Journal

What to do if your game has low retention? I teamed up with Mykola Veremiev to make a decision tree for your game.If your game is struggling, ask these questions: 1. Is the FTUE completion rate high? 2. Are players engaged with the core loop? 3. Are paywalls causing drop-offs? 4. Are there difficulty spikes? 5. Is the player funnel strong? 6. Is the game technically stable? 7. Do players have clear long-term goals? 8. Are players pursuing those goals? 9. Is feedback on gameplay positive? 10. Does your team still believe in the vision? Depending on the answers, you have 3 paths: • 🔁 Iterate: Minor fixes can boost retention. • ↩ Pivot: Core gameplay has potential but lacks depth. • ☠ Kill: Systemic issues with no clear solution. Use data to guide your decisions. Iterate, pivot, or cut […]

Thinking about making a Nuts & Bolts game? Think again! 🧩🎮 The market may look appealing, but you should really rethink! Quick analysis from AppMagic paints a clear picture; the genre has seen its peak, and is now on a downward trajectory:From Q4/23 to Jul-Aug/24, the market saw fast growth, peaking in downloads and revenue. Now the story is different:➕ Downloads: A steep decline, driven by a churning retention profile, rising CPIs due to saturation, and a weakening ROAS profile.📉 Retention: Significant drops as competitive pressure and squeezed monetization strategies leave players disengaged.📊 DAUs: Daily Active Users have seen a dip, as retention and monetization strategies falter.💰 Revenue: Revenue has slowed across the segment as all compounds.Issues with Current Strategies:Games like Wood Screw Puzzle have ridden the wave but are now paying the price for short-term strategies. Aggressive Ad Monetization […]

🚀 High season is here, and if you’re thinking about testing new placements on Apple Search Ads, like the Today tab or Search tab, you might be asking if it's worth it. The truth is, it all depends on your goals. Each placement serves a different purpose:👉 Today tab: Great for awareness.👉 Search tab: Perfect for targeting users just before they search.👉 Search results: Ideal for intent-driven users.👉 Product pages: Great for catching users who are browsing other apps.🌀 I’ve broken it all down in this carousel so you can figure out which placement fits where in your funnel.

𝐃𝐨 𝐈 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐩𝐚𝐲 𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐀𝐒𝐎? 𝐀 𝐛𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐫'𝐬 𝐆𝐮𝐢𝐝𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐀𝐒𝐎 👇 Your app listing is your home base. Think of it as if you were running a restaurant. Even if you served the most f*ckin delicious kebabs on the planet, no one would want to step foot into your store if your signs are falling apart, you have terrible Google reviews, and your windows look like they haven’t been cleaned in decades.•Every successful app has a great app store page. No exceptions.•Is ASO the only thing you need to pay attention to? Absolutely no.•Is ASO going to save your game or app and help you get millions of organic installs? Most probably, no. ASO is the ongoing process of maneuvering your way to the top of the search results of different app stores. The higher you […]

📢𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐬 𝐚 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐲 𝐚𝐰𝐞𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐍𝐄𝐖 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐦 in TikTok Ads!👏🚨 Yesterday I showed a new popup from TikTok and today I bring more news about the same channel! I have to admit it, TikTok Ads team is working hard to make advertisers happier!Let me put it straight by copy-pasting their website:"For a limited time, TikTok is offering a new incentive (the "Incentive") for Smart+ campaigns with a target bid and for which the advertiser has made a maximum of one optimization change each to its bid and targeting. If this campaign exceeds certain CPA or Minimum ROAS thresholds, we will proactively incentivize advertisers with ad credits that they can use within the same ad account."Basically, TikTok is giving ad credits to all the advertisers that test the new Smart+ Campaigns if and when the performance is not as good […]

