Jason Citron’s Discord Exit

𝗝𝗮𝘀𝗼𝗻 𝗖𝗶𝘁𝗿𝗼𝗻'𝘀 𝗗𝗶𝘀𝗰𝗼𝗿𝗱 𝗘𝘅𝗶𝘁 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗡𝗲𝗲𝗱𝗲𝗱 𝗚𝗮𝗺𝗲 𝗠𝘆𝘁𝗵𝗼𝘀 Discord represented gaming's best chance to be recognized among tech's elite. A recognition that increasingly means political influence rather than only the validation the games industry always seeks. Jason Citron, founder and longtime Discord CEO, is stepping down at a pivotal moment, as the company gears up for an IPO. It's a significant blow to what ought to be gaming's broader ambition: claiming a seat at tech's most influential table, dominated by founder-CEO figures like Zuckerberg (Meta), Chesky (Airbnb), the Collisons (Stripe), and Ek (Spotify). Founder CEOs craft mystical founding narratives, something gaming needs but rarely cultivates. Tech founders have dramatizations like The Social Network, The Playlist (Spotify), or Super Pumped (Uber). Gaming had a chance to elevate its mythos with the unironically named 'Mythic Quest', our version of 'Silicon Valley', […]

Phillip Black April 25

Highlights

Blocking App Store Competition: EU Hits Apple With $570M Fine

Apple’s $570M Reality Check Here Apple just got a €500 million wake-up call from the EU for violating the Digital Markets Act (DMA). At the heart of it? Anti-steering practices. The tech titan blocked developers from guiding users to better deals outside the App Store, breaking the DMA’s rulebook on fair play and consumer choice. Despite attempts to dodge the rules with workaround terms, Apple still took a cut, even when developers linked to external stores. Now, the EU demands a full stop: remove all restrictions and don’t even think about repeating the stunt. Apple has 60 days to clean up or face rolling penalties. Epic Weighs In Epic Games cheered the ruling, urging other global regulators—from the UK to Brazil—to follow suit. They say it’s time to break Apple’s grip on digital markets and restore real choice and innovation. […]

Gamigion April 24

Journal

The Reality of Video Game Investments

The Reality of Video Game Investments Even now, pre-seed and seed rounds are competitive for investors: everyone wants to be the one who discovered the talent and had the highest ROI. Fund investors expect VCs to do exactly that. This leads to situations where most VCs want to participate in the first round but are reluctant to join following rounds if they weren't in early. After all, what’s the point for LPs to back them otherwise? This is especially true for gaming VCs, where LPs expect not just financial returns from their VCs but also co-investment opportunities and market insights, so the funds with the best access to original deal flow win. This creates a vacuum at the Series A and later stages, which can be a brutal wake-up call for founders who previously enjoyed FOMO-driven fundraising because of their […]

Ilia Eremeev April 24

Highlights

Top 10 Hybridcasual Games in Q1 2025: The Great Puzzle Takeover

The Great Genre Shift: from Hyper to Hybrid Last year was all about embracing Hybridcasual and adding depth to Hypercasual. Both large publishers and small studios took the simple, catchy cores of Hypercasual games and layered them with Casual features, adding boosters, meta systems, and more refined monetization. We covered this shift in detail in our Casual Games Report 2024! This wave of change also led us to adjust our own approach. As developers enhanced their UA with LiveOps and monetization upgrades, we realized it was time to level up our reporting, too, which is why our quarterly Hypercasual Games reports are going Hybridcasual! IAP growth of the Hypercasual market If you’re familiar with our navigation system (and if not, just have a quick look here), you might be wondering how we analyzed the Hybridcasual segment if there’s no dedicated tag for […]

Andrei Zubov April 23

Analysis

Midcore Made You Click (And Lied About It)

Let’s be honest: Midcore games didn’t just define the genre. They defined the art of misleading ads. Remember this? A hero climbing a deadly tower… (not in the game) Epic boss fights with 5-button combos… (not in the game) A full-on dungeon crawler? Nope. Just a turn-based RPG under the hood. And the wild part? It worked. For years. Because showing the actual game was either: 1. Too complex 2. Too boring 3. Or just too mid So they did what marketers do best: They sold the fantasy. Not the product. --- 🧠 The “Promise” Era The golden era of fake ads wasn’t about fraud. It was about emotion-first targeting. UA teams optimized for: curiosity frustration problem-solving instinct Not clarity. It was smart — until it broke. Now, everyone’s seen the traps. Everyone’s watched tower puzzles turn into turn-based […]

George Tsomaev April 23

Journal

Top 10 Hybridcasual Games in Q1 2025

Top 10 Hybridcasual Games in Q1 2025: The Great Puzzle Takeover 🧩 With the trend of Hypercasual games enhancing their UA and monetization, we knew it was time—our quarterly reports had to go Hybridcasual too! 🏁So, here we go!In this article, we’ll cover:📈 The dynamics of the Hybridcasual games market: +67% YoY in net IAP revenue 🔎 Key Hybridcasual market trends: meta and boosters from Match-3 and Social Casino 👑 Leading titles and how they innovate: analysing the success of Сolor Block Jam, All in Hole, Mob Control, and Screwdom The full report here.Let us know in the comments what you think about this format 💛

Andrei Zubov April 23

Journal

For those looking to understand the mobile market.

