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Richard Kos

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Colors in Ads = Emotions in Action

Colors in Ads = Emotions in Action ๐ŸŽจ Colors arenโ€™t just a design choice, theyโ€™re a psychological trigger.Iโ€™ve been exploring how color impacts performance in ads, based on Player Motivations.๐Ÿ“Š Around ๐Ÿด๐Ÿฑโ€“๐Ÿต๐Ÿฌ% ๐—ผ๐—ณ ๐—ณ๐—ถ๐—ฟ๐˜€๐˜ ๐—ถ๐—บ๐—ฝ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐˜€๐˜€๐—ถ๐—ผ๐—ป๐˜€ are based on color. So what if we mapped Player Motivations to Color Psychology and used that to guide ad design?๐—›๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐—ฒโ€™๐˜€ ๐˜„๐—ต๐—ฎ๐˜ ๐—œ ๐—ฑ๐—ถ๐—ฑ: โ€“ Used ๐—–๐—ต๐—ฎ๐˜๐—š๐—ฃ๐—ง to generate a matrix of colors per Motivation. โ€“ Built a Spider chart to map different emotional tones. โ€“ Created color palettes to ๐—”/๐—• ๐˜๐—ฒ๐˜€๐˜ Static Banners.Trigger the right Player Motivation for your Ad and start testing, examples below ๐Ÿ‘‡

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Blend Textures and Icons with ChatGPT

๐Ÿฅš Had a long Easter weekend off! So I had some time to play around with ๐—–๐—ต๐—ฎ๐˜๐—š๐—ฃ๐—ง and ended up diving into its ๐—ง๐—ฒ๐˜…๐˜๐˜‚๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐˜€ functionality.You can blend Textures like Candy or Fabric and combine it with your existing ๐—”๐—ฝ๐—ฝ ๐—œ๐—ฐ๐—ผ๐—ป, to create visuals that feel hyper-realistic, tactile, and just way more scroll-stopping.The effects are subtle but powerful, it instantly makes your icon ๐—ฃ๐—ข๐—ฃ!๐Ÿง  It tricks the brain into thinking the icon is more โ€œrealโ€. ๐Ÿ‘€ It grabs attention and make your icon stand out. ๐ŸŽฏ And it can lift your store performance without a full rebrand.Check out the slides for a few examples ๐Ÿ‘‡

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Age of Empires: Mobile, 6 months post-launch.

๐Ÿšจ Age of Empires: Mobile, 6 months post-launch. We ran a full-scale audit using the ๐—ฆ๐—–๐—”๐—Ÿ๐—˜โ„ข ๐—ณ๐—ฟ๐—ฎ๐—บ๐—ฒ๐˜„๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—ธ we use at Gaming Growth to evaluate mobile games across five pillars: ๐—ฆ๐—ฒ๐—ป๐˜๐—ถ๐—บ๐—ฒ๐—ป๐˜, ๐—–๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ถ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ๐˜€, ๐—”๐—ฐ๐—พ๐˜‚๐—ถ๐˜€๐—ถ๐˜๐—ถ๐—ผ๐—ป, ๐—Ÿ๐—ผ๐˜†๐—ฎ๐—น๐˜๐˜†, ๐—˜๐˜…๐—ฝ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐˜€๐—ถ๐—ผ๐—ป.๐—›๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐—ฒโ€™๐˜€ ๐˜„๐—ต๐—ฎ๐˜ ๐˜€๐˜๐—ผ๐—ผ๐—ฑ ๐—ผ๐˜‚๐˜: โœ… Strong initial monetization, especially on iOSโœ… Global reach with high iOS revenue in France, Japan & HKโš ๏ธ Sharp drop in installs since launchโš ๏ธ Creatives overpromise, setting expectations the game canโ€™t meetโš ๏ธ Lower iOS rating is hurting conversion๐—ฆ๐—–๐—”๐—Ÿ๐—˜ ๐—ฆ๐—ฐ๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ: ๐Ÿฏ.๐Ÿฎ/๐Ÿฑ โญLots of potential,ย but also clear areas to optimize.Check out the full breakdown in the carousel ๐Ÿ‘‡

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The numbers for Q1 2025 here.

The numbers for Q1 2025 are in ๐Ÿ‘‡ Every quarter, we take some time to analyse where the market is shifting, and not always in the ways weโ€™d expect.๐Ÿ“‰ Android saw a drop in both downloads (-8.5%) and revenue (-4.8%) YoY.๐Ÿ“ˆ iOS? Downloads dipped slightly, but revenue grew by 2.4% YoY. Players are spending more, even as installs slow down.But thatโ€™s not all:๐Ÿงฉ Puzzle and Casual games still dominate in downloads.โš”๏ธ RPGs and Strategy games continue to lead in revenue.๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ The US drives monetization in Casual and Casino.๐Ÿ‡ฏ๐Ÿ‡ต Japan loves RPGs and Simulation.๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡ณ China is ramping up in Action and Strategy on iOS.

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AI certainly makes ASO fun again!

