Mobile GamesNews
Blizzard eliminates 'small number' of roles in China
The news comes with Activision Blizzard's parent company cutting jobs across the board.
Game Developer1 min read
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Mobile Games
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Mobile GamesNews
Google Play launches the first Indie Games Fund in Africa
Posted by Steph Pio, Strategic Partnerships Manager, Google Play EMEA Sub-Saharan Africa is home to some of the world’s most creative storytelling. To help bring those stories to a global audience, today, we’re proud to announce the debut of Google Play’s Indie Games Fund in Africa. The region’s unique creativity has fueled a vibrant game development scene, helping drive what is quickly becoming one of the most exciting, resilient, and fast-growing gaming markets. It’s a space defined by immense talent. However, access to capital is a persistent hurdle, and a significant investment gap often holds back incredibly promising local studios. With this inaugural fund, we’re committing $1 million USD to help address that gap. This fund will empower 10 indie game studios across Sub-Saharan Africa to scale their businesses and realize their full potential. Funding and support for selected studios This program is designed to drive long-term growth, where it can make the biggest impact. Selected studios will receive a share of the $1 million fund, with individual investments ranging from $50,000 to $200,000 to help elevate their games. Alongside this financial backing, recipients will benefit from dedicated mentorship and hands-on technical support. Together, these awards are designed to help them scale their businesses and reach a global audience. Who can apply? The program is open to indie game developers based in Sub-Saharan Africa (see the list of eligible countries ) who have launched a game—whether it’s on Google Play, another mobile platform, PC, or console. Review the eligibility criteria and apply now . Applications close at 12 noon UTC on July 31, 2026.
Android Developers Blog1 min read
Mobile GamesNews
The 30% Era Is Over. Google Play's Games GM Explains What Comes Next.
An insightful discussion with Games GM Aurash Mahbod on Google Play's new era and its implications for game developers.
Deconstructor of Fun15 min read
Mobile GamesOpen Source
Eclipsa Video: HDR That Looks Right on Every Screen
Posted by Tibian Elsheikh, Product Manager, Android Core Graphics and Jeffrey Jose, Product Manager, Android Core Graphics We’ve all been there: You’re scrolling through your favorite social media feed in a dim room, and suddenly an HDR video pops up. It’s so intensely bright that you have to squint, or maybe you find yourself turning down your screen brightness just to read the caption. Other times, a video that looks vibrant on your phone looks flat, dark, or washed out when you watch it on your living room TV. While High Dynamic Range (HDR) technology was designed to make videos look richer and more lifelike, the lack of unified industry guidelines means that the exact same clip can render in unexpected and jarring ways depending on the display you’re using. To solve this, we’re introducing Eclipsa Video—a new standard built to make your favorite videos look consistent, balanced, and comfortable on every screen. Eclipsa Video builds on the open SMPTE ST 2094-50 specification , which Google developed in collaboration with Apple and NBCUniversal. Sudden brightness spikes during feed scrolling—fixed with Eclipsa Video. More consistency, comfort, and creative control Eclipsa Video moves past individual display guesswork. Instead of leaving it up to your device to interpret a video’s brightness on its own, our format carries precise guidelines that tell compatible displays exactly how to render the image. Designed to scale with your hardware, Eclipsa Video provides three core benefits: A consistent baseline: Eclipsa Video introduces a shared rulebook for screens. It establishes a consistent benchmark for normal brightness—known as the HDR reference white . This ensures standard text, app interfaces, and standard-range colors remain vibrant and readable without causing uncomfortable screen glare. Adaptive headroom: Screens have different physical brightness limits, or "headroom." Eclipsa Video guides how displays handle highlights dynamically. Bright details remain brilliant on a premium television, while being scaled intelligently on a mobile screen to prevent sudden blinding transitions. Preserved creative intent: Rather than applying a single static setting to an entire video, Eclipsa Video carries adaptive, frame-by-frame instructions. Think of it as a set of digital notes from the creator traveling with the video, ensuring the exact colors, contrast, and mood they graded are preserved on your display. Eclipsa Video preserves true highlight detail on any screen you watch. Built natively into Android 17 Starting with Android 17, support for Eclipsa Video is built directly into the platform. This means a more comfortable, true-to-life HDR experience is coming natively to the phones, tablets, and TVs you rely on every day. The video you capture carries its creative intent with it, and the video you watch is shown exactly the way it was meant to be seen. Guidelines for developers & creators We’re inviting the developer and creator ecosystem to help build a more reliable HDR environment: Get started with implementation: Learn how to configure playback and capture in your apps with our official guide . ExoPlayer & Media3 integration: Standard playback handling built directly into Jetpack Media3, allowing ExoPlayer to support Eclipsa Video metadata automatically with no additional player configuration. Explore open source tools: View and inspect SMPTE ST 2094-50 metadata and dynamic gain curves in real time using HDR Explorer . What’s next Eclipsa Video is rolling out now, and you’ll see more apps and devices supporting it over time. Because it’s an open standard, any app developer or hardware manufacturer can integrate it to elevate the viewing experience. Try out the new tools in Android 17, explore the open-source metadata, and let us know what you think on our developer channels. We can’t wait to see what you create. Notes & Availability 1. Device Compatibility: Eclipsa Video playback and capture are supported natively on devices running Android 17 (API level 37) and above with HDR displays passing Eclipsa Compliance tests. 2. Developer Resources: The SMPTE ST 2094-50 Specification is openly accessible for technical evaluation.
