Every Wednesday we break down the latest data, research and financial results into digestible chunks.
Read on for the numbers you need to know about without the fluff.
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King study highlights Europe’s €6bn mobile game market
A new study commissioned by Candy Crush Saga maker King estimates that over 1,000 European mobile games studios contributed almost €6bn to the European economy in 2025.
EU-based devs also supported more than 63,000 jobs, and generated €7.53bn in revenue from global audiences last year, says the report. That revenue is expected to rise to over €8bn by 2028.
The study, put together by King and Nordicity, also claims that mobile games are now the most popular way to play, accounting for 55% of global video games revenue. The average player is 31, says the study.
King’s report seems to be aimed at EU regulators, with King president Todd Green writing in the foreword: “As policymakers consider the future framework for digital regulation in Europe, there is an opportunity to support one of the region’s most dynamic creative and digital sectors at a time of intensifying global competition and rising development costs.”
“Regulation has an essential role to play in protecting players, and it should reflect the context in which mobile games operate and how players choose to interact with them, alongside the concerns policymakers may have.”
“Getting that balance right will help ensure Europe remains an attractive environment for investment, creativity and technological innovation. This report is intended to help inform the conversation.”
VantageCo to acquire Balatro publisher Playstack
TruFin has agreed to sell its 84.5% stake in UK indie publisher Playstack to VantageCo for approximately £112.4m ($151.3m). The buyer is a subsidiary of Integrated Media Company, which owns a number of entertainment brands including Fandom and GameSpot.
The deal, which values Playstack at around £125m ($168m), is subject to shareholder approval. Playstack’s publishing portfolio also includes Abiotic Factor, Mortal Shell and The Case of the Golden Idol. For 2025, it reported a full-year profit before tax of £12.2m ($16.28m).
“In practical terms, this is a change in ownership rather than a change in who we are,” said Playstack founder and CEO Harvey Elliott. “Our team, our strategy, and our commitment to publishing premium indie games remain exactly the same. For now, it’s business as usual.”
Makers Fund and Akin Babayigit reveal UA finance firm AMF Capital
Prolific mobile game investor Akin Babayigit and Makers Fund have launched new UA financing outfit AMF Capital, pocketgamer.biz reports.
Makers Fund investor and former Tripledot exec Andrew Seow heads up the new fund, whose first move is to give Bear Hug Entertainment $28m in UA financing.
Mobile games revenue topped $4.5bn in April
Mobile games revenue hit $4.51bn in April, according to Sensor Tower data published by The Game Business. That was down 1.4% YoY, and 3.7% lower than March 2026.
Honor of Kings reclaimed the top spot with revenue of $123.8m in April, ahead of Last War Survival ($120.1m), Whiteout Survival ($108.7m), Royal Match ($101m) and Gossip Harbor ($93.6m).
3.58bn mobile games were downloaded in April. That was down 13% YoY, and a 6.5% decline from the previous month.
Block Blast led the way with 30.15m downloads, followed by Garena Free Fire (25.3m), Arrows Puzzle Escape (22.1m), Roblox (21.4m) and Arrows Go (17.9m).
Golf Rival hits 65m registered users
Golf Rival has attracted 65m registered users, according to Zynga. The figure was shared with mobilegamer.biz alongside the announcement of a new game feature, which lets players collect stickers to fill up album pages and earn rewards.
In October 2021, Zynga acquired the Golf Rival franchise and its maker, China-based StarLark, for approximately $525m. The companies celebrated the fantasy-themed game’s fourth anniversary in March 2022 with the news that it had topped 30m downloads.
NetEase Q1 revenue rises 6% to $4.4bn
Chinese tech giant NetEase’s net revenue for Q1 2026 increased 6.1% YoY to hit RMB 30.6bn ($4.4bn).
Games and related value-added services accounted for 84% of its total quarterly revenue, generating RMB 25.7bn ($3.7bn), which was up 6.9% YoY. As was the case in Q1 2025, 97.5% of this segment’s net revenue came from online titles.
NetEase attributed the YoY increases to higher net revenues from self-developed games, including Fantasy Westward Journey and Where Winds Meet.
Its gross profit for the three months ended on March 31, 2026 was up 18.8% YoY to RMB 21.2bn ($3.1bn).
China’s NPPA approved 137 mobile games in May
China’s NPPA, which approves games for release in the country, greenlit 158 titles in May, including 137 mobile games, Niko Partners reports.
Notable approvals included Tencent’s 3D gacha RPG Chasing Kaleidorider, a new Chinese Chinese wuxia game from NetEase, and ByteDance’s new party game Code: Atom.
Total NPPA approvals this year now stand at 779 games, which is up 19% compared to the first five months of 2025. Niko anticipates over 2,300 games will be greenlit by the NPPA this year.
HoYoverse reportedly planning $14.6bn AI investment
Honkai: Star Rail and Genshin Impact publisher HoYoverse is reportedly planning to invest up to $14.6bn in AI over the next three years.
According to GameLook (via GamingonPhoneBiz), HoYoverse co-founder Liu Wei outlined a planned shift toward full-stack in-house AI development during a private technology and recruitment session this month.
Rather than relying on external AI models, Wei said the company intends to develop its own internal AI ecosystem, including training systems, GPU clusters, and application architecture.
The company expects AI to play an increasingly large role in game development, including in NPC systems, automation, content generation, and live-service environments. Wei also said the upcoming life sim Petit Planet will utilise AI NPCs.
New game engine Sparq raises $8.5m
UAE-based startup Sparq Worlds, which is building what it calls an AI-native game engine and creator platform, has opened an $8.5m seed round, with early participation from Andreessen Horowitz’s scout fund, Gulf News reports.
Sparq is designed to let users generate playable 3D games with no programming skills, or to amplify existing developer skillsets. 6,000 creators have signed up to a beta access waitlist, the company says.
Sparq was co-founded in 2024 by CEO Christopher Pail and COO Christoffer Wilhelmsen, former leaders at Avant Labs and NeuralAI respectively.
“We sit between Unreal and Roblox: powerful enough to build real games, simple enough that anyone can do it,” says Wilhelmsen. “Code, visual tools, or just tell it what you want in plain English.”
