[Last week in games] Squid Game: Unleashed hits No. 1 top free game in 24 countries, 2025 predictions incoming, and more news!

Jan 03, 2025

INDUSTRY NEWS

A Look Back At The Gaming Highs And Lows Of 2024 (kotaku.com)
Games industry predictions for 2025: Generative AI, games as ecosystems, and thrive in '25 (pocketgamer.biz)
Games industry predictions for 2025 part two: More layoffs, the future of UA, and HTML5 explodes in popularity (pocketgamer.biz)
Games industry predictions for 2025 part three: Rewarded UA, the year of AI, and price pressure on Western devs (pocketgamer.biz)
The Ultimate Guide to Monetizing Your Video Game (adriancrook.com)
Mobile Mavens' New Year's resolutions for 2025 part two: Healthy lifestyles, greater accountability, and long-term thinking (pocketgamer.biz)
Mobile Mavens' New Year's resolutions for 2025: Prioritising transparency, valuing developers, and work-life balance (pocketgamer.biz)
2025 will be a big test for Hollywood video game adaptations (polygon.com)
The evolution of pull-the-pin: Why is this a good thing for the games industry (pocketgamer.biz)
Black Myth: Wukong continued its GOTY streak at the Steam Awards (polygon.com)
The big games industry trends and stories to watch in 2025 (pocketgamer.biz)

DoubleU acquires Turkish studio Paxie Games for up to $67m (pocketgamer.biz)
Tango Gameworks rebrands following Krafton acquisition (gamesindustry.biz)
Later acquires social influencer app Mavely for $250M (venturebeat.com)
Swave Photonics raises $28.3M for 3D holographic smartglasses and displays (venturebeat.com)
Show Me The Money: Aonic receives €152m, Vgames lands $142m, and Stillfront secures $227m in December (pocketgamer.biz)

Scopely scores a billion downloads and $10B in revenue to date (venturebeat.com)
December’s top mobile game downloads (mobilegamer.biz)
Netflix's Squid Game: Unleashed hits No. 1 top free game in 24 countries (venturebeat.com)
December’s top grossing mobile games (mobilegamer.biz)
Stardew Valley reaches 41m lifetime sales (gamesindustry.biz)

Valhalla Survival is an upcoming hack-and-slash roguelike for Android and iOS, now open for pre-registration (pocketgamer.com)
Madoka Magica Magia Exedra is an upcoming action RPG based on the hit anime (pocketgamer.com)
Supermarket Store & Mansion is a management sim where you must help Enna rebuild her town after destruction (pocketgamer.com)
Atomic Champions brings competitive block-breaking puzzles to the palm of your hand (pocketgamer.com)

Epic Games files its argument for upholding antitrust ruling against Google (venturebeat.com)
SNK opens new studio for fighting game IPs (gamesindustry.biz)
Report: Apple Has Halted Production Of Its Colossally Expensive Vision Pro VR (kotaku.com)