TikTok is now back to the US App Store!

The Chinese social media platform is once again available for download in the US as Donald Trump deliberates its future amid ongoing security concerns. Welcome back, old sport! TikTok reappeared in Apple's and Google's US app stores on Thursday after President Donald Trump postponed a ban on the Chinese-owned social media platform and confirmed that the tech companies would not face fines for hosting or distributing it. More: How TikTok’s US Ban Could Reshape Mobile Gaming Marketing The widely-used short video app, which nearly half of all Americans engage with, briefly went offline last month before a law took effect on January 19. This law mandates that its Chinese owner, ByteDance, must either sell TikTok on national security grounds or face a ban. The next day, former President Donald Trump signed an executive order delaying the ban's enforcement by 75 […]

Ömer Yakabagi February 14

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Body Shaming Ad Creatives for low CPIs?

What the F*** is actually happening? Using 𝚖̶𝚊̶𝚔̶𝚎̶𝚘̶𝚟̶𝚎̶𝚛̶ body shaming creatives to drive low CPIs? 𝗦𝗰𝗿𝗲𝘄 𝗣𝘂𝘇𝘇𝗹𝗲 & 𝗠𝗮𝗸𝗲𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿 & 𝗠𝗮𝘁𝗰𝗵𝟯𝗗 𝗴𝗮𝗺𝗲𝘀 𝘁𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗱 is here! 👇 In the last couple of weeks, there has been a significant increase of these bodyshaming/makeover ads on Facebook. First, I thought it was only one game. Nothing major. But then I saw multiple games like 𝗦𝗰𝗿𝗲𝘄 𝗠𝗮𝘁𝗰𝗵, 𝗦𝗰𝗿𝗲𝘄 𝗔𝘄𝗮𝘆 𝗣𝗶𝗻 𝗣𝘂𝘇𝘇𝗹𝗲 𝟯𝗗, 𝗛𝗮𝗽𝗽𝘆 𝗦𝗰𝗿𝗲𝘄, 𝗲𝘁𝗰.. All these games are using the same combination. Screw Puzzle + Makeover. Having two cores built in the game. Using one core in the creatives to drive low CPIs. Masquerading behind 𝗔𝗦𝗠𝗥 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗿𝗲𝗹𝗶𝗲𝗳 𝗺𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗮𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗴. Is this really a stress relief? Am I missing something? That is not the whole story. Screw Match adding even 3rd core with is Match3D. Sounds familiar, Jakub? When we say you have […]

Matej Lancaric February 14

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AppLovin’s Gaming Portfolio

Yesterday AppLovin announced that it is selling it's whole gaming portfolio for $900 mil. 🤑 in order to focus only on Ad tech. The buyer was not announced. 🤔 Who could it be? Let's look closer at the performance of the games portfolio to get some hints 😎 ▪️ The ten studios that are being sold are Magic Tavern, Zero Gravity, PeopleFun, Lion Studios, Belka, Zenlife, Clipwire, Leyi, Machine Zone and Athena. On a surface look, the whole games portfolio did around $50 Mil. in IAP revenue only for last month. This is exactly half 📉 of what it did at its peak in January 2021. Downloads wise last month there was around 19 Mil. downloads, which is 10 times less compared to its peak in January 2021, which was 190 Mil. 😱 Of course let's be real, the peak […]

Jakub Remiar February 13

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AppLovin divests all its Game Studios for $900 million.

Another day, another AppLovin update! As reported by mobilegamer.biz, AppLovin is offloading its ten-game studio portfolio for $900 million as it pivots to focus entirely on Ad Tech. Check out: AppLovin Empire: Monopoly in Mobile Gaming? AppLovin’s decision to sell its gaming studios signals a major shift in the mobile gaming industry. While the company has not revealed the buyer, the move highlights the growing dominance of ad monetization over traditional game publishing. We’ve seen similar transitions before, such as [another company’s example]. Given these trends, it raises the question: will more gaming giants follow suit? This means Machine Zone, PeopleFun, Magic Tavern, Lion Studios, Belka, Athena, Clipwire, Leyi, Zenlife, and Zero Gravity will soon be under new ownership. However, AppLovin has not disclosed the buyer. More: AppLovin’s Gaming Portfolio CEO and co-founder Adam Foroughi announced the decision during the company’s […]

Gamigion February 13

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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 […]

Matej Lancaric February 13

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Unity’s Sudden Lay-Offs: 5 AM Email

Another day that we're proud to help our industry: Gamigion.com/jobs 🍀 Apparently, the entire Unity Behavior team was cut, alongside many other employees. This just in: Software developer Unity Technologies has executed yet another round of massive layoffs – the sixth one in recent years – eliminating an undisclosed number of employees, including, apparently, entire departments. Unity The layoffs were first revealed in a LinkedIn post by Coline Turquin, a former Senior Software Developer at Unity and one of the affected employees, which states that Coline was terminated after five years as "part of the recent layoffs," implying she was not the only one impacted. This implication was later reaffirmed by Florence Rolland-Soulier, who left Unity in 2023 due to the company changing too much from what it once was, who described the job cuts as "mass" and noted that "some of the brightest, most […]

Ömer Yakabagi February 11

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Supercell’s Super Record Revenue, $3 billion in 2024

