Brutally Honest #127 by Matej

Hey, FAM! What’s up? 🥃 Drink talk There are a lot of rumors coming from Gamescom. blablablabla.. Key headline: Survive to 25! Anyway, there has been much talk about CTV. I have been planning to try CTV for a looooooong time. Many different UA channels have this placement. Now, even Unity has come up with something interesting! Let’s see! 🦩Tip of the week How long should we be in the soft launch? There is no correct answer to this. The goal of the soft launch is not to be in a “tweaking mode” forever and, step by step, improve the game. Not every time it’s possible. How long your game can stay in the soft launch is influenced by multiple variables: CPI vs LTV or Dx ROAS goal hit Retention KPIs Monetisation KPIs Money in the bank account Kill the game, save your company […]

Matej Lancaric August 30

Journal

🚀 BIG Update with +100% Revenue Uplift for Squad Busters

😑 Mega Troops removed and moved to Skins. Megas were one of the two kinds of battle consumables, but they weren't successful in fulfilling the role they were designed to fulfill. Most players didn't find them very satisfying as a comeback mechanic, and some even labeled them as unfair for certain game modes.Instead of adjusting these powerful troops, the development team has decided to discard the concept while reusing most of the content and ideas involved. For example, if you have unlocked the Dragon Chicken, you'll receive a Dragon skin for your Chicken. You can then select this skin for your Chicken in the Squad tab.✖ Chest MultipliersIf you liked Chest Doublers, wait until you see the 4x Multipliers!Chest Multipliers are getting a significant improvement. You will no longer be constrained by time and push to play at an inconvenient […]

Matej Lancaric August 20

Highlights

Brutally Honest #126 by Matej Lancaric

Hey, FAM! What’s up? 🥃 Drink talk Well, well, well. Isn’t this a Gamescom week? It is. There were a lot of survival guides last week flying around for Gamescom. Do you want to hear the ultimate tip on how to survive Gamescom? .. .. .. .. Stay home! 🦩Tip of the week Feedback is a gift! With creative feedback, it’s not always true. In my humble opinion, feedback for UA creatives should be ONLY between the creative & UA teams: no producers, no game artists, no CEOs, no janitors. Ideally, the fewer people, the better. Why? Because everybody has a fucking opinion about everything. Even when they don’t understand the context. I believe in a very straightforward creative framework and feedback loop. Creative framework: How to win in 2024? Me and the person who works on the specific video. That’s it. I […]

Matej Lancaric August 19

Journal

Alien Invasion Case Study: How To Scale A Game With A Small UA Team

Let’s start with introducing the company that originally developed the game – Multicast Games. Multicast Games is a small team of mobile game creators from Cyprus. They sell casual and mid-core games worldwide, like Alien Invasion. Alien Invasion A mobile game created by Multicast Games, later sold to CrazyLabs Genre: Hypercasual Monetization: 50% in-app, 50% on advertising OS: iOS and Android TOP Countries: USA, Germany, Japan, and Korea In Alien Invasion: RPG Idle Space (Alien), players take on the role of an alien hero using its tentacles as grabbing hooks to capture humans and resources in its surroundings. The core gameplay loop encourages players to collect resources for upgrading their character, minions, and buildings while tackling mini-missions and engaging in boss fights. Oh yeah, wait a second! We actually talked about this game on our podcast some time ago – Ha! This ‘basic’ grabbing action […]

Matej Lancaric August 16

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Journal

How To Stop Sexist Creatives In User Acquisition

Mobile game ads are notoriously bad. From fake ads to straight-up copyright infringements: There’s plenty to choose from. But one particularly concerning trend is the rise of sexist ads. Advertising that objectifies women is not only wrong but can hurt the player base, the gaming industry, and society as a whole. Today, there are 1.7 billion mobile gamers worldwide – ranging from adults to very impressionable kids. If these ads continue to go unchecked, we’re letting bad actors poison our wells. [Trigger warning: graphic themes including assault, abuse, and violence that may be triggering to survivors] What Are These Sexist Ads Anyway? Advertising as a whole has progressed tremendously. Yes, there are biases or misrepresentations in traditional media, but mobile ads take it to a whole new level. These creatives straight-up depict women as sexual objects or portray them in subservient roles. This perpetuates the […]

