Industry Spotlight
Developer Stories: Zynga’s Katie Ites on getting into games and working on Game of Thrones Legends
In our developer stories series, we highlight the talented team members currently working in the games industry
Jobs News
Mobile Movers: All the latest appointments and job moves from around the industry
Who's moving where?… There's new roles at FRVR, Raptor PR, Supercell, Krafton, Gadsme, Zynga, Xsolla, Netflix and more…
Jobs In Games
FRVR names Quentin Staes-Polet as its new CEO
Staes-Polet has over 25 years of experience from leadership roles at Epic Games, Unity, Take 2 Interactive, and Ankama
Jobs In Games
Krafton taps Jin Oh as their new chief global publishing officer
Oh will lead Krafton's global publishing and international business operations from September
Jobs In Games
Supercell appoints Gerard Griffin as its new CFO
Griffin will work together with Supercell leadership to grow the company and contribute to business decisions
Studio Closure
Supercell-backed studio Shipyard Games closes as investment dries up
The Helsinki-based geolocation games studio has slipped away quietly with a Discord message revealing its closure
Bungie Breakdown
Is Destiny Mobile to blame for Bungie’s fall from grace?
Insiders are coming out of the woodwork to portion blame within the troubled giant
Executive Exit
Roblox CFO steps down
Michael Guthrie first joined the firm in 2018 and was part of the team that took it public in March 2021
Mass Redundancies
Intel to lay off 15,000 staff as part of $10 billion cost savings plan
Plans will impact 15% of the company's workforce
New Leadership
Jan Richter succeeds Ralph Stock as CEO of Sixteen Tons Entertainment
Richter has played a key role in developing successful titles at EA, Bigpoint, Mighty Bear Games, and ZeptoLab
Layoffs
Bungie to lose 220 staff as it takes "a new path"
The Destiny, Halo and Marathon game dev giant is just the latest victim to fall foul of rising costs versus revenue rewards
Jobs News
Xsolla appoints former Kami Vision and Samsung exec as new chief financial officer
Cathleen Nilson has previously worked at Google, EA and Intel, among other firms
Layoffs
Humble Games denies shutting down after reportedly laying off all staff
36 employees said to be impacted by decision as publisher says it's going through another restructure
New Boss
Netflix recruits Epic exec Alain Tascan as president of games division
He replaces former VP of games Mike Verdu, who exited the role last month
Executive Departures
Perfect World CEO and co-CEO resign after mass layoffs
Senior VP Gu Liming takes reins at Chinese developer
Job Losses
Report: Mortal Kombat studio NetherRealm lays off mobile team
One report claims at least 50 staff impacted by the move
Jobs News
Kickstarter names former Exploding Kittens sales manager as new head of games
Previous incumbent Jonathan Ritter-Roderick moves to head of creator strategy in newly formed performance team
Layoffs News
Report: Microsoft shuts down diversity, equity and inclusion team
An internal email alleges that Microsoft executives faced investigations and evidence of discrimination
Job Losses
160 jobs axed as Scottish animation firm Axis Studios goes into administration
Decline in new projects and increasing labour costs led to "severe cash flow problems" before collapse
Keeping Cookin'
Celebrating 10 years of Cooking Fever and Nordcurrent’s sustained success
Viktorija Trofimova, the company’s co-founder and CEO talks expansion, attracting talent and how to keep a game hot for a decade
Jobs In Games
Roblox appoints former Xbox and Netflix man Jerret West as CMO
Roblox will leverage West's experience with global teams to drive international growth
New Appointments
InnoGames appoints Sebastian Goldt as its new CMO
The former director of growth will now oversee all marketing activities for the company behind $1 billion-earner Forge of Empires
Job Losses
BeReal hit by layoffs following Voodoo acquisition
Around 28 staff impacted by job losses; photo-sharing app maker reportedly had 60 employees earlier this year
New Hire
Tactile Games hires ex-FunPlus director of marketing Jacob Krüger as CMO
Krüger will help company scale its UA efforts and launch new titles
Job Losses
Gameloft Toronto lays off 49 staff
Publisher blames "ever-changing market conditions" for the redundancies
Job Losses
Reports: One Punch Man: World developer Perfect World lays off as many as 1,000 staff
The Chinese media firm is is also said to have halted worked on One Punch Man: World and Perfect New World
Jobs In Games
Games veteran Mike Seavers joins Scopely as their new SVP of technology
The ex-Riot Games, Epic Games and Yuga Labs veteran is “excited about the many Scopely projects underway that I can’t yet share!”
