The Future of Sustainable Engagement and Monetization

Diving deep into intrinsic and social strategies and product positioning approaches has taught me a ton about how you can build successful products in truly propagative ways — on top of which educating my readers about these things has done the same, compounding ongoing discoveries and insight developments. One topic that has been born through these explorations is what we’re covering in this article — intrinsic and social live ops in truly intrinsic and social ways vs. how these are currently run in games. On top of this, where I believe intrinsic and social aren’t fully enough, we cover some emergent and systematic mechanisms a bit to complement overall the gaps intrinsic and social could have alone, as I think great experiences need more or less these mechanisms as well vs. not having them at all. Once again, buckle up! […]

Antti Kananen March 1

Journal

Royal Match: Billion Dollar Success

Since its launch, Royal Match has become one of the top examples of a successful match-3 game, and many other games use it as a reference, drawing inspiration from its implementations. There are a few things I particularly like about it compared to its well-known competitors, such as Fishdom or Homescapes: Vertical orientation is much more convenient for casual players in many cases. A perfect combination of fast and smooth animations. The UI/UX is very relaxing and intuitive. From App Magic There are many factors and aspects that we can find interesting regarding the story of Royal Match. Balances, updates, ads, and more—trying to cover everything in one piece can be a bit overwhelming. So, in this article, I want to focus on a few LiveOps tools that I find particularly interesting and have the potential to inspire and be […]

Taras Svityk February 28

Journal

Production Deadlines: What Matters Most to Publishers?

Delivering on time isn’t just about meeting milestones, it’s about building trust. Publishers invest heavily in your success, and sticking to deadlines strengthens partnerships, ensures smooth launches, and maintains cash flow.So, what do publishers prioritize when it comes to production timelines?📑 Setting Realistic Expectations – The Statement of Work (SOW)Every publishing contract includes a milestone-based SOW outlining:🔹 Project Milestones – MVP, retention, monetization, soft launch, and global launch.🔹 Feature Deliverables – Core gameplay, new features, economy, and live ops.🔹 Technical Requirements – Performance optimization, stability, and QA-passed builds.The biggest mistake? Overpromising and underdelivering. Publishers prefer transparency over unrealistic deadlines.📌 Rule #1: A solid plan leads to smoother execution and fewer delays.⏳ The 30-Day Extension RuleMost publishers allow a 30-day grace period for missed milestones, but:🔹 Miss once? You get an extension.🔹 Miss twice? The publisher can terminate the contract.If this […]

John Wright February 28

Highlights

Brawl Stars: Supercell’s Billion-Dollar Success Story

Source: YLE While game studios worldwide are laying off thousands, Supercell continues to thrive. Since its 2018 release, Brawl Stars has raked in over $2 billion out of 480M Downloads, making it one of the most successful mobile games ever. Data: AppMagic Something Cooler? Something even cooler? Helsinki HQ, Hey Spike! The Secret Behind *Brawl Stars' *Success At Supercell’s Helsinki headquarters, the Brawl Stars team operates like a well-oiled machine. The workspace is filled with game memorabilia, plush toys, and even South Korean cereal boxes featuring Brawl Stars characters—an indication of the game’s global reach. Frank Keienburg, the game’s team leader, attributes their success to continuous innovation. “We update the game every two months, keeping content fresh and players engaged,” he explains. The team, which started with 19 members, now has 64 developers from around the world, proving that diversity […]

Ömer Yakabagi February 27

Highlights

AppLovin Scandal: New Target of Short Sellers?

Are the reports Overblown or Misleading? Maybe, here are the details for you. AppLovin's CEO, Adam Foroughi, dismissed short-seller reports from Fuzzy Panda & Culper Research as “false and misleading,” accusing them of driving down the company’s stock for financial gain. Inflating metrics and tracking users, including children, without consent? Auction Manipulation & Data Exploitation Click Fraud & UX Dark Patterns Targeting Minors & Illegal Tracking Foroughi refuted the claims, stating they contain inaccuracies and insisting the company does not track children’s data or engage in financial misconduct. He emphasized AppLovin’s focus on strategy, cash flow, and share buybacks. Short-sellers profit from declining stock prices, as seen in a recent case involving Roblox. Following their release, AppLovin’s shares dropped by up to 20%. Both Fuzzy Panda and Culper are short AppLovin stock, which means that they have essentially bet the […]

Ömer Yakabagi February 27

Highlights

Playtika Sets Sights on $450M in M&A, Skipping AppLovin Bid

Source: PocketGamer Mobile gaming giant Playtika is gearing up for a major acquisition spree, earmarking $300 million to $450 million for "bolt-on" M&A over the next three years. That’s straight from President and CFO Craig Abrahams during the company’s latest Q4 and 2024 investor call. The move follows Playtika’s $1.95 billion takeover of Dice Dreams and Domino Dreams developer SuperPlay last November. While speculation had swirled about Playtika making a play for AppLovin’s $900M games portfolio, this budget suggests that’s off the table. D2C Growth, But a Mixed PicturePlaytika’s direct-to-consumer (D2C) revenue climbed 8.6% Y/Y to $694M in 2024, continuing its push toward first-party distribution. In Q4, D2C revenue hit $174.6M—up 8% Y/Y, but barely nudging quarter-over-quarter growth at 0.1%. However, D2C’s share of total revenue slipped to 26.8% in Q4 (down from 28.1% in Q3), which Playtika attributed to […]

