On the podcast: misleading ads, Apple’s ‘mobile gaming headwinds’, Roblox results, PlayStudios shenanigans, more
This week’s inside view of the mobile game business.
Hutch cofounder Shaun Rutland teases his new ‘interactive generative video’ studio Anorak
Fellow games veteran David Amor has also joined as COO. Anorak staff are split between Europe and Chengdu. A funding announcement is expected soon.
Data digest: Q3’s top earners, 2026’s biggest new launches, Apple and Google fined, more
We've also got stats from the last ten years of mobile from AppMagic, Capcom and Xbox earnings and milestones for Aniimo, Tiles Survive and 9 Kings in this week's round-up.
ASA bans misleading mobile game ads from King, Scopely, Dark War Survival publisher and more
A "Not actual gameplay" disclaimer wasn't enough to save ads for Farm Heroes Saga, Pixel Flow, Dark War Survival, Last Z and more.
Apple says mobile gaming headwinds held App Store performance flat
Court rulings forcing Apple to open up its stores have also had an impact, says the tech giant. Services still hit a record $31.6bn in its Q4, but growth slowed from 15% to 10% in a year.
The Baby in Yellow: how a 48-hour game jam hit 400m downloads
With 320m installs on Android, 80m on iOS and 100k on Steam, indie studio Team Terrible is pulling in about £2m a year from its hit horror game.
US court blocks Papaya from moving money out of the US as Skillz chases $730m judgment
Papaya moved more than $70m from the US to Israel before its false advertising trial, the court found.
PlayStudios closes Tetris Block Party after cutting 177 jobs and shuttering four studios
The Las Vegas-based mobile publisher’s restructure was announced in March, and still appears to be ongoing, resulting in another Tetris game’s closure. It was also recently at risk of being delisted from the Nasdaq.
Hoyoverse’s life sim Petit Planet launches December 4
The Genshin Impact maker's first life sim arrives on mobile and PC after a year of beta tests.
Jobs digest: moves and promotions at Atari, Supercell, Scopely, Zynga, Tripledot, Voodoo and more
Plus new hires at Loom Games, Gear Games, Tactile, Mistplay, Xsolla, Appcharge and more.
New game digest: Monster Hunter, Saints Row, No Man’s Sky, Digimon, Darkest Dungeon, Cut The Rope, more
There's also new Easybrain games, Everything is Crab and plenty more in this week's round-up.
Roblox shares fall as it beats billings guidance but growth stalls
The UGC platform is facing tough user metric and income comparisons with the explosive growth of 2025. Net losses shrunk a little, though.
Has Ubisoft quietly killed Tencent collab Assassin’s Creed Jade?
Ubisoft seemingly forgot to mention its mobile-exclusive iteration of Assassin’s Creed, subtitled Jade, in its latest franchise update blog. Have Tencent and Ubisoft quietly killed it?
Confused by app store and webshop fees? Try our commission calculator
Just tick a few boxes based on your location, business model and other criteria to get a sense of how much Apple, Google or your webshop provider might take. Includes recent changes to rates in the EU, Japan, Australia and Korea.
EA cofounder Bing Gordon on why EA missed mobile – and what Zynga got right
The industry legend also talks games funding, 'AI fluent' development and why successful companies fear risk.
Unity partners with PvX to offer UA financing to mobile studios
PvX, which has committed $1.3bn in UA funding to date, will vet and fund eligible Unity developers.
Data digest: top ad spender stats, Arrow game analysis, Homescapes hits 774m+ installs, more
Your weekly dose of need-to-know numbers.
This creator says he decompiled Block Blast, Candy Crush and Subway Surfers to reveal their monetisation secrets
"Block Blast isn’t really a puzzle game, it’s more of an ad harvest with a rigged loop built to squeeze every penny out of you."
Tencent-owned Morefun wants to make Roco Kingdom a Pokémon-sized hit in the west
Morefun, the Tencent studio behind Arena Breakout: Infinite, debuted Roco Kingdom in the west at Gamescom – and has big plans for the game's launch in 2027.
Tencent’s big-brand MOBA Pokémon Unite is closing in March 2027
AppMagic estimates suggest it generated around $75m on mobile platforms, from 127m downloads.
Who’s making games for iPhone Duo? Mostly indies, for now
Only three of the 17 non-Arcade games featured by Apple come from big mobile publishers.