Mobile GamesNews
Does Merge-2 Monetize Better Than Match-3?
A merge game had quietly overtaken the most recognizable name in mobile puzzles. Does that mean it’s better than Match-3?
Deconstructor of Fun11 min read
Mobile GamesTutorial
Lerninhalte von Epic im Juni: MetaHumans, Mesh-Gelände und mehr
Die kostenlosen Lerninhalte dieses Monats umfassen eine UE-Vorlage für Liveübertragungs-Workflows, ein Tutorial zum Erstellen von Dialogszenen nur mit deinem Smartphone, Tipps zur Mesh-basierten Geländeerstellung und noch viel mehr.
Unreal Engine1 min read
Mobile GamesTutorial
Expanded billing choice and lower fees on Google Play
Posted by Paul Feng, Vice President, Google Play Eng, Product, UX At Google Play, we are committed to delivering the best possible experience to users, while ensuring developers have the tools and adaptability to succeed. Guided by this commitment, earlier this year we announced updates to our business model introducing more billing flexibility, lower fees, and new programs to help your business thrive. With some of these changes rolling out soon, the breakdown below outlines what is coming, where to find more information, key dates, and how to get started. More billing flexibility Google Play’s billing system safely, efficiently, and intuitively handles the complexities of taxes, compliance, and subscriptions across 195+ markets with 300+ local payment methods. However, we understand there are situations where your business needs more flexibility, and that's why we're offering you more options in how you handle digital commerce. Building from existing programs, the new billing choice program is available to all developers globally who provide digital services or content to users within the United Kingdom and the European Economic Area, alongside programs in the United States. Following this initial phase, we will continue expanding availability to additional markets. You will find the global release schedule at the bottom of this post. Through these programs, developers can offer an alternative billing system or link users to their own website for purchases, alongside Google Play’s billing. You may also design your own choice screen in accordance with our UX guidelines, as an alternative to Google Play’s default version. Please find all the details in the program page here . Lower, separate fees To enable this new level of flexibility, we're separating our service fee from the billing fee. This starts on June 30, 2026, beginning with the United States, European Economic Area, and United Kingdom. Regardless of whether you use Google Play's billing system, alternative billing, or external web links, the service fee starts at 10% on your first $1M (USD) in annual earnings. This 10% service fee also applies to all auto-renewing subscriptions. For all other transactions, the rates in the table below applies: For other transactions, the service fee will be determined by whether the transacting user's install is new or existing relative to the regional rollout date: New installs : A transaction from a user whose first-time install or first update of the app from Google Play occurred on or after the date that the new fee structure launched in their region. Existing installs : A transaction from a user whose first-time install or first update of the app from Google Play occurred before the date that the new fee structure launches in their market. For transactions that use Google Play’s billing system, an additional billing fee applies. In the United States, United Kingdom, and the European Economic Area, the billing fee is set at 5%. We'll announce billing fee details for other markets soon. For transactions processed via alternative billing or external web links, the billing fee does not apply. Review this Help Center article to understand how these rates apply to your business. Games Level Up and Apps Experience program guidelines We are also excited to announce even more opportunities for partners who deliver exceptional user experiences across the Android ecosystem: the revamped Games Level Up and the new Apps Experience program. Detailed guidelines are now available on the respective program websites. Apps and games that meet all requirements are eligible for a new program rate card with reduced rates. See the table below for details: Visit the Games Level Up and Apps Experience program websites, review the guidelines, and start preparing your games and apps ahead of September 30, 2026, when the program rate cards officially become available. Global release schedule Evolving our business model requires technical infrastructure and alignment with local regulations, so these updates will roll out on a staggered timeline. To help you plan, here is the previously announced release schedule for each update across all markets: Here is a quick recap of the resources available to help you get started: Review the billing choice program ; Learn more about Google Play's lower service fees ; Explore detailed guidelines on the Games Level Up and Apps Experience program websites. We look forward to building the next generation of Google Play experiences together.