Supercell hit a record $3 billion in revenue in 2024 as all of its live games saw sales rise YoY for the first time since 2014. Let's hear from Ilkka, CEO & Co-Founder of Supercell: The past year was a rollercoaster – the good kind of. We had some unprecedented successes and unprecedented challenges. Of the many achievements, failures, risks, and lessons at Supercell that highlighted 2024, two games stand out. On one hand, Brawl Stars exploded by every conceivable metric, like I have never seen before in my entire career. Brawl Stars is a great example of what is possible to achieve even with a relatively ”old” live game when all stars align. It is also the latest example that it truly is possible to create forever games, and the best games never get “old” if you keep them […]

Ömer Yakabagi February 11

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Valve Bans In-Game Ads: A Bold Move

Valve Bans In-Game Ads: A Bold Move Valve corporation has updated its policy to strictly ban in-game ads as a monetization strategy for developers. While this may please gaming purists, I see some challenges this could create for developers and the industry overall.Key Impacts: • Economic Limitations for Developers: Removing ads as a potential revenue stream limits options for developers, particularly those working with F2P models or small-scale projects. • Reduced Accessibility for Tier 2/3 Regions: Ads often help monetize players in regions where spending on microtransactions is less common, making this a missed opportunity. • Missed Potential with Intrinsic Ads: Brand integrations (e.g., seeing Coca-Cola ads on a racetrack) can enhance immersion without breaking gameplay, yet Valve’s stance cuts off this possibility.While I understand Valve’s decision aligns with its audience and focus on premium experiences, this move underscores the […]

John Wright February 10

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Jobs in Mobile Gaming: 31

🎨 963 Jobs in Mobile Gaming » 1-8 February 👉🏻 Data from Gamigion.com/jobs 🕺🏻 Dev 💻 Art 🎨 Product 📱 Marketing 🎯 Business 💰 Data 📈 QA ⚒️ 💻 Dev Senior Analytics Engineer Scopely 🇲🇽 Senior Full Stack Engineer (Platform) - Scopely 🇮🇪 🇪🇸 Game programmer & New Game Founder, Spark Supercell 🇫🇮 Senior Game Programmer, Squad Busters Supercell 🇫🇮 Senior Software Engineer- Website Development Zynga 🇮🇳 Senior Software Engineer 1 Zynga 🇮🇳 Senior Software Developer - Small Giant Games Zynga 🇫🇮 Principal Software Engineer - Developer Services, ZMGT Zynga 🇨🇦 Principal Software Engineer - Game Services, ZMGT Zynga 🇨🇦 Senior Software Engineer (Client) - Wizard of Oz Slots Zynga 🇺🇸 C# Client developer Playtika 🇵🇱 Unity Developer Playtika 🇵🇱 Unity Technical Lead Playtika 🇵🇱 Software Developer Moon Active 🇵🇱 Unity Developer Moon Active 🇮🇱 Technical Support Engineer (Tier 3) […]

Gamigion February 7

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King’s New Game: Candy Crush Solitaire

Candy Crush meets Solitaire! 🎉 King just dropped Candy Crush Solitaire—their first new game in five years! It’s a fresh spin on the classic TriPeaks Solitaire, packed with Candy Crush magic—power-ups, boosters, and even a hold slot for extra strategy. 🌟 What’s new?✅ Familiar Candy Crush elements like Color Bombs, lollipop hammers & jelly bears 🍬✅ Strategic gameplay with a hold slot for extra moves 🎯✅ A rewarding Sweet Journey where players collect postcards from places like Paris & Japan ✈️ 🃏 Why solitaire?Casual card games are booming! Candy Crush Solitaire keeps it relaxing yet strategic, blending satisfying progression with endless replayability. 💡 Built for the long runKing is rolling out regular updates, seasonal events, and new levels—so there’s always something fresh to dive into! Here's what we hear from Oriol Canudas, General Manager, New Games at King: 🚀 Exciting […]

Ömer Yakabagi February 7

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Türkiye: Rising Gaming Empire’s 5-Year

When you think of recent massive mobile gaming fundraisings, Turkiye is the first country that comes to mind.What secret sauce links Peak Games, Gram Games, and Rollic? It’s much more than their Turkiye origin—they’re architects of the casual and hyper-casual gaming boom. Their exits didn’t just validate Turkiye’s market potential; they catalyzed a 4B+ investment surge with over 150 deals in the past five years, positioning Istanbul as a strategic hub for global gaming innovation.But here’s the kicker: Those figures don’t include the seismic $2.5B fundraising (50/50 split between equity and debt) rumored to be in play for Dream Games. If confirmed, this deal wouldn’t just break a record of being the most prominent gaming fundraising; it would shatter them, surpassing even Europe’s flashiest tech rounds. To put it bluntly, Turkiye isn’t just part of the mobile gaming conversation—it’s writing […]

Gamigion February 6

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Playable Factory secured a strategic investment from Ludus Ventures

The partnership, combining Playable Factory’s proven expertise with Ludus Ventures’ strategic insights, is set to redefine Interactive Advertising. Playable Factory, a leader in gamified advertising and interactive ad technologies, has secured a strategic investment from Ludus Ventures. This partnership will further enhance Playable Factory’s leadership in both its core playable ads business and its growing focus on non-gaming applications, enabling the company to deliver even greater value to brands across diverse industries. The investment will help the company expand its innovative web tools, refine its industry-leading playable ad solutions, and unlock new opportunities in emerging markets. Ludus Ventures’ extensive experience in scaling successful technology companies makes this partnership uniquely strategic with a portfolio that includes brands like Monetizr, specializing in gamified rewards, and Goama, a brand in gamification services, Ludus Ventures brings unmatched expertise in interactive solutions. Backed by General Partners with […]

Ömer Yakabagi February 6

Highlights

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