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Neil Long

@Neil_Long_

I run https://nitter.cf/t.co/DJBziH8VPd and cover the games industry. Tips: neil at mobilegamer dot biz. Ex-Apple, Edge, ONM, MCV

mobilegamer.biz
Joined July 2010
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20Media
Photo by Neil Long (@Neil_Long_)Photo by Neil Long (@Neil_Long_)Photo by Neil Long (@Neil_Long_)Photo by Neil Long (@Neil_Long_)Photo by Neil Long (@Neil_Long_)Photo by Neil Long (@Neil_Long_)Photo by Neil Long (@Neil_Long_)Photo by Neil Long (@Neil_Long_)Photo by Neil Long (@Neil_Long_)Photo by Neil Long (@Neil_Long_)
People kept asking for a podcast, so here it is: every week I go on a walk and tell you what’s happening in the mobile games business: pod.link/1822126738
mobilegamer.biz digest

mobilegamer.biz digest

Listen to mobilegamer.biz digest wherever you get your podcasts!

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Hutch cofounder Shaun Rutland is teasing his new ‘interactive generative video’ studio Anorak. It has staff across Europe, in China and David Amor is on board as COO. A funding announcement is expected soon: mobilegamer.biz/hutch-cofoun…
Hutch cofounder Shaun Rutland teases his new ‘interactive generative video’ studio Anorak

Hutch cofounder Shaun Rutland teases his new ‘interactive generative video’ studio Anorak

Fellow games veteran David Amor has also joined as COO. The Anorak team is split between London and Chengdu and is already sharing some of its experiments ahead of an expected funding announcement.

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In this week’s data digest we’ve got Q3's top earners, 2026's biggest new launches, Apple and Google’s $47.6m fine, ten years of stats from AppMagic and plenty more: mobilegamer.biz/data-digest-…
Data digest: Q3’s top earners, 2026’s biggest new launches, Apple and Google fined, more

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.

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The UK's advertising watchdog has banned mobile game ads from King, Scopely, Dark War Survival publisher Omnilojo and more for misleadingly representing their gameplay: mobilegamer.biz/asa-bans-mis…
ASA bans misleading mobile game ads from King, Scopely, Dark War Survival publisher and more

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 King’s Farm Heroes Saga ad.

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Apple says mobile gaming headwinds and various court rulings led to slower growth for the App Store in Q4 – though its services division still hit record revenue of $31.6bn: mobilegamer.biz/apple-says-m…
Apple says mobile gaming headwinds held App Store performance flat

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.

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Indie studio @teamterribledev is pulling in about £2m a year from its hit horror game The Baby in Yellow. Android and iOS are its most popular platforms, with PC a distant third: mobilegamer.biz/the-baby-in-…
The Baby in Yellow: how a 48-hour game jam hit 400m downloads

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.

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The Papaya-Skillz drama continues: a US bankruptcy court has barred Papaya from moving money out of its US bank accounts while Skillz tries to collect the roughly $730m the Solitaire Cash maker owes it: mobilegamer.biz/us-court-blo…
US court blocks Papaya from moving money out of the US as Skillz chases $730m judgment

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.

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It’s been an eventful time for PlayStudios – it just killed Tetris Block Party and earlier this year it closed four studios and cut 177 jobs. It was also under threat of being delisted from the Nasdaq: mobilegamer.biz/playstudios-…
PlayStudios closes Tetris Block Party after cutting 177 jobs and closing four studios

PlayStudios closes Tetris Block Party after cutting 177 jobs and closing 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 deliste…

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Genshin Impact maker Hoyoverse is launching its next game, life sim Petit Planet, on December 4: mobilegamer.biz/hoyoverses-l…
Hoyoverse’s life sim Petit Planet launches December 4

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.

