Blog classic sidebar

Match Villains: A Dracula-Led Heist Into the Most Brutal Market in Mobile

We’ve said it before, and unfortunately it keeps getting more true with time: this is the absolute worst moment to launch a new Match-3 game. User acquisition costs are no longer “high”, they’re absurd. The casual puzzle market, particularly Match-3, has turned into a battlefield where only the best-funded and most patient teams can survive. And even those often struggle to do so profitably. We mentioned this fact when we analyzed Dream’s wild Royal Kingdom campaign. It is the most extreme (and recent) symptom of a market pushing studios to try everything to make it work. Imagine having to cast a list that includes LeBron James, Kevin Hart, and Jimmy Fallon despite having arguably the best switcher engine in the market… While it’ll take a long time to know whