Bot Backlash
Call of Duty Warzone: Mobile has a bot problem and players aren't happy
Call of Duty Warzone: Mobile’s Season 3 update has brought in a cascade of complaints
Speculative Shutdown
XCOM Legends shutdown rumoured as the game only made $2,637 last month
Iridium Starfish’s mobile spinoff of Mythos Games’ XCOM franchise took a different direction to the mainline that may have led to its downfall
Rainbow Recalibration
Rainbow Six Mobile’s rollout on pause as "areas for improvement" are addressed
The soft launch’s expansion has been delayed so the team can address feedback and improve the experience
Gameexpo Summit
Publishers and gamemakers unite at Dubai GameExpo Summit
MENA's leading games event returns on May 1st and 2nd
Industry Journey
“I’m proud of what we do at King but I’m even prouder of how we do things”
King’s VP of product for Candy Crush Soda Paula Ingvar shares on turning a hobby into a profession
Hot Five
Hot Five: New VC funds for mobile, Turkish investments, and Baby Shark makes a splash in Brawl Stars
Our quick-fix roundup of the hottest stories on PocketGamer.biz
Podcast | Episode 06
Breaking down the Sensor Tower interview and 10 years of Monument Valley | Week in Mobile Games podcast
The PocketGamer.biz team give you the state of play every week. Here's where to get it and and what's inside this week's episode 06…
Gdc Interview
New Japanese studio Kreation Verse talks TAT Rumble, its first mobile game
Interview: Industry veterans Tomoya Ogawa, Karin and Tatsuro Iwamoto reveal NFT card battler
Week That Was
Week in Views - a mobile classic turns 10, investment bounces back and your gaming questions get answered
The Pocketgamer.biz team pick their highlights from the headlines this week and deliver the stories behind the stories
Solo Dev
Behind the scenes: Bringing Squarelets to life as a first time solo developer
Beatka Wojciak shares the origin story and development process of the cosy puzzle game
Age Of Mobile
How TiMi Studio and World's Edge are adapting Age of Empires for mobile
PocketGamer.biz speaks to TiMi Studio Group GM Brayden Fan and producer Robin Xin about the strategy game's development
Five New Games
New release roundup: The best new mobile games from bad botanists to bunny befrienders
We highlight five new games that have broken cover and are all set to do big business
Investment News
Lil Snack lands $3 million in funding for AI gaming tools
The tiny team of four prioritize partnerships over marketing, working with Amazon Prime and BuzzFeed for distribution
Merge And Match
Merge-2 revenue surges 10% while Match-3 flops by 11%
AppMagic data shows the highs and lows of February 2024, from revenue to downloads to winning events
Closure Announcement
French games developer Mi-Clos shuts down operations
"After 14 years, this is the end of the adventure Mi-Clos Studio"
Mergers & Acquisitions
Voldex scores big with acquisition of Ultimate Football on Roblox
The core Ultimate Football team are now part of Voldex.
Baby Brawlers
Brawl Stars collabs with YouTube’s most-viewed video Baby Shark
The partnership brings in-game cosmetics, a new challenge, and a Baby Shark pin to unlock
Mergers & Acquisitions
VoxPop Games acquires Celebrity Games to boost talent integration for indie devs
The initiative also welcomes students from diverse fields who aspire to enter the gaming industry
Mena Games Awards
Don't miss the MENA Games Industry Awards 2024 - Nominations close THIS WEEKEND
Be part of the premier awards celebrating the developers, publishers, investors, and legends who are driving MENA's growing games market
The Big Interview
Why Sensor Tower acquired data.ai
Sensor Tower chief operating officer discusses motivations for the deal and what it means for mobile market intelligence
Unexplained Outage
It wasn't just you - Apple's App Store and more went down this morning
Even Apple aren't immune to the latest wave of mysterious service outages
State Of Play
72% of women play video games with half of female players being payers
Meanwhile diversity in games is a key issue with 65% of men and 62% of women affirming the point
Super Stars
Brawl Stars crushed Clash of Clans’ monthly revenue in March
Meet the new champion. New features, events, content, and lead producer all help push Brawl Stars to greater heights
Celebrations
Monument Valley is 10 years old today, kickstarting a year of celebrations
The two Monument Valley have games proved pivotal in pushing mobile gaming platforms with a new launch on Netflix Games up next
Game Over
Epic removes Aquiris Game Studios' Wonderbox from Apple Arcade
The official Apple Arcade Reddit has confirmed that Epic-owned Wonderbox is amongst games leaving the service
Online Safety
Facial age estimation tech not ready for parental consent primetime says FTC
Following concerns the FTC commissioners voted 4-0 unanimously to reject the application
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