Talks
How Failbetter flubbed, then rescued the launch of Mask of the Rose
Communications director Hannah Flynn gave us the inside track at Develop: Brighton
Feature
The great casual game revival
Lessons from the past, hypercasual’s evolution, and opportunities for the post-ATT future
Deals
Is the Kahoot deal an endorsement of edtech & party games, or a move to private for mobile?
The multiplayer quiz title is used widely in educational settings
Gaming Report
India accounted for 15.29% of game downloads in the first six months of 2023
One of the world’s biggest mobile gaming markets continues its meteoric rise
Podcast
AR, AI, and Subscription Models — Oh, My! | Podcast
Our PocketGamer.biz team recaps GDC 2023 and riff on the topics that stole this year’s show.
Milestones
My.Games’ Left to Survive celebrates its five-year anniversary and 1.2m monthly active users
The title is a cornerstone of the company’s catalogue of free-to-play games
Investment
GameStake Technologies raises £630,000 in seed funding for “rewarded play” gaming
The company is pursuing the “rewarded play” style of monetisation
Clash Of The Titans
Eggy Party's success intensified NetEase & Tencent's war for casual supremacy
The tech giants have long been at the top of the mobile games space, but NetEase's recent win has raised the stakes
Job News
July's Mobile Movers and Shakers: Gameloft appoints a new lead game designer while MYSTiC gets a new CMO
July has seen some significant moves by some of the industry's biggest company's - here's just a few
Very Big Indie Pitch
Hero of Aethric conquers the competition and wins The Big Indie Pitch at Pocket Gamer Connects Toronto
Winners breakdown
Investment
New studio Closing Theory raises $2.3m investment
The studio was co-founded by two previous members of the company Macro
Here Be Dragons
Dragon Quest Champions surpassed $10 million two weeks after release
The game is closing in on Dragon Quest Walk in Square Enix’s mobile revenue share
Success In Funding
Singapore’s Eyeball Games raised $1.5 million for blockchain pool game
The fund highlights Singapore’s growing place in the mobile gaming industry
Podcast
Unleashing the worlds within worlds | Podcast
Charisma’s Guy Gadney on pioneering new forms of games entertainment by casting audiences inside the stories
Milestones
Call of Duty: Mobile passes $3bn in lifetime revenue, half of all engagement for the franchise is on mobile
The milestone was revealed in Activision Blizzard’s financials which said half of all engagement was on mobile
Ubisoft Financials
Ubisoft saw $298 million in net bookings in Q1 of the 2023-24 fiscal year, but mobile faltered
The gaming giant saw huge success, but struggled on gaming’s biggest platform
Taxes
Indian government clarifies 28% tax does not apply to mobile games
Industry professionals have claimed misinformation from real money gaming companies fuelled speculation
Unmissable Savings
Indies, take your career to the next level at PG Connects Helsinki this September 12-13
Book your ticket to PG Connects Helsinki today to give your indie brand a boost and save big with our Early Bird offer!
Releases
Jam City tackles DC and heads into MENA with Heroes & Villains puzzle RPG game
The studio is seeking to expand its free-to-play offerings and licenced titles
Breakdown
Drake Star's Global Gaming Report: Breaking down the numbers, charts and more
What do Drake Star’s charts and graphs tell us about the gaming industry today?
