The mobilegamer.biz podcast is a concise, banter-free digest of what’s driving the mobile games business.

Every week, mobilegamer.biz founder and editor Neil Long goes on a walk and tells you what’s going on in under 20 minutes.

In this episode:

• A bit of a ramble from Summer Game Fest in LA, which had barely any mobile games in it. And actually that makes a lot of sense
• News from Supercell US, which has closed one game project and seems to have wound down another
• New Xbox chief strategy officer Matthew Ball says that mobile is the biggest and most valuable part of the games business – but his first priority is the console business (the part with the least growth potential, he admits)
• EA’s Laura Miele on why fans were unhappy about Command & Conquer Rivals when it launched in 2018
• Metacore confirmed 159 jobs are going in Helsinki, and it’ll be closing its offices in Germany and Sweden
• Loads of data nuggets
• Ambient background sounds from both Grand Hope Park in downtown LA and our usual stomping ground in Hertfordshire, UK

#50, 11/06/26. Supported by Xsolla.

The mobilegamer.biz podcast is a concise, banter-free digest of what’s driving the mobile games business.

Every week, mobilegamer.biz founder and editor Neil Long goes on a walk and tells you what’s going on in under 20 minutes.

In this episode:

• Ilkka Paananen, Todd Green and Mathias Gredal Nørvig have criticised incoming EU proposals that they believe could make free to play games “unplayable in Europe”
• Atari bought Hipster Whale, its latest retro-adjacent acquisition
• Zynga founder Mark Pincus’ thoughts on the art of copying and mobile game design
• The Simpsons takes over Monopoly Go
• Multi-award-winning indie game Consume Me is now on iOS
• Apple has reveals its Design Award winners ahead of WWDC
• Mattel launched its debut firstparty game, Master of the Universe - Skeleton: Until Next Time
• A bit on the brief disappearance of Block Blast from the Play Store last week
• News nuggets from our jobs, new games and data digests
• Why I decided to run a 'best mobilegamer.biz stories you probably haven't read' listicle last Thursday
• Ambient sounds of birdsong, passing dogwalkers and slightly squelchier footsteps thanks to a post-heatwave downpour

#49, 04/06/26. Supported by Xsolla.

The mobilegamer.biz podcast is a concise, banter-free digest of what’s driving the mobile games business.

Every week, mobilegamer.biz founder and editor Neil Long goes on a walk and tells you what’s going on in under 20 minutes.

In this episode:

• We rattle through Take-Two’s financials, which as ever show mobile earning roughly half the company’s cash with earnings from Zynga, Peak, Nordeus, Rollic and others up year-on-year 
• We also pick through Ubisoft’s earnings which the company itself described as a “low point” – mobile is also down and those Rainbow Six and Division launches have been weak
• Hasbro is banking about $40m per quarter from Scopely thanks to Monopoly Go – easy money, and perhaps the best bit of licensing business ever(?)
• SciPlay has made staff cuts as its social casino portfolio declines, though D2C is rising and there’s a startling stat about the average monthly spend of a paying player
• There’s also your regular data nuggets featuring Neverness to Everness, Tencent Games’ astonishing quarterly earnings, the top grossing games in the US and the most-advertised mobile games
• We’ve also updated our soft launch list to include another new Metacore beta, and there are three new Century Games titles incoming, according to Appmagic
• Ambient audio highlights include some delightful birdsong from the woods, gravel underfoot and a couple of sections recorded on a path near a Costa during a record-breaking heatwave

#48, 28/05/26. Supported by Xsolla.

A concise inside view of the mobile game business.

This week:

• Is it the last roll of the dice for Supercell’s monster hunting game Mo.co…? It was rebooted after struggling to get much traction, and is earning way less than Squad Busters did before that was killed
• Fortnite is back on the iOS App Store worldwide (minus Australia), and so of course Epic took a couple of swings at Apple as part of the announcement
• Nintendo has a new mobile game coming out, which looks a bit like WarioWare, but based on your photos
• A brisk look at what’s going on with Embracer’s mobile arm – essentially CrazyLabs, A Thinking Ape and Deca – which seems to be struggling and might be next to be sold off 
• Quick thoughts on those Wooga layoffs and how not to announce job cuts
• A rattle through Apple’s Design Awards nominees, which include Inkle, FuturLab, Devolver and the minds behind Arknights: Endfield
• Rapidfire jobs, data and new games news
• A very noisy passing motorbike right at the end of the podcast that really put me off my stride

#47, 21/05/26. Supported by Xsolla. 

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Hang on, what's going on here? Every week mobilegamer.biz founder and editor Neil Long goes on a walk and explains what's happening in the mobile game business in under 20 minutes. That's it.

A concise inside view of the mobile game business.

This week:

– A look at the grim Rovio news from Sega’s latest financial report, including a clarification over their translation of restructure/rebuild

– Playtika’s transition into a casual game maker is complete, according to its latest earnings report, and social casino is yesterday’s news at the Israeli firm apparently 

– Unity also put out its financials, and that new Vector adtech seems to be going well, but the firm has not yet sold off Supersonic just yet. It's bullish on its UnityAI tech, too

– Some thoughts on what investors want from pitches in the current climate, based on the chatter and panels at last week’s Madeira Games Summit

– A rattle through some data nuggets (we skipped soft launch and new game news this week to keep it at a tight 20 minutes)

– Background noises including some very light foot-on-gravel sounds, a group of chattering schoolkids passing by and one particularly noisy car

#46, 14/05/26. Supported by Xsolla. 