AI certainly makes ASO fun again! Updating your screenshots for holidays, seasonality, or culturalization required a lot of time and resources. With OpenAIโ€™s recent update (yes.. the Ghibli one) you can change the theme of a screenshot in an instant.Think of:๐ŸŒž โ†’ โ„๏ธ Swap a Snow-covered scene to a Sunny version for Summer holidays๐ŸŽƒ โ†’ ๐ŸŽ„ Change your best performing screenshots to Valentine without rebuilding assets๐ŸŒธ โ†’ ๐ŸŒด Localize seasonal visuals for different countries or regionsSwipe through the slides for ideas! ๐Ÿ’ก๐Ÿ‘‡

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Data Analysis Automation

It is no secret that UA teams are likely to shrink in the coming year. While advertising budgets are increasing again, repetitive tasks are being replaced by Automation with the help of AI, saving hours of work. โฑ๏ธ It allows UA specialists to become generalists again and those who adapt will thrive. Check the slides below ๐Ÿ‘‡ Iโ€™ve added an incredibly simple setup to get automated UA performance reports directly in Slack: using just Zapier (...or Make/n8n) + Google Sheets + ChatGPT.

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Custom Store Listing for World Eternal Online

We did a super fun creative test with Core Loop for World Eternal Online. The goal? Come up with new art styles for the game and see how they perform compared to the original, in terms of audience appeal and campaign results.To bring it all to life, we leaned heavily on AI:๐Ÿง  ChatGPT helped us write character prompts๐ŸŽจ Midjourney turned those into awesome character designs๐ŸŽฅ Pika, Kling and Creatify helped animate everything into ad-ready creativesBut it didnโ€™t stop there.We used the AI art to build dedicated Custom Store Listings on Google Play, complete with unique icons and screenshots for each visual style. Then we ran a Meta campaign to send traffic to each version and measure the differences in audience behavior and conversion rates.The result? Two totally different visual vibes. Two different types of players. Tons of insights for further […]

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Unlocking key insights in the Slots Genre

๐ŸŽฐ Unlocking key insights in the Slots Genre! Our latest deep dive into the performance of top slots titles reveals key trends and growth drivers in this thriving genre. Here are some highlights from:๐Ÿ“Š Top Titles:SciPlay: Jackpot PartyProduct Madness ๐Ÿ“ฑ๐ŸŽฎ: Lightning LinkPlaytika: SlotomaniaDoubleDown Interactive: DoubleDown CasinoSpinX Games Limited: Jackpot WorldCheck out the report highlights in the carousel below to learn about: ๐Ÿ‘‡๐Ÿ“‰ Download Trends๐Ÿ“ฑ Platform Performance๐Ÿ“ˆ User Engagement๐Ÿ”„ Retention Rates๐Ÿ‘ฅ Audience Insights๐ŸŽจ Top Creative ThemesVia: Gaming GrowthNumbers by: Apptica

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Create Stunning Statics with Midjouney

Create Stunning Statics with Midjouney for Web ๐Ÿ‘‡ Here's how to use Midjourney in 3 key Aspect Ratios (16:9, 1:1, 9:16):1๏ธโƒฃ Set Up Midjourney2๏ธโƒฃ Use Image as Reference 3๏ธโƒฃ Craft the Perfect Prompt4๏ธโƒฃ Upscale & Change Aspect Ratios5๏ธโƒฃ Add Text & CTA๐Ÿ” Iterate & Test๐Ÿ‘‰ The full blogpost is in the commentsvia: Gaming Growth

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How UA ๐Ÿค Product collaboration drives growth?

๐Ÿงฉ Collaboration between UA and Product teams is key to success at every stage of Game Development. Product teams can benefit from UA by gaining insights through Market Research, A/B tests, Technical Tests etc.Swipe below for the UA Roles and how Product/UA work hand-in-hand throughout these phases:๐Ÿ” Concepting Phase๐Ÿš€ Development Phase๐ŸŽฏ Launch Phase๐Ÿ“ˆ Growth Phase For every studio โ€“ the collaboration between User Acquisition (UA) and Product is essential to achieve success. By aligning UA strategies with product development goals, studios can create games that identify potential issues early on, meet player needs, and thrive in the market. This blog explores the UA roles in each phase of development and how UA can support product development throughout every phase. Include UA from day one Itโ€™s a common misconception that UA efforts only start when a game is ready to launch. […]

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Conversion Window for GoogleAds UAC Campaigns

Set the right Conversion Window for your GoogleAds UAC campaigns:๐Ÿ‘‡ Are you leveraging the right attribution window for your In App Purchases? While the default 30-day post-click window works for many, shortening it might offer you some benefits:๐Ÿ”„ Faster feedback loop๐Ÿ“ˆ Reduced fluctuations in ROAS๐ŸŽฏ Improved attribution accuracyA/B test a shorter window to see how it performs for you. As always - keep testing and iterating! Shorter Window Identifying Duplicate-Import-Create

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Unlocking Insights in Match-3 Games

Curious to learn how top Match-3 games perform in a highly competitive market? Whether you're developing games or just passionate about the industry, understanding the key metrics and trends can make a huge difference.๐Ÿ’ก Check out our latest insights into top Match-3 games like Candy Crush Saga, Royal Match, and others.๐ŸŒ Download and Revenue distribution across different regions๐Ÿ“Š Retention Rates from Day 1 to Day 30โฑ๏ธ Average session lengths and daily engagement๐ŸŽ Common game features that drive user retention Average Install Distribution in T1 Countries Downloads in USA How About Other Countries? Retention? User Engagement? IAP vs. IAA Daily Login Reward Collectibles in the Game Events Competition Numbers by Sensor TowerVia Gaming Growth

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