Don’t evaluate your player retention without a clear understanding of where your users are coming from.

Don’t evaluate your player retention without a clear understanding of where your users are coming from. 🙅‍♂️ User acquisition and player retention are tightly connected - like an umbilical cord. Without that context, you risk drawing false conclusions from your retention data.Here are three key factors that can distort your retention curve:1. Campaign optimization type: Players from app install campaigns behave very differently than those acquired through event-optimized campaigns - especially when the event is tied to in-game progression (e.g. reaching level 3 or joining a clan).2. Ad creatives: Gameplay-focused creatives usually prequalify users better and lead to stronger retention. The downside: they often struggle to grab attention. On the other hand, creatives that drift too far from actual gameplay may drive higher IPM but lower retention. Always analyze retention in the context of the dominant creatives used.3. Acquisition channel: […]

Peter Fodor July 15

Journal

How We Hired AI Instead of More People, and Loved It

AI is everywhere right now. But we’re not interested in hype and will share real use cases across product development, data, and marketing. In today’s chapter of the Appventure series, I’ll share how we’ve integrated AI into nearly every aspect of Walking Planet - from data to creatives. Walking Planet is a mobile fitness game we publish as an equity growth partner. After a year in soft launch, we’re raising seed funding with strong metrics and potential (more on that at the end). WALKING PLANET SERIES – PART 3: AI-first approach Number one thing killing startups is premature scaling. We are intentionally staying lean to be able to make fast decisions and focus on outcomes. On Walking Planet, our growth team consists of a growth manager and a UA lead, backed by agency resources for data, creative, and production. Of […]

Peter Fodor July 4

Journal

7 Takeaways from Apptica State of Mobile 2024

The mobile gaming market is returning to a state of cautious optimism. Here are 7 interesting data points from Apptica’s State of the Market report I took myself: 1. The YoY trend indicates positive dynamics in downloads +8.7% and revenue + 9.62% across both apps and games.2. Android gaming market showed a downward trend (-1.44%) with total revenue exceeding $15.66B. Gaming outperformed Applications by more than 1.7x in the revenue scope.3. As for the revenue, iOS gaming market grew by 5.55% and accumulated >$25.29B. It's worth noting that Apple users spent more on applications than on games (unlike in Google Play).4. RPG is the biggest sub-category both on iOS and Android by revenue, while it also faced the biggest decline between 2023 and 2024. 5. Video stands for 85% of number of creatives compared to only 3.36% for playables and […]

Peter Fodor February 15

Journal

The 11 Sins of Mobile Marketing

Wrath: The Absence of an “Integrated” Growth Model Stagnation: Lacking a Clear UA Creative Testing Methodology Sand-bagging: Brand Keeps Creative Testing Stuck in the Mud Gluttony: Failure to Take Advantage of Pricing Optimization & Discount Flow Envy: Missing a Proper ASO Methodology Neglect: Failure to Reap the App Store’s Low-Hanging Fruit Sloth: Struggles with iOS Evaluation and SKAN Greed: Lacking the Methodology to Predict User LTVs Over-simplification: The Use of Only a Basic Prediction Event Ignorance: Not Understanding User Behavior Pride: Not Capitalizing on New Opportunities 1. Wrath: The Absence of an “Integrated” Growth Model “Sir, the good news is that we have finally created the Growth Model. The bad news is that we have no idea how to use it!” Do you have a system that can easily answer questions like: “What would be the revenue impact if we […]

Peter Fodor February 14

Journal

Before Selling Your Mobile Game?

If you’re thinking about selling your game, you’re likely swamped with questions. How long will it take? What’s it worth? How do you find the right buyers? The sales process can be daunting, especially for first-timers. To help you navigate this challenging terrain, we spoke with Orel and Eden Bleytman, the co-founders of OEB Digital. Their M&A advisory and brokerage firm recently facilitated the successful multi-million € sale of a game that AppAgent had supported for three years. During our conversation, they shared valuable insights and answered some of the most pressing questions faced by game sellers. When Selling Your Game Makes Sense Pursuing New Projects One of the most common reasons developers consider selling their game is the desire to pursue a new project. Naturally, your passion might shift to a new idea, but your current game probably demands ongoing attention. Selling […]

Peter Fodor February 11

Journal

How to Leverage AI in ASO?