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In this week’s jobs digest we’ve got moves and promotions at Atari, Supercell, Scopely, Zynga, Tripledot, Voodoo, Loom, Tactile and plenty more: mobilegamer.biz/jobs-digest-…
Jobs digest: moves and promotions at Atari, Supercell, Scopely, Zynga, Tripledot, Voodoo and more

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.

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In another busy new game digest we’ve got Monster Hunter, Saints Row, No Man’s Sky, Digimon, Darkest Dungeon, Cut The Rope, Everything is Crab and plenty more: mobilegamer.biz/new-game-dig…
New game digest: Monster Hunter, Saints Row, No Man’s Sky, Digimon, Darkest Dungeon, Cut The Rope,...

New game digest: Monster Hunter, Saints Row, No Man’s Sky, Digimon, Darkest Dungeon, Cut The Rope,...

There’s also new Easybrain games, Everything is Crab and plenty more in this week’s round-up.

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Roblox’s Q3 results show the UGC platform struggling to maintain the explosive growth of 2025, though net losses have shrunk and it beat billings guidance: mobilegamer.biz/roblox-share…
Roblox shares fall as it beats billings guidance but growth stalls

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.

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There was no mention of the mobile exclusive Assassin’s Creed Jade in a new 'franchise update' blog posted today. Have Ubisoft and codeveloped Tencent quietly killed it?mobilegamer.biz/has-ubisoft-…
Has Ubisoft quietly killed Tencent collab Assassin’s Creed Jade?

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?

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Two sections of this week’s podcast were recorded in a Morrisons car park amid light drizzle, can you guess which ones? podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcas…
Those ‘decompiling’ videos, iPhone Duo games, Bing Gordon talks EA, Zynga and AI plus plenty more

Those ‘decompiling’ videos, iPhone Duo games, Bing Gordon talks EA, Zynga and AI plus plenty more

Podcast Episode · mobilegamer.biz digest · 28 October · 20min

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Industry legend Bing Gordon says EA missed the mark in mobile because it was too slow and risk averse – and then it had to watch from the sidelines as Zynga led the way in those explosive early 2010s. More here: mobilegamer.biz/ea-cofounder…
EA cofounder Bing Gordon on why EA missed mobile – and what Zynga got right

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.

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Unity is working with PvX Partners to help mobile studios with user acquisition funding without giving up equity: mobilegamer.biz/unity-partne…
Unity partners with PvX to offer UA financing to mobile studios

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.

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In this week’s data digest we’ve got ad stats from top spenders Gossip Harbor, Pokémon Go and Monopoly Go, a look at the arrow puzzle genre, a big Homescapes stat and plenty more: mobilegamer.biz/data-digest-…
Data digest: top ad spender stats, Arrow game analysis, Homescapes hits 774m+ installs, more

Data digest: top ad spender stats, Arrow game analysis, Homescapes hits 774m+ installs, more

Your weekly dose of need-to-know numbers.

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A creator known as @ayoships claims to have reverse-engineered games like Block Blast, Subway Surfers and Candy Crush Saga to reveal their monetisation secrets: mobilegamer.biz/this-creator…
This creator says he decompiled Block Blast, Candy Crush and Subway Surfers to reveal their...

This creator says he decompiled Block Blast, Candy Crush and Subway Surfers to reveal their...

“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.”

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Roco Kingdom is a creature-collecting webgame with over 300m players in its native China. It’s coming to the west on mobile, console and PC next year, and its creator Tencent has big plans for it: mobilegamer.biz/tencent-owne…
Tencent-owned Morefun wants to make Roco Kingdom a Pokémon-sized hit in the west

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.

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Pokémon Unite is closing down in March 2027. AppMagic estimates suggest the Tencent-made MOBA generated around $75m on mobile platforms from 127m downloads: mobilegamer.biz/tencents-big…
Tencent’s big-brand MOBA Pokémon Unite is closing in March 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.

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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: mobilegamer.biz/whos-making-…
Who’s making games for iPhone Duo? Mostly indies, for now

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.

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