Matej Lancaric June 4

Journal

The Art of Diversification: Alternative Mobile UA Channels for 2024

Mastering Facebook and Google are table stakes in mobile UA. But when the economy faces a downturn, you have to get creative. It shifts from growth-first to more scrutinized, shorter payback windows. The main benefit is diversification. More channels mean more experimentation and maybe a new and profitable channel. When one channel suddenly stops working, you’re not completely fucking yourself over. So without any more bullshit, let’s get to it. 1. Influencer Marketing Influencer marketing is borrowing a creator’s audience and reputation to drive installs. I wrote a guide on how to execute influencer marketing campaigns to get you started. Anyways, more and more brands are investing in influencers – the IAB predicts influencer marketing to grow by 25% this year. I mean, Mr. Beast just signed a $100M deal for the largest competition in television history. My friends from Media Bodies worked on […]

Matej Lancaric May 7

Journal

Beginner’s Guide to Mobile User Acquisition: The No-Bullshit Guide

With over 10 long years of UA under my belt, I’ve seen it all. I’ve written about my day in the life of a UA manager – everything from the highs that allow me to run this consultancy to the lowest bullshit that comes with it, too. The world of UA moves fast, but before you dive into all the latest strategies and hacks, you have to be familiar with the fundamentals. Terms you absolutely need to know There are tons of acronyms in this industry, so it’s best to get familiar with the following terms. App Store Optimization (ASO): marketing tactic of increasing app visibility within the app store to drive more installs Attribution: assigning value to different actions users had taken until they completed a conversion Churn: Number of users who uninstall your app within a time period. Helps measure ‘stickiness.’ Impressions: how many […]

Matej Lancaric March 20

Journal

Hybrid Casual UA Playbook! Channel Mix, Campaign Structure, Creative Strategy

Over the past few years, hybrid-casual games have become increasingly popular on mobile, with 5 billion downloads in 2022, a 3% increase from the previous year. Hybrid casual games combine simple gameplay with additional levels and features to provide depth and variety for players of all skill levels. Hybrid casual games are a fusion of hypercasual and mid-core games. Hypercasual games are a type of game that feature simplistic graphics, easy-to-use controls, and short gameplay sessions. These games have simple rules and storylines, making them easy to play. Midcore games have more complex graphics, mechanics, and systems. Players must invest more cognitive effort and time to enjoy longer gameplay sessions. Hybrid casual games combine the best features of hypercasual and mid-core games. They provide a simple and easy-to-play experience like hypercasual games and offer more in-depth and varied gameplay like mid-core games. These games […]

Matej Lancaric March 12

Journal

11 Tips For Killer Mobile User Acquisition Q1

#1 Creative Level ROAS is Important For some reason, I have been talking a lot about creatives. Oh, wait. I know why! Because it makes or breaks your ROAS. You can see below the power of a creative iteration. How can you iterate? Or else, what exactly changed in the videos above? hook slightly different perspective pace we speeded up the video a bit urgency added a sense of urgency (e.g., running away from the enemy visible right after the hook fail oh, the main hero died in the creative. Could you do it better? *wink wink* I added these video examples to the paid newsletter – visit this link to check out the hybrid casual playbook and upgrade to paid! #2 Global Launch Spend How would you distribute a $1M a month spent for a Casual Puzzle game in a global launch […]

Matej Lancaric February 20

Journal

How To Soft Launch A Mobile Game In 2024?

Does something change? Of course, YES! Although the soft launch has not changed much, some aspects of the process are done differently. Launching a mobile game takes loads of work. After months of development and production time, the soft launch period comes. A soft launch will allow you to test your server infrastructure and ensure it can handle the load of a global launch. For free-to-play games, especially those with in-app purchases, it is important to determine how well the game will do globally and if it has a good retention profile and monetization mechanics. Simply put, this will tell you if your game will be profitable, and you should aim for a global launch or simply kill it. If you plan on looking for a publisher for your game, you should know that many publishers will look for some […]

Matej Lancaric February 9

Journal

Influencer Marketing Guide for UA: How to Execute in 2024

There was a time when shooting vertical videos was the internet’s biggest sin. Today, TikTok (and its less-sexy copycats, Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts), is dominating every phone screen across the globe. And where there is attention, there is money to be made for UA Marketers. As much as you may hate the cringeworthy TikTok dances, there’s no denying the numbers: TikTok was the most popular app globally with 672 million downloads in 2022, only to be followed by Instagram and Facebook. IAB predicts influencer marketing to grow by 25% in 2024. Remember Mr. Beast’s Squid Game video? Brawl Stars paid $3m to drive 263,000 installs (a 41% week-to-week increase), and an undisclosed amount of in-app purchases. https://www.youtube.com/embed/0e3GPea1Tyg?feature=oembed No shit – social media is not dead – it’s evolving. So throw out whatever preconceived notions you have about influencers, because they are VERY real and can […]

Matej Lancaric January 9

Matej Lancaric

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