Angel Investors: How to create your own?

People often ask me about angel investors in the games industry. I can usually name a dozen folks, mostly previous founders or executives in the field. However, these individuals are constantly bombarded with inbound deals and often aren't consistently active in angel investing. While some might be full-time investors, the truth is that the games industry lacks well-known, dedicated angel investors. In this post, I want to share a strategy for new game founders who lack a broad network but have something compelling for potential investors. I call it "creating your own angel investors." Searching for angel investors on social media or LinkedIn won't yield many results because people rarely advertise this role. Yet, many industry professionals are open to angel investing if given the opportunity. From 2020 to 2023, I ran an angel syndicate with over 200 game industry […]

Joakim Achren June 10

Journal

Game Development Tools Landscape

I wish I had the tools available today when I joined gaming 12 years ago. Still, 3 sins can ruin your game production. (I must admit, I’ve committed all 3 sins)1. "Why buy this tool? A weekend and energy drinks, and I'll make a new one. It'll even make coffee!"Avoid this because:• 61% producers aim for 1–2-week releases.• that's a lot of energy drinks.• not enough weekends.2. “Our custom tool? It's so unique, only three people in the world understand it.Two of them just quit.”Avoid this because:• 53% longer to onboard with in-house tools• less focus in creating the game experience• the remaining one writes in hieroglyphs.3. "This third-party AI pathfinding? My pet could write better algorithms. Hold my keyboard."Avoid this because:• 66% of development timelines fall short.• solving solved issues wastes resources.• wheel reinvention proves its necessity."Okay, your idea, […]

Sergei Vasiuk June 10

Journal

This year looks truly special for the MMORPG genre.

While we may be living in a time of crisis for the gaming industry, there are still a lot of cool games that have been released or are coming out. On different platforms and markets, both indie and AAA, even MMORPG has a lot of stuff! 😎 🎉 This year looks truly special for the MMORPG genre. There are:— Expansion for the World of Warcraft— Expansion for the Final Fantasy XIV Online (with boosted graphics)— Updates in Destiny and TESO— Guild Wars 3 development confirmed— Pax Dei, Blue Protocol, Throne and Liberty planned for release this yearPersonally I want to check up FFXIV. Already played for 100 hours, but it is clearly not enough. 🤗

Sergei Zenkin June 7

Journal

YouTube Launches Games

EVERYTHING IS A GAMING COMPANY YOUTUBE ROLLS OUT IN-APP GAMES Netflix, New York Times, Shopee, Spotify, Instagram, LinkedIn.What do all these companies have in common? 🤔Maybe your answer wasn't that, but these companies have the development of games as a business expansion strategy in common. 🎮📊And recently we had a new player.After an eight-month trial with selected users, YouTube has expanded its new "Playables" in-app games feature to more US, UK, Canadian, and Australian users.The platform now offers over 75 games. 😲In my opinion, the streaming giant's initiative may be more assertive than other companies' attempts.Firstly, the titles available are very popular IPs.Check it out (AppMagic figures since 2015). 👇🐦 Angry Birds by Rovio Entertainment Corporation (1.5bi downloads and US$1.27bi IAP revenue).🎭 Tomb of the Mask by Playgendary (507MM downloads and US$21MM IAP revenue).❓ Trivia Crack by etermax (430MM downloads […]

Carlos Pereira June 7

Journal

The Goods Sort Trend A Market Phenomenon

In the ever-evolving world of mobile gaming, the goods sort trend has emerged as a significant revenue generator. While innovation often drives success, this trend highlights that replicating successful mechanics with excellent execution can also lead to impressive results. The goods matching trend is making waves, generating $3-4 million USD in IAP revenue monthly for different companies, excluding ad revenue which can easily be around $8-12 million USD every month assuming IAP to ad revenue ratio is around 25:75 overall across all games togetherSome of the major companies leading this space1) Goods Master 3d by Cobby Labs2) Goods sort by Mind crush3) Triple Buster 3d by Clap Palms4) Stuff Sort by Griffon Games5) Triple Master 3d by Star fun studio6) Match Triple Goods by Higgs StudioThere are a great number of smaller games that are making a 2-digit IAP revenue […]

Vamsi Penmetsa June 5

Journal

Match Masters’ Unique 1v1 Match-3D Style Gameplay

Match Masters has introduced an innovative approach in the casual and puzzle market with its unique 1 vs 1 match-3D style gameplay. While games like Royal Match and Gardenscapes have excelled with their meta games, mini-games, and storytelling elements, Match Masters by Candivore led by Ilya Agron , Zur Tamam , Tom Amel , Sahar Azran , Ehud Rosenberg , Anat Treibatch, Yael Yagev , Omer Miran, Jonathan Many , Rod Peri , Alina Vostrikov , Pini Ashkenazi Golomb , ✪ Ronit Gendelman ✪ , Efrat Rosental , Renny Grinshpan , Yoni Yeshaya , Idan Tsahar , Ido Leshem , Chagai Shtulman , Zoe Grosman , Omri Rosen and many more has carved a niche with competitive gameplay. This new take has significantly boosted its downloads and revenue, presenting a promising opportunity for other studios to explore. LIFETIME DOWNLOADS - […]

