Journal

✨ The countdown to peak season is on! Only a few weeks left until Thanksgiving, Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and Christmas 🎄 and then, New Year’s Eve and Lunar New Year. To make sure you are ready, I’ve put together an ASA Checklist.If you’re primarily running in Search Results, you’ve probably noticed that while high season means more volume, it doesn’t necessarily lead to higher CPIs. Why? 🤔It’s because ASA is keyword-driven. As an ex-Apple employee, I've seen it first-hand.While e-commerce and retail apps are competing fiercely on their terms, you’re competing only for terms in your own category. This means you’ll see higher search volume without the steep CPI hikes that other platforms experience.To help you make the most of it, here’s a quick checklist to maximize your ASA campaigns during this period.❄️ Feel free to reach if you'd like […]

2025 Predictions & Trends So, is 2024 pretty much wrapped up? Launch schedules briefed? Sprint planning done? Q4 goals all set? Great, let's dive into my top 10 predictions for 2025!1. HTML5 GamesA trailblazer in Q3 for mobile games, the industry has truly woken up to the substantial revenue potential outside the walled gardens of Apple and Google. The resurgence and expansion of HTML5 games are closely linked to developers seeking to boost studio EBITDA and, ultimately, ensure survival. Platforms like Wechat and Telegram offer not only incremental revenue but also massive, engaged audiences and opportunities for cost-effective, targeted user acquisition. Meta Instant Games has just integrated IAPs for the first time, and double-digit CAGR growth on Poki and CrazyGames highlights the market’s potential. All signs point to HTML5 as something every developer should be exploring next year.2. Alternative StoresIn […]

*BREAKING NEWS* AdROAS is live on Facebook. Start campaigns ASAP 👇 No more shitty workarounds. Meta is finally getting on the AdROAS trend. Only 2 years later than it should, but better late than never! Check it out!

I analyzed 19,977 new mobile games launched in 2024. Based on AppMagic data, here is how they performed:𝗞𝗲𝘆 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝘁𝘀 • $3.1B in IAP revenue — only 5% of total mobile game revenue • 5.5B downloads — representing 9.7% of all game downloads 𝗥𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗻𝘂𝗲 𝗗𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗯𝘂𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 • Only 1.9% of games made over $1M • 62% earned $0• Success in mobile gaming is rare 𝗧𝗼𝗽 𝗴𝗲𝗻𝗿𝗲𝘀 𝗯𝘆 𝗿𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗻𝘂𝗲: 1. RPG: $2B IAP revenue | 7.2% success rate • Top new apps of the genre: https://lnkd.in/epWcqxe72. Strategy: $352M | 3.8% success rate • Top new apps of the genre: https://lnkd.in/e4k7N2Sc3. Shooter: $38M | 2.3% success rate • Top new apps of the genre: https://lnkd.in/eMBmFEyf𝗗𝗼𝘄𝗻𝗹𝗼𝗮𝗱 𝗜𝗻𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁𝘀 • Only 1.3% of games surpassed 5M+ downloads • 38.5% didn’t even hit 10k downloads 𝗧𝗼𝗽 𝗴𝗲𝗻𝗿𝗲𝘀 𝗯𝘆 𝗱𝗼𝘄𝗻𝗹𝗼𝗮𝗱𝘀: 1. Simulation: 1B downloads | 10.2% success rate • […]

🚫🎮 Ad-Free Options in Tetris® Block Puzzle: What's the Strategy? I recently came across this interesting ad-free offer in "Tetris® Block Puzzle" by PLAYSTUDIOS. It got me thinking about the possible strategies behind offering ad-free gameplay for 7, 14, or 30 days instead of a permanent option. 🤔 Why might a game choose this kind of setup? Here are some hypotheses:1️⃣ Recurring Revenue: By offering a subscription-like model, they aim to generate steady income from players who renew regularly.2️⃣ Retention Alignment: Since the average player retention is around 20 days, the 30-day package ensures players stay ad-free throughout their active period.3️⃣ Psychological Appeal: The tiered options lower the commitment barrier. Players might test with a 7-day pass, then feel compelled to upgrade for longer.4️⃣ Player Segmentation: Different spending habits, different options! Some might prefer smaller, repeatable spends, while others go […]

The Top 10 Social Features in Casual Games Based on the Playliner research, here are the most popular social features: 1. Clans/Teams Players can join or create teams to unlock several benefits: • Exchange lives every 4 hours • Chat with teammates • Compete on team leaderboards • Earn rewards by helping others 2. Friends Interactions with friends are key: • Add or remove friends • Invite friends and get rewards • Send and receive gifts • Play mini-games or joint events 3. Leaderboards & Rankings Competition thrives with rankings: • Global and regional leaderboards • Team Ranking: Based on total levels completed • Player Ranking: Tracks individual progress 4. Tournaments • Players collect tokens to climb leaderboards and win prizes when the event ends. 5. Weekly Contests A week-long challenge: • Earn points by completing new levels • Top […]

Mistakes New Game Devs Make Building a game isn't just about release.It's about avoiding the issues that kill it.Here’s where beginners go wrong:1. They think ideation is all that matters. ↳ Sure, a great concept is key. ↳ But it’s just the start of the journey.2. They underestimate Post-Production. ↳ This isn’t a casual polish phase. ↳ It’s about final fixes and tuning.3. Live Ops? Totally overlooked. ↳ Continuous updates are a must. ↳ Player retention is built over time.4. They skip on player feedback. ↳ Feedback isn’t a “nice to have” ↳ It’s essential to polish, balance, improve.If you’re not ready for every stage,you’re not ready to keep your game alive.Mistakes in planning cost more than time.In games, they cost players.

3 things Lion Studios doing right in 2024. Hexa - Sort and, Puzzle. Cause it looks like that’s all they need. Looking at the overall downloads on their portfolio,Lion doesn’t look like they are trying new games,Or working on something new, at all.Because they figured out one of the bestPuzzle games of recent years, and how to monetize it properly. Hexa Sort is making more than $14M a monthWith over 30M downloads around the world.Double congrats to Yunus and gamebra.inThis game ‘’inspired’’ 77 other ‘’Hexa’’ puzzles,While the closest got only 5M downloadsWhile Lion Studios is below on downloads list,They do monetize what they get, very well.Hybrid Monetization and concentration on 4-5 games,They could be one of the most profitable mobile gameCompanies in 2024 in terms of execution-revenue.

How non-gaming apps are growing? I love analyzing data from multiple perspectives to gain a clearer understanding of its implications. I examined trends in the non-gaming apps industry (using Sensor Tower data) to understand growth patterns in different markets. To gain a broader perspective, I analyzed data not only from the first 10 months of 2024 (January-October), comparing it to the same period in 2023, but also compared it with the growth of those countries between 2022 and 2023. This provides a comprehensive view of the 'journey' of these countries in the the apps landscapeIt is quite visible that: ▶️ non-gaming apps categories have good growth in 2023 and 2024 ▶️ once we talked about last months iOS is leading in growth (both in case of bigger and smaller categories) ▶️ in many categories revenue in non-gaming categories grow faster than […]