Metal Media in 2025: Supporting the Video games Trade with our largest ever 12 months of occasions and media

• A 2025 abstract of the worldwide video games business convention sequence Pocket Gamer Connects and Metal Media’s B2B & B2C web sites
• In 2025, SM hosted 11,000 attendees from over 4,500 corporations and greater than 100 nations throughout 9 world occasions – together with 4 new places.
• PocketGamer.Biz reached a median of 200K distinctive business guests each and every month
• B2C sister website online PocketGamer.Com grew to a median of virtually 2M per month guests

Metal Media’s project has at all times been a easy one: to improve, have fun and attach the video games business, anyplace it exists and no matter platform or style it adopts. 

As we input our twentieth 12 months completely not anything about this has modified, excluding possibly the size, with 2025 seeing the SM group ship our largest 12 months to this point on just about each and every entrance – occasions, web sites and social media all breaking data.

By way of the numbers, the TLDR model…

Consideration spans are restricted, so when you don’t get around to studying the overall round-up, right here’s an information digest. In 2025 Metal Media…

• Ran 8x PGC meetings (6x complete two dayers, 2x someday summits, 5 the most important of their nation or area!)

• Hosted over 11,000 delegates from 4,500 corporations and over 100 nations

• Facilitated 15,000+ organised conferences by the use of Meet-to-Fit (plus many extra at the display flooring and at 9 curated fringe occasions, 16 events and 5 supper golf equipment!)

• Organized 7x Large Indie Pitches, showcasing over 150 studios

• Despatched 3.2 Million advertising and marketing mails…

• Grew our social media achieve via over 51%

• Posted the perfect ever customer and web page view numbers for PocketGamer.Biz (200K customers, 400K p/perspectives p/month) and PocketGamer.Com (1.9M vsitors, 7.5M p/perspectives)

An eventful begin to the 12 months! 

2025 noticed probably the most PG Connects occasions ever in 12 months, with out a fewer than 8 outings of the video games business’s main impartial b2b convention.

PGC London kicked off the 12 months in taste with our largest ever display, (no less than up to now – 2026 seems to be sure to take that crown!), welcoming 2,600+ delegates from 1,300+ corporations and 66 nations to the enduring Brewery. No longer best has this develop into the United Kingdom’s largest b2b video games match, but it surely’s an crucial first prevent at the world video games business excursion for the cellular video games business with many delegates claiming it’s extra essential to their industry than another match at the calendar.

The target market degree definitely mirrored that, with 68% senior managers and just about a 3rd of attendees being C-Stage, and so they have been obviously intent on getting industry completed – with 5,000 formal conferences going down by the use of meet-to-match and plenty of extra by the use of fringe occasions and plentiful networking events. There used to be quite a lot of wisdom sharing too, with over 280 knowledgeable audio system throughout 31 tracks protecting just about each and every imaginable matter from sport advent and advertising and marketing to monetisation and are living ops.

The Most sensible 50 UK Recreation Makers have been published, at the side of the Most sensible 50 Blockchain Recreation Corporations, and we additionally ran a Large Display screen Gaming facet summit targeted totally on PC and Console industry and underlining the truth that even if PGC had its roots and middle within the cellular video games industry, this used to be very a lot an match for each and every a part of the business. While 82% of attendees have been eager about cellular, 48% have been PC/Mac, 40% console, 27% web-gaming, 22% XR, 14% Web3 and 13% serious about streaming products and services.

And the occasions stored on coming…

PGC San Francisco persevered the momentum in March, with over 1,000 delegates taking the chance to attach on the display and VIP mixer, at the side of a number of 1000’s extra becoming a member of for our annual celebration. And all this within the face of a difficult time for American guests with politics, costs and inside town issues seeing many steer clear of GDC.

Onto Would possibly, and the Dubai Video games Expo Summit as soon as once more exceeded our expectancies in turning in the most well liked and all around perfect b2b video games business display within the Emirates (if no longer the MENA area) with 1,400 delegates from 600 corporations and a staggering 70 nations! This 12 months felt like an actual tipping level between the ones ‘trying out’ the development and area with a curious eye, to precise industry being completed – with the assembly tables rammed all the way through. The addition of the Investor Summit and Dragon’s Den taste ‘Pitch Play’ match definitely didn’t harm, nor did the go back of the MENA Video games Trade Awards, celebrating the most productive corporations and people from around the business – together with this 12 months’s MENA Cellular Legend, MJ Fahmi!

The roll persevered with new arrival PGC Barcelona in June, a real pastime venture, which very a lot confirmed in an match that used to be a triumph from begin to end. The development within the stunning Catalan capital used to be our largest release match ever and (to our wisdom) the most important Spanish b2b video games business match to this point with over 1,000 delegates from across the area and the arena accumulating in combination to experience two packed days of talks, conferences and fabulous after events.

And coming…

Subsequent up, we moved additional East, as our first PGC Summit Shanghai, created in affiliation with writer MyGamez, marked a powerful go back to Asia, packing over 600 into a marvelous river facet lodge venue. The brand new one-day summit layout did its process in connecting corporations from east and west and served as an available launching level into the glorious insanity of ChinaJoy and the ever rising Chinese language marketplace.

