Acqusitions
RMV IT Services acquires hit mobile game Plane Evolution from Global Champions
Supersonic from Unity will keep its shares and continue as the game's publisher
Marvellous Mena
Gamezop commits $4m to expand in the Middle East with a new office in Bahrain
The company plans to onboard 1,000 new apps and hit $6m revenue within 18 months
Layoffs
Blizzard ends Warcraft Rumble development as company reportedly slashes up to 100 jobs
Move is part of sweeping cuts across Microsoft and its games division
New Offerings
Outfit7 unveils 2025 roadmap with three new games
Leading the rollout is My Talking Tom Friends 2 which already has 2 million pre-registrations
Antitrust Heat
Apple faces potential sanctions in Brazil over App Store antitrust violations
Antitrust body recommends fines and behavioural remedies to solve the competition problems
Job News
LEGO Group appoints Fredrik Loving as SVP and global head of LEGO Game
He will report to chief product and marketing officer Julia Goldin
Investment News
Boby.ai secures Revo Capital investment to scale AI products
This is Revo’s second seed investment from its new $86m Fund III, which launched in March
New Developer Friendly Marketplace
TeleStore: A new developer-friendly marketplace for browser games and web apps
TeleStore aims to reinvent the digital marketplace by making it fair, flexible, and accessible for both developers and users worldwide
Mobile Games Awards
Last chance for Mobile Games Awards Early Bird tickets
Book your spot at the Mobile Games Awards 2025 ceremony today
Pgc Helsinki
How to navigate Pocket Gamer Connects Helsinki
Key points how to steer your way around one of the biggest industry events
Job Losses
Report: King loses 10% of staff as Microsoft makes games division cuts
Candy Crush maker hit hard by redundancies across games group
Funding For Games
Google Play’s Indie Games Fund returns to Latin America with $2 million for 10 studios
Selected studios will receive between $150,000 and $200,000 to grow their game
Milestone
Sky: Children of the Light surpasses 270m downloads ahead of sixth anniversary celebration
The anniversary ceremony will honour outstanding user-generated content across ten categories
Investment News
Liftoff secures minority investment from General Atlantic to accelerate growth
General Atlantic joins majority investor Blackstone in backing the AI-driven performance marketing platform
Fun & Effective Playable Ads
How to build great playable ads for casual games
"Across most casual game categories, playable ads consistently outperform video formats in ROI and registration rates"
New Offerings
Former CVCapital partner Jim Ying launches games M&A and investment advisory firm Mihada Capital
The company specialises in offering financial advisory services to businesses in games, ad-tech, and digital media
It's In The App
Messaging app EA Connect soft launches on mobile in Canada
Chat feature is already available across platforms in games such as EA Sports FC 25, Madden NFL 25 and NHL 25
Refund Round
FTC distributes $126m in refunds to "tricked" Fortnite players charged for unwanted purchases
Players are able to file for a refund until July 9th, 2025
Market Growth
India’s mobile games market booms with 8.45bn installs
In-app purchase revenue remains modest at just over $400m
Five Ways To Optimise Webshops
Five proven in-game linkout strategies to drive iOS players to your webshop
"The best way to minimise friction and boost conversions is by using an in-game web popup that lets players complete their purchase without ever leaving the game"
New Offerings
Game engine Godot rolls out asset store in early beta
“Once we are happy with the new platform, we'll start rolling out paid assets”
Roguelike Reimagining
Angry Birds Bounce game lead talks brick breaker genre, development under Sega and "a great deal of interest on Apple Arcade"
Bryan Cook reveals all from the ideation phase, prototyping, design decisions and creating the first Angry Birds game since Rovio’s acquisition by Sega
Anti-corruption
Perfect World investigates staff and suppliers over alleged corruption
The One Punch Man developer said it will strictly punish any fraudulent or self-serving behaviour that harms the company
Acqusitions
Tripledot completes $800m acquisition of AppLovin game studios
Following the acquisition, Tripledot now operates 12 studios, including the 10 acquired from AppLovin
Industry Insights
Industry Insights: The future of Xbox, the new platform gold rush, and Supercell's experimental release strategy
Analysis from around the industry
Market Growth
Newzoo revises 2025 global games market growth forecast to $188.9bn
Mobile is projected to reach $103.1bn in 2025 and $107.7bn by 2027
Discover Shanghai
First speakers announced for Pocket Gamer Connects Summit Shanghai
A first glimpse into the lineup of expert speakers coming to Shanghai, July 30th
Tiktok Sale
Trump: Potential US TikTok buyer will be revealed in next two weeks
The US president described the buyers as a group of “very wealthy people", but that the deal would need China's approval to close
Hot Five
Hot Five: Kingshot and SD Gundam G Generation Eternal shoot past $100m, and Grow a Garden hits 21m concurrent users
Our quick-fix roundup of the hottest stories on PocketGamer.biz
Podcast | Episode 58
The UK games industry's £30m boost and Grow a Garden transforms Roblox | 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 what's inside this week's episode 58...
