India’s real-money gaming layoffs, Call of Duty heads to the big screen, and Love and Deepspace hits $750m | Week in Views

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The games industry moves quickly and while stories may come and go there are some that we just can’t let go of…

So, to give those particularly thorny topics a further going over we’ve created a weekly digest where the members of the PocketGamer.biz team share their thoughts and go that little bit deeper on some of the more interesting things that have happened in mobile gaming in the past week.

Craig Chapple

MPL to lay off 60% of its India staff after government ban on paid games

The fallout from India’s real-money gaming ban continued this week. As a reminder, India’s top games publishers had stakes in the sector, and overall the space counted for 85.7% of games industry revenue in the country in 2024, according to an IEIC report.

Online gaming platform Mobile Premier league, which lets users compete in tournaments to win real money, previously said it would comply with the new law and removed all offerings involving money effective immediately. 

This week, MPL said it was set to lay off around 60% of its local staff following the ban, amounting to around 300 job losses.

Elsewhere, PokerBaazi, in which Nazara invested $117 million last year, remains offline. 

Despite the bad news of the past few weeks for local businesses involved in  the sector – VC firm Bitkraft Ventures has been trying to push a more positive angle this week. It said it would be doubling down on investments in India – highlighting the proposed framework for the games industry  that was part of the Online Gaming Bill.

As India hits the reset button on its growth story for games, I’m curious to see whether investors will ultimately be scared off from the regulatory environment (which  has previously banned China-made apps in the past) and if positive words lead to action.

Activision partners with Paramount to develop Call of Duty movie

Paramount is teaming up with Activision to bring Call of Duty to the big screen, and honestly, I’m kind of surprised it has taken this long. 

Games crossing into the world of film and TV is becoming more commonplace, and COD is one of the world’s biggest game franchises with millions of copies sold, so clearly the audience is there. 

So what’s the issue? Well, COD isn’t exactly a story-first experience. Its biggest pull has always been the multiplayer rather than the narrative arcs. Still, anyone who’s played through some of the albeit short Call of Duty campaigns knows there are some good ones out there. 

I wonder if they will create a Call of Duty-based on a story we have already seen in one of the games, or if they will go with something completely new.

If they are going with something new, what setting will it be? COD has spanned a variety of historical moments and time periods, ranging from World War II to modern military settings and even the future. Either way, COD fans will be expecting an action-packed movie. 

For Activision, it’s hard to see this translating into more people buying Call of Duty games, but perhaps it’s simply an opportunity to extend one of gaming’s most valuable IPs to another media format and demonstrate that they’re following the latest trends.

Don’t forget we’ll be digging deeper into the transmedia trend at the Beyond Games: The Transmedia Summit on October 7th at Pocket Gamer Connects Helsinki.

Anime-style dating sim Love and Deepspace surpasses $750m

Love and Deepspace has surpassed $750 million in gross player spending between Google Play and the App Store.

According to AppMagic estimates, that lands it three-quarters of the way to $1 billion in just 19 months. And its true earnings are likely higher, considering China is its biggest spender – and is likely spending even more on alternative app stores.

Since January 18th, 2024, Love and Deepspace has picked up a number of accolades like top-grossing Infold game, second most-lucrative new mobile release of 2024, and more. It picked up over $400m by its first anniversary and has ramped up the pace since, almost doubling its earnings a little over halfway through year two.

As the romantic dating game marches on towards 10 figures, new content gets continually added and players continue to fawn over – and spend on – experiences with these characters. Indeed, it seems like Infold Games has a new flagship in its hands.

And, we’ll have an interview with the team going live soon too.