Ua Scaling
Game Analysis: Exploring Rivergame’s Last War UA scaling strategy
How does a game earn $2 million and 200k downloads a day? Game design consultant Jakub Remiar shares a deep dive into Last War's unique features and UA strategy
Investment Incoming
Ludus Ventures invests $1M in Turkish studio Midas Games
Midas Games plans to launch multiple titles later in 2024
Top Topics
10 games industry questions answered: From AI and alternative app stores to layoffs and more
Omdia's analysts and researchers spill the truth on the industry’s key topics, including post-pandemic recalibrations and the "ballooning development costs" of triple-A games
Job Cuts
Ubisoft's woes continue with 45 further redundancies across the globe
The giant continues to shed staff as it gets a grip on falling profits and a slowdown in mobile activity
Investment
A16Z's third Speedrun accelerator is now open with $75 million up for grabs
Only the finest and most ambitious creatives will make the grade, each receiving mentorship and up to $750,000 of investment
Investment News
Wargaming co-founder launches $50 million investment fund Mika Games to support mobile studios
The company aims to invest globally in mobile-first, free-to-play live service games with strong monetisation potential
Market Insights
MENA games market continues to outpace global growth as it surpasses $7 billion in revenue
Get to know the MENA market ahead of the Dubai GameExpo Summit 2024, coming up on May 1st and 2nd
Sell Outs
Thunderful is selling Headup for €500,000
The company is being bought by Headup's own CEO and founder
Gdc 2024
GDC 2024 draws nearly 30,000 attendees
More than 1,000 speakers led 730 sessions, workshops, and roundtable discussions this year
In-app Advertising
Gaming social platform Discord set to embrace ads for revenue boost
Discord is reportedly hiring more than a dozen workers to see this through
Hot Five
Hot Five: GDC highlights, Tencent’s strategy shift, and Candy Crush’s biggest tournament yet
Our quick-fix roundup of the hottest stories on PocketGamer.biz
Week That Was
Week in Views - Call of Duty Warzone: Mobile's debut, Palworld inspires Tencent, and GDC 2024 takeaways
The Pocketgamer.biz team pick their highlights from the headlines this week and deliver the stories behind the stories
Podcast | Episode 05
GDC Roundup, EU calls out Apple, and lots of MENA news | 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 05…
Five New Games
New release roundup: The best new mobile games from Call of Duty Warzone: Mobile to CookieRun: Witch’s Castle
We highlight five new games that have broken cover and are all set to do big business
Mobile Mavens
Mobile Mavens: What do developers think of the Epic Games Store coming to mobile?
Our Mobile Mavens share their thoughts on the Epic Games Store coming to mobile, covering just how impactful it may or may not be in the future
Studio Suite
Pocket Worlds’ Highrise surpasses 40 million users as it unveils new development tools
Highrise Studio allows creators to make content that can be integrated into Highrise 4.0
Something To Sell
Embracer to sell Borderlands dev Gearbox to Take-Two in $460m deal
Gearbox games from Borderlands and Homeworld to Duke Nukem will fall under Take-Two’s possession
Green Gaming
$700,000 raised in Playing for the Planet’s Green Game Jam 2023
40 games were entered into the Green Game Jam, focused on preserving three endangered species
Major Milestone
Hypercasual developer FreePlay surpasses 1.5 billion downloads
The company's portfolio has generated 500 million installs during the last year alone
Funding Influx
Illuvium raises $12M funding for blockchain games
An open-world creature collector, city builder and autobattler will feature interoperable blockchain elements
Optimising Opportunity
How Supply Path Optimisation can supercharge user acquisition for gaming advertisers
Ad expert Liftoff highlights how developers can get more from their ad campaigns through a smarter approach to the supply path.
Securing Spending
32% of spending players in mobile games plan to cut back in 2024
Mistplay’s 2024 Mobile Gaming Spender Report reveals that 54% of big spenders make three or more purchases per month
Podcast | Episode 04
Sensor Tower acquires data.ai, Epic Games Store is coming to mobile, and Apple's antitrust woes | 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 04…
Gdc Takeaways
5 takeaways from GDC 2024: The games industry reckons with key challenges, Godot competes with Unity, and AI was the big trend without the big announcements
Meanwhile, the big news came from outside the house, and UGC is no longer flying under the radar - but it's not sky high either
Revenue Rivals
Call of Duty Warzone: Mobile generates $1.4m in first four days
Shooter launched globally on March 21st after racking up more than 50 million pre-registrations
Milestone
Now.gg hits 100 million users, introduces platform fee of up to 5%
Developers can retain 95% to 100% of their game revenue for a platform fee of 5% for in-game transactions
Hot Five
Hot Five: Epic’s app store plans, Turkey’s tax exemptions, and Call of Duty Warzone: Mobile finally releases globally
Our quick-fix roundup of the hottest stories on PocketGamer.biz
Unity's Vision
Unity: “AI is not something that the industry or individuals can ignore. It's going to change game development”
Unity’s Marc Whitten and Felix The address AI’s onward march, where the next wave of monetisation lies and Unity’s past “tough year"
This Means War
America Vs Apple: What's at stake and what could happen next?
