AppsFlyer lays off 100 employees, 7% of its workforce.

After "AppLovin's Adjust Layoffs", now AppsFlyer's turn. CEO Oren Kaniel says the company will focus on AI and scalability as part of long-term growth plans. Unicorn AppsFlyer is laying off 100 of its employees, about 7% of its workforce. The company currently employs 1,200 people, two-thirds of whom are based in Israel. The layoffs will affect employees both in Israel and in the company’s other global offices. AppsFlyer was founded in 2011 by Oren Kaniel and Reshef Mann. According to estimates, the company's revenue is currently around $400 million, and the layoffs may be part of preparations for a planned IPO in the coming year. AppsFlyer was founded in 2011 by Oren Kaniel and Reshef Mann. The company has developed technology that allows app owners to identify where their most profitable users originated from, such as a Google search, an […]

Ömer Yakabagi February 5

Journal

The Future of F2P Games and Hybrid Monetization

Systematic and emergent gameplay mechanics are a powerful tool in game design; shaping some of the most memorable and engaging player experiences.From physics-driven mechanics, puzzles, etc. to open-ended economic and systemic simulations, these mechanics allow players to interact dynamically with a game world rather than following pre-scripted paths. However, despite their growing popularity, their full potential for F2P mobile games and premium games incorporating F2P economies is still largely untapped.In this article, we'll explore how systematic and emergent gameplay can be leveraged for monetization, engagement, and live service sustainability — making it a cost-efficient alternative to content-heavy LiveOps while maintaining player retention. We’ll also take a look into how these mechanics align with intrinsic motivations, intrinsic monetization and social group monetization, creating deep and meaningful engagement-monetization loops that extend beyond e.g., traditional extrinsic reward systems.The Efficiency of Systematic and Emergent […]

Antti Kananen February 4

Highlights

Türkiye’s Laton Ventures raises $50M to invest in Game & App Startups

🚀 🟣 Laton Ventures announces:- $50M Fund raised- 5 investments were completed in TR/EU/US, 2 of them raised Series-A rounds within a year. Grand Games, one of our first investments, raised $30M- Ranked among the global top 10 most active gaming VCs- Backed by 40+ exited gaming/tech founders and industry veterans from 10+ countriesLaton Ventures, Melisa Yaguboglu, Volkan Özen Laton Ventures: Görkem Türk (left), Melisa Yaguboglu, Volkan Özen. Laton Ventures, a Gaming & Apps focused VC firm founded by Görkem Türk, has closed its first fund with $50 million. The Istanbul venture capital fund is the largest gaming and apps-focused fund in Türkiye, which has become one of the prominent global hubs for the gaming industry, said Türk in a statement. Laton Ventures will globally invest in pre-seed and seed-stage gaming startups, while also backing non-gaming app companies. Back in April, […]

Ömer Yakabagi February 4

Journal

Review Radar #7

Review Radar #7 📡 is back with 15 games that we already covered on the podcast in last 3 months, as we keep them on our "radar" 😅. Get the latest status updates from big names such as Homa, Habby, Voodoo, Tencent, Crazy Maple Studio, Lion Studios, Game District, Burny Games 😎. Reelshort continues to scale, breaking $31 Mil. for last month January 🤑 Pokémon TCG Pocket released the second set which mean they did $70 Mil. in last 30 days 💹, steady on its way to $1 Bil. after 12 months from launch. Homa finally started to scale up All in Hole, making $3,5 Mil. just from IAPs 😅 last 30 Days. Lastly both Impulse and Colorwood Sort are continuing to take on scale in the winner bracket 😁. On the looser bracket, Valve's Deadlock has run out of […]

Jakub Remiar February 4

Journal

Gaming AdTech: Bigabid raises $25 million Series A

The round, led by MobilityWare, will fuel expansion and enhance ad-based gaming models. Bigabid, a data-driven ad-tech company specializing in machine learning (ML) based solutions, has raised $25 million in a Series A round and signed a cooperation agreement with the gaming company MobilityWare to expand its media activity in the gaming sector. The company’s $3 million Seed round took place in 2016. The company’s CEO, Amit Flohr, told Calcalist that Bigabid faced challenging years in its early stages, but now that it is profitable, it has decided to raise new capital. “MobilityWare and several leading angel investors participated in the round. We’ve had many offers to raise funds, but I didn’t want to dilute the shareholders. I was looking for an investment that adds strategic value, which makes the collaboration with MobilityWare especially important. The funds will also be […]

Ömer Yakabagi February 4

Highlights

Mobile Gaming Today: 45

Hola Fam ☃️ I guess many of you are in Gamesforum Barcelona right now. Perfect time for it. 🕺🏻 ENJOY! Soooo - Lezgo 👇🏻 Mobile Marketing » Surprise, You’re Hooked: The Fun World Of Gacha Games 📩 Mobile Ad Monetization Newsletter #8 🎮 Color Block Jam by Rollic scaled to $300K A Day 📢 How Top 100 Games implement Interstitial Ads & IAP 💖 Love this rolling offer design in Coin Master! 🛠️ 25 Live-Ops Features Starter Pack 🔥 Not just great gameplay, master Live Ops. 🔍 Google Ads will cannibalize your organic traffic 👋 “Welcome Back!” screen from Travel Town by Moon Active Industry Highlights » Casual Games Report 2024 by AppMagic 🎰 Playtika Owns 4 of the Top 10 Casual Casino Games 📈 Evolution of F2P Monetization in Premium Games 🎯 9 truths about game product management. ⚖️ […]

Gamigion February 4

Journal

Market size isn’t venture scale.

