Gameloft vs GSMA

Gameloft Sunsetting Minion Rush After 13 Years

Gameloft is shutting down Minion Rush, its long-running mobile game based on the Minions franchise, after 13 years. The game will be removed from app stores and in-app purchases disabled on October 30, 2026, with servers shutting down on January 29, 2027. Players can continue playing offline after server closure, but no content updates will follow. A special farewell event will run in October, with potential price and reward adjustments. Gameloft cited the evolving mobile gaming landscape as the reason for the wind-down. The game has nearly 500 million downloads and generated over $45.7 million in in-app purchases, according to AppMagic estimates.

• Gameloft will remove Minion Rush from app stores and disable in-app purchases on October 30, 2026.
• Minion Rush servers will shut down on January 29, 2027.
• The game has been downloaded nearly 500 million times and generated over $45.7 million in IAP revenue.

Data Digest: Pokémon Go at $9bn, Gameloft Profits, GungHo Stake Sale

This weekly data digest presents key mobile gaming industry metrics. Pokémon Go surpassed $9 billion in lifetime revenue per Sensor Tower. Gameloft reported $153.5 million in H1 2026 revenue with an EBITA of $10.5 million. Sony Music Japan acquired a 23.29% stake in GungHo Online Entertainment for about $179 million. Burlingame Studios secured $12 million in non-dilutive user acquisition financing. Newzoo forecasts the global games market to reach $213.9 billion in 2026. Roblox creators contributed $752 million to the US economy. Niko Partners predicts Southeast Asia's games market to pass $7 billion by 2030.

• Pokémon Go generated over $9 billion in lifetime revenue and 800 million downloads per Sensor Tower.
• Gameloft reported $153.5 million revenue in H1 2026, up 10% year-on-year.
• Sony Music Japan acquires a 23.29% stake in GungHo Online Entertainment for ~$179 million.

Rovio: Live Ops Shifted Mobile Games to Event-First

At Pocket Gamer Connects Barcelona, Anastasiya Kara, lead product manager at Rovio, argued that live operations (live ops) have transformed mobile games from a core-first model to an event-first model, driven by time-limited events, offers, content updates and retention strategies. She traced modern live ops features back to social casino titles like Slotomania and cited Clash of Clans, Coin Master and Royal Match as examples of escalation in social, gating and monetisation mechanics. Kara highlighted a new wave where hypercasual cores are adopting full live ops — Color Block Jam is the cited example — and predicted further cross-genre feature adoption (mini-games, merge mechanics, pets) and continued copycatting across studios.

• Anastasiya Kara is lead product manager at Rovio and spoke about live ops at Pocket Gamer Connects Barcelona.
• Kara argued live ops shifted mobile games from a core-first to an event-first model centered on time-limited events, offers, content updates and retention tactics.
• She traced many modern features back to social casino titles such as Slotomania and cited Clash of Clans, Coin Master and Royal Match as influential examples.

UNDP and GSMA partner to scale African-led AI innovation

UNDP and GSMA partner to scale African-led AI innovation. Published Friday 2 October, 2026.

ZTE Opens Global Summit 2026 in Kuala Lumpur

ZTE Corporation opened its 15th Global Summit & User Congress in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, co-located with GSMA M360 ASEAN. The event brought together over 500 participants, including Malaysian ministers, the Chinese ambassador, GSMA leaders, and global operator executives. Key themes focused on advancing from connectivity to digital value creation, with ZTE outlining its strategic shift to 'Connectivity plus Computing.' The company showcased full-scenario AI network solutions, an 'AI Factory' optimized for total cost of ownership, and AI-powered devices, along with an end-to-end commercial roadmap. Executives emphasized AI as the brain, communication infrastructure as the nervous system, and terminals as carriers. Malaysian officials stressed the importance of building local capabilities and moving beyond infrastructure to create tangible digital value for the ASEAN market, fostering regional digital economy growth.

• ZTE held the 15th Global Summit & User Congress in Kuala Lumpur.
• The event was co-located with GSMA M360 ASEAN for the first time.
• Over 500 participants attended, including Malaysian ministers, the Chinese ambassador, and GSMA leaders.

GSMA MWC26 Doha to co-locate alongside the ITU Plenipotentiary Conference in November 2026

GSMA announces that MWC26 Doha will co-locate with the ITU Plenipotentiary Conference in November 2026.