Amateur devs score hits with 38-0, WWDC reactions, May’s top games, Orna, more

Amateur devs score hits with 38-0, WWDC reactions, May’s top games, Orna, 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: * We run through two stories about football drafting games 38-0 and 38-0-0, each made by amateur developers using AI tools to jump on a trend and quickly land a hit * Some indie app developer reactions from WWDC, where Apple promised free use of its AI models and compute until your app gets 2m installs, though it’s unclear what happens after that * We’ve got a breakdown of May’s top grossing and most downloaded games, according to Appmagic * A quick one about Orna, a location-based game that arrived shortly after Pokémon Go and has outlasted the likes of Harry Potter: Wizards Unite and Minecraft Earth * Jobs, data and new games nuggets featuring Pixel Flow, Wuthering Waves, Neverness to Everness, Pokémon Go Fest attendance and more * Ambient noise from kids and dog walkers in the beautiful and historic Verulamium Park, next to St Albans Cathedral #51, 18/06/26. Supported by Xsolla.

Why Summer Game Fest is a mobile-free zone, Supercell kills US projects, yet more Xbox chat, EA's mobile misstep, data, 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: * A bit of a ramble from Summer Game Fest in LA, which had barely any mobile games in it. And actually that makes a lot of sense * News from Supercell US, which has closed one game project and seems to have wound down another * New Xbox chief strategy officer Matthew Ball says that mobile is the biggest and most valuable part of the games business – but his first priority is the console business (the part with the least growth potential, he admits) * EA’s Laura Miele on why fans were unhappy about Command & Conquer Rivals when it launched in 2018 * Metacore confirmed 159 jobs are going in Helsinki, and it’ll be closing its offices in Germany and Sweden * Loads of data nuggets * Ambient background sounds from both Grand Hope Park in downtown LA and our usual stomping ground in Hertfordshire, UK #50, 11/06/26. Supported by Xsolla.

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.