Let’s talk some mobile gaming insights

Alright enough pleasantries, let's talk insights.Part 3: Some revenue tactics and trends 1. Did you know some networks are claiming a "DMA tax" on top of their reported spend? Effectively distancing their reported gross ROAS further from the actual Net value? -> Remember to keep updating your net revenue tax tables every quarter with your finance team, the numbers on your dashboard might be outdated, which will lead you to make bad judgment calls.2. Ad skip-its seem to be on the way out versus VIP no-ads subscriptions. It kind of makes sense, it's a bit of a mechanism to convert hypercasual games to hybrids rather than a feature thought with UX in mind from the ground up. It's a bit overly complex of a concept to teach. The real question then becomes: Is a VIP no-ads subscription the end-all-be-all for […]

Gus Viegas September 11

Journal

Office Cat: Unlocking Revenue with Smart Ad Strategies

🚀 Office Cat: Unlocking Revenue with Smart Ad Strategies 🚀 Treepla’s Office Cat has been making serious moves in the Idle Tycoon genre, generating $83k/day from IAPs and another $42k/day from ads. With a revenue split of 70% IAP and 30% ads, Office Cat offers great insights into how to get 80% of your user base to watch 13-15 Rewarded Impressions per day. Let’s break down why Office Cat’s ad strategy works so well:💡 Compelling Economic Value:Each session starts with four key ad placements that massively speed up progression. Players are greeted with Welcome Back Rewarded Ads to double offline earnings, the Lucky Wheel spin 🎰, hiring the Legendary Cat Chairman 🐱, and investments 💸 that return massive rewards the next day. This means most players begin their daily gameplay by watching 4 Rewarded Impressions right off the bat.⏩ Ads […]

Felix Braberg September 10

Journal

Cool invite reward system in Office Cat!

Check out this cool invite reward system in Office Cat! 🐱 I love how clear the goals are, and who doesn’t love a fun idle game with cats? 😻 Highly recommend giving it a try!

Michael Kopelovich September 10

Journal

No More AAA Ports on Apple Presentation: Here’s Why

Remember the 2023 Apple Event? Resident Evil, Assassin’s Creed Mirage, and big talk about AAA games coming to mobile. Fast forward to 2024: the headliner is Honor of Kings: World, an MMORPG by Tencent’s mobile hit maker, TiMi Studio.Why the shift from AAA ports to mobile-focused titles? 🤔The reason is simple: AAA console ports aren’t working, and the numbers by AppMagic back it up.— Too high one-time spend for mobile users 💸— Gameplay unsuited for mobile short-session scenarios⏳— Inferior graphics and controls at the same price 🎮These are some of the reasons why those games fail while performing greatly on their primary platforms.While iPhone 16’s basic model will now support these games, unlike last year’s Pro-only availability, I doubt it’ll help.The fundamental issues remain, and a broader user base won’t solve them.And what is your take? Share in the comments! […]

Andrei Zubov September 10

Journal

Minigame Market MAU will exceed 500 Million Users in China

We did a deep-dive episode on WeChat minigames with Lemon Choi, who runs a Minigames blog and is an expert on the matter 😎. Some of the facts and numbers that he shared are mind-blowing 😱. The expected MAU of the minigame market will exceed 500 Million 🕹 users in China this year, with an average daily play session of 60 minutes per user. These minigames are produced very fast (2-3 months) by small teams of 5-30 people, with the development cost around $140K per 1 minigame 😱. Multiple dominant genres (nearly all of them RPGs) dominate the market, with Loot Box RPG (Nobody's Adventure Chop—Chop 🐷 ) being the biggest genre per revenue share, with around 30% of the whole market. This specific sub-genre also has a big impact on the design iteration of other genres, as seen in […]

Jakub Remiar September 10

Journal

Bain & Company’s very interesting report

Bain & Company published a very interesting report about gaming (not only mobile). I believe it adds value to go over the report.Main insights from the report🔹 𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐞𝐭 𝐯𝐚𝐥𝐮𝐞: According to Bain & Company report, the global market for video game revenue reached $196 billion USD in 2023, more than the combined revenue from streaming video ($114 billion USD), streaming music ($38 billion USD), and global box-office receipts ($34 billion USD)🔹 𝐆𝐫𝐨𝐰𝐭𝐡 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐠𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐲: The report forecasts the gaming market to grow at approximately 6% annually through 2028 reaching $257 billion by 2028. 🔹 𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐠 𝐠𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐝𝐫𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐠𝐫𝐨𝐰𝐭𝐡: 52% of people surveyed play video games regularly. But the clearest source of future growth comes from the youngest players (2 to 18 years old), 80% of whom identified as gamers in the survey. Younger consumers spend a greater […]

Mariusz Gąsiewski September 10

Journal

Games on the Rise: Week 4, August 2024

GAMES ON THE RISE # 4, WEEK, AUGUST, 2024 Hey there! 🤘Let's get to the last August edition of our…💫 Games On The Rise💫I created this list to introduce you to some games that have started to grow. 🚀This means that these games had initial market validation with their mechanics and themes. 👍I'm highlighting 3️⃣ titles in the list of games on the rise in the last week of August.➡️ “Downhill Race League” by BoomBit.The big Polish publisher 🇵🇱 brings an excellent downhill skateboard 🛹 simulator to the market.Its highlight is the game art, with highly polished details.The sound of skateboard wheels is exciting. 🤩In my opinion, a title with the potential to become a successful Hybridcasual.On September 1st, BoomBit's new game appeared on the Top Free 200 list. 🏅“Downhill” began its scaling stage two weeks ago and has so […]