For those looking to understand the mobile market, A treasure trove of data in Udonis' 2025 blog post...Some highlights:• There are over 700,000 mobile games on iOS/GP• Users spend 3.5 hr/d on mobile devices, 11% on games• Roblox was most downloaded mobile game in 2024.• Azur Games was the most downloaded publisher, by a long shot (1.4B DL)• Monopoly GO was the highest-earning game • Tencent was the top-earning Publisher• US aOS Banner Ad eCPM are 2x iOS' ($0.60 vs. $0.27)

Matthew Emery April 22

Highlights

Mobile Gaming Today: April’22 Week

Ciao Fam, Heading to HGC Berlin soon. Hit me up if around 🕺🏻 👌🏻 Top Gaming Content » Royal Kingdom’s Hollywood Power Play: Last Hurrah or Royal Rebirth? Launching a new Match-3 game in today’s mobile market is like trying to sell umbrellas in the Sahara. Saturation, soaring CPIs, and razor-thin differentiation margins make even the most technically sound games struggle to scale. When Dream Games soft-launched Royal Kingdom two years ago, they entered this same storm, which quickly showed itself. After years of pivots and a rocky soft launch, Royal Kingdom is back. This time with what may be mobile gaming’s priciest celebrity campaign, starring LeBron James, Jimmy Fallon & Shakira. Dream Games’ high-stakes play has reignited speculation: is this a desperate revival, or the launchpad for a broader Royal IP? Now, nearly a clone of Royal Match, Dream’s […]

Ömer Yakabagi April 22

Journal

10 funding options to bring your game to life.

In recent years, I've secured funding for 6 different projects. Here are 10 funding options to bring your game to life:---- 1. PUBLISHERS ----• Funding: $50k to several million• Terms: Revenue share, milestone payments, creative control clauses• PC/Console Publishers - https://lnkd.in/eXpN_nve• Mobile Publishers - https://lnkd.in/eFrqyyWh---- 2. VC INVESTORS ----• Funding: $300k to $10M+• Terms: Equity stake, convertible notes, valuation-based funding• List of VCs Investing in Games - https://lnkd.in/eExR25kB---- 3. ANGEL INVESTORS ----• Funding: $10k to $500k• Terms: Early equity, advisory roles• Top Angel Investors (Shizune) - https://lnkd.in/edy-UVy3• Playcap - https://www.playcap.gg/---- 4. ACCELERATORS ----• Funding: $20k to $150k+• Terms: Equity for funding, demo day presentations• Accelerators List - https://lnkd.in/eHY5acAg• Incubator List - https://lnkd.in/ehW4qwPu---- 5. CORPORATE GRANTS ----• Funding: $5k to $500k• Terms: Non-repayable funds, reporting requirements• Epic MegaGrants - https://lnkd.in/eq-FTZsQ• Indie Fund - https://indie-fund.com/• Games for Change Grant - https://lnkd.in/egUEbe8d---- 6. […]

Anton Slashcev April 22

Journal

Best Game Devs don’t work at Blizzard, Riot, King, Playrix, or Supercell.

Unpopular opinion: the best game developers don’t work at Blizzard, Riot, King, Playrix, or Supercell. Some of the best minds in game dev are building alone or in tiny teams. And they’re not just making noise.They’re topping the charts.Recent proof:• Lethal Company – Solo dev. Outsold AAA titles. Viral on Twitch and TikTok.• Balatro – Made by a small team. Hit $1M in sales in 1 day.• Palworld – Team of 40. Outsold Call of Duty and Pokémon.• Dave the Diver – Built like an indie. Game Awards nominee. Massive commercial success.These aren't lucky breaks. They're signals.At big studios:• You work on one piece of a massive machine• There’s process, politics, and polish• Creativity comes with constraintsIn small teams:• You move fast• You take risks• You make weird, unforgettable gamesThere’s no safety net. No backup plan. Just vision and execution.The […]

Anton Slashcev April 22

Journal

Mobile Games losing ground to Social Media? 🤔

Are mobile games losing ground to social media? 🤔 Industry believes YES. But what does data say?𝗕𝗲𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗳𝘂𝗿𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿, see if you can guess which app corresponds with each engagement trendline below!I would have guessed this very, very wrong. 😅--SPOILERS BELOW--The takeaways:1. 𝗬𝗼𝘂𝘁𝘂𝗯𝗲 is an absolute juggernaut. #1 in the dataset in 2021 and its lead has grown since (by 19%). 2. 𝗠𝗼𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗲 𝗴𝗮𝗺𝗲𝘀 playtime share has decreased, 𝗯𝘆 𝟴%. Nontrivial, but less than I expected. In aggregate hours, 𝗴𝗮𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗼𝗻𝗹𝘆 𝗹𝗼𝘀𝘁 𝟱%.3. Another study put 𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝗴𝗮𝗺𝗲𝘀 at 𝟭𝟭% of usage in '24. With 8% decrease, that's 𝟭𝟮% -> 𝟭𝟭% over timeframe.3. 𝗙𝗮𝗰𝗲𝗯𝗼𝗼𝗸 has lost big: 20% of its usage since 2021. 4. 𝗜𝗻𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗴𝗿𝗮𝗺 grew 20%, compensating 50% FB's losses.5. 𝗧𝗶𝗸𝘁𝗼𝗸'𝘀 share actually fell (16.1% -> 14.8%) 😮6. 𝗦𝘁𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗺𝗼𝘃𝗶𝗲𝘀/𝗧𝗩 smaller than expected; has lost 20% since 2021 (1.9% -> 1.5%)7. In […]

Matthew Emery April 21

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