mobilegamer.biz digest

Supercell, King and Sybo slam EU plan, Atari buys Hipster Whale, Zynga's Mark Pincus on copycats, more

The mobilegamer.biz podcast is a concise, banter-free digest of what’s driving the mobile games business. Every week, mobilegamer.biz founder and editor Neil Long goes on a walk and tells you what’s going on in under 20 minutes. In this episode: * Ilkka Paananen, Todd Green and Mathias Gredal Nørvig have criticised incoming EU proposals that they believe could make free to play games “unplayable in Europe” * Atari bought Hipster Whale, its latest retro-adjacent acquisition * Zynga founder Mark Pincus’ thoughts on the art of copying and mobile game design * The Simpsons takes over Monopoly Go * Multi-award-winning indie game Consume Me is now on iOS * Apple has reveals its Design Award winners ahead of WWDC * Mattel launched its debut firstparty game, Master of the Universe - Skeleton: Until Next Time * A bit on the brief disappearance of Block Blast from the Play Store last week * News nuggets from our jobs, new games and data digests * Why I decided to run a 'best mobilegamer.biz stories you probably haven't read' listicle last Thursday * Ambient sounds of birdsong, passing dogwalkers and slightly squelchier footsteps thanks to a post-heatwave downpour #49, 04/06/26. Supported by Xsolla.

Take-Two, Ubisoft, Monopoly Go and SciPlay news plus data and soft launch nuggets

The mobilegamer.biz podcast is a concise, banter-free digest of what’s driving the mobile games business. Every week, mobilegamer.biz founder and editor Neil Long goes on a walk and tells you what’s going on in under 20 minutes. In this episode: * We rattle through Take-Two’s financials, which as ever show mobile earning roughly half the company’s cash with earnings from Zynga, Peak, Nordeus, Rollic and others up year-on-year  * We also pick through Ubisoft’s earnings which the company itself described as a “low point” – mobile is also down and those Rainbow Six and Division launches have been weak * Hasbro is banking about $40m per quarter from Scopely thanks to Monopoly Go – easy money, and perhaps the best bit of licensing business ever(?) * SciPlay has made staff cuts as its social casino portfolio declines, though D2C is rising and there’s a startling stat about the average monthly spend of a paying player * There’s also your regular data nuggets featuring Neverness to Everness, Tencent Games’ astonishing quarterly earnings, the top grossing games in the US and the most-advertised mobile games * We’ve also updated our soft launch list to include another new Metacore beta, and there are three new Century Games titles incoming, according to Appmagic * Ambient audio highlights include some delightful birdsong from the woods, gravel underfoot and a couple of sections recorded on a path near a Costa during a record-breaking heatwave #48, 28/05/26. Supported by Xsolla [https://xsolla.com/mobile-web-shop/instant?utm_source=banner&utm_medium=banner-cpc&utm_campaign=mobilegamerbiz_q2_25&utm_content=banneradblurb3].

Supercell reboots Mo.co, Fortnite is back on iOS, Nintendo's next mobile game, Embracer, Wooga, more

A concise inside view of the mobile game business. This week: * Is it the last roll of the dice for Supercell’s monster hunting game Mo.co [http://Mo.co]…? It was rebooted after struggling to get much traction, and is earning way less than Squad Busters did before that was killed * Fortnite is back on the iOS App Store worldwide (minus Australia), and so of course Epic took a couple of swings at Apple as part of the announcement * Nintendo has a new mobile game coming out, which looks a bit like WarioWare, but based on your photos * A brisk look at what’s going on with Embracer’s mobile arm – essentially CrazyLabs, A Thinking Ape and Deca – which seems to be struggling and might be next to be sold off  * Quick thoughts on those Wooga layoffs and how not to announce job cuts * A rattle through Apple’s Design Awards nominees, which include Inkle, FuturLab, Devolver and the minds behind Arknights: Endfield * Rapidfire jobs, data and new games news * A very noisy passing motorbike right at the end of the podcast that really put me off my stride #47, 21/05/26. Supported by Xsolla.  • Hang on, what's going on here? Every week mobilegamer.biz founder and editor Neil Long goes on a walk and explains what's happening in the mobile game business in under 20 minutes. That's it.

Sega-Rovio woes, Playtika goes casual, Unity's turnaround, pitching investors, data nuggets, more

A concise inside view of the mobile game business. This week: – A look at the grim Rovio news from Sega’s latest financial report, including a clarification over their translation of restructure/rebuild – Playtika’s transition into a casual game maker is complete, according to its latest earnings report, and social casino is yesterday’s news at the Israeli firm apparently  – Unity also put out its financials, and that new Vector adtech seems to be going well, but the firm has not yet sold off Supersonic just yet. It's bullish on its UnityAI tech, too – Some thoughts on what investors want from pitches in the current climate, based on the chatter and panels at last week’s Madeira Games Summit – A rattle through some data nuggets (we skipped soft launch and new game news this week to keep it at a tight 20 minutes) – Background noises including some very light foot-on-gravel sounds, a group of chattering schoolkids passing by and one particularly noisy car #46, 14/05/26. Supported by Xsolla.  • Hang on, what's going on here? Every week mobilegamer.biz founder and editor Neil Long goes on a walk and explains what's happening in the mobile game business in under 20 minutes. That's it.

Supercell buys Metacore amid brutal layoffs, Second Dinner cuts, inside Scopely x Niantic, April’s top games, data, jobs, more

A concise inside view of the mobile game business. This week: – Metacore is to cut up to 160 staff and refocus purely on Merge Mansion as it becomes part of Supercell, which has bought it out and will absorb it fully, like it did with Space Ape – News of 16 staff cut at Marvel Snap maker Second Dinner, though we're told the second game is not affected – An overview of a fascinating fireside chat between Scopely and Niantic that chronicled how that $3.5bn megadeal happened – April's top grossing games and biggest downloads, according to Appmagic, including a surprise appearance from Minecraft – All your usual data, jobs and new game nuggets – A new whooshing sound between sections, annoying and unfixable audio issues in the Supercell part and the very distant sound of the Atlantic ocean #45, 07/05/26. Supported by Xsolla.  • Hang on, what's going on here? Every week mobilegamer.biz founder and editor Neil Long goes on a walk and explains what's happening in the mobile game business in under 20 minutes. That's it.