Feature
Game analysis: The evolution of hypercasual runner Jelly Run 2048
Azur Games' Milana Gelmanova shares of taking the game from suboptimal metrics to a stand out project
Unity Runtime Fee
Unity's Runtime Fee debacle caused 15% of its US advertisers to jump ship
The introduction of the proposed fee triggered a sharp downturn in advertisers, but revisions and departures appear to have fixed the problem
Stock Purchase
Tencent acquires two million shares in Goddess of Victory: Nikke makers Shift Up
Subsidiary Aceville spent ₩79.9 billion on the purchase following Wemade divesting itself of all Shift Up shares
Five New Games
New release roundup: The best new mobile games from Cut the Rope successor to synthwave strategies
We highlight five new games that have broken cover and are all set to do big business
Podcast
Playing 4 The Planet’s Lisa Pak on gaming for good and wielding the power of play | 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…
Top Tips
Top Tips: Five key steps for building your mobile gaming community
Pixel Gun 3D's head of community Nikita Glazkov details the different types of gamers developers can appeal to and how to engage with them
Feature
The state of play for Ukrainian game developers in 2023
InGameJob's Katya Sabirova reveals the state of the Ukrainian games industry, it's vacancies, salaries and challenges ahead
The Place To Be
10 reasons you won’t want to miss our biggest show yet – Pocket Gamer Connects London!
Join us at the biggest event in PG Connects history this January 22nd to 23rd in London! Buy your ticket today and save up to £470
Q&a
Behind the scenes: The making of One Punch Man: World
One Punch Man: World producer FeiHua “Shifu” Huang talks turning the much-loved anime IP into a cross-platform classic
Ai Advancement
Harmony Games raises $3M in seed round to build an AI puzzle game
The seed round was led by Griffin Gaming Partners
Market Moves
Merger and acquisition deal value exceeds $11 billion for 2023
Some of the biggest names in gaming restarted their acquisition strategies in Q3
Empowering Everyone
Empowering Everyone - How Xsolla Plans To Give Developers The Power To Find And Keep Players Content
In the era of ‘forever games’ Xsolla CEO Chris Hewish outlines the company’s goals of empowering developers to own and understand their players directly
Layoffs
Embracer Group subsidiary Digic lays off 10% of its workforce
The company specialises in 3D and CGI animations and game trailers
Aplha Agents
Richard Garfield’s auto battler Chaos Agents enters pre-alpha testing
The game was shown off on-stream ahead of the pre-alpha’s launch
Acquiblizz
Microsoft's Xbox boss Phil Spencer sticks to Call of Duty non exclusivity promise
"We have no goal of somehow trying to use Call of Duty to get you to buy an Xbox console."
Job News
Kwalee appoints Firebrand’s Mark Greenshields to VP of Bangalore studio
Mark Greenshields’ cross-platform experience is expected to be of great benefit to Kwalee
Intriguing Invitation
Supercell launches eagerly awaited new game mo.co in the US
The Finnish studio has rolled out invites to US gamers to try out its latest game
Mobile Manoeuvre
The next Dynasty Warriors game is on mobile, and it’s soft-launching today
Dynasty Warriors M is in essence a mobile port of 2018’s Dynasty Warriors 9
Feature
Exploring Africa's games market opportunity
Carry1st Senior UA and Admonetisation Manager Claire Rozain examines the huge potential of the African games market
Kingdom Come
Square Enix drops Kingdom Hearts Missing Link tease after nine-month silence
The fan-favourite mobile spin could prove to be Square’s missing link after multiple middling releases
Vc Funding
The games industry drew $454 million in VC funding in the third quarter of 2023
The figure represents a 9% decline from the previous quarter
French Findings
French foresight: Only 3% of France’s games were hypercasual last year
The SNJV’s survey reflects upon 2022’s state of play in France
Job News
Digital Extremes CEO James Schmalz steps down from his position
Creative director Steve Sinclair will replace Schmalz in his role
Sales Success
Bilibili passes 300m monthly users as Dead Cells hits five million Chinese sales
Five million paid installs in two years, with a big boost this August
Bakugan Brawl
Bakugan Brawling hits Roblox: Bringing big-name brands to the metaverse
Spin Master EVP and global chief marketing officer Jeremy Tucker discusses delivering IP to attract younger audiences while keeping faithful fans on side
Q&a
Ustwo Games' CCO Danny Gray: "Some fans don’t believe in paying for subscription services and want to own their media."