Mobile GamesNews
Lords of the Fallen II schwingt sich mit seiner Fortsetzung des Dark-Fantasy-Action-RPGs mit UE5 zu neuen Höhen auf
Entdecke, wie CI Games UE5 verwendet hat, um das mit Spannung erwartete Lords of the Fallen II zu erschaffen – ein düsteres Fantasy-Action-RPG mit energiegeladenen, Soulslike-Kämpfen, das Spieler herausfordert, ein riesiges, kriegsgebeuteltes Königreich zu erkunden, das von innen zerfällt.
Unreal Engine1 min read
Mobile GamesOpen Source
State of Unreal 2026: Top-Nachrichten von der Show
Bei der State of Unreal 2026 haben wir unsere Vision für die Unreal Engine 6 geteilt, die Unreal Engine 5.8 veröffentlicht, Lore, das Versionskontrollsystem der nächsten Generation, als Open Source zur Verfügung gestellt, das wachsende Entwickler-Ökosystem von UEFN hervorgehoben und Vorschauen auf Verbesserungen am Epic Games Store gezeigt. Hier erfährst du mehr.
Unreal Engine1 min read
Mobile GamesNews
My Wife Deleted Roblox
My wife uninstalled Roblox, then I talked to their safety team. Here’s what they said.
Deconstructor of Fun10 min read
Mobile GamesNews
Datadog delivers millions of in-depth performance insights with ProfilingManager
Posted by Alice Yuan, Developer Relations Engineer at Google, Arti Arutiunov, Product Manager at Datadog and Nikita Ogorodnikov, Staff Software Engineer at Datadog Performance regressions are notoriously hard to reproduce, making regressions a massive bottleneck for mobile developers. Although signals like ANR rates indicate what issues occur in production, pinpointing the specific line of code that resulted in the performance issue has historically necessitated exhaustive manual reproduction or speculative trial-and-error experimentation. Datadog collaborated with Google to mitigate this frustration by integrating the ProfilingManager API (available on Android 15+ devices) into its Real User Monitoring (RUM) and Continuous Profiling platforms. This integration transforms the debugging workflow, allowing developers to move beyond surface-level symptoms to being able to detect the why behind a performance bottleneck. By leveraging this system-level API, Datadog now processes millions of production profiles weekly across the globe according to Datadog internal data of June 2026. It provides engineering teams with a new level of visibility into real-world performance, all while maintaining a low runtime overhead for production-scale performance monitoring. The impact of ProfilingManager ProfilingManager is a system service introduced in Android 15 that enables apps to programmatically collect performance data such as call stack samples, field traces and memory heap dumps directly from production environments. This capability shifts the engineering paradigm from reactive manual reproduction to proactive field analysis. For example, a Google communications app used field traces to investigate why its cold start times were slower on newer, more powerful hardware. By diving into the field-collected traces and comparing traces across different device types, the engineer discovered a hidden scheduling issue: a background text-to-speech service was unnecessarily being prewarmed during app startup. The traces revealed that this background process was monopolizing the device's highest-performing big CPU core, forcing the app's main thread to sleep while the prewarm occurred. Solving the Android code-level visibility challenge Prior to the implementation of ProfilingManager, Datadog’s Real User Monitoring (RUM) focused on high-level application health and session-level telemetry to assess the user journey. Engineering teams could monitor Android performance signals like time to initial display, ANR rates, CPU load, and frozen frames. These insights extended to granular interactions, such as network latency, touch events, and main thread hangs. However, while this data effectively highlighted which performance bottlenecks were surfacing in the field, it provided no clear path to identifying the root cause of these failures. To address this, Datadog needed a profiling engine capable of capturing Android traces directly from devices in production with minimal performance impact. After evaluating alternative approaches, such as writing their own trace processor using Android Debug APIs, the team selected ProfilingManager because it is the most performant solution of the profiling options they evaluated and offloads the sampling decisions overhead to the OS. ProfilingManager supports a wide range of collection methods, including CPU traces, call stack sampling, memory analysis through Java heap dumps and native heap profiles. It enables