Gaming
Game ON Mid Sweden Takes Mentorship to the Next Level
Innovative Skill-Up Program gets support from leading industry lights from all over the world and big names including Sega, Ubisoft & Dice
Mid Sweden’s newest gaming hub, rapidly making its mark on the international stage, today revealed top names from leading global game companies who are flocking to support one of Europe’s most exciting upskilling opportunities for prospective game industry employees. Mentors from Ubisoft, Paradox Interactive, and Sega are amongst the first to bring their expertise to Game ON’s ambitious Skill-Up participants. The impressive roster of industry mentors continues to grow, offering unparalleled expertise and unique insights to the Game ON programme.
Mentors, including industry giant Ubisoft, will supply invaluable industry insight, feedback, and support throughout the year. With a host of experienced people leading this programme the participants are in a unique position where the mentors can directly advise on all aspects of how to develop a career within the gaming industry, whether that be business development, marketing, pitching, and other key areas for a successful game development strategy.
A large part of the success of Game ON Mid Sweden can be attributed to Patty Toledo, the irrepressible leader of the program who has tapped into her international network to recruit some of the best mentors in the industry: “Mid Sweden is the most up and coming area for the games industry, and to get the support from such innovative companies, on a global scale, to participate in the Skill-Up program amplifies to the rest of the world that mid-Sweden is now on the map”, said Toledo.. “The SkillUp program is the most comprehensive program that mid-Sweden has to offer, consolidating future thriving careers in Sweden’s growing games industry, and taking them to the next level.”
Game ON is a huge attraction for international participants who are looking for a breath of fresh air after a year of industry turmoil. The beautiful area of Västernorrland offers the perfect place to invest in individual development and contribute to the thriving Swedish economy. This rapidly growing gaming hub will undoubtedly attract participants that recognise the great potential that mid-Sweden has to offer for the gaming industry, and who are determined to gain more knowledge and experience within this $180 billion industry.
With Game ON’s new pool of mentors, they have the opportunity to teach and train the future of prospective games industry talent and will contribute enormously to the future of gaming. For candidates, the wealth of knowledge that mentors are looking to pass down is an invaluable opportunity, and undoubtedly an opportunity they will seize with both hands.
Game ON, mid-Sweden’s new creative and innovative non-profit project, grew from a desire to make waves within the gaming industry and build tangible opportunities in Vasternorrland. The popular creative hub is forging a name for mid-Sweden in international markets, as mentors are joining from all over the world to provide education, resources, and creatives from within the games industry. The main objective of the mentors is to advise, provide and inspire the program’s participants, catapulting them into success in the gaming sector, and allowing them to thrive within their new areas of expertise.
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Australia
Regulating the Game 2026 Draft Program Unveiled, Spotlighting the Issues Shaping the Sector
Regulating the Game has published the draft program for its 2026 Sydney conference, outlining a comprehensive agenda of keynotes, featured addresses, panels, and expert masterclasses examining the most consequential regulatory, policy and operational issues facing the global gambling sector.
Regulating the Game 2026 will be held 9–11 March 2026 at the Sofitel Sydney Wentworth and represents the sixth edition of the conference as a forum for rigorous, cross-jurisdictional engagement on gambling regulation and sector performance and uplift.
The draft program confirms that each conference day is anchored by keynote and featured speakers, whose addresses are designed to frame and contextualise the broader program of talks, panels and masterclasses that follow. These speakers bring senior executive leadership, policy and advisory insight, and deep subject-matter expertise, helping to frame the regulatory and operating environment, its trajectory, and the lenses through which the agenda is explored.
Across the three days, the program integrates:
- Context-setting sessions that frame the regulatory and operating environment and its direction, including examinations of where gambling regulation and policy are heading, how enforcement and sanctioning approaches are evolving post-inquiry, and how governments and markets are responding to persistent black-market and grey-market pressures. These sessions establish the policy, strategic and operating lenses through which the broader agenda is explored.
- Moderated panels that interrogate regulatory assumptions and reform outcomes in practice, including discussions on harm minimisation in increasingly data-driven environments, the limits and consequences of intensified regulation, and the interaction between market design, consumer behaviour and regulatory intent.
- Expert masterclasses, including a session led by Jay Robinson focused on embedding the Responsible Gambling Officer role with purpose, authority and practical impact, and a second masterclass convened by the International Masters of Gaming Law, with final scope and focus to be confirmed. Together, these sessions are designed to support practical capability uplift and address the implementation risks that sit between policy intent and operational reality.
- Industry Spotlight sessions, introduced in 2026, comprising tightly curated 15-minute presentations from incumbent organisations. These sessions provide a platform to articulate strategic direction, investment priorities and innovation pathways, and to examine what lies ahead for the sector as regulatory expectations, technology and market structures continue to evolve.
Collectively, the agenda addresses:
- The trajectory of gambling regulation, enforcement and sanctioning frameworks
- AML/CTF reform, financial crime risk and supervisory expectations
- Safer gambling governance, harm minimisation and behavioural insight
- Black market and grey market dynamics in increasingly regulated environments
- Technology, data governance and the use of AI in regulatory and compliance systems
- Leadership, accountability and the operational reality of reform delivery
While the program is deliberately broad, particular attention has been given to curating sessions and contributors that surface topical and often unresolved issues facing the sector. The agenda is designed to frame the current environment and its direction, provoke informed debate, stimulate curiosity, and act as a catalyst for new ways of thinking, innovation bets and next practice across regulation, policy and operations.
