Your weekly briefing on what actually matters in mobile gaming — what to play, what to watch, and what to avoid. Curated from 30+ sources.
🔥 Play this week
- PUBG Mobile 4.5 × Naruto Shippuden is LIVE — the Hidden Leaf Village lands on Erangel and Livik with jutsu abilities (Shadow Clone, Chidori, Flying Raijin). Kurama arrives July 17 — and from July 14 you can trigger jutsu by shouting their names in voice-activated Ninjutsu Duels. There's also the biggest giveaway competition the game has ever run, and a Ferrari F1 event later this season. Collab runs until Sept 7. Pocket Gamer
- CoD: Mobile Season 6 "Take Your Heart" × Persona 5 Royal — play as Joker, Panther, Queen or Violet, hunt Shadows in the new Plunder Treasure Hunt BR mode, and try the new FSS Hurricane SMG (a fresh Mythic version just dropped this week). Roadmap bonus: the devs confirmed a brand-new Battle Royale map is in the works. Official blog · GamingOnPhone
- Clash Royale just changed forever — card levels are gone and the new CHAOS mode is delightfully broken. If you quit over upgrade grind, this is your comeback window. Orange Juice breakdown
- Pokémon GO turns 10 — the anniversary broadcast will reveal the celebration events and what's next. How to watch
⏰ Playing these? Mark your calendar
- Mario Kart Tour shuts down September 29 — after seven years. Spend your rubies, finish your challenges, and grab the final freebie Nintendo is handing out before the servers go dark. Pocket Tactics
- FF7 Ever Crisis closes October 6 — if you're mid-story, check the wind-down plan before buying anything else in-game. Pocket Tactics
🕹️ Coming soon & worth your money
- Dave the Diver — the sushi-restaurant-meets-deep-sea hit lands on mobile Aug 27; pre-registration is open now. Pre-order info
- Rust Mobile — English-version gameplay just surfaced; the full survival experience is closer than you think. First look
- Honkai: Nexus Anima — HoYoverse's next big game hit closed beta; here's what it plays like. CBT gameplay
- Sultan's Game (July 24) — the award-winning "one decision ruins everything" narrative SRPG comes to your pocket. GamingOnPhone
- Out now: Golden Lap (F1-style team management, iOS), Beat Hazard Arcade (shooter levels generated from your own music), Nine Crowns of Faenord (open-world ARPG, one purchase, zero microtransactions — Reddit loves it). 1 · 2 · 3
- Got a Steam library? GameNative — an open-source app that runs Steam games natively on Android — is now on the Play Store. Players report Hades 2 running on a Galaxy S25. One caution from the community: it asks for your Steam login, so weigh that before diving in. r/AndroidGaming thread
🏆 What to watch
- MLBB Mid Season Cup — July 22 – Aug 1, Esports World Cup, $3M on the line. Schedule & teams
- PUBG Mobile World Cup — Paris, Aug 6–16, $3M, all 32 teams locked (defending champs Yangon Galacticos headline). Full lineup
- iFerg's $10K community tournament — the July 4–5 event was a blast, and the next one is already set for July 20. Open CODM competition you can actually enter. Final day VOD
⚠️ Don't get burned
- Fake "Counter-Strike 2" on Google Play — it's a scam listing, CS2 has no mobile version. Same goes for any "GTA 6 mobile APK" site. Community warning
- Fortune Mill — the "one IAP unlocks everything" promise currently hard-locks progression even after you pay. Hold off until it's patched. r/iosgaming warning
See you next week — same time, same place, 100% of your screen still visible.