Brutally Honest #151

Hey, FAM! What’s up?

🥃 Drink talk

Jumped on a podcast last week with our dear friends from Gamigion! Check it out because this wasn’t about the UA!

🦩Tip of the week

When should we start Applovin as a channel? I often get this question: When should we start? Is it a good channel? Are we ready?

First, we need to ensure that our in-app purchase volume is strong enough for the algorithm to optimize effectively. We aim for at least 10–15 unique purchases per day. To figure out if we’re ready, we can do a quick math exercise using our D7 cost per purchase (CPPD7).

For example, if our CPPD7 is $800, then multiplying that by 10 tells us we need an $8,000 daily budget to kick things off. If our CPPD7 is lower, say $150, then around $1,500 per day is what we’d need. This calculation helps us determine whether our current spend can support a successful campaign.

More importantly, we must assess our creative depth. Even if our budget is in place, our campaign will only succeed if we have enough creative concepts to keep the content fresh. We should be prepared to refresh our creatives weekly or bi-weekly.

Although we might get by with 2–3 playables, we should ideally have at least 5 different video creatives ready to go, and these should be pre-tested on other channels to give us the best possible headstart.

In short, we should only start on Applovin once we meet both our budget requirements (based on our CPPD7 and desired daily spend) and our creative assets are robust enough to support ongoing testing and optimization. launch?

So, are you ready to launch?

Also, if you are on MAX mediation, you don’t ask any of the questions above. You launch “yesterday!”

🐊​ Cornelius: The Suspicious Investi-gator

True detective-like exploration of creative trends and historical influences. Delving deep into the world of creatives to uncover hidden patterns and inspirations:

𝗪𝗵𝗼 𝗗𝗶𝗱 𝗜𝘁 𝗙𝗶𝗿𝘀𝘁? I’m taking a closer look at two mobile games— Park Match and Block Jam 3D – that seem to share extremely similar ad creatives. Coincidence? “Heavy inspiration”?

The mobile gaming industry has always had a bit of a “borrow and improve” culture, but it raises some fundamental questions when ad creatives start looking like carbon copies. Is it just trends catching on, or 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘄𝗲 𝗶𝗻 𝗳𝘂𝗹𝗹-𝗼𝗻 𝗰𝗼𝗽𝘆𝗰𝗮𝘁 𝗺𝗼𝗱𝗲?

Park Match (Supersonic from Unity) vs. Block Jam 3D (Voodoo) – who set the trend, and who followed?

Yours truly, Cornelius.

💀 Dr. Doom is not amused

One of my industry friends amused me with his direct and honest TL;DRs, so we agreed to share it here, too! My friend remains anonymous as Dr.Doom!

“We nearly forgot about Meta’s VR efforts. Its revenue in Q4 last year increased to $1.1 Bil. in revenue but also made staggering operating loss of $5 Bil. This is great news because the loss in Q3 was just $4.4 Bil. so you know, growing numbers are best to report, duh!, who cares about the details😁 The whole year was a $17.7 Bil. operating loss for the VR division. More like Dr. Doom division 😎 Keep up the great work subsidizing our VR “experiences” you know what I mean wink wink😜” Sincerely, Doom (https://www.pocketgamer.biz/meta-earned-1645-billion-in-2024-but-vrar-division-made-another-loss/)

🎉  “Ha-ha” moment

Because life is too short to be serious.

🎮 two & a half gamers – Cracking the 4X code!

𝗖𝗿𝗮𝗰𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝟰𝗫 𝗰𝗼𝗱𝗲: 𝗕𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗗𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗮𝗿 𝗦𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗴𝘆 – First Fun & Rivergame are ruling the 𝗧𝗢𝗣 𝗿𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗻𝘂𝗲 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗿𝘁𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝟰𝗫 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗴𝘆 with 3, ehm 4 games. How?

We love talking about 4X and have been talking about the new wave of 4X games for a while. That’s why we have another crossover episode with @Gamemakers. Justin & Joseph took us on a 4X ride and explained the connection between First Fun & Rivergame and basically the whole history of 4X in China.

Understanding 4X strategy games is vital for anyone in the gaming industry. Everyone needs to remember this. We can all learn from 4X shit tons of stuff. 4X games are setting the new standard for creative strategies. 4X is always 2.5 steps ahead of 90% of the industry. (same as two & a half gamers. 𝗣𝗘𝗪 𝗣𝗘𝗪)

Jokes aside, the 4X model’s sustainability is under scrutiny due to high CPIs. 4X games 𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗻𝗲𝘄 𝗼𝗻𝗯𝗼𝗮𝗿𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘀𝗼𝗹𝘂𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 to decrease those super-high CPIs, and honestly, they are doing a great job. 𝗙𝘂𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗱𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝘂𝘀𝗲𝗿 𝗮𝗰𝗾𝘂𝗶𝘀𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝘄𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗻 𝗵𝗲𝗮𝘃𝗶𝗹𝘆 𝗼𝗻 𝗔𝗜. 𝗗𝗨𝗛!

𝗥𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗺𝗯𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀: The evolution of game genres will incorporate 4X elements.

📺 Watch on Youtube

🎧 Listen on Spotify

🦄​ Diary of a Dancing Unicorn

Today was a good day.

Hey hey! Would be great to work with you on reviewing our creative processes.

Sure, tell me more.

Yeah, so here is the pipeline. we would like you to work on producing videos for us as a next step.

Yeah? Okay, that sounds good. What do you have in mind there?

Well, we think you excel in out-of-the-box ideas.

You mean crazy shit?

hah, well, kinda. We have our own guidelines, but we fear we are stuck and we need an extra pair of eyes.

That sounds like something I like to do. Any boundaries?

Only a bit of a brandbook, but we don’t want you to be on a leash too much. You should do whatever comes into your mind.

Great stuff! really looking forward. I really like working on crazy stuff!

Today was a good day.

🤺​ Quote of the week

“Couldn’t sync files. That’s because you’re using 22,398% storage.” – Dropbox

Cracking the 4X code with GameMakers

🧞 The Song of the Week

We launched a music album. Yes, that’s correct. We are putting a ton of energy into creating valuable (and crazy) content that I think you’ll like. Check out the latest songs, and give us a like and subscribe. Play ehm. Listen now!

👾  THE AI (R)EVOLUTION

The AI revolution is here, and it’s transforming the way we approach mobile games marketing.

🥦​ Before you go

Ask Matej AI a question. It’s actually quite good!

We produced one more episode at 2.5gamers. Check it out now:

We are also starting a new segment, give it a go:

🍿 Fun starts in two & a half gamers Slack! Join now

We are opening up a Slack channel for everybody. It is the most inclusive slack for the gaming industry. Female, male, non-binary, juniors, mid-level, seniors, vendors, developers = EVERYBODY! We are waiting for you ♥️

Feel free to join here!

🧙 Thanks for reading this week’s newsletter!

👇 Reach out for feedback or questions, or say hi!

Give me some love (or hate) & Subscribe everywhere! ♥️

💡 PS: The latest Marketing jobs for you prepared by Gamigion:

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Find out more here!