Gamigion February 27

Journal

Supercell teased their “Boat Game”

Yesterday Supercell teased their new game called "Boat Game" ⛵ in a very cryptic video of gameplay and random images. There is also a hidden message in the video I am sure Internet will decode by now 😅. So what is Boat game about? On the surface look it looks like a simplification of Sea of Thieves ☠️, the pirate hit from Microsoft. We can see that there will be 2 core gameplays, one for the naval combat with completely different abilities and one for the land combat 🔫. Again with different set of abilities. Both controlled by the typical virtual joystick on the left and ability buttons on the right control scheme. Both cores seems to have their separate inventories as seen in the image of Gear & Boat buttons. I am guessing both will be based on gacha […]

Jakub Remiar February 27

Journal

Contracts, legal considerations, and statements of work

💰 Revenue ShareRevenue share determines how profits (net revenue of UA) are split between the developer and publisher, typically based on:🔹 Risk & Investment – More funding = lower revenue share for the developer.🔹 Market Potential – Projected higher-performing games get better splits.🔹 Long Term Relations - Normally if the studio is tried and tested with the publisher they get better splits.🏢 Studio Burn CoverageBurn coverage determines if the publisher funds the studio’s operational costs or not, this could also be done on the title/project level:🔹 Full Coverage – Publisher covers all costs but takes a bigger revenue cut.🔹 Partial Coverage – Some funding, but better long-term revenue for the studio.🔹 No Coverage – Developer self-funds but keeps more revenue.If milestones (statement of works) aren’t met, funding may be delayed or cut off.📊 Commercial TermsBeyond revenue share and burn, contracts […]

John Wright February 27

Journal

20 Key Mobile Game Metrics

20 Key Mobile Game Metrics 𝟭. 𝗗𝗔𝗨 (𝗗𝗮𝗶𝗹𝘆 𝗔𝗰𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗨𝘀𝗲𝗿𝘀) • Unique users active daily • Indicates daily engagement • Improve with limited-time events & push notifications 𝟮. 𝗠𝗔𝗨 (𝗠𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗵𝗹𝘆 𝗔𝗰𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗨𝘀𝗲𝗿𝘀) • Shows long-term retention • Boost with progression rewards & fresh content 𝟯. 𝗥𝗲𝘁𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗥𝗮𝘁𝗲 • % of users returning after a set period • Key metric for player stickiness • Improve onboarding & mid-term goals 𝟰. 𝗖𝗵𝘂𝗿𝗻 𝗥𝗮𝘁𝗲 • % of users who stop playing • Reflects player drop-off points • Fix pain points in user flow 𝟱. 𝗣𝗹𝗮𝘆𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲 • Total time spent in-game daily • Add timed actions & missions to increase 𝟲. 𝗦𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗟𝗲𝗻𝗴𝘁𝗵 • Avg. duration of a game session • Indicates depth of engagement • Use multi-step goals & time-limited bonuses 𝟳. 𝗔𝘃𝗴. 𝗟𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗹𝘀 𝗽𝗲𝗿 𝗣𝗹𝗮𝘆𝗲𝗿 𝗗𝗮𝗶𝗹𝘆 • Shows interaction with core gameplay […]

Anton Slashcev February 27

Journal

Daily rewards design in Block Heads

I really like this daily rewards design in Block Head by Bombay Play. The clear layout and chest progression make it visually appealing and rewarding. A great way to keep players engaged and coming back! Check out the game here:AppstoreGooglePlay

Michael Kopelovich February 27

Journal

Claude AI is playing Pokemon on Twitch

Claude, the AI, is taking on Pokémon Red—and it's struggling. Hours into its Twitch stream, the model found itself blocked by a simple rock wall. No matter how hard it tried, walking through solid stone wasn’t an option. The Twitch chat had a field day: “Who would win? A computer AI with thousands of hours of programming, or one rock wall?” Eventually, Claude figured out it could just go around. Watching Claude play is both maddening and mesmerizing. It moves at a Slowpoke’s pace, deliberating every step with excruciating caution. Onscreen, its left side displays an intricate breakdown of its reasoning, while the right shows the game in real-time—turning simple actions into a saga of decision-making. At one point, Claude attempted to find Professor Oak in his lab but got confused by other NPCs in the room. Spotting a character […]

Ömer Yakabagi February 27

Journal

Goods Puzzle Scaled Past $300K a Day!

Goods Puzzle by FALCON GAME STUDIO already scaled past $300K a day 🤑 with around 200K downloads a day. It is another recent hit from a studio in Vietnam, where gaming ecosystem is booming 📈. How did they do it? This is a sort game, where you need to match 3 same items on a supermarket 🛒 bench for them to disappear. Compared to other sort games you can freely move items around the shelves disregarding their type when placing them beside each other, which is the opposite of the usual sort core, where only the same colors/items can be placed near each other. This is then smartly scaled through level design mechanics such as moving conveyor belts, chained shelves, and vending shelves, which creates difficulty through time pressure ⏲️ as you fail only if you don't have any more […]

Jakub Remiar February 26

Journal

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