Job News
Kwalee appoints John Wright as vice president of mobile publishing
Wright brings almost twenty years of leadership experience to his role
Android Ahead
Bethesda just stealth dropped a new Elder Scrolls mobile game
The Elder Scrolls: Castles has released in early access on Android
Making A Meal
Honkai: Star Rail goes IRL: Collaborating with famous restaurant chains around the world
Across the cosmos to the real world, Honkai: Star Rail is set to make an impact in chains near you
Monster Hunter Now
Monster Hunter Now set to be Niantic’s third biggest game with $14 million in first month revenue
The game is Niantic’s fourth largest launch, and consistent consumer spend could see it climb even higher
Q&a
TapNation on the journey beyond one billion downloads
The company recently celebrated a milestone of one billion downloads, but CEO Hervé Montoute has even bigger plans ahead
Hot Five
Hot Five: Candy Crush makes $20 billion, Epic lays off 800 staff, and Omada tackles gambling addiction
Our quick-fix round up of the hottest stories on PocketGamer.biz
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 console games going mobile, Final Fantasy villains, making games accessible and intrinsic advertising
Feature
Mass games industry job losses in 2023, but is the end in sight?
Not counting the losses at Alphabet, these collective layoffs surpass 3000 jobs
Ai Development
Homa launches AI “Game Idea Generator”
The new technology streamlines the process of brainstorming a new title
Cloud Gaming
Ubisoft predicts a Netflix-style boom for cloud gaming
“We strongly believe in the next five to 10 years, many games will be streamed and will also be produced in the cloud”
Esports
The gaming and esports industry needs to start taking mobile esports more seriously
Esports has seen significant growth over recent years but is mobile being overlooked?
Alternative App Stores
Who are the 26 app stores complying with China’s latest regulations?
The country’s latest crackdown has seen alternative app stores become even more prominent in the Chinese market
Acquisition
Playtika closes acquisition of Innplay Labs
The acquisition was valued at up to $300 million
One Special Day
Over 90 industry partners are backing SpecialEffect’s One Special Day fundraiser
One Special Day aims to help bring gaming to people with additional needs
Psgo
With Jim Ryan's exit approaching, could PlayStation's next CEO finally realise their mobile potential?
Could PlayStation finally go all-in with mobile?
Layoffs
Epic and Sega announce 900 more games industry lay-offs
A brutal end to another tough quarter for games jobs, with the UK hit especially hard
Ad Report
Meta owns all four of the top ad networks for mobile games in Q2 2023
Google Play hosted the most ad creatives, with Facebook leading the way
Deconstruction
Deconstructing Travel Town: How to engage merge-2 whales
Belka Games lead game designer takes a deep dive into the popular merge title
Interview
Amir Rahimi: “Our goal is to have a game on Netflix for every one of our members.”
Netflix is expanding its gaming portfolio with the release of Netflix Stories: Love is Blind
Court Case
Epic Games appeals to US Supreme Court in Apple antitrust case
The years-long case continues with arguments over pro- and anticompetitiveness
League Of Its Own
League of Legends: Wild Rift reaches lofty $1 billion across 111 million downloads
data.ai suggests such a milestone was reached through optimisation of touch controls and quick matches
Crushing The Competition
Candy Crush celebrates massive $20 billion revenue milestone
Games in the franchise have been downloaded more than five billion times
Deep Dive
Ultrahorse Entertainment: Navigating the new wave of game industry changes (Part 2)
In part two of this deep dive we hear about the challenges of building browser based games, transmedia marketing and the rewards of cross-platform
Chinese App Market
Apple isn’t complying with China’s new app store regulations
The Cyberspace Administration of China has named 26 app stores complying with its new rules
Promoted Position
My.Games appoints Elena Grigorian as CEO as Vladimir Nikolsky steps down
Grigorian has helped optimise 70+ games’ potential
Mobile Milestones
The Battle of Polytopia celebrates a milestone 20 million mobile downloads
The game has proven a hit on multiple platforms, with mobile leading the way
Leadership Changes
Activision Blizzard brings back Warcraft & Diablo old-hand Chris Metzen in creative leadership shake-up
The former contributor worked with Blizzard during some of its most successful years as a SVP of story and franchise development
Deep Dive
Ultrahorse Entertainment: Navigating the new wave of game industry changes (Part 1)
Ultrahorse takes a deep dive into the potential of cross-platform and how to make it happen
Better Than Betting
Omada raises $7.5M for a sports game with a twist: tackling gambling addiction
Money isn’t spent or won on bets, providing a healthier alternative
Acquisition
Xsolla announces acquisition of multiplayer platform AcceleratXR
The acquisition will further Xsolla’s crossplay capabilities
Mobile Manoeuvre
Can young Sephiroth save Square Enix from crisis?
Final Fantasy VII: Ever Crisis is getting a new chapter and a PC port
Credit Where Its Due
Appodeal & Pollen VC partner to offer a new kind of mobile growth platform
New Appodeal & Pollen VC partnership offers a mobile growth platform with credit lines to scale your monthly revenues
Mobile Growth
Gaming is the fastest growing app category worldwide
Action, hypercasual, and sports are among the top-ranked gaming subverticals
Female Gamers
Games favoured by women set to exceed $16 billion in revenue this year
Women account for over 50% of mobile gamers, and almost 30% of revenue
To Be The Very Best
1 in 190: Why networking is essential for jobs in games
Chances of getting that job are only 0.05% without putting in those networking hours
Insider View
Bidstack's big cheeses talk the past and future of intrinsic advertising
We get the inside scoop from three of the insiders at intrinsic advertising specialists Bidstack
Feature
From ambitious trio to goliath platform: Unity’s 21-year story so far
With big changes on the horizon we take a look at the history of Unity
Investment
Saudi stakes a $50 billion+ claim in the gaming world - Nintendo, Activision, EA & more
Move over Tencent, Savvy Games and the PIF are THE new market makers in the global games portfolio
King Of King
Five trillion levels later… Celebrating 20 years of King and 10 years of Candy Crush
We catch up with King’s president Tjodolf Sommestad for their state of play, their possible place under Microsoft’s wing and where he's at in his quest to ‘make the world more playful’
Success In China
MapleStory M surpassed $55 million in its first 35 days on the Chinese market
The game’s success in China pushed the game over $600 million in lifetime revenue
Now In Numbers
71% of the biggest mobile games use a Unity SDK
data.ai finds over 50% of the top 100 revenue earners are built on Unity
Monopoly Go's Top Ten Secrets
Ten things you may have missed in the #1 mobile game “MONOPOLY GO!”
Learn how Scopely tapped into creative freedom and nostalgia - from iconic 80’s movies to classic literature and more - to build a timeless MONOPOLY universe
Gaming Strikes
Screen Actor’s Guild authorises video game strike
98.32% of voters chose to open the door for strike action
Licence List
Chinese licence approvals are on the up this September, but just how high?
September matches top month of 2023 with 89 new game approvals
Devolver Financials
Subscription champion Devolver Digital blames subscriptions for fall in revenue
The company’s revenue in the first half of 2023 fell 17% year-on-year
Q&a
CEO Martin Kwasnica on the return of Cherrypick Games
Cherrypick Games newest title Kingdoms: Merge & Build is on Apple Arcade now
Reaching The Finishing Line
Mario Kart Tour to receive final new content in October
The game isn’t closing services, but will only recycle existing content from then on
Next Steps
East Side Games co-founder Joshua Nilson leaves after 14 years
A mutual parting of ways comes with optimism for the future
Next Stop: Everywhere
What is Everywhere? Inside Leslie Benzies' new game
The GTA legend has unveiled details of his latest project
Surging Shares
Capcom: "We wanted to get on mobile sooner" as shares rise 6%
Monster Hunter Now supports a surge in shares; it looks like mobile is the way to go