Ustwo's Assemble with Care was originally released as an Apple Arcade exclusive. With the title heading to free-to-start on both iOS and Android we find out their strategy for the future
Roblox Reduction
Roblox China faces layoffs as the company undergoes "evaluation"
It's safe to say that the launch of the Chinese version of Roblox, LuoBuLesi, didn’t quite go to plan
Bowing Out
Dragon Quest Monsters: Super Light reaching "service completion" after a decade
AKA Square Enix has another mobile game on the chopping block… But at least this one has stood the distance
Fallout Series
Fallout TV series gets April 2024 release date
The adaptation of the hit franchise is just the latest sign that Hollywood is turning to games
Strategic Streaming
Netflix plans to win "The Big Prize" of gaming
Netflix co-CEOs Greg Peters and Ted Sarandos, and VP of finance Spencer Wang revealed the future of gaming on the platform
Uk Gaming Scene
Ukie's new manifesto demands an increase in government funding for video games
They claim that the UK’s lack of investment sees it lose out on an estimated £133 million per year
Invest To Win
AppQuantum’s Core is the King will invest up to $1M in selected hybridcasual mobile devs
Core is the King is their new programme to support developers making hybridcasual games
Cross-platform Royale
Supercell takes Clash of Clans and Clash Royale cross-platform with PC releases today
Two of mobile’s biggest billion-dollar blockbusters can now be played across devices
Walking Whereabouts
Monster Hunter Now set to "surpass" Pokémon Go as geolocation games get moving in Japan
Sensor Tower’s latest report reveals location-based games’ performance in Japan
Q&a
Game analysis: Reinventing a legend for Cut the Rope 3
ZeptoLab CEO Max Petrov takes us behind the scenes of creating Cut the Rope 3 and bringing it to Apple Arcade
Zynga Trial
Zynga emerges triumphant in patent trial
The trial concerned allegations of patent infringement levied by gambling technology company IGT
Trends
Chinese gaming trends revealed as 52% of the population play games
Trends, censorship, approvals, mixed genre games and more come under the microscope
Hot Five
Hot Five: Azur Games and Metacore acquisitions, hybridcasual hype, and Niantic’s new star
Our quick-fix roundup of the hottest stories on PocketGamer.biz
Five New Games
New release roundup: Our weekly pick of the best new mobile games, AR motion battles included
We highlight five new games that have broken cover and are all set to do big business
Week That Was
Week in Views - What caught our eyes in the last seven days
The Pocketgamer.biz team take their pick of this weeks big news, including big-name departures, gamers' ongoing bad rap and Roblox's return…
Running Out Of Steam
Redundancies at Zombies, Run! and Marvel Move developer Six to Start
The redundancies include the departure of CEO Adrian Hon alongside key staff members
Middle East Movers
PUBG Mobile may still dominates in the Middle East but local favourites are making big money
The latest Middle Eastern rankings for downloads and revenue feature strong performance from familiar favourites alongside surprise new entries
Games Growth
2022 was a record year for the Swedish games industry
Despite post pandemic concerns new figures show an industry in rude health with a fight for talent being the only restraint on further growth
Cross-platform
Homa releases six mobile games on Nintendo Switch and offers the tech for devs to do likewise
Homa’s development and publishing platform makes it easy to get games out into multiple markets.
Feature
Game Analysis: The story of Eatventure Vs Cat Snack Bar
AppQuantum’s Anastasia Romakha and Anastasia Gushchina take a deep dive on the success of Lessmore's Eatventure and it's highest profile copycat
Top Charts
Dream Games’ Royal Match is top for consumer spend but Monopoly Go sees the biggest increase
Q3 2023 numbers reveal that Scopely’s take on the classic board game has seen a big boost, but Royal Match still reigns supreme
Financials
MAG Interactive interim report sees sales slide by 11% quarter-on-quarter
Dips in key metrics are consistent with a turbulent year across the industry
Feature
Striking the perfect balance: How can mobile ads complement in-app purchases?
AppLovin’s Daniel Tchernahovsky on finding the perfect balance for mobile app monetisation
Loads Of Layoffs
Up to 14,000 new redundancies at Nokia as sales fall 20%
By the end of 2026, an estimated 9,000 to 14,000 jobs will be axed
Acquisitions
Azur Games to acquire portfolio of US hypercasual game publisher Tastypill
The publisher’s portfolio boasts more than 1 billion downloads