It’s hard to imagine AppAgent’s daily processes without a touch of AI “magic”. ✨ Why? Because automating repetitive tasks gives our team the freedom to dive deeper into the strategic and creative work that no machine can replace. From refining keyword research to uncovering performance insights, AI serves as a powerful enhancer-saving time and sharpening our focus on the big picture. Here's a “day in the life” of AppAgent ASO Manager, Tatiana Vasylieva, to see how AI seamlessly integrates into each step of her process, elevating expertise while keeping the human touch at the heart of everything we do. AI Morning Routine: Catching Up on Industry News and Project Updates If you’re hungry for knowledge and have FOMO you’ll miss important stuff, AI can help. Staying informed used to be time-consuming, requiring us to sift through algorithm changes, updates from Google […]

Peter Fodor December 4

Journal

The 11 Sins of Mobile Marketing: Lessons from Growth Audits

As the mobile game industry matures, many companies struggle to keep up with the latest trends and adapt through innovative strategies. As a solution, mobile growth audits like GamePlan™ have become an increasingly popular method for identifying gaps in businesses’ growth plans and unlocking their maximum scalability potential. GamePlan™ is a 360° growth diagnostic for mobile games. Through it, we analyze your past UA efforts, ASO performance, competitive landscape, tech stack, and monetization strategies. We then use these insights to build a growth strategy and an actionable growth backlog. Read about how GamePlan™ helped Etermax’s Trivia Crack in this case study. In this article, we will present 11 key learnings we’ve gained from conducting over 30 mobile growth audits at AppAgent. The 11 Sins of Mobile Marketing Wrath: The Absence of an “Integrated” Growth Model Stagnation: Lacking a Clear UA Creative Testing Methodology […]

Peter Fodor December 3

Journal

10 Gaming Creative Takeaways: NOT Working

Here are the top 10 gaming creative takeaways on what’s NOT working based on many GamePlan diagnostics we did for publishers of all sizes: 1. Gameplay mechanic not recognizable in a fraction of a second. 2. Too much repetition in visual execution. 3. Content that is too generic or too niche. 4. Stock footage. 5. Trying to say too much. 6. Visual clutter (such as unnecessary UI elements). 7. Everything is too small (made on a large screen, viewed on a tiny mobile). 8. Not isolating variables when testing creatives = no learning. 9. Doing only basic ad iterations. 10. Not utilizing affordable 3D hooks.

Peter Fodor October 8

Journal

Top 3: Best Note-taking Apps

How We Can Help Here are a few reminders of how we can help—and thank you for subscribing: CREATIVE STRATEGY for new and established games that are stuck: watch my talk from Google GameCamp or reach out.GAMEPLANTM diagnostic: I had three meetings at PGC Helsinki today, tackling how to cut through the noise. We’ve helped companies such as Huuuge Games, Etermax and Netflix with the strategy that delivers results. About GamePlan. GROWTH & CREATIVE PROGRAMS: After the diagnostic phase, we offer implementation programs covering marketing analytics, user acquisition, ASO, and creative communication. Book a call How to Choose Your AI Note-taker Did you know professionals spend over 20 hours a week in meetings? Before AI, note-taking was manual and often disruptive. But now, with AI meeting assistants, you can automate transcription, task management, and summaries, freeing up time for what […]

Peter Fodor October 3

Journal

Major issue on a GamePlan Diagnostic

A major issue we discovered during a recent GamePlan™ diagnostic: If 42% of user reviews are complaining about ads, maybe it’s time to reconsider whether heavy ad monetization is truly increasing your top-line revenue. I can’t emphasize this enough: read the reviews, talk to the players, or at least consult your community managers—they usually know best.

Peter Fodor September 23

Journal

Elevate Your Creative Strategy

If you’ve already been running creatives in campaigns, you should, in theory, have some data that can offer valuable insights to help shape your creative strategy. Here's how you can leverage that data:1. Assess Ad Spend PotentialMachine learning can predict success pretty damn fast. Look for ads that scale well and stay relevant. If an ad consistently attracts spend, it's likely resonating with your audience.2. Evaluate CTR & IPMCTR and IPM show how well your ad’s initial hook resonates with your target audience and its effectiveness in driving results.3. Analyze ROASROAS helps ensure your ads reach the right audience—those who will engage with your game. Monitor this from day 1 to day 30 for a complete picture.4. Check Hook RateThe hook rate reveals how many viewers watch past the first 3 seconds. A low hook rate might mean your ad […]

Peter Fodor September 21

Journal

When selling your game, watch out for common pitfalls

When selling your game, watch out for common pitfalls that can jeopardize the deal and hurt your chances of success. Here are three of the most common mistakes that you can avoid to ensure a smoother, more secure sale:1. Sharing data too early. Validate buyers' intentions before granting access, as some may just be fishing for data.2. Transferring funds prematurely. Always use secure methods like escrow services to protect your transaction.3. Stopping UA efforts. Maintain metrics even after listing the game to keep it attractive to buyers.It's also important not to test new features or make significant changes to your game during the sale process. You don’t know how these changes will affect your conversion funnel and decrease the game’s valuation!

Peter Fodor September 13

Peter Fodor

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