

February 22, 2024

Job Cuts

Global layoffs at Gameloft as staff in Ukraine and Canada confirm redundancies

At least 38 staff are leaving their Lviv, Ukraine office with as yet unconfirmed numbers departing Toronto, Canada

February 22, 2024

Investment News

XPLA secures funding from Play Ventures to foster Web3 innovation

The strategic investment signifies a milestone for XPLA by positioning the platform towards accelerated growth within the gaming industry

February 21, 2024

Excited Spenders

More games are making millions as player spending on 2023 releases soars

The US, UK, China and other markets all show an increased willingness to spend on new releases

February 21, 2024

Player Power

TreesPlease Games plants one million trees via LongLeaf Valley

The game from ex-Square Enix staff has already led to one million trees being planted in Africa, Asia and Latin America

February 21, 2024

Hyper Debate

“Hypercasual is definitely not dead”

Embrace CEO Eric Futoran says genre is evolving, but game economist Phillip Black says it’s “like a wounded animal that no one will just go out and shoot”

February 21, 2024

Vc Trends Report

Venture capital funding set to remain subdued through 2024

Pitchbook expects the fundraising gap between content and development startups to become narrow due to alterations in the investor landscape.

February 21, 2024

Invincible Introduction

Ubisoft launches first Invincible mobile game for the 21-year-old franchise

Invincible: Guarding the Globe is set in the Invincible universe with a brand-new story

February 21, 2024

Claps

From losing a job to millions in revenue: How Clap Clap Games began

“Everything felt like it was going wrong" before “everything spiked”, says CEO

February 21, 2024

Live From Pgc San Francisco

Championing British gaming excellence at PGC San Francisco's UK Games Showcase!

Get up close with iconic titles, meet emerging talent, network with industry leaders, and experience the future of gaming at our British innovation showcase

February 21, 2024

Install Increase

ATT consent reached 39% in 2023 as racing games turbo-charged installs

Action games generated the most installs and longest play sessions of 2023, but racing games saw the largest year-on-year install increase

February 21, 2024

Data Deluge

Mobile game downloads fell for the first time ever in 2023 to 88 billion

The Indian market downloaded over double the mobile games of any other region, but didn’t make the top 20 for spending

February 20, 2024

Netflix Gaming

Netflix and Ubisoft announce Rainbow Six SMOL mobile game

The new, officially licenced mobile exclusive offers “a tiny, whimsical take on the Rainbow Six universe."

February 20, 2024

Profitable Performance

Com2Us escaped the red in 2023 despite "negative seasonality"

Com2Us’ financial report reveals a difficult Q4 but overall successful 2023

February 20, 2024

Job Cuts

Ex-GTA producer’s studio, Build A Rocket Boy reveals layoffs

The studio headed up by Leslie Benzies with high profile titles on the way is to remove “a number of roles globally"

February 20, 2024

A Good Year

AppLovin shines in Q4 2023 with stellar financial results

The company's total revenue in 2023 amounted to $3.3 billion, marking a 17% year-over-year increase