Gaming
Ultra Unveils First-Ever Tradable Digital Video Game Redefining Ownership of Gaming Content
Ultra, a complete PC gaming hub created by AAA talent from companies like Ubisoft, Playstation and Nintendo, announced the launch of the world’s very first tradable digital video game. This groundbreaking development empowers gamers to resell video gaming content to fellow enthusiasts, redefining the essence of digital ownership in the gaming ecosystem.
The cornerstone of this transformative shift is Ultra’s proprietary blockchain technology, which seamlessly integrates gamers, game developers and publishers into a fairer, more sustainable paradigm where all can benefit. Embracing this technological innovation and forever securing its status as the world’s first tradable game is indie title Josh Journey: Darkness Totems from Provincia Studio. Users now gain the unprecedented ability to not only purchase but also resell captivating digital gaming content among themselves, heralding a new era in video game distribution. Ultra’s recent independent survey of 2000 PC gamers – the full findings of which are set to be released in January 2024 – showed that the vast majority (64%) of PC games are already bought at a discount or in a bundle, or downloaded for free.
This technological leap addresses an unspoken reality within digital entertainment: the absence of true ownership for users over the content they buy. Currently, the purchase of a PC game or any other digital content merely grants users an individual license to access and enjoy the material, a privilege susceptible to removal at any given moment. By representing all of the game licenses on its platform as digital tokens – “tokenizing” them – Ultra is introducing what could be a decisive shift toward granting users genuine ownership rights, revolutionising the status quo governing digital content transactions.
Nicolas Gilot, Co-CEO at Ultra, said: “For the majority of mainstream PC gamers, true ownership of their digital games isn’t a burning issue – until it is. Recent history has clearly shown that digital content in users’ libraries can be removed at short notice as platforms, companies and licensing agreements change. By tokenizing the games on Ultra and providing developers with the option to make their titles tradable, we hope to unlock new revenue streams and community engagement features for developers of all types of PC game, while giving all users true ownership of their content – even if they don’t know they need it yet!”
Guilherme Araujo, Co-Founder of Provincia Studio, said: “We’re excited that Josh Journey will forever be the very first tradable title on Ultra Games! This is a great opportunity for us to understand more about this new business model for games and see how it can enhance existing revenue streams, and create new ones. Blockchain and tokenization are not familiar concepts to us but the enthusiasm of the Ultra community is enormous and we can’t wait to see them enjoy and share Josh Journey.”
While Ultra’s tradable game technology is available to every game on its next-gen PC store, it’s up to developers to decide whether to activate reselling of their titles and set rules such as minimum resale price and desired revenue split. Josh Journey: Darkness Totems, a beautifully hand drawn beat’em up game, is a traditional PC game with no blockchain elements, showing the potential of this technology for the mainstream games industry. Ultra Games has an extensive catalogue of games including web3 titles Phantom Galaxies, R3V3NGE and Aether: Trading Card Game, and much-loved PC games and gaming series such as Lords of the Fallen, The Walking Dead Definitive Series, WRC7, the Syberia series and the Beholder series. Ultra is powered by its custom-built layer 1 blockchain and native token, UOS.
Battle Royale
Prime Rush Goes Live in Early Access, Bringing a Brazil-First Mobile Battle Royale to Players
Supergaming, one of India’s leading game developers, in partnership with Spacecaps, the parent company of LOUD, has announced the early access launch of Prime Rush, a new mobile battle royale game. The game is initially available in Brazil, with a wider release in Latin America to follow.
Prime Rush is a Brazil-first game, developed with a hyper-local, community-first approach. The game’s development was shaped by cultural insights and community feedback, including inputs from Brazilian creators associated with LOUD, to ensure its gameplay, world, and characters feel native to local players.
“Our collaboration with Supergaming on Prime Rush is a significant step in our mission to bring authentic and engaging gaming experiences to our community,” said Bruno Bittencourt, CEO of LOUD. “We are thrilled to have our community be a part of the development process and to see a game that is truly made for them. Prime Rush is a celebration of Brazilian culture and a testament to the power of community-driven game development.”
Set in Maré, a floating battleground shaped by the everyday Brazilian landscapes, Prime Rush offers a unique and high-energy take on the battle royale genre. Rather than recreating a single-world city, Maré blends recognisable elements from across Brazil to create a location that feels familiar yet fresh to players. The map is built to support fast, tactical engagements and multiple win conditions, adding new layers to the traditional battle royale format.
Players will travel to Maré via mysterious portals powered by Cosmium, a rare extradimensional substance that can blend space and time. In each match, players must navigate convergence storms, hunt for cosmic shards, and decide whether to risk everything for one last fight or extract Cosmium while they still can.
“Brazil has one of the most competitive and distinct mobile shooter audiences in the world, and from the beginning we wanted to build Prime Rush with authenticity,” said Roby John, CEO and Co-founder of SuperGaming. “For us that meant spending time on ground, listening to players and creators, and understanding how the Brazilian community plays, competes, and connects. Working alongside LOUD has allowed us to test, learn, and improve Prime Rush in close partnership with players before scaling the experience across LATAM.”
At launch, players can choose from five avatars inspired by Brazilian culture, each offering a range of emotes and weapon cosmetics for personal expression.
Prime Rush also introduces a flexible tactical ability system built for high-tempo mobile combat. Abilities such as Deadeye, Shield Dome, Super Speed, and Hunter’s Instinct allow players to shape engagements around precision, defence, mobility, and intel respectively.
These abilities sit on top of a fully loaded arsenal and a range of different weapons that gives players multiple ways to define their playstyle.
Early Access and Pre-Registration
Early Access for Prime Rush is now live in Brazil, available to a limited number of players via PrimeRush.GG. Players can also pre-register on the Google Play Store for Android in Brazil and will be notified when Prime Rush becomes more widely available and to unlock exclusive pre-registration rewards.
Additional LATAM regions will follow as SuperGaming and LOUD expand testing, game identity and scale servers across the region.
The post Prime Rush Goes Live in Early Access, Bringing a Brazil-First Mobile Battle Royale to Players appeared first on Americas iGaming & Sports Betting News.
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.
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