🚀 Power Boost Unlocked in Travel Town! 🚀 Recently, I unlocked a unique feature at level 22 called Power Boost. Here’s how it works: You can spend 2x energy per use instead of 1, and it promises to generate higher-level items. However, while this seems like a shortcut, I'm not fully convinced that it significantly saves energy. It feels more like a way to accelerate your gameplay rather than increase efficiency.🔍 Observations:- It’s interesting to see elements from social casino games, like those in Coin Master, adapted to the merge game genre. Moon Active (or whoever introduced this first) has definitely shaken things up.- Unlocking this feature at a relatively high level (around day 14 of casual play) adds a layer of strategy and temptation.💭 Psychological Impact:- The "spend faster, buy more" approach is pretty clear. The feature encourages players […]

Archero 2 by Habby global launched last week and with it, the 5th iteration 😁 of the passive power progression side system. This has been iterated over 5 years from the days of Archero 1(2019). Capybara GO and Survivor.io have a more complex version of this system unlocked much later, but Archero 2 simplified it and put it into the early game, replacing the infinite "upgrade" button. Now the button is even called "gacha" 😅 as the whole thing feels like a collectible album with various rarities. In the end it is just a much more randomized and high production visualisation of the passive power 💪 progression system.It is very intriguing to see these different iterations done within the same studio and genre, launched very close to each other. Will Archero 2 compete with Capybara GO? I can't wait to […]

There's a lot of discussion surrounding monetization and revenue generation within the gaming industry, but far less focus on player engagement. Are people playing less than in the past? What does the data tell us? Some interesting data points (from Q3 2024) from GWI shed light on this issue. The study was conducted across several countries and revealed the following: 🔹 Across all countries surveyed, people are playing less than a year ago, which is a worrying trend. 🔹 The decline in time spent gaming was more pronounced in Tier 1 countries compared to Brazil. 🔹 The 16-24 age group demonstrated the strongest engagement compared to a year ago, which is an optimistic sign.What are your thoughts on these findings? ❓❓hashtag#insights hashtag#gaming hashtag#engagement hashtag#data

From Hyper to Hybrid Casual: The Mob Control Playbook I partnered with Playliner to analyze the evolution of Mob Control.In 2021, Mob Control was a typical hyper-casual game. ↳ Simple mechanics. ↳ Minimal progression. ↳ Ad-heavy monetization. Revenue? $10K in monthly IAP. Fast forward to 2024, it’s a top hybrid-casual game. → Now pulling in $2.5M per month. Here’s how they made the leap: 1. Production Quality2021: Generic, low-quality visuals. 2024: Polished, unique assets with smooth UI and engaging effects. 2. Gameplay Depth2021: Fun core mechanic but repetitive. 2024: New elements and modes introduced gradually. The game stays fresh and engaging. 3. Live Ops 2021: No live events. 2024: Tournaments, seasonal events, and big IP collabs (e.g., Transformers). 4. Meta & Progression 2021: Basic upgrades with minimal impact. 2024: Deep progression systems. Unit upgrades, abilities, and meaningful choices bring mid-core […]

I can't believe TikTok added this new feature 😲 I tried to increase the budget of a campaign in TikTok Ads today and got this popup.I mean..... a SAN is worrying about their clients and warning them about the loss of efficiency when you scale????This is good man, this is why I think TikTok is offering way more than Meta to their advertisers.

🎲🚀 Just came across this fun and rewarding screen while playing "Piggy GO" by Forever9 Games! I managed to surpass one of my friends on the leaderboard, and the game wasted no time in making me feel like a true champion! 🥇✨ This celebratory pop-up is such a nice touch, providing that extra dose of satisfaction and social motivation. Plus, the "Brag" button is an awesome way to encourage friendly competition among players. It’s a simple yet effective way to keep players engaged and socially connected.What do you think of features like these that emphasize player achievements? Do you find them motivating, or do they just add to the fun? Let me know your thoughts in the comments! 👇hashtag#MobileGames hashtag#GameDesign hashtag#SocialFeatures hashtag#PiggyGO hashtag#PlayerMotivation