It’s Time for Games to Embrace Aggregation Theory

It's Time for Games to Embrace Aggregation Theory In tech writer Ben Thompson's infamous aggregation theory, economic power derives from supply ownership—train barons owned the track and leveraged that power up and down the supply chain. The internet flipped the relationship: with near zero switching and distribution costs, suppliers instead aggregated user demand to leverage suppliers. Consider Amazon: aggregating millions of customers gained power over suppliers, compelling them to compete on its platform and play by its rules. In a post-ATT and "black hole games" world, gaming unwittingly embraced this dictionary, and distribution has become all-powerful.Previously, games saw a lite version of aggregation theory, as platform owners like Sony and Microsoft owned the track (and thus users), allowing them to set the game's rules. But something funny happened: cross-play, progression, and commerce crumbled console platform power as Epic leveraged Fortnite's […]

Phillip Black September 9

Journal

Impulse – Brain Training Scaled to $6 M A Month

A hyper scaling app masquerading as brain training making 🚀 $6mil in the last 30 days!Impulse is a brain training app with significant revenue & download growth in the last months. The app offers hypercasual games and cognitive training programs to improve IQ, memory, and mental abilities.Their creatives showcase multiple gaming creative trends, mainly psychological tests, and "only psychopaths can solve these" hypercasual headline variations. This UA know-how is probably one of the main differentiators between the other "apps" trying to achieve this same result.It uses clever monetization strategies, including subscription plans and discounts, to encourage users to upgrade to premium.The app's ad monetization is heavily segmented, with different ad experiences based on the user's usage and payment status. The app also includes prompts that resemble the official Google Play UI to encourage users to make in-app purchases.Regarding team size, […]

Matej Lancaric September 9

Journal

Importance of Clear Rewarded Ad Placements in Lucky Defence

Lucky Defence by 111퍼센트 has quickly scaled to $300k/day in IAPs and about $24k/day in ads, but it's missing out on some key ad monetization opportunities. Let’s dive into the main ad placements to highlight best practices for Western Rewarded ad placements. 🎮💰 For Western-targeted games, Rewarded Ad Placements need to have these 3 essentials: - Notifications: Make sure players know when an ad opportunity is available. 🔔- Clear Rewards: Indicate exactly what reward will be given for watching the ad. 🎁- Visibility: Ensure the placement is visible to the majority of users. 👀Lucky Defence has two main menu RV ad placements: the Daily Fortune and Double Points ads. The big issue? These placements don’t show users what rewards they’ll receive and lack notifications indicating availability. This results in low engagement rates. 🚫Additionally, 7 out of 9 Rewarded Ad placements […]

Felix Braberg September 9

Journal

Engaging FTUE: Make or Break Your Game

Creating an engaging FTUE can make or break your game.Here’s a cheatsheet to get it right:1. Onboarding 🚀• Start with a strong hook to captivate players.• Clear objectives guide the player smoothly.• Introduce features gradually.• Keep tutorials short and effective.2. User Flow 🌐• Ensure easy access to gameplay.• Make controls accessible.• Provide progress indicators.• Use an intuitive UI.3. Core Gameplay 🎯• Focus on game feel.• Implement a fun mechanic.• Allow for immediate action.• Keep rules easy to understand.4. Visuals 👀• Use smooth animations.• Prioritize art style consistency.• Ensure readability.• Add some juiciness to the experience.5. Progression 📈• Set clear goal setting.• Offer early rewards.• Implement retention hooks.• Enable fast initial progression.6. Monetization 💰•Clarify your value proposition.• Time your introduction wisely.• Consider ads integration carefully.• Ensure monetization doesn’t disrupt user experience.

Anton Slashcev September 9

Journal

Hey, Look! A Cool Design 🎨

I just stumbled across this super cool offer design in Coin Master by Moon Active. It's a "Buy 1, Get 6 Free" deal, and I have to say, I love how they’ve made it feel like a real win for the player! Wanted to share this with you all—hope it brightens your day! 🎉😊

Michael Kopelovich September 9

Journal

1 Game: 0.72% of All Mobile Game Ads in US

One game alone is displaying 0.72% of all mobile game ads in the U.S.! Based on Apptica Ad Monetization data, here's the list of the top 10 games getting the most ad exposure in the U.S. last month: 1️⃣ Phase 10: World Tour2️⃣ Bubble Shooter: Pop & Blast3️⃣ Spades Plus - Card Game4️⃣ Rope Hero: Mafia City Wars5️⃣ Solitaire6️⃣ UNO!7️⃣ Tennis Arena8️⃣ Brain Who? Tricky Riddle Tests9️⃣ Superhero: Battle for Justice🔟 Brick Out - Shoot the BallThese games are not just grabbing players' attention, but also dominating ad traffic, making them the top choices for advertisers to push their campaigns. 💰

Yagiz Gur September 8

Journal

Hexa Sort Innovative Community-Building Tactics

Apple's App Store has an interesting feature that many companies overlook—engaging users even as they try to uninstall an app or rearrange their home screen! 📲❌ Lion Studios has cleverly tapped into this feature with their game Hexa Sort to build a stronger community around their product. 🎮🌟 Not only do they encourage players to follow their Instagram and Facebook pages for the latest news, updates, and exciting contests 📱🎉, but they also use the uninstall moment as a unique opportunity to engage users. When someone tries to remove Hexa Sort, Lion Studios prompts them to check out their social media pages. This thoughtful approach shows how much they value every player and are committed to maintaining an engaged community. 🧡By making the most out of every interaction, even when players are leaving, Lion Studios sets a brilliant example for […]

Vamsi Penmetsa September 8

Journal

Cover Letter Template

Willem's Week of GameDev Resources: Day 4! Today I'm sharing a cover letter template! Struggling to write the perfect cover letter? We got you! ➡ Get it hereI'm at Burning Man this week and completely out of contact! To continue to spread the love, I have scheduled a single, highly valuable Game Development or Careers resource to be posted every day on my behalf.

Willem Delventhal September 8

Journal

Match Factory Grew From $1M to $17M in 9 Months

Here is what you need to know: 🕹 Game Details:• Genre: Match-3D• Monthly Downloads: 2.2M (+400%)• Market Share: 49%• Launch Date: Nov 01, 2023• Audience: 90% Female, 10% Male🤑 Key Success Factors:• Strong LiveOps: Constant tournaments and activities keep players engaged—similar to Royal Match.• Balanced Difficulty: Easy at the start, but challenges escalate, keeping players hooked.• Top-Notch Quality: Stunning object physics, effects, and a user-friendly interface.💢 Main Competitors:• Triple Match 3D• Happy Match Cafe• Tile Match 3D

Anton Slashcev September 7

Journal

Impulse – Brain Training Scaled to $6 M A Month

Impulse - Brain Training scaled to $6 Mil. a month 🤑 overall revenue with around 3 Mil. downloads a month. It's the current downloads & revenue leader in the health & wellness category. Why are we talking about it? Because in the end this a collection of hypercasual games 🕹 posing as an app to improve your brain 🧠. What a difference a change of expectations makes 😁.The impulse goes a long way to make sure everything looks like a health improvement app rather than the typical hypercasual game. Every day you complete a set of 3 games as part of your "training program". These are categorized into different cognitive areas such as Memory, Mental Math ➗, Problem Solving, and Attention (30 different ones). After you have done your daily training you can still play different games, but only 6+1 […]

Jakub Remiar September 7

Journal

Overcomplicating Game Development?

People overcomplicate game development.Listen, if you are a new studio:Avoid:- Making a game on a niche genre- Monetization first strategy- Disregarding user acquisition and marketing- Rushing the whole processInstead:- Start spending more time on research- Rely on data for your design process- Prioritize communication between departments- Don’t skip a phase (yes, especially QA)- Understand it takes time to ship a good gameFocus on these for your early titles.Build from there.PS: Time-Money-Number of games varies depending on which platform you are making a game.

Gökhan Üzmez September 7

Journal

Level up Your LinkedIn Feed!

If you're in the gaming industry, here's how to level up your LinkedIn feed:💼 𝗝𝗼𝗯𝘀• Amir Satvat• Ömer Yakabagi• Alexander Rehm🎮 𝗚𝗮𝗺𝗲 𝗗𝗲𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗻• Jakub Remiar• Michal Tomcany• Sergei Zenkin📈 𝗨𝗔 (𝗨𝘀𝗲𝗿 𝗔𝗰𝗾𝘂𝗶𝘀𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻)• Matej 🦩 Lancaric• Claire Rozain• Myoungwon K.💰 𝗠𝗼𝗻𝗲𝘁𝗶𝘇𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻• Michael Kopelovich• Felix Braberg• Oxana Fomina🎬 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻• Anton Slashcev• Ahmetcan Demirel• Sergei Vasiuk🧠 𝗜𝗻𝗱𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗿𝘆 𝗜𝗻𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁𝘀• Gökhan Üzmez• Andrei Zubov• Ryan K. Rigney🎙️ 𝗙𝘂𝗻 𝗩𝗼𝗶𝗰𝗲𝘀• Ali Farha• Harry Phokou• Adrien Bacchi ⚡🐦⚡💸 𝗜𝗻𝘃𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁• Ilia Eremeev• Robin Guo• Robert Wynne📊 𝗗𝗮𝘁𝗮 / 𝗔𝗻𝗮𝗹𝘆𝘁𝗶𝗰𝘀• Paul Levchuk• Carly Taylor, M.Sc.• Yasin Hatiboğlu

Yagiz Gur September 7

Journal

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