King

Nordic Indies Triband and Midjiwan Outlast Boom-Bust

Two independent Nordic game studios, Copenhagen-based Triband and Stockholm-based Midjiwan, have sustained long-term success without following the free-to-play, loot-box-driven model that dominates mobile. Triband (founded 2015) grew to 60+ staff while targeting subscriptions and platform partnerships (notably Apple Arcade); its What The Clash? won Apple Arcade Game of the Year and other awards. Midjiwan grew from a 2016 solo project (The Battle of Polytopia) into 25 million organic downloads and launched an esports World Championship while monetising via expansions and cosmetics rather than in-game currency. Pocket Gamer Connects Nordics (PGC Nordics) is promoting indie visibility through its Big Indie Pitch and has rolled back indie ticket prices to 2016 rates. The piece frames these studios as part of a resilient Nordic indie tradition distinct from large live-ops publishers.

Xbox CEO Asha Sharma Targets Higher Margins by 2030

Asha Sharma, Microsoft’s new head of Xbox, outlined in an internal memo goals to widen Xbox’s margins to surpass rivals by mid-2030 and to bring margins back in line with peers by next year. Sharma — who replaced Phil Spencer in February — signaled strategic moves including investing more in Minecraft, pursuing global partnerships (including in China), expanding casual games via Activision Blizzard’s King, and holding studios and functions accountable for player and revenue growth. The memo follows a 10% quarterly revenue decline for Xbox and comes amid prior actions: subscription price cuts for Game Pass, layoffs and divestitures of studios, and Microsoft’s 2023 acquisition of Activision Blizzard.

Top 10 Grossing Mobile Games H1 2026

A mid-year analysis using AppMagic estimates ranks the top-grossing mobile games of 2026 so far. Tencent’s Honor of Kings leads, hitting a record monthly IAP of about $194M in January and remaining the top earner despite a June dip. Chinese studios occupy the top three slots with Century Games’ Whiteout Survival and FunFly’s LastWar; LastWar saw a sharp revenue decline to $71M in June after stronger 2025 numbers. Dream Games’ Royal Match and other titles such as PUBG Mobile, Microfun’s Gossip Harbor, Scopely’s Monopoly Go, King’s Candy Crush Saga, Roblox and Kingshot show varying IAP performance and volatility. AppMagic’s estimates exclude store fees, ad revenue, webshops and some China Android IAPs, so figures represent publisher payout-estimates only.