August noticed us again to Gamescom in Cologne, webhosting the ninth iteration of the Cellular Video games Awards, celebrating the perfect corporations around the world ecosystem with a sitdown dinner and awards presentation. Scopely, Supercell, King and Epic have been a number of the winners, with the inimitable Akin Babayagit scooping this 12 months’s Cellular Legend.

PGC Helsinki, the central hub of Finnish Video games Week, stays the most important Nordic video games business accumulating (therefore its rebranding to PGC Nordics in 2026), and this 12 months drew over 1,350 delegates from 580 corporations to participate. Along the principle convention we introduced thre devoted facet summits for Large Display screen Gaming, Transmedia (in affiliation with Helsinki Movie Lab) and AI: Recreation Changers. We additionally unveiled the newest version of our annual Most sensible 50 Recreation Makers record (spoilers – Whiteout Survival and Kingshot maker Century Video games crowned the desk this 12 months!) and introduced the brand new Aurora Initiative, celebrating the fantastic ladies of the Nordic video games business.

And STILL coming…

The Inaugural PGC Summit Korea, in affiliation with native match consultants Opener and Zempie, noticed us go back to Asia and convey in combination probably the most largest names on this planet’s 4th largest marketplace in addition to the broader APAC area for one absolute best day nestled along the KGDA convention and Contents Universe. Native giants lke NCSoft, Krafton, Com2uS attached with Garena, Digital Arts, Tilting Level, Xsolla, Microsoft, and Wizards of the Coast amongst many others to percentage insights and talk about oppportunites in a dual-language setup prior to letting their hair right down to proceed chatting over rooster and beer!

Ultimate, however under no circumstances least, PGC Aqaba, run in cahoots with the Jordan Gaming Lab and King Abdullah II Fund (KAFD), concluded the development excursion with some wintry weather solar and a in reality distinctive match that united over 2,400 ecosystem delegates from around the quickest rising area within the business. Our first ever open-air convention noticed PGC take over a countrywide monument (the Arab rebellion plaza) to exhibit unbelievable builders within the ID@Xbox zone, while working Large Indie Pitches and different fringe occasions in a neighbouring citadel and webhosting over 50 knowledgeable audio system in an amptheatre at the sea-front!
We additionally unveiled the newest iteration of our Most sensible 30 MENA Recreation Makers and crowned all of it off with a in reality memorable VIP travel to international surprise Petra and ancient Wadi Rum (the place just one CEO were given abducted from a educate).

As though this weren’t sufficient, we additionally ran 5 extraordinary supper golf equipment, rubbing shoulders and clinking glasses with the best and the goodest of the video games business throughout 3 continents, in addition to some in reality raucous business events, maximum particularly in San Francisco and Cologne!

Grasp the entrance web page! 

In between the are living occasions, the SM media groups stored the business information flowing 24/7.
PocketGamer.Biz had a banner 12 months, breaking visitors data, with customers up 27% 12 months on 12 months (a complete of two.13M guests to the website online – averaging round 200K guests p/month), perspectives over 4.5M (c.400K p/month). Web3 sister website online BlockchainGamer.Biz defied a crypto gaming downturn to develop it is moderate per month target market 28%, while PCGamesInsider.Biz ploughed a identical furrow for larger display screen gaming.

In the meantime our shopper media channels, led via PocketGamer.Com, battled the relentless algorithmic winds to publish over 1M annual build up in customer numbers, elevating the common to over 1.8M uniques monthly and seven.5M per month web page perspectives, while each its sister websites 148Apps.com and Appspy.com have been sucessfully relaunched.

Each PG.Biz and PG.Com additionally relaunched their podcasts, in addition to rising mailing lists, social and video channels – extra to return on that during ’26!

Credit score the place it’s due…

As we take a last glance again on the 12 months simply long gone, and look forward to grander plans and a good busier match calendar in 2026, our twentieth anniversary 12 months, we wish to take the chance to mention some heartfelt thanks’s.

At the beginning to all individuals of the Metal Media group, who’ve relentlessly risen to the problem, I’m greater than conscious that the calls for are prime (and once in a while even appear unreasonable), however they at all times pass the additional mile and provides your all to achieve the function.

Secondly to ALL of our unbelievable sponsors and audio system – suffice to mention with out your improve, those loopy ambitions could be merely unimaginable. 

In any case, to the worldwide wonderful video games business as an entire – those that attend our occasions, who learn our tales or who don’t do both however simply lend a hand to make the business what it’s.
This complete 20 12 months journey is in the end for you and about you. It’s our love letter to an business that has been this kind of giant a part of all of our lives and given us such a lot. 

We stay very a lot to your debt* and shall proceed to serve, beginning over again with PGC London 2026 in January, which seems to be set as soon as once more to be our largest display ever.

* No that doesn’t imply you’ll be able to all have unfastened tickets, even if you’ll be able to get a ten% bargain on tickets the usage of promo code ‘BIZHAPPYHOLIDAYS’ at checkout till no less than January second.