Vamsi Penmetsa June 5

Journal

Game Deconstruction: “Screw Jam” by Rollic

DECONSTRUCTION ”SCREW JAM” BY ROLLIC First-party data.This is the secret of Cost Center 🔜 GamesCom Asiato offering one of the most powerful BI tools on the market. 💪Track the resources used in your game. Optimize its monetization. Balance the level performance. 📈Follow the example of Amanotes and Lihuhu and quickly improve your game's metrics with Cost Center. 💰Call my friend Yi Ting Ho. She'll show you a demo. 😉By the way, today I bring you a deconstruction of one of the most successful games of the year.🌟 “Screw Jam” published by Rollic 🌟Developed by Quok Games, "Screw" has achieved almost US$15MM in IAP revenue and more than 6MM downloads (data by AppMagic).Certainly one of Hybridcasual's success cases. 👏That's why I did a level-by-level study of the game, up to level 50. 😎

Carlos Pereira June 5

Journal

Top 10 Tools Every Game Developer Must Know

Having the right tools can make all the difference. These tools collectively cover the essential aspects of: • Performance optimization• Project management• Game development• Design• Coding The must know tools are: 1. Game Engines: Unreal, Unity, Godot2. Scripting Tools: Visual Studio, Xcode, Eclipse3. Animation Software: Adobe Photoshop, Blender, Inkscape4. Asset Marketplaces: Adobe Audition, Audacity5. Audio Editing Software: Git, SVN6. Version Control Systems: JIRA, Trello7. Graphics Design Software: NVIDIA Nsight, Intel VTune8. Project Management Tools: Houdini FX, Spine9. Performance Analysis Tools: Lua, Blueprint10. Integrated Development Environments: Unity Asset Store, Unreal Engine MarketplaceDon't feel pressured to master all these tools immediately. Choose one, get familiar with it, and then gradually introduce others.

Ali Farha June 5

Journal

Which European Country Is The Most Popular Among Game Devs?

Which European Country Is The Most Popular Among Game Developers? 🎮 Last week I was reading a report by Dataspelsbranschen / Swedish Games Industry. And found out the number of gaming studios by country.🔝Top 4 (more than 500 studios)UK > France > Sweden > Germany When I was moving to another country I wanted to consider EU countries with vast gaming industries. So, Sweden was an amazing choice! The report proves that.If you want to read the full report plus know more about the gaming industry in Swedenhttps://lnkd.in/d46pr4XBDo you think the top remain the same in several years? Or should we expect changes?🤔P.S. Love diagrams and reports.

Eva Piatrushina June 4

Journal

Match Factory! A Major hit with positive advertising by Peak Games

🤔Question: Do you need the same Android and iOS game ad experience? 🤔 📡 Let's take a look at Match Factory by Peak Games. It’s currently generating $13.7m/month in IAPs ($165m/year wow!). Unlike its largest competitor Triple Match 3D by Boombox Games Inc, Match Factory has no in-game ads. Is this a mistake? Let’s take a look…. 🔎 🤕 Ads hurt retention - this is something game developers have been told for years... But I’d argue that in the Casual Puzzle genera, it's not true. Looking at the retention data in Sensor Tower Triple Match 3D (with ads!) has better retention throughout the whole player life cycle (D7 retention is 23% vs 17%). Looks like having ads in Triple Match doesn’t prohibit amazing retention numbers. ⁉ ❓ All users need the same game experience - why? Match Factory’s DAU split is 57% […]

Felix Braberg June 3

Journal

Helldivers 2 Special: Why is it so good?

👨‍🚀 On May 5th Helldivers 2 announced that it had sold 12 million units 🚀 , making it the fastest-selling video game on PlayStation of all time, beating out mega titles like Fortnite and Call of Duty. It’s estimated that Helldivers 2 revenues are about $480 million since its release on the 8th of February. 🤔 Earlier this year I had an in-person discussion with Eric Kress who argued that one of the main issues with the current PC & Console market was the need for more supply of games that gamers want to play. The meteoric rise of Helldivers 2 seems to in part prove this hypothesis to be somewhat true. After reaching 450,000 concurrent players on Steam two & a half gamers decided to do a review of the gameplay and overall economy to figure out what made […]

Felix Braberg June 3

Journal

Survivor.io by Habby: Game Breakdown

🎮 Survivor.io by Habby: Game Breakdown 🎮 In Survivor.io, Habby led by Stefan Wang, Blu Chen (Xiaoqing Chen), Jiyeon Shin, Kris Jia, 赵书香, Xiaochen Wang, Jealous Zhang, Chang Ma, 郭丹萍, Cici Peng and many more have implemented a variety of in-app purchases (IAPs) and ad monetization strategies to enhance the player experience while generating revenue. 1) Name Changing: Players can change their name for free the first time. However, any subsequent changes cost 100 diamonds 💎, adding a strategic layer to personalization choices.2) Revival Options: Upon dying in the game, players have a choice to revive their character. They can either watch a rewarded ad 🎥 for a free revival or use a new life item found within the game ❤️, ensuring they can continue their progress without losing momentum.3) Game Play Costs: It costs 5 thunder ⚡ to play […]

Vamsi Penmetsa June 3

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