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Hang on, what's going on here? Every week mobilegamer.biz founder and editor Neil Long goes on a walk and explains what's happening in the mobile game business in under 20 minutes. That's it.

A concise inside view of the mobile game business.

This week:

– Metacore is to cut up to 160 staff and refocus purely on Merge Mansion as it becomes part of Supercell, which has bought it out and will absorb it fully, like it did with Space Ape

– News of 16 staff cut at Marvel Snap maker Second Dinner, though we're told the second game is not affected

– An overview of a fascinating fireside chat between Scopely and Niantic that chronicled how that $3.5bn megadeal happened

– April's top grossing games and biggest downloads, according to Appmagic, including a surprise appearance from Minecraft

– All your usual data, jobs and new game nuggets

– A new whooshing sound between sections, annoying and unfixable audio issues in the Supercell part and the very distant sound of the Atlantic ocean

#45, 07/05/26. Supported by Xsolla. 

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Hang on, what's going on here? Every week mobilegamer.biz founder and editor Neil Long goes on a walk and explains what's happening in the mobile game business in under 20 minutes. That's it.

A concise inside view of the mobile game business.

This week:

– A look at what the various statements coming out of Xbox in the last week mean for its vast mobile business, which was barely mentioned at all despite the platform's new 'North Star' being daily active players

– Highlights from a chat with Sybo boss Mathias in which I asked about that long-rumoured Subway Surfers movie, how those two new Subway Surfers games are doing and how being part of Miniclip (and therefore Tencent) has changed the studio

– A quick look at the world of emulation on the App Store – 60m downloads and counting! – in which one developer notes that Apple's backend is dated and not up to standard given the chunk it takes out of all IAPs

– A quick one on the closure of Peridot, Niantic Spatial's virtual pet / AR game which struggled since launch and was not bought by Scopely when it acquired the other Niantic games

– All your usual soft launch, data and new game nuggets

– Slightly fewer ambient sounds than usual, though there is gravel underfoot and a bit with some drilling

#44, 30/04/26. Supported by Xsolla. 

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Hang on, what's going on here? Every week mobilegamer.biz founder and editor Neil Long goes on a walk and explains what's happening in the mobile game business in under 20 minutes. That's it.

A concise inside view of the mobile game business.

This week:

– Probably too many thoughts on Apple's role in, and contribution to, the games business during the 15 years Tim Cook has been in charge

– An overview of our GDC chat with Google Cloud games boss Jack Buser, in which he claimed that practically all major game studios are using AI in game development but they appear to be hiding it from players

– A rattle through Ilkka Paananen's BAFTA Fellowship speech (and a quick side note about Shuhei Yoshida's gaming habits)

– A bit about the great indie auteur Philipp Stollenmayer and a nod to the game comedian James Acaster is narrating, Perchang World

– All your usual data, jobs and new game nuggets

– Plus! Ambient sounds and birdsong from a really lovely wood near my house, and at least two confused dog walkers passing by

#43, 23/04/26. Supported by Xsolla. 

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Hang on, what's going on here? Every week mobilegamer.biz founder and editor Neil Long goes on a walk and explains what's happening in the mobile game business in under 20 minutes. That's it.

A concise inside view of the mobile game business.

This week:

– Is Destiny: Rising doomed? Players like the latest update, but it may not be enough

– Thoughts on our King interview in which VP Eva Ryott addresses those layoffs plus our reports on AI and company culture for the first time. They also talk about how market competition led to them adding a major new feature in Candy Crush Saga

– Some possibly too detailed stats on March's top performing games from Appmagic

– A rattle through the regular data and soft launch games articles

– A brief explanation of that very odd Dream Games story we published earlier this week

– Plus! Ambient London sounds from alongside the River Thames and around Tower Bridge, including some pretty annoying drilling and tourist chatter 

#42, 16/04/26. Supported by Xsolla. 

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Hang on, what's going on here? Every week mobilegamer.biz founder and editor Neil Long goes on a walk and explains what's happening in the mobile game business in under 20 minutes. That's it.

A concise inside view of the mobile game business.

This week:

– Playtika is effectively up for sale again, and is reportedly worth ~$3bn

– Lots of data nuggets including Q1's top games and best performing markets (China, Singapore and Turkey are up, US is down)

– Some quick thoughts on Ilkka Paananen's BAFTA fellowship and Netflix Playground, the streaming giant's play for the kids market

– A rattle through some jobs and new game news

– Thoughts on our second critics' week, in which game critics I like write about mobile games and I take a week off, sort of

– Ambient sounds including foot-on-gravel, birdsong and the hubbub of people enjoying the sunshine in the park near St Albans Cathedral. Plus! A thrilling echoey bit in an underpass as I talk about Monster Hunter Now, confusing several passersby

#41, 09/04/26. Supported by Xsolla. 

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Hang on, what's going on here? Every week mobilegamer.biz founder and editor Neil Long goes on a walk and explains what's happening in the mobile game business in under 20 minutes. That's it.