developers to profile production builds, upload trace files to external storage, and review them in the Perfetto trace analyzer UI. As a SaaS provider, Datadog uploads, visualizes, and analyzes these profiles collected via its SDK, providing a unified view of application health. By centralizing high-fidelity telemetry within a unified observability API, ProfilingManager empowers Datadog and its clients to proactively monitor, investigate, and remediate complex Android performance regressions through key technical advantages: Granular session diagnostics: ProfilingManager enhances debuggability by delivering direct OS-level trace data, overcoming the visibility and alignment challenges typical of custom logging with system services. To dive deeper, developers can download these traces from Datadog to investigate further in visualization tools like the Perfetto UI . Automated telemetry triggers: By leveraging native system events to initiate trace recordings at key optimization points, Datadog reduces the need to build custom collection logic. While the initial rollout focuses on the APP_FULLY_DRAWN signal, there are already plans to expand this observability to include ANR , OOM , and COLD_START triggers. Proactive trace snapshots: By interfacing directly with the system-level Perfetto service (traced), ProfilingManager utilizes a proactive background recording model designed to capture unpredictable issues. This ensures that developers receive a precise visualization of the events leading up to a performance anomaly, offering a level of insight that exceeds what is possible through manual instrumentation. Bottleneck detection at scale: Datadog is able to synthesize telemetry from across Datadog’s global customer base to uncover regressions that only emerge under unique hardware configurations and variable network environments. System-enforced resource stability: The API leverages sampling trace collection to ensure performance and user experience impacts remain unnoticeable. On-device data controls: ProfilingManager filters out irrelevant information from other processes on-device before the profile is delivered to the app. This minimizes file sizes and ensures that only data relevant to the app's processes is provided. Processing millions of weekly profiles to optimize real-world apps An example of Datadog's time to initial display measurement with stack sampling powered by ProfilingManager Integrating a system-level profiling API into a global monitoring SDK required solving infrastructure challenges. Because ProfilingManager generates highly detailed performance traces, the Datadog engineering team had to build a pipeline capable of parsing and analyzing these profiles on the server side at scale. Beyond profile collection, Datadog also emphasizes the importance of balancing sampling frequency with collecting enough data to generate meaningful insights about your application. Datadog relies on ProfilingManager’s built-in rate limiting as a critical stability safeguard, preventing excessive telemetry requests from overburdening user devices. The team has been profiling Datadog's own native Android application and a number of early adopters’ applications for months, gathering millions of profiles to ensure a fast, error-free launch experience and to refine their performance-detection algorithms. Today, the production integration seamlessly scales across a variety of Android devices. Conclusion By integrating Android’s ProfilingManager API, Datadog successfully closed the visibility gap between backend systems and mobile client applications for their customers. By processing millions of profiles weekly with negligible device overhead, Datadog equips Android developers with the code-level insights necessary to diagnose complex performance bugs instantly, helping developers build smoother applications and improve their app’s performance signals in the Play Store. To adopt the ProfilingManager API directly into your performance observability framework, check out our documentation . In the future, Datadog aims to make Android profiling data a first-class input for coding agents to autonomously resolve performance bottlenecks, closing the feedback loop between detection and remediation. Datadog is working toward making Android profiling broadly accessible to developers. To get started using the Datadog real user monitoring feature powered by ProfilingManager, visit Datadog Mobile Real User Monitoring .
Mobile GamesNews
Where Asia’s $103 Billion Game Market Is Actually Growing
Jen Donahoe's five takeaways from Niko Partners’ 2026 Market Model.
Deconstructor of Fun7 min read