New Offerings
Duet Night Abyss removes all gacha elements just weeks before its October launch
The upcoming RGP has amassed nearly seven million pre-registrations across all platforms
Html5 Games For All
How H5 games are driving faster monetisation for publishers
No download & instant play - How HTML5 games are the emerging bridge between traffic and content
Growth Engines
2025’s unexpected games industry disruptor (clue it’s not AI)
Checking the state of the games industry by revisiting Matthew Ball’s 2025 growth engines
Funding News
Copa Fantasy raises $300k to scale football gaming platform in MENA
“We aim to become the region’s first true football super-app”
New Partnerships
Merak Capital signs MoU with HP to boost Saudi Arabia’s games and esports economy
Partnership to deliver events, workshops, and mentorship to build a sustainable talent pipeline
Franchise Insights
The first year of Zynga's Game of Thrones: Legends from launch to $24 million
Zynga’s Director of design Joe Canose discusses lessons from Game of Thrones: Legends first year
New Game Launch
NetEase Games launches Destiny: Rising globally on iOS and Android
Pre-registrations topped 10 million ahead of launch
Loads Of Layoffs
Rec Room lays off "roughly half" of staff as priorities shift away from broad UGC
Rec Room’s mobile creation tools have struggled to produce "impactful" experiences
Revolutionising Mobile Monetisation
GeeMee GamePlay: Revolutionising mobile monetisation with playable ads
Find out how GeeMee's playable ads integrate engaging game mechanics directly into the advertising experience across different industries and campaign objectives
App Store Changes
Google to require identity verification for all Android app developers from next year
Developers in Brazil, Indonesia, Singapore, and Thailand face new verification rules from September 2026
Office Opening
Lightspeed Japan opens Osaka office to recruit talent, including Capcom veterans
This is Lightspeed Studios’ second office in Japan after a Tokyo office was established in 2024
Roblox Rising
Roblox’s peak concurrent user count hits record 47.4m as Steal a Brainrot and Grow a Garden compete
Steal a Brainrot has become the platform’s second experience to hit 20m concurrent users
Jobs Roundup
August 2025’s Movers and Shakers: Playtika promotions, Appcharge's senior hire, SayGames' new head of PR, and more
Our regular roundup of the mobile games industry's movers and shakers
Funding News
FitNot Games secures $300k to expand development on culturally-inspired titles
Funding will accelerate work on ALI, a story-driven 2D isometric stealth game set in Egyptian folklore
New Offerings
Unity launches Ad Quality as a free standalone SDK for all publishers
The tool gives developers transparency and control over in-game ads across 25 networks
Finland Report
Finnish games industry's revenue and profit declines in 2024 despite Supercell boon
Despite the declines, the Finnish games sector remained among the five largest in Europe in 2024
Gamescom 2025
Gamescom 2025 concludes with 357,000 visitors from 128 countries
Devcom, soon to be renamed Gamescom Dev, drew 5,400 attendees
Hot Five
Hot Five: Mobile Games Awards winners revealed, India bans real-money games, and NextBeat shutting down Beatstar
Our quick-fix roundup of the hottest stories on PocketGamer.biz
New Partnerships
Savvy Games Group signs MoU with Al Jouf’s strategic office to develop games and esports
Savvy and JSDO will co-organise events to attract gamers and esports fans to the region
Ai Insights
How a solo creator scaled a daily game to 1,000 users without writing a single line of code
Columbia business school grad Brandon Newquist explains how he leveraged AI tools to build and scale The Sphinx Riddle
Esports Tournament
Esports World Cup Foundation launches Esports Nations Cup
EA, Krafton, Tencent, and Ubisoft will co-develop the first edition in November 2026
New Partnerships
Savvy Games Group partners with AWS to boost Saudi Arabia’s games technology infrastructure
Savvy CEO Brian Ward says the deal will empower the Kingdom’s developer ecosystem
New Partnerships
Savvy Games Group signs MoU with Unity to boost opportunities for Saudi games developers
Qualifying projects gain free access to Unity’s backend, analytics, ads, and multiplayer tools
Week In Views
Safe In Our World creates new mental health accreditation and Moshi Monsters Kickstarter comeback | Week in Views
The Pocketgamer.biz team pick their highlights from the headlines this week and deliver the stories behind the stories
Game Closure
NextBeat to shut down Beatstar and Country Star
The servers are set to close on October 31st 2025
Sound Search
Sony AI and Audiokinetic launch AI-powered Similar Sound Search for Wwise