Week In Views
Why government support is key to games industry growth, and Uma Musume: Pretty Derby's global launch | Week in Views
The Pocketgamer.biz team pick their highlights from the headlines this week and deliver the stories behind the stories
Nominate Now
Nominations for the Pocket Gamer Mobile Games Awards 2025 end soon
Submit your favourites across 22 categories before Friday, June 27th
Here We Go Again
Apple adds new fees to the EU App Store as it battles with the DMA
Tech giant adds initial acquisition fee, store services charge and Core Technology Commission
New Games
New release roundup: Marvel Mystic Mayhem, Uma Musume: Pretty Derby, Lego Fortnite Expeditions and more
We highlight the latest new games that have broken cover over the past week
Developer Learning
Carry1st’s Dominion Ero partners with Udemy to launch game development programme for African youth
The Initiative aims to provide a structured learning path covering industry fundamentals
Pocket Gamer Connects
A pocket guide to Pocket Gamer Connects 2025
Supporting the global games industry one conference at a time
Horse Girls Are Here
Uma Musume: Pretty Derby launches globally today after racing to $2.6bn on mobile in Japan
Cygames’ horse girl game has launched in English more than one year on from reveal, and four years after release in Japan
Discover Shanghai
Why game publishers come to Shanghai
Discover the Chinese game sector's new talents and opportunities, July 30th
Candy Crown
King crowns 2025 Candy Crush Saga All Stars champion and dishes out $1m prize pool
Tiago P from Portugal won this year’s tournament, claiming $500,000 in prize money
Crossovers
Garena Free Fire celebrates 8th anniversary with Squid Game crossover
The collaboration will allow Free Fire players to experience Squid Game challenges from the Netflix TV show
New Partnerships
Supercell launches Brawl Stars as minigame on Tencent’s WeChat, Clash Royale following soon
The Squad Busters maker wants to leverage the market’s growth and the rising popularity of lightweight, instantly playable games
Ops + Creative = Games
Why the future of game studio success is operational, not just creative
'When everyone has access to the same powerful tools, the same distribution channels, and the same marketing megaphones, how do you stand out?"
Layoffs Imminent
Microsoft to slash more Xbox jobs as part of wider workforce reduction
This could mark the fourth major layoff at Xbox in the past 18 months
Portfolio Prowess
FreePlay surpasses 2bn lifetime installs after expanding into hybridcasual
The developer and publisher’s games are available in more than 175 countries, with standouts including Count Masters, Twerk Race 3D and Zombie Apocalypse
Google Games
Google quietly launches HTML5 games hub Instant Games on select Android devices
The new app allows users to access a selection of games without downloading them separately
Growing Trend
Embedded finance: A new breed of lending products in mobile games and apps
Mobile Finance Collective founder Martin Macmillan shares his insights on a new financing mechanic for games that hasn’t been seen before
Industry Insights
How Suitsme’s Gala Iefremova is driving growth in fashion games and building opportunities for women
CEO & founder of w7g Gala Iefremova shares on how the fashion genre is adapting beyond a niche and supporting women in games
Gateway To Chinajoy
ChinaJoy 2025 to break records, now with one-day industry access via Pocket Gamer Connects
Pocket Gamer Connects Summit Shanghai on July 30 includes one-day entry to ChinaJoy
Roblox Record
Roblox’s Grow a Garden hits industry record 21.3m concurrent users, surpassing PUBG, Fortnite and more
The Roblox experience more than doubled its 8.9m record set in May
Market Growth
MyGamez ranked among Top 30 iOS Publishers in China for May 2025
Sales revenue of the Chinese mobile game market in May was $2.9bn, a month-on-month increase of 3.69%