Everyone's got a Netflix Games opinion

Here's mine: yes, that triple-A project always seemed a bit fanciful. But look closer at what else the streaming giant has cooking and its next steps become a little clearer.

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Hello, I’m Neil, I run mobilegamer.biz. Thanks for subscribing to this newsletter.

My weekly editorial follows below this week’s stories. It’s for paying subscribers only – to read it, stick a paid sub on expenses here:

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This week’s stories:

New games digest: Destiny Rising alpha details, Pokémon, Neko Atsume 2, Royal Kingdom, Dark and Darker, Carrion and more

We've also got Netflix's new daily word game, Rovio's latest soft launch, Part Time UFO's demise, Moonton's new autochess game and more in this week's round-up.

Layoffs at AppLovin and Machine Zone, maker of Game of War and Mobile Strike

UPDATE: AppLovin has laid off over 120 staff this month, according to public data. Sources say one game in R&D was cancelled, and speculated that AppLovin's entire product team was let go after a failed bid to sell off its games division.

Data digest: Q3’s top grossing new games, Balatro’s first month, Netflix numbers plus stats on funding, hybrid monetisation and more

There's also data on US and EU players plus a milestone for Delta Force in this week's stats round-up.

Ubisoft has cancelled puzzle-and-decorate game Gwen’s Getaway

The game was developed by its RedLynx studio in Helsinki, and entered soft launch in late 2023.

Netflix closes triple-A studio amid game team layoffs

Game File reports that the starry triple-A ’Team Blue’ crew has been disbanded as other cuts are made to the Netflix Games team.

Former Supercell, King devs form Antihero Studios

Ex-Supercell duo Frank Yan and Brice Laville Saint-Martin have teamed up with former King technical director Andre Parodi to make ‘multiplayer games worth sharing’.

The soft launch games you need to know about

Take a peek at the games in testing from Dream, King, Playrix, EA, Ubisoft, Rovio and more.

Google to appeal Epic verdict, citing Apple victory plus privacy, security and discoverability concerns

UPDATE: The US courts have paused proceedings for this case, giving Google time for this appeal to play out. So we could be waiting a while for the proposed solutions to come through.

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Everyone's got a Netflix Games opinion

Here's mine: yes, that triple-A project always seemed a bit fanciful. But look closer at what else the streaming giant has cooking and its next steps become a little clearer.