AI search in Wwise will allow sound designers to find and experiment with audio using text or reference sounds
Expanding Partnerships
DMCC and Xsolla announce Accelerator and Incubator Programme at Gamescom 2025
The new programme aims to connect MENA talent with global publishers and investors
New Games
New release roundup: Valorant Mobile, Mini Sudoku, Coffee Pool and more
We highlight the latest new games that have broken cover and are all set to do big business
Pgc World Tour
Join major 2025/26 games industry event world tour
Key cities and new locations to gather with the games industry at Pocket Gamer Connects in 2025 and 2026
New Era
Outfit7 on growing a global IP with the next era of My Talking Tom Friends 2
Ante Odić, TT&F games division president discusses building a scalable player led sequel
Best Of The Year
Pocket Gamer Mobile Games Awards 2025 winners revealed
Check out who beat the competition in each of this year's 24 categories
Regulation Ramps Up
India bans real-money games but looks to legitimise esports as competitive sport
The Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Bill 2025 will ban ads and social media promotion of real-money games, whether skills-based or chance-based
New Partnerships
Odeeo partners with AI studio Wondercraft to power multilingual in-game audio ads
Partnership brings personalised audio ads into mobile gaming
Play Policy
Google Play policy update restricts pre-registrations, discovery and more to higher-tier fee payers
Changes also allow developers to more flexibly link to payments outside of an app
Mobile Games Awards 2025
Balatro wins hearts as the People's Choice at the Pocket Gamer Mobile Games Awards 2025
Solo developer LocalThunk picks up the People’s Choice award for a $30m mobile game first intended "for myself and a few friends"
Behind The Scenes
Behind Black Deck’s rise: A case study in product, monetisation, and trust
SayGames’ Katya Sabirova shares on Black Deck’s journey from early struggles to a $30M hit
Mobile Games Awards 2025
Pokémon Trading Card Game Pocket wins Game of the Year at the Pocket Gamer Mobile Games Awards 2025
Making $1 billion in 204 days makes TCG Pocket the very best, like no Pokémon mobile game ever was…
Mobile Games Awards 2025
Scopely triumphs as Best Publisher at the Pocket Gamer Mobile Games Awards 2025
Monopoly Go, Pokémon Go… It’s all go!
New Offerings
Tencent unveils AI game creation suite Visvise at Gamescom 2025
The suite covers animation, modelling, NPC creation, and digital asset management
Cloud Gaming
Samsung expands mobile cloud gaming platform to Europe
Galaxy users in the UK and Germany can now play mobile games without downloads or installs
Mobile Games Awards 2025
Supercell is crowned Best Developer at the Pocket Gamer Mobile Games Awards 2025
Record revenue, portfolio-wide growth and Clash Royale’s ‘Brawl Stars moment’ help Supercell come out on top
Funding News
Fahy Studios secures $1.75m to scale its mobile game production
Funds will go towards expanding its capabilities and attracting talent to the kingdom
New Offerings
Aghanim launches new liveops and game hub builders to boost DTC webshops on mobile
The company plans to turn underperforming webshops into high-value DTC channels
Company Misconduct
GungHo reveals $2.35m embezzlement by former senior executive
CEO Kazuki Morishita will take a 30% pay cut for three months as leadership accepts responsibility
Investment News
Exel by Merak invests $300,000 each in 17 gaming startups at its first Demo Day
Over 300 applicants competed for a place in the accelerator
Seattle Indies
Seattle Indies announces SLICE 2025: A new conference for independent game developers in the heart of seattle
The one-day B2B conference SLICE Expo 2025 for indie developers is scheduled for August 27th in Seattle
Moshi Milestone
Moshi Monsters’ second comeback Kickstarter hits £50,000 goal in six hours
The original Kickstarter fell short of its target, but the new, lower goal was promptly achieved
Platform Partnership
Atlas partners with Google Cloud as its AI platform enters closed beta
"If you haven't started putting AI in your development pipeline, you should probably do that," says Google Cloud global director for games Jack Buser
Doubling Down
Supercell hires Drussila Hollanda as first-ever head of new games
The role will include cultivating cultures for developing new games and putting together the best teams
Wants And Wishes
Games are Make-A-Wish’s fastest-growing wish category, but the industry has "taken a backseat" since the pandemic
Make-A-Wish International charitable gaming and creators community manager April Stallings talks Infinite Wishes, opportunities for developers to get more involved, and her plans for Gamescom 2025