The US Department of Justice just dropped a legal bomb that strikes at the heart of Apple's core. Could Apple's walled garden finally come tumbling down?
Week That Was
Week in Views - Apple in the dock, big name buyouts and next gen investment
The Pocketgamer.biz team pick their highlights from the headlines this week and deliver the stories behind the stories
Strategic Acquisition
Bidstack's executive team acquires Bidstack Ltd in strategic move
Founder and CEO James Draper, along with the executive team have become the company's significant majority shareholders
In-game Ads
“There’s still misunderstanding and undervaluing of the power of mobile gaming as an advertising channel”
Odeeo CEO Amit Monheit on the advantages in-game audio ads
Job News
SYBO appoints Niklas Orup as new Subway Surfers game director
He's the new boss of the world's most downloaded endless runner having previously worked at King on titles such as Bubble Witch 3 Saga
Milestones
Eggy Party sails past 100 million user-generated maps
60% of players actively create content, fired up by the game's incentive program.
Five New Games
New release roundup: The best new mobile games from Netflix exclusives to fantasy worlds
We highlight five new games that have broken cover and are all set to do big business
Team Factor
"Brawl Stars was very much on the edge"
Supercell's Frank Keienburg on how the developer deals with edge cases on metrics, and why the team's belief in a game matter
Taking A Bite
US files lawsuit against Apple’s "monopoly power to extract more money from consumers"
It's happened… Apple is accused of driving up prices, withholding information from developers and more
Partnership Power
Marblex partners with CARV to deliver data-driven Web3 experiences
Netmarble’s blockchain company Marblex to be elevated by CARV’s data capabilities
Gdc Highlights
What Epic's State of Unreal 2024 really means for mobile
Epic's Unreal Engine 5.4 reveal showed only the tip of the iceberg of what Epic are intending to pull off in the coming year
Revenue Share
How revenue sharing can support free-to-play
Zebedee’s CSO Ben Cousens discusses how times are changing and how strategies towards monetisation and UA need to change
Game Launch
Call of Duty: Warzone Mobile is out today. Here's everything you need to know
It's the biggest mobile launch of the year with over 50 million sign-ups hitting the battlefield from March 21
Expanding Experiences
Roblox’s $35M Creator Fund to support short-form video content
Roblox’s fund expands on the types of content supported by its programme, now going beyond gaming
Epic Games Store Mobile
Epic Games Store coming to mobile by end of 2024
New marketplace offers 88/12 revenue share, coming to iOS and Android
Investing In Innovation
The Inevitable Games Fund will invest up to $100 million in innovative Web3 games
King River Capital, Immutable, and Polygon Labs join forces to invest in the Web3 sector
Flexion Finances
Flexion revenue climbs 64% as Epic gives the gaming market a "boost of confidence"
Distributing Monopoly GO! to alternative app stores was one among many 2023 wins at Flexion
Investment News
Square Enix steps further into Web3 and NFT gaming with HyperPlay investment
While the exact amount of the investment amount remains undisclosed, HyperPlay will use the funds to expand and scale its game store
Monster Metrics
Monster Hunter Now is actually BEATING Pokémon Go in these key metrics…
Monster Hunter Now may have a smaller audience, but that audience is more monetised
Strategic Partnerships
GameAnalytics and Xsolla team up to simplify direct-to-consumer game sales
GameAnalytics founder Morten E. Wulff says, "Together, we're setting a new standard for game monetization."
Jobs News
Mobile Movers: All the latest appointments and job moves from around the industry
Moving and shaking - there's new roles at Supercell, Keywords Studios, Microsoft, Griffin Gaming Partners, AdInMo and The Games Fund
This Means War
Call of Duty Warzone: Mobile ready for battle with 50 million players on board
The latest CoD is ready to drop on March 21 with a record-breaking number of pre-registrations set to make it the biggest mobile launch of the year