Global reports and market data
9,102 documents·368 writers·28,548 charts and tables
Documents
Extra Credits103 min
Playstation Done Disking Around, Krafton Cash & The KIDS Act is Awful | Games For Breakfast
The gaming industry is undergoing a fundamental transition toward a digital-only ecosystem, marked by Sony’s decision to phase out physical game disc production by 2028.
- Sony plans to phase out physical game disc production by 2028, signaling a transition to a digital-only ecosystem that eliminates secondary markets and true consumer ownership.
- The shift to digital-only distribution creates risks for long-term game preservation, as users face potential loss of access due to licensing expirations and arbitrary content removal.
- Legislative proposals like the Kids Internet and Digital Safety (KIDS) Act are facing criticism for potentially compromising user privacy through mandatory age-verification requirements.
Extra CreditsJul 2026
Two & a Half Gamers12 min
🚨📢 BREAKING NEWS: Stillfront's CEO Steps Down + AdColony Sold for Under $5M + Meowdoku Hits 1.7M DAU
The mobile gaming industry is currently experiencing a period of rapid structural shifts, characterized by the decline of aggressive roll-up business models and the emergence of new, high-growth casual titles.
- Stillfront's CEO is stepping down following a period of declining revenue, downloads, and share price, signaling the risks of roll-up business models that rely on high valuations for acquisitions.
- The casual puzzle game Meowdoku scaled from 15,000 to 1.7 million DAU since mid-May by combining Sudoku mechanics with cat-themed aesthetics, generating estimated daily ad revenues of $70,000 to $120,000.
- Affle acquired the AdColony brand and technology assets from Digital Turbine for less than $5 million, gaining access to approximately 80,000 existing app integrations.
Two & a Half GamersJul 2026
Whitepaper25 pages
Embodied Entrepreneurship: Exploring How an Analogue Role-Play Game Develops Entrepreneurial Mindsets in Master's Engineering Students
The document explores the efficacy of "The Entrepreneurial Journey Game," an analogue role-play simulation, in developing entrepreneurial mindsets among Master's engineering students.
- A pre- and post-game survey of 26 complete responses (from 37 participants) at University College Dublin showed self-reported entrepreneurial intention rising from a mean of 3.50 to 4.00, and perceived ability to handle uncertainty rising from 3.31 to 3.88.
- Idea validation showed the largest gain of any measured area, moving from 3.13 to 4.37, and 92% of respondents reported feeling more comfortable with entrepreneurial tasks afterward (overall comfort averaged 4.31).
- The results are descriptive cohort-level trends rather than statistically confirmed effects, since no inferential tests were applied and responses were unlinked.
DiGRAJul 2026
Two & a Half Gamers32 min
🎮 Full Steam Ahead: The Q1 Steam games that should hit mobile
Mobile gaming currently suffers from a stagnation of creative concepts, relying heavily on the adaptation of successful mechanics pioneered on the Steam platform.
- The deck-building genre represents a massive growth opportunity, evidenced by Slay the Spire increasing its revenue from $53 million to $140 million in a single quarter, with projections reaching $250 million by year-end.
- High-performing Q1 Steam titles demonstrate that unique gameplay loops—such as physics-based puzzles, room-cleaning simulations, and roguelike variations of traditional gambling games—are prime candidates for mobile adaptation.
- Mobile gaming currently relies on adapting successful Steam mechanics to overcome creative stagnation and drive user acquisition.
Two & a Half GamersJul 2026
Deconstructor of Fun66 min
TWIG #390: Destiny Ends, Xbox's Biggest Layoff Ever, and Google Play's New Fee Chaos
The global video game industry is currently undergoing a painful period of structural realignment, characterized by the collapse of overly ambitious acquisition strategies and a pivot toward extreme fiscal conservatism.
- Sony’s $3.6 billion acquisition of Bungie has resulted in $766 million in impairment charges and the loss of over 600 jobs, highlighting the failure of the strategy to integrate independent studios into live-service operations.
- Microsoft is pivoting the Xbox division toward a 'fewer, bigger, better' strategy, prioritizing high-performing blockbuster franchises over niche titles to satisfy investor demands for immediate financial sustainability.
- The Xbox Series X has seen its pricing rise to $800, a move that effectively cedes competitive advantage to the PlayStation 5 as Microsoft shifts toward a digital-first, high-margin model.
Deconstructor of FunJul 2026
The Game Business60 min
Xbox divided over its future, and do people even buy physical PlayStation games?
The gaming industry is currently undergoing a structural transformation characterized by a transition toward digital-first distribution and a move away from traditional, rigid publishing models.
- Sony plans to cease physical disc production by 2028, marking a definitive shift toward a digital-only distribution model.
- Publishers are moving away from fixed, long-term headcount toward decentralized, scalable partnerships to improve operational agility and reduce costs.