Hybrid Hire
Cat Escape maker Sunday appoints ex-SYBO Christian Balazs in shift away from hypercasual
Sunday has made a "pivotal" hire in a move to broaden into hybridcasual games
Jobs News
Unity restructure continues as CMO set to exit firm
Carpenter joins IronSource co-founders and Marc Whitten out the door this year
A New Challenge
Unity pulls out the big guns, appointing 'Major Nelson' Larry Hryb to new Director of Community role
Hryb previously spent years guiding Microsoft’s gaming efforts and the Xbox brand to power
Homa Hire
Homa appoints Scopely veteran Dan Adair as VP and general manager of hybridcasual
Dan Adair will greenlight hybridcasual projects and make key hires to build up the team
Job Losses
Sumo Group to lay off up to 15% of staff
As many as 250 staff across its UK, Canada, Poland, Czech Republic and India offices could be impacted
Financial Outlook
Pixel Federation appoints Daniel Duranka as CEO after a profitable year
The Slovak company stayed profitable in 2023 as it earned over £42 million in revenue
Financials
Serbia's 15 most successful gaming companies made €175m in 2023
The Serbian Games Association reports revenue is up 17% year-on-year with 475 new positions being opened this year
Skills Gap
Evolving the leadership at Sumo to bridge the industry skills gap
Jenny Muhlwa shares her insight into the gaming industry's skills gap and how Sumo’s Evolve leadership programme aims to deliver the goods
Jobs News
PlayStation names new CEOs Hermen Hulst and Hideaki Nishino
The duo replace Jim Ryan, who exited the company after 30 years
Resignation
Marc Whitten is out at Unity
His resignation is on the table and he'll be paid off at the end of the year with, as yet, no plans for his replacement
Layoffs
Square Enix braces for layoffs in US and Europe
IT, publishing and Square Enix Collective teams set to be hit by redundancies
Job Losses
Australian dev Mighty Kingdom layoffs of 28% of staff
Studio expects annualised cost savings of $2.1 million
Job Losses
Microsoft closes Mighty Doom dev Alpha Dog, Arkane Austin, Tango Gameworks and more
Bethesda the latest in the firing line following 1,900+ layoffs at Activision and Xbox earlier this year
Job News
GEM Capital appoints three new advisory board members
This will shape the future of gaming investing for many years to come," said GEM Capital’s managing director Roman Gurskiy
Week That Was
Week in Views - The search for skills, billion dollar birthdays and terrific transmedia
The Pocketgamer.biz team pick their highlights from the headlines this week and deliver the stories behind the stories
Skills Crisis
UK skills crisis prompts call for games industry-led body to tackle key challenges
Report reveals shortages of mid-to-senior level staff and lack of opportunities for junior developers
Job Losses
GTA publisher Take-Two to cut 5% of staff as it cancels new games
Move will cost up to $200 million
Spring Survey
Values Value and InGame Job launch the Big Games Industry Employment Survey 2024
The survey is looking to understand how layoffs are affecting confidence in the future of the games industry
Job Cuts
Ubisoft's woes continue with 45 further redundancies across the globe
The giant continues to shed staff as it gets a grip on falling profits and a slowdown in mobile activity
Loads Of Layoffs
Sega lays off 240 employees and sells Relic Entertainment
Sega Europe, Creative Assembly and Sega HARDlight are all affected by the layoffs
King Calls
King appoints ex-TomTom and Zalando exec Eric Bowman as CTO
Steve Colins steps down from the role to explore AI and return to investment world
Jobs News
Mobile Movers: All the latest appointments and job moves from around the industry
Moving and shaking - there's new roles at Supercell, Keywords Studios, Microsoft, Griffin Gaming Partners, AdInMo and The Games Fund
Job Losses
Tennis Clash developer Wildlife Studios lays off 133 staff
"Our investment in new games remains unaffected"