Paul Newson, Principal at Vanguard Overwatch and Founder of Regulating the Game, said the 2026 draft program reflects a deliberate architecture:
“The program is designed to open up the problem space, not to close it down. Early sessions are intended to frame the environment honestly and rigorously, so that the discussions that follow can interrogate options, trade-offs and solutions with clarity and discipline.”
He added:
“Regulating the Game is deliberately structured to move from context to analysis to application. The draft program makes that progression clear and intentional.”
The program is supported by flagship events including Pitch!, the RTG Global Awards Gala Dinner, and an expanded Exhibition Showcase, which together complement the formal agenda and support cross-sector engagement.
The draft program reflects the core structure of the conference, with final speaker confirmations and minor refinements to be completed in the coming week.
The post Regulating the Game 2026 Draft Program Unveiled, Spotlighting the Issues Shaping the Sector appeared first on Eastern European Gaming | Global iGaming & Tech Intelligence Hub.
Adam Smart Director of Product Gaming at AppsFlyer
AppsFlyer State of Gaming Report: AI Is Flooding Mobile Gaming Marketing Channels and Raising the Cost of Standing Out
State of Gaming for Marketers 2026 reveals how AI-driven scale, global UA spend, and China-based publishers are reshaping mobile gaming competition
AppsFlyer, the Modern Marketing Cloud, today released the State of Gaming for Marketers 2026, an in-depth analysis of how AI, creative scale, and rising paid pressure reshaped mobile gaming marketing in 2025. Drawing on AppsFlyer data, the report examines how studios adapted as marketing activity expanded faster than player attention.
In 2025, AI-enabled production coincided with a sharp increase in advertising across iOS and Android. Creative output scaled rapidly across all spending tiers, with top gaming advertisers producing between 2,400 and 2,600 creative variations per quarter, up 25–30% YoY. That expansion increased pressure on paid acquisition channels. Paid install share rose 10% YoY across iOS and Android, while ad impressions increased 20%, indicating a significant rise in the number of ads competing for the same pool of players. To manage rising marketing volume and fragmentation, AI-enabled tools became a common part of daily workflows with 46% of AI assistant queries focused on reporting and performance breakdowns, reflecting the need for faster visibility as data volumes grew.
“AI has dramatically increased the speed and volume at which games and marketing assets reach the market,” says Adam Smart, Director of Product, Gaming at AppsFlyer. “The result is not a shortage of creativity, but a surplus of it. As paid activity and creative supply expand faster than player attention, marketing success depends on how effectively teams can measure, interpret, and act on an increasing volume of fragmented signals.”
Additional key insights from the State of Gaming for Marketers 2026
- Global gaming app UA spend reached $25B in 2025. Midcore UA spend increased 28% YoY on iOS, while Android spend remained largely flat.
● China-headquartered publishers increased their share of global gaming UA spend. Their share grew by 26% YoY in the UK, and 22% globally, with gains strongest on Android.
● iOS paid installs reached record highs. Share in the UK rose across Casino (+13%), Hypercasual (+10%), and Midcore (+30%).
● iOS advertisers expanded media mix to find incremental scale. iOS gaming advertisers increased the number of media sources they used by up to 15% YoY, reflecting growing fragmentation and the need to diversify beyond core channels.
● AI is still used primarily to manage marketing scale, not strategy. With 46% of AI assistant queries focused on reporting and performance breakdowns, teams are using AI to keep pace with rising data volumes rather than replace decision-making, but some genres are already employing more complex tasks and asks.
Methodology
AppsFlyer’s State of Gaming for Marketers 2026 is based on anonymized, aggregated data from 9.6 thousand gaming apps worldwide, analyzing 24.8 billion total installs, including 14.1 billion paid installs, alongside ad spend, creative production, monetization, AI-assisted workflows, and media source usage across iOS and Android during 2025.
The full report is available at: appsflyer.com/resources/reports/gaming-marketers/
The post AppsFlyer State of Gaming Report: AI Is Flooding Mobile Gaming Marketing Channels and Raising the Cost of Standing Out appeared first on Americas iGaming & Sports Betting News.
Arena Racing Company
Arena Racing Company awarded United Arab Emirates Gaming-Related Vendor License
Arena Racing Company (ARC) has been granted a Gaming-Related Vendor license from the United Arab Emirates’ General Commercial Gaming Authority (GCGRA), an independent entity of the UAE Federal Government with exclusive jurisdiction to regulate, license, and supervise all commercial gaming activities.
The license, operational with immediate effect, affords ARC the opportunity to provide its products and services to licensed operators in the region. Notably, the Racing1 Markets service, an all-in-one horse and greyhound racing solution delivered in conjunction with Racing1 alliance media rights partners at 1/ST CONTENT, Racecourse Media Group (RMG), and Tabcorp, alongside technical partner Pythia Sports. ARC has been added to the list of licensed vendors as per the GCGRA website.
Jack Whitaker, Commercial Manager at ARC, said: “Obtaining this license is a great achievement for ARC and its Racing1 partners. The emerging regulated UAE market is incredibly exciting, and we look forward to showcasing our innovative products and services in the region.”
The post Arena Racing Company awarded United Arab Emirates Gaming-Related Vendor License appeared first on Gaming and Gambling Industry Newsroom.
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