Carlos Pereira September 10

Journal

Unique Approach for Interstitial Ads in “Found It”

🕵️‍♂️ Lion Studios ' Unique Approach for Interstitial Ads in "Found It"! 🕵️‍♀️ made by Urmobi led by Alexandr Podosinnikov , Mykyta Myronenko , Serhii Tokman, Daria Spodina , Georgiy Galchuk , Oleksandra Barabanova , Galina Nesterenko , Andrii Kravchuk , Uliana Kaziuka , Арсений Мисюрин , Anna Bobanova , Serg Taranenko , Roman Shekun and many more from Ukraine. In games with super high session lengths, where completing a level takes time, keeping players engaged is key! 🕰️🔥 We've all experienced those frustrating moments when ads pop up unexpectedly, interrupting gameplay. 🚫 Not the best user experience, right? To address this, many studios are adding timers before ad breaks to give players a heads-up. ⏰But Lion Studios took a creative turn with their game "Found It." Instead of a simple timer, they motivate and praise players with pop-ups like, […]

Vamsi Penmetsa September 9

Journal

Does Nothing care nothing about their employees?

Does Nothing care nothing about their employees? Nothing. The London-based smartphone company just mandated a full five-day-a-week return to the office. One of the reasons stated by Nothing’s CEO:“Remote work is not compatible with a high ambition level plus high speed.”While that statement is pure conjecture, here’s some math:Average London one-way commute time = 60 minutes Commute time per work day = 120 minutes Average number of UK work days per year = 250Commute time per year per employee = 120 minutes X 250 = 30,000 minutes That’s approximately 500 hours of unpaid, unproductive commute time per year for each employee. Compare that to approximately zero hours of commute time per year for remote work. Multiply 500 hours by 450 Nothing employees (not all UK-based). I don’t know about “high ambition”, but losing 225,000 hours of potential productivity per year […]

Jon Leslie September 9

Journal

Designing with Perspective: How Cameras Shape Levels

03 - Designing with Perspective: How Cameras Shape Levels When designing levels, the choice of camera system is a critical factor that shapes not only the technical possibilities but also the artistic direction and, most importantly, the player's perception of the environment. In the image, three distinct urban elements—represented by differently colored shops—illustrate how spatial composition shifts depending on the camera perspective.Camera-Dependent Constraints and Opportunities in Level Design:🎥 Top-down 2D- 🛑Constraints: With only one wall facing the camera, composition is more restricted. This requires careful design to ensure that the limited perspective feels natural on screen.- 🟢Opportunities: Despite these limitations, top-down views allow for highly abstracted environments, where composition plays a key role in guiding the player. This perspective is ideal for puzzle-based gameplay or minimalist design.🎥 Isometric- 🛑Constraints: The addition of depth introduces challenges with occlusion and visibility, particularly in complex, multi-layered […]

Jesus Machina September 9

Journal

Idle Arcade Market Radar #1

🕹️ Idle Arcade Market Radar #1 📊 🦖 Dinosaur and Evolution Themes:1) Raptor Evolution by Feavy Games👽 Alien Invasion and Animal Themes:2) Supernatural Frog by Full Fat led by Paul Adams , Oliver Brown and many more Merges "Alien Invasion" by CrazyLabs with a snake and frog twist.3) Animal Tamer 3D by Gnarly Game Studio led by Ferhat TEPE , Mehmet Gurdal and many more: Combines "Alien Invasion" by CrazyLabs with cowboy mechanics.🍬 Food and Shop Themes:4) Idle Sweet Shop by Udo Games led by Türker Karahan , Alisan Caglar , Murat Y. ÖZKAN , Gökhan Güngör and many more: Focuses on making candies.5) Perfect Diner by Onetap Global: Combines "Burger Please" by Supercent with dining mechanics.6) Highway Arcade by Yalp Games LLC: Merges "Burger Please" by Supercent with highway tolls.🎤 Music and Entertainment Themes:7) Idle Rockstar by Noor Games […]

Vamsi Penmetsa September 9

Journal

Games on the Rise: Week 3, August 2024

GAMES ON THE RISE # 3, WEEK, AUGUST, 2024 Last week some new games appeared at the top of the charts for the first time.➡️ “Bus Mania - Car Jam Puzzle” by ZPLAY has had almost 1.4MM downloads.Released on July 31, the new puzzle from the Chinese publisher 🇨🇳 mixes parking jam mechanics with “Block Jam 3D”, and has customization and car collecting metagame 🚗, following the path of “Chrome Valley” by Space Ape Games Ape.➡️ “Highway Overtake - Car Racing” by HyperMonk.The new title from the Turkish 🇹🇷 publisher is an excellent mix of Arcade Racing and Idle.Following the motto “good games come from simple ideas”, “Highway Overtake” simulates an everyday situation: driving in a hurry to avoid being late. 🕜😅It has realistic game art and “Tap & Hold” mechanics. 👆📱The game also brings layers of depth, with several […]

Carlos Pereira September 9

Journal

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