Matthew Emery

We helped a Top-10-grossing Word game achieve +38% IAP ARPDAU lift. 🚀 Here's how. 1. 30-factor analysis of the product, competitors, internal data, and our vault of 750 prior experiments.2. ID'ed 8 key initiatives, from larger list of 50+, by estimated ROAS lift per unit effort.3. Embedded deeply with the team (on / offsite) to product manage dev and split-testing (this is where clients tell us we feel more like team-members than 'consultants' 😅)Of 8 initiatives:• 2 drove double-digit ARPDAU lifts• 3 drove single-digit lift• 3 didn't move the needleThis was an ideal team for us to work with. They were:• small (under 50 people)• very strong design (chops & leadership)• lacking a Product Management team with 100+ games experienceAs a result they had a product that was high-performing despite having plenty of low-hanging fruit for an experienced Product Manager […]

Useful Rewarded Video insights, based on Unity data Some takeaways:- To achieve optimal RV CV, aim for 15-20 placements (❗️)- Gachified opportunities are highest converting- Realtime action gameplay genres, broadly, drive lower RV volume than turn or move-based gameplay- Maximum RV depth might be achieved via Casino or Word game w/ 15+ placements.

To launch a new F2P Mobile studio in 2024, fundraising requires a unique hypothesis on how to reach market viability.If aiming for top-100 grossing, first principles would suggest three possible paths, each a solution for the same problem: profitable distribution:3 Paths:1) Quality First: Build a game so original / innovative that it distributes itself (Supercell strategy)2) CPI First: Identify a novel distribution path / hack, tailor product for it (Capybara Go, Monopoly GO)3) Operations First: Build / operate with incomparable scale, product scope, efficiency (Tencent)Recent raises by Bit Odd and Antihero seem squarely in the #1 camp. Can this still work?Is there still ample space for pathway #1 to overcome #2-#3 in the current mobile market?

Only 2 mobile F2P categories have >1% success rate for new launches. RPG (1.2%)Strategy (1.1%)Here I’ve defined success as:- $1M+ IAP revenue last month (Net, WW)- launched last 12 months- limited to categories with 2+ successesData from AppMagic’s “Success Meter” feature.

📯📯 Mobile F2P Monetization is “pretty easy” in 2024 IF you do this:1. Choose a proven economy model2. Congrats! “Monetization performance” won’t be the thing that tanks your projectWhat almost certainly will?  Retention and *gasp 😬 CPI 😬In other words, product-market fit.We've been asked... 50 times? to improve monetizationMost of the time, the real problem was:1. Flabby retention, and2. Lukewarm market interest ('normal' CPI)Case in point: My team has 2x’d to 9x’d revenue for 10 games,and … many of these STILL couldn’t scale profitably...because they lacked potent product-market-fit 💀Think about it.99.9th percentile ARPDAU performance won’t save you, if 90% of players leave by d7 after $10-$20 CPI.Focus instead on:1. Deep user research (recruit ideal target players)2. Aggressive IPM testing (hunt POWERFUL resonance)3. D7R testing (delightful core loop, progression)Use KPI targets + hard time gates for accountability.Focus on velocity of experimentationPurge […]

📊 F2P macro trends, Q3 update— 🏋️ 2022 (year after IDFA deprecation) was the year where new games struggled the most…👴🏻  90% of IAP revenue (T1W) was earned by games 3+ years old.🙃 By EO Q3 2024, things certainly appear better, but this ‘New Releases Comeback’ is largely driven by just 3 games.