- The industry is pivoting toward a middle-market model that prioritizes realistic, genre-specific budgeting over the pursuit of unpredictable, high-budget outlier successes.
The Game BusinessJul 2026
PocketGamer.biz39 min
NEW ** Panel: Payment Links vs. Web Stores: What Actually Drives Incremental DTC Revenue?
Direct-to-consumer (DTC) strategies have evolved into a critical component of the global mobile gaming market, which currently stands at $81.8 billion.
- Direct-to-consumer (DTC) revenue in the gaming industry has reached a $12 billion market size, with successful studios currently achieving between 15% and 30% of their total revenue through these channels.
- Industry leaders, including those at DECA, report that mature titles can reach up to 40% or more of their revenue through DTC, with expectations that large studios could reach 50% within a few years.
- DTC strategies should be viewed as a funnel where payment links are used for high-conversion in-game transactions, eventually transitioning players to web stores that offer better value and long-term loyalty.
PocketGamer.bizJul 2026
PocketGamer.biz22 min
Session: How to Make a Successful Web Game in 2026: What Actually Works - R. Dincer & R. Morgan.
The web gaming industry is undergoing a significant evolution, characterized by increased accessibility and a shift toward higher-fidelity experiences.
- Web games are increasingly viable for developers, with platforms like Crazy Games managing over 5,000 partners and receiving approximately 2,500 game submissions per month.
- Browser-based gaming maintains a strong desktop presence, with desktop users accounting for 65% to 70% of the audience on platforms like Crazy Games.
- Game performance and accessibility are critical for retention, as large, unoptimized projects often lose half their potential audience before the game even starts.
PocketGamer.bizJul 2026
Jason Schreier19 min
Inside The $250 Million Subnautica 2 Battle
The legal and corporate conflict surrounding the release of Subnautica 2 centers on a $250 million performance-based bonus that the publisher, Krafton, attempted to avoid paying to the developer, Unknown Worlds Entertainment.
- A Delaware court ruled in March 2026 that Krafton attempted to terminate the leadership of Unknown Worlds Entertainment to avoid paying a $250 million performance-based bonus tied to the acquisition of the studio.
- The court found Krafton’s allegations of data theft and neglect of duty against CEO Ted Gill and co-founders Charlie Cleveland and Max McGuire to be pretextual maneuvers designed to evade contractual obligations.
- A July 2026 settlement mandated that the $250 million bonus be paid to studio employees, including staff previously excluded from the original incentive agreement, with payments distributed in installments through 2028.
Jason SchreierJul 2026
PocketGamer.biz29 min
Supercell's Vladislav Perge talks Community Management In 2025
Community management in 2025 requires a shift from traditional, scripted PR approaches toward authentic, human-centric engagement.
- Effective community management in 2025 requires moving away from formal, PR-style communication like 'Dear players' in favor of authentic, human-to-human interaction.
- Community managers should prioritize identifying and nurturing passionate, grassroots content creators over those with high follower counts, as passion is a more reliable indicator of long-term community growth.
- Transparency is critical to preventing toxic speculation; if a game issue arises, developers should immediately acknowledge the problem and signal that it is being addressed, even if a final solution is not yet ready.
PocketGamer.bizJul 2026
PocketGamer.biz16 min
Session: Game Data for All: How AI Is Reinventing Game Analytics - Orly Shoavi, ClarityQ.
The integration of generative AI into game analytics aims to democratize data access by enabling non-technical stakeholders to query complex datasets using natural language.
- Effective AI-driven game analytics requires a 'context builder' layer that integrates data from warehouses, BI tools, and internal documentation to accurately interpret game-specific terminology, such as mapping 'missions' to 'levels' or defining unique metric calculations like ARPU and churn.
- The primary bottleneck in game analytics is the reliance on human analysts to manually query petabytes of data, a process that can be automated by AI agents capable of generating accurate SQL queries based on a company's specific semantic layer.
- AI analytics platforms must incorporate 'skills' and 'memory' to be effective, allowing teams to automate recurring tasks like release performance analysis and to maintain persistent preferences, such as excluding specific countries from data sets.
PocketGamer.bizJul 2026
PocketGamer.biz21 min
Session: From Workflows to Agents: The AI Shift Redefining UA Creative Production - I. Kuznetsov.
The shift from static AI workflows to autonomous agentic systems is fundamentally redefining user acquisition (UA) creative production in the mobile gaming industry.
- Top-performing mobile developers are now shipping up to 15,000 creative assets per quarter, with many studios tripling their ad iteration volume over the last three to four months.
- Fully automated AI creative workflows using UGC components have demonstrated significant performance gains, including 4% lower CPI, 7% higher CTR, and 8% higher ROAS compared to control groups.
- The shift from manual node-based AI workflows to agentic systems allows teams to generate multi-format ad campaigns from a single brief, eliminating the need to write individual prompts for every concept.
PocketGamer.bizJul 2026