Australian Investment
Screen Australia invests $3 million into gaming as part of the country’s digital entertainment goals
The fund sees 23 games with budgets below $500,000 receive fresh cash influxes
Mobile Masterworks
Mobile Masterworks: Candy Crush
The iconic match3 game single-handedly helped popularise the genre
Investment
Drake Star's Gaming Index rises by 15% private financing worth $700m in Q2 2023
The firm points to major deals like the Activision Blizzard and Scopely acquisitions while noting a lower level of investment
Profile
Speaker Spotlight: Gameloft's Renee Wong on pushing your team without crunching them
The communication specialist talks us through her talk at PGC Toronto, and how you can create a healthy work environment in games
Revenue
With 66 million daily visitors Roblox makes as much money as some small countries, now they want more
The company wants to push a more community-friendly approach to transactions on the platform
Financials
King celebrates 9% year-on-year increase in net revenue
Candy Crush remains the company's top performer, being the USA's top-grossing title for the 24th consecutive quarter
Activision Blizzard Financials
43% of Activision Blizzard’s Q2 2023 revenue came from mobile
Despite growth in every vertical, mobile remains the company’s top performer
Women In Games Series
Jam City’s Radostina Zhekova and Winnie Wen on UA creativity and the rise of female gaming audiences
In part two of their series exploring inspirational women working in games, Liftoff invites Radostina Zhekova and Winnie Wen to discuss user acquisition, creativity and more
Releases
NetEase’s newly-released Justice Online tops the iOS App Store charts
The game was previously tipped to use AI for character dialogue at certain points
Announcements
Hit comic book series Invincible to get new mobile game courtesy of Ubisoft
The series has seen a major boost in visibility thanks to a hugely successful animated show
User Insights
Katya Moskalenko: “Brands need behavioural data to tap into the gaming industry's enormous potential”
Measure Protocol aims to provide brands with valuable user insights to help them make informed decisions
Success In Funding
FIFA AI Soccer League dev Futureverse raises $54 million in series A funding round
The company will use this funding to further its metaverse goals and create more blockchain games
Job News
July's Mobile Movers and Shakers: Roblox appoints new chief partnership officer and Playtika sees a hiring spree
July has seen some significant moves by some of the industry's biggest company's - here's just a few
Lunar Lifting Off
Half Moon: Big Tech is over... Small Tech is where it's at
New studio develops first game made entirely of AI in only five months
Markets
Brazilian mobile market to jump to $5.2bn gross revenue by 2027
Downloads will also rise to 39.1bn, while Africa will still be yet to crack $1bn of mobile revenue
Social Media Manoeuvres
Zynga founder backs LA startup Artie to make games for Threads
Meta’s latest social media platform will be compatible with games on mobile
Game Design
Joel Beardshaw of Ustwo Games on the importance of design pillars
Joel Beardshaw shares the development process behind the mobile first title Desta: The Memories Between
Q&a
Yahaha’s Pengfei Zhang on making game development accessible to everyone
The new Co-Create game editor enables developers to work on the same game no matter where they are
Investment
Scalo leads $3.5m investment in publisher Hexacore
The publisher specialises in mobile Web3 games
Gamerefinery Report
Dragon Ball Legends and Diablo Immortal saw 500% spikes in revenue in June
GameRefinery delves into the state of mobile gaming last month
Loot Boxes
UK game makers agree to impose new restrictions on loot boxes
The controversial game mechanic has been the topic of increasing scrutiny in recent years
Studio Shifts
Neopets dumps the metaverse and crypto as TNT goes mobile
The newly independent studio will be focusing on building a new game called “World of Neopets” for mobile
Profile
Speaker Spotlight: CleverTap Gaming's Solomon Ruiz-Lichter on why some games lack originality
We sit down with CleverTap's senior director of global gaming to chat ahead of PGC Toronto
Profile
Speaker Spotlight: Moloco's Brendan O'Connor on the value of holistic marketing
We sat down with Moloco's Brendan O'Connor to talk about common mistakes in the games sector and holistic marketing
Design
The magic that makes mobile UI look good and feel great
Leanne Bayley of Atomhawk Advance chatted about the UX and UI design that goes into games, and touched on how mobile differs
Marketing
Federica Nocerino: “Marketing is connecting at the right time with the right person”
Women in Games ambassador Federica Nocerino shares her marketing expertise with the attendees at Develop Brighton
Africa Accelerates
Africa’s gaming revenue is more than 90% mobile
Newzoo and Carry1st report reveals Africa stands on the precipice of $1 billion in gaming worth
Investment
More Turkish investment as Fortune Mine Games closes $2m seed round
The move reflects a wide and varied amount of investment in Türkiye
Sustainable Phones
Europe will require all phones to have user replaceable batteries by 2027
The regulation aims to extend the lifespan of gadgets and improve sustainability
Tiktok Gaming
Gaming-related videos on TikTok received over three trillion views in 2022
A new report examines the app’s thriving community of gamers