Chinese Mobile Games Won by Designing for ROI, not Romance.

Chinese Mobile Games Didn’t Win by Luck.They Won by Designing for ROI, Not Romance. Here are the real lessons SEA & Vietnam should pay attention to ⬇️ 💰 1️⃣ Follow the Money, Not the Noise The U.S. generates ~32% of global mobile revenue with far fewer players.That’s why Chinese publishers treat the U.S. as a P&L center, not a “test market”.SEA mistake:Too many teams optimize for cheap CPI, not high ARPU.SEA playbook upgrade:• 🇺🇸 Tier-1 = profit engine• 🌏 SEA / LATAM / MENA = volume + learning engine• Separate UA, LiveOps, pricing logic per region👉 Vietnam publishers should stop asking “Where is CPI cheapest?”👉 Start asking “Where does LTV compound the longest?”⸻ 🏗️ 2️⃣ Console-Tier Polish Is No Longer Optional In 2025:• $10M = mid-tier• $20–30M = competitive RPG / Strategy• LiveOps gets more budget than launchChinese studios don’t […]

Quang Pham December 23

Journal

App & Game Trends 2025: The Growth Game Changed

📉 Installs are getting more expensive.📈 Retention is harder to win.💰 Only games built for long-term value will survive 2025.Based on insights from App & Games Trends 2025 (Adjust) Here’s what the data is clearly telling us 👇🎯 1️⃣ Games still dominate global ad spend • Games account for ~60–63% of total ad spend across Android & iOS• iOS continues to lead in value density and ARPMAU 🍎👉 UA isn’t dead. Blind UA is...LTV-driven acquisition is now the baseline. 🎮 2️⃣ Installs ≠ Value: genre roles are crystal clear • 🧩 Hyper Casual → ~27% of total installs (scale first)• ⚔️ Strategy → +83% installs YoY (fastest-growing genre)• 🔫 Action → 21% of total sessions (strong engagement)👉 Some genres buy users.Others build businesses.⸻🌍 3️⃣ Growth hotspots are shifting: LATAM & MENA • 🇧🇷 LATAM: +9% installs YoY• 🇸🇦 MENA: +7% […]

Quang Pham December 15

Journal

Why Most Games Fail PMF in SEA

When evaluating a gamecore for co-development, we don’t start with content, art, or monet ideas ❌ We start with foundation stability + regional fit ✅Because in SEA, everything scales fast, including failure.Here’s the expert checklist on real Product–Market Fit before committing to Co-dev. Performance First: No Stability, No Game Before anything else:🛠 Crash rate & ANR📱 Memory usage on mid–low Android devices🎮 Frame & loading stability🌐 Backend concurrency toleranceSEA reality: • Android = 70–90% of installs• Mid / low-tier devices dominate• One crash = one uninstall💡 If the core isn’t stable, nothing else matters.Retention tests, monet tuning, LiveOps, all collapse. Core Loop in the First 3–15 Minutes ⏱ We analyze what players repeat, not what the design doc promises:🔁 Core actions players loop💰 How currencies enter → circulate → exit🎯 Whether decisions feel natural, not forcedSEA insight:• Players accept grind […]

Quang Pham December 13

Journal

Vietnam to Quietly Become the Next Game M&A Inflection Point

🇻🇳For years, Vietnam was known for volume.What’s changing now is value.After two slow years, global game M&A is moving again, but with a different logic: 📉 Fewer deals 📈 Higher strategic depth Publishers are no longer buying single titles.They buy IP + LiveOps capability + Teams that can scale ecosystems.And this is where Vietnam enters the picture. 🔍 Why Vietnam Is Suddenly on the Radar Vietnam sits in a rare position: • Massive creative output• Extremely competitive production cost• A fast-maturing LiveOps & monetization mindsetIn 2024 alone, games made by Vietnamese studios generated billions of installs globally, yet the market remains structurally undervalued.This gap is exactly what strategic buyers look for. ⚖️ The Vietnam Paradox Vietnam today represents a unique imbalance: • High creative density• Low capital concentration• Early-stage valuationHistorically, markets at this stage don’t stay quiet for long. What’s […]

Quang Pham December 12

Quang Pham