When VCs pass on investing, the most common reason cited is "market size isn't venture scale." But there's a deeper layer worth examining. While market size is indeed critical - you need a massive market to generate venture-scale returns - what often goes unspoken is the founder's capacity to capture that market opportunity.Think of it this way: you might be operating in a $50B market, but if your execution strategy, go-to-market approach, or leadership capabilities can only capture a tiny slice of it, the massive market becomes irrelevant. The best founders demonstrate not just market understanding, but also the strategic thinking, adaptability, and execution horsepower to dominate their space.This is why VCs obsess over founder-market fit. It's not enough to point at a huge market; we need to see the founder's ability to build and scale an organization that can […]

Joakim Achren February 4

Journal

Blue Ocean Subgenres in Mobile Gaming in 2025

Blue Ocean Subgenres in Mobile Gaming in 2025 Here's a structured look at market size, growth, success rate, and oligopoly index:--- 𝗕𝘆 𝗿𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗻𝘂𝗲: ---𝟭. 𝟰𝗫 𝗦𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗴𝘆 • Revenue: $7B in 2024 • YoY growth: 14% • Success rate: 14.8% • Top games of the genre: https://lnkd.in/eub3cEKu 𝟮. 𝗜𝗱𝗹𝗲 𝗥𝗣𝗚 • Revenue: $2B in 2024 • YoY growth: 31% • Success rate: 5.8% • Top games of the genre: https://lnkd.in/eSU2EBSG 𝟯. 𝗥𝗼𝗴𝘂𝗲𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲 • Revenue: $436M in 2024 • YoY growth: 44% • Success rate: 4.3% • Top games of the genre: https://lnkd.in/eFGy73ux 𝟰. 𝗠𝗲𝗿𝗴𝗲 𝗚𝗮𝗺𝗲𝘀 • Revenue: $1.2B in 2024 • YoY growth: 94% (!) • Success rate: 1.4% • Top games of the genre: https://lnkd.in/eJGWpT8i --- 𝗕𝘆 𝗱𝗼𝘄𝗻𝗹𝗼𝗮𝗱𝘀: --- 𝟭. 𝗝𝗼𝗯 𝗦𝗶𝗺𝘂𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗼𝗿 • Downloads: 520M in 2024 • YoY growth: 42% • Success rate: 11.7% • Top games of the […]

Anton Slashcev February 4

Journal

Casual Games Report 2024

Casual Games Report 2024: Following 5 Routes to SuccessAppMagic's much-anticipated 2024 report is now live.This year, we’re diving into key trends across 5 genres in Tier-1 West: Match-3 with Complex Meta, Merge-2 with Complex Meta, Match 3D, Sort Puzzle, and Casual Casino 🎮 Inside, we’re answering big questions like:— What are today’s hottest genres, and how can you spot the next big one?— Why does market structure matter more than genre growth?— How are UA challenges reshaping monetization strategies?But most importantly, the report highlights that even during the most challenging times, there are opportunities to thrive across genres of all sizes, complexity, and competitiveness.Enjoy the read!

Gamigion February 4

Journal

Biggest Gaming M&A Deals of 2024

2024 was a year of strategic acquisitions and divestitures, showcasing a variety of deal types:☑️ Keywords Studios was taken private in a $2.8B deal, marking the largest M&A transaction of the year.☑️ Easybrain divested to Miniclip for $1.2B, signaling a strategic shift in the casual gaming space.☑️ Jagex was acquired by private equity firms for ~$1.1B, highlighting the growing role of PE-backed investments in gaming.With a shift towards long-term value and strategic partnerships, M&A activity in gaming is shaping the industry's future. 📌 For the full breakdown, check out IG latest Gaming Deals Report.

Gamigion February 4

Highlights

Social games platform Little Umbrella secures $2 Million

It will use the funds to scale its live ops operations and fast-track the launch of new titles. AI-powered social games platform Little Umbrella has raised $2 million in a seed funding round. Little Umbrella said it will use the funds to scale its live ops operations and fast-track the launch of new titles powered by Playroom, its cross-platform social game kit. Investors who participated in the latest round include Virtual Reality Fund (VRF), a16z speedrun, Mark Pincus's Workplay Ventures, Ubiquoss Investment, Disrupt.com, Breakpoint Ventures, GFR Fund, and angel investors Matt Bilbey and Ryan Peterson all participated in the round. Little Umbrella is creating social games using AI with a focus on cross-platform gameplay and adaptive mechanics. Their game, Death by AI, launched last year and quickly gained over 20 million players in three months. It's available for free on Discord, web, […]

Gamigion February 3

Journal

AI in Gaming Has Flopped

𝗔𝗜 𝗜𝗡 𝗚𝗔𝗠𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝗛𝗔𝗦 𝗙𝗟𝗢𝗣𝗣𝗘𝗗. Humanity may be on a colossal technology frontier, but gaming is being dragged along with AI. Instead of surfing atop the wave, it's retreated to the wake. Gaming has historically been the first-best use case for new technology, so where did it all go so wrong? In the 26 months since ChatGPT launched, Web3 has made more tangible progress than AI gaming applications. Any technology outpaced by Web3's progress is in danger of irrelevance. And it's for good reason: so far, AI's visible footprint in games has been limited to a series of Cosmic Lounge press releases (I want my match-3 levels!) and a sixth finger in Call of Duty key art. Everything else appears to be cheap VC slideware or corporate investor day fantasies. It's true that gaming effectively subsidized the AI revolution by […]

Phillip Black February 3

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