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I paid $25,000 for an influencer collaboration, they brought in only $96

I paid $25,000 for an influencer collaboration... but they brought in only $96.89.... and that was 11 months ago. Did that mean we stopped working with Influencers altogether? Absolutely not. The results of singular collaborations are NEVER an accurate sign of the potential of influencer marketing as a whole. In fact, you will have campaigns where 70% of your influencer collaborations may be unprofitable.But thereโ€™s 2 key things to remember with that Once youโ€™ve got your ideal set up, even if only 30% of the collaborations are profitable, the returns will usually be enough to meet your overall goals.The unsuccessful collaborations are as important as the successful ones to collect data and flash out your strategic understanding.It is SO important to treat every influencer collaboration and campaign as a learning and data collection opportunity. With each campaign, you need to […]

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Really liked this small UI touch in Block Jam

Really liked this small UI touch in Block Jam ๐Ÿ‘‡ When you're down to just 1 space left on the board, the game highlights it in red AND adds arrows pointing to your available boosters โ€” a clever way to nudge players toward using them.It might show up a bit too often, but still an interesting example of soft pressure through visual cues.

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A great game isn’t built on luck.

A great game isn't built on luck. It's built on a blueprint.Hereโ€™s the blueprint every successful game follows ๐Ÿ‘‡๐ŸŽฏ ๐—›๐—ผ๐—ผ๐—ธ โ€ข Grab attention fast. โ€ข Make your unique value obvious from the first second.๐Ÿ“Š ๐——๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ฎ โ€ข Study your players, the market, and your competition. โ€ข Track feedback and key metrics constantly.๐ŸŽฎ ๐—š๐—ฎ๐—บ๐—ฒ๐—ฝ๐—น๐—ฎ๐˜† โ€ข Fun, focused mechanics. โ€ข A clear core loop and meaningful goals.๐ŸŽจ ๐—ฉ๐—ถ๐˜€๐˜‚๐—ฎ๐—น๐˜€ โ€ข Give your game a distinct style. โ€ข Add polish and juicy feedback players can *feel*.๐Ÿ‘€ ๐—™๐—ฒ๐—ฒ๐—ฑ๐—ฏ๐—ฎ๐—ฐ๐—ธ โ€ข Watch how players behave โ€” not just what they say. โ€ข Real insights live in the data.๐Ÿ“ˆ ๐—ฃ๐—ฟ๐—ผ๐—ด๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐˜€๐˜€๐—ถ๐—ผ๐—ป โ€ข Design satisfying unlocks and upgrades. โ€ข Build a smooth and motivating challenge curve.๐Ÿ† ๐— ๐—ฒ๐˜๐—ฎ โ€ข Go beyond moment-to-moment play. โ€ข Add emotional and cosmetic goals that create long-term engagement.๐Ÿ’ฐ ๐— ๐—ผ๐—ป๐—ฒ๐˜๐—ถ๐˜‡๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ถ๐—ผ๐—ป โ€ข Pick the right model for your audience. […]

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Casual Mobile Games: TaleMonster Games secures $7M

Source: VentureBeat TaleMonster Games, anย Istanbulย studio founded by Peak Games veterans on a mission to bring depth and creativity back to casual puzzle games, has raised $7 million in funding. TaleMonster just scored big. With fresh funding led by General Catalyst โ€” joined by A16z Speedrun, Arcadia, and Ludus Ventures โ€” the studio is set to fast-track development on its debut lineup, including the upcoming match-3 title Match Valley. But this isnโ€™t just about one game. CEO Irem Sumer told GamesBeat that TaleMonster was built on a clear mission: todayโ€™s players are more sophisticated than ever โ€” and their games should rise to meet them. This investment fuels that vision, backing the studioโ€™s creative and technical push to redefine what casual puzzle gaming can be. Match Valley is a popular new game from TaleMonster Games. โ€œWe have been working together for […]

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IAP doesnโ€™t work in our game. Our players just donโ€™t spend.

โ€œIAP doesnโ€™t work in our game. Our players just donโ€™t spend.โ€ Iโ€™ve heard this line from dozens of teams โ€” and almost every time, itโ€™s wrong.Not because players donโ€™t spend.But because the game doesnโ€™t give them a reason to.When IAP underperforms, itโ€™s rarely about the audience.Itโ€™s usually about the offer strategy.Here are the usual suspects:๐Ÿ”ป No value framingPlayers donโ€™t buy โ€œgems.โ€ They buy progress, speed, power, customization, exclusivity.If your offer doesnโ€™t communicate why it matters, no one bites.๐Ÿ”ป Poor timingYouโ€™re showing the shop when the player has no context, no pain point, no motivation.The best moment for a sale is when a player wants something and canโ€™t get it yet.๐Ÿ”ป Everyone sees the same shopSegmented pricing, pacing, and bundles are standard practice now.Beginner whales, veteran free-to-players, and returning users all need different offers.๐Ÿ”ป No emotional hookLimited-time? Milestone reward? Progress multiplier?If […]

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How to utilize your in-game friends lists with “Social helper” mechanics?

Warning โ˜ข๏ธ Heavy Game Design post ahead. Do you know how to utilize your in-game friends lists with "Social helper" mechanics? ๐Ÿค This mechanic, which essentially means borrow a friend's character for 1 battle per day ๐Ÿ˜…, is a popular social feature in many F2P mobile RPGs, mainly gacha games. It is used to encourage friend interaction and mitigate difficulty spikes without breaking game balance. Top games such as Monster strike, Genshin Impact, AFK Arena, Summoners War or Fate/ Grand Order all have it.Game designers use this system because it smooths out difficulty spikes ๐Ÿ“ˆ without trivializing challenge. For newer players, borrowing a strong character helps clear tough content while still requiring a balanced strategy. For veterans, it offers flexibility in team comps or a way to test units they donโ€™t own. Itโ€™s a lightweight form of power ๐Ÿ’ช sharing […]

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Layer.ai raises $6.5M: AI Content Creation for Game Studios

Source: VentureBeat Layer, the AI application gateway built specifically for game developers, has raised $6.5 million in seed funding to make next-generation production tools. Layer acts as the glue for game studios to deploy AI quickly and efficiently, with a professional suite of tools to build, manage and refine 2D, 3D and video assets while significantly reducing production time. Layer helps scale content across production pipelines, making it easier to develop and maintain games of all types. Itโ€™s got a lot of mobile game customers, which is why it has raised a new round of funding and is figuring out how to go after the PC and console game studio business. โ€œWeโ€™re the leading AI-powered tool for content creation, and weโ€™re here for game studios,โ€ said Volkan Gurel, CEO of Layer, in an interview with GamesBeat. โ€œWe started off with a […]

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Is 24-Month Payback the New Normal?

๐ŸŽฎIs 24-Month Payback the New Normal? ๐ŸŽฎ Zhen Jie (ZJ) Simย joins us from UA financing company,ย PvX Partners,ย to discuss insights from UA data theyโ€™ve gathered from over 300 games in 2024. ๐Ÿ“ŠHereโ€™s what they found:Rising User Acquisition Costs ๐Ÿ’ธ: User acquisition costs have surged, nearly doubling in the past year, particularly on platforms like AppLovin and Unity. This increase is primarily attributed to heightened competition, especially during peak seasons. Some studios are exploring alternative channels like TikTok to mitigate these costs.Monetization Trends ๐Ÿ’ฐ: While monetization has improved, it hasn't kept pace with the escalating UA costs. PVX is observing a growing trend towards hybrid monetization models, where traditionally IAP-focused games incorporate rewarded ads, and vice versa.Declining Return on Ad Spend (ROAS) ๐Ÿ“‰: ROAS performance has declined by approximately 20%, resulting in extended payback periods for games. Some games are now projecting […]

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Hypercasual games are cooked?

Hypercasual games are cooked? ๐Ÿ’€ 11.7B downloads in the past year. Thatโ€™s a 7% decrease.But the real story?Some genres are booming. Others are falling fast.Hereโ€™s whatโ€™s happening:๐Ÿ’น ๐—ช๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ป๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐˜€:๐ŸŸข Screw Puzzle exploded: +1242.86%๐ŸŸข Logic Puzzle steady: +9.17%๐ŸŸข Idle Arcade up +34%๐ŸŸข .IO games up +13.33%๐ŸŸข Shooter โ€“ 396M downloads (+20.22%)๐Ÿ”ป๐—Ÿ๐—ผ๐˜€๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐˜€:๐Ÿ”ด Arcade โ€“ 6.1B downloads (-7%)๐Ÿ”ด Runner games โ€“ 1.2B downloads (-14.81%)๐Ÿ”ด Rhythm โ€“ 688M downloads (-7.71%)๐Ÿ”ด Fashion & Dress Up โ€“ 235M downloads (-21.85%)๐Ÿ”ด Draw Line Puzzle โ€“ 442M downloads (-15.42%)๐Ÿ”ด Racing โ€“ 437M downloads (-13.35%)๐ŸŸ ๐— ๐—ถ๐˜…๐—ฒ๐—ฑ ๐˜€๐—ถ๐—ด๐—ป๐—ฎ๐—น๐˜€:๐ŸŸ  Simulation โ€“ 924M downloads (+7.83%)โ†’ But core Sim titles dropped -15.91%๐ŸŸ โ€œOther Hypercasualโ€ โ€“ +2.57%โ†’ Still growing, but slowly๐ŸŸ  Puzzle games โ€“ 3.2B downloads (-4.7%)The big insight?Players want ๐˜ฎ๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ค๐˜ฉ๐˜ข๐˜ญ๐˜ญ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ๐˜จe.And ๐˜ญ๐˜ฆ๐˜ด๐˜ด ๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฑ๐˜ฆ๐˜ต๐˜ช๐˜ต๐˜ช๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ.The hypercasual space isnโ€™t dying:Itโ€™s evolving.If youโ€™re building in this space:โ†’ Focus on varietyโ†’ Bet on brain gamesโ†’ Watch genre fatigue closelyAdapt or get […]

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In modern video game design, data reigns supreme.

In modern video game design, data reigns supreme. Building upon genre proven standards is the key to creating next hits. You can use 70/20/10 Game Design strategy.This is not THE strategy,Rather, it is A strategy. Let me explain, briefly:70% of your design should be proven,Something other games in the genre,Done extremely well,Considered โ€˜โ€™standardโ€™โ€™ for the genre.20% of it should be something better.Depending on your team,Make something better than top competitorsSomething that team can improve.10% is the element of surprise.Try something new, mix other mechanics,Go crazy, sky is the limit.Minimum risk,Maximum reward.

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Meta AdROAS Campaign Quickly Lose Efficiency When Scaling

Last Case Study before MAU! โœˆ๏ธ Are you a gaming company monetizing through IAA?๐Ÿ•น๏ธ Then this case study will definitely be of interest to you.Four months ago, I was among the first to publicly test Metaโ€™s new adROAS campaigns (feel free to check my earlier posts). Since then, Iโ€™ve been consistently testing them across different games.Today, I want to share something that has happened not once, but three timesโ€”with three different games:๐Ÿ‘‰๐Œ๐ž๐ญ๐š ๐š๐๐‘๐Ž๐€๐’ ๐œ๐š๐ฆ๐ฉ๐š๐ข๐ ๐ง๐ฌ "๐ช๐ฎ๐ข๐œ๐ค๐ฅ๐ฒ" ๐ฅ๐จ๐ฌ๐ž ๐ž๐Ÿ๐Ÿ๐ข๐œ๐ข๐ž๐ง๐œ๐ฒ ๐ฐ๐ก๐ž๐ง ๐ฌ๐œ๐š๐ฅ๐ข๐ง๐ Donโ€™t get me wrongโ€” These campaigns work really well on Android and have delivered strong results for me. But it seems thereโ€™s a ceiling: as you start to scale spend, efficiency drops and the breakeven point gets pushed further out.Here are the three main issues Iโ€™ve observed:1๏ธโƒฃ Efficiency drops despite continuous creative rotationIn this last case, I have tested +100 creatives with […]

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Can hyper-casual still work?

Last week a client asked: "Can hyper-casual still work?" My answer: "Anything is possible, but, I'd recommend against it."Best evidence: The pubs best at hyper-casual have pivoted to hybrid.Client:  "Well, how did Block Blast do it?"๐—š๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐˜ ๐—พ๐˜‚๐—ฒ๐˜€๐˜๐—ถ๐—ผ๐—ป.So I did a bit of digging...Here is how Block Blast scaled from 15M to 42M monthly downloads over the past several months.A 60-cent Ad LTV (given insane retention) would put them at a $300M / year run rate on ads alone. ๐Ÿ˜ฎSo, how did they do this, in 2025?1. ๐Ÿฏ๐Ÿฌ๐Ÿฌ๐Ÿฌ ๐—”/๐—• ๐—ง๐—ฒ๐˜€๐˜๐˜€:  They iterated aggressively since 2022, ran 3000 A/B tests, some with AI players. ๐Ÿ˜ถ 2. ๐——๐Ÿฒ๐Ÿฌ ๐—ฅ๐—ฒ๐˜๐—ฒ๐—ป๐˜๐—ถ๐—ผ๐—ป of ๐Ÿฎ๐Ÿด%: The fruit of this iteration. ๐Ÿ’3. ๐Ÿญ๐Ÿฌ,๐Ÿฌ๐Ÿฌ๐Ÿฌ ๐—ฑ๐—ถ๐—ณ๐—ณ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐—ป๐˜ ๐—ฎ๐—ฑ ๐—ฐ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ถ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ concepts in past 2y. ๐Ÿค So... that's ALL it takes to have a hit! ๐Ÿ˜†A D60 retention higher than most games' D7, 3000 A/B tests, […]

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