admonetization

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 […]

Supercell Takes Full Ownership of Space Ape: Why Now and What's Next? 🎯 Space Ape Games' recent hits, Beatstar and Chrome Valley Customs, have influenced developers around the world and put the studio at the top of my favorite companies out there. 🌟According to AppMagic, Space Ape Games has generated over $280M in IAP revenue alone! 🚀But why is acquiring the remaining 25% shares now? After all, Space Ape has been Supercell's subsidiary since 2017. 🤔Several factors could explain this move:1) Straight from the press release: fully acquiring Space Ape is the best way for Supercell to expand its presence into London. 🇬🇧2) If long-term incentives were in place, Space Ape’s founders, with their strong track record, may have hit their KPIs and been ready for an exit. 💼3) With Squad Busters being Supercell’s first global launch since 2018 but […]

Mastering innovation is challenging, and predicting how a new feature will perform is even harder. Yet, there is one thing that every successful game excels at: Adaptation. Adaptation isn’t about simply copying what works elsewhere. It’s about understanding why a feature succeeds in a specific context and figuring out the best way to implement it in your own game. Sometimes it’s a simple transfer; other times, you need to fight an uphill battle before adapting it successfully.And you need to be fast while doing it all. In fact, between the time this article was written and published, more games have adapted features in unique ways. Hint: Gardenscapes indeed adapted Super Light Ball much like its sibling games. If you want to learn more about how different games adapt features, you can find the link to the article in the comments.

Second painting 🎨 Before reading this, check the first painting here. This time I decided to try different colors and lines as I was working with a different platform.The idea was the same though: Running a single campaign in a country where I barely had traffic and see how organic was affected by my campaign. This time, I even created two campaigns to see if scaling spend could really help to increase organic traffic.This piece is even clearer than the previous one:👉I launch my first campaign and both search and explore grow👉I launch my second campaign and again, both "organic" sources jump👉And the best part, I paused for few days and reactivate later and... the search and explore traffic grew proportionally to the previous period with the second campaignAnd I even took the time to give you exact percentages:-Since first […]

Unlocking Skip-it Strategies in "Coin Sort" by Lion Studios 🚀 In "Coin Sort", Lion Studios has crafted a smooth psychological journey to introduce players to the value of "Skip-its." Here’s how they guide players through the experience:1️⃣ Free Introduction🎁: Players are given a free Skip-it ticket during the tutorial, which they can use immediately. This gives a firsthand experience of the feature without any commitment.2️⃣ Immediate Utility🔄: Right after receiving it, there’s an easy opportunity on the board to use the Skip-it, so players see its impact in real-time and feel the benefit of skipping ads for rewards.3️⃣ Desire Creation💡: After using the free Skip-it, players instantly encounter a dedicated screen offering a bundle of 10 Skip-its at a small price. This “out-of-stock” moment creates a subtle urgency, tapping into the desire to regain the convenience of skipping ads.4️⃣ Value […]

What Does Take-Two’s Potential Sale of Chartboost Mean for Mobile Mediation? 🎮💰 The global mobile ad market is driving massive revenue—around $40 million daily, or roughly $14.6 billion annually, from network-to-publisher payments in mobile games and apps. Take-Two Interactive alone reported $613.3 million in ad revenue in 2023, capturing an estimated 4.21% of in-game ad revenue, making Take-Two a major player in mobile advertising. But with rumors of Take-Two selling Chartboost, what impact could this have on the industry? 🤔Why This Matters:Mediation platforms often act as loss leader products, offered at no cost to publishers in exchange for valuable user data that powers networks' UA campaign profits. Take-Two’s games are currently mostly mediated through Chartboost, giving them direct control over ad placements and margins. If Chartboost is sold, Take-Two might shift its portfolio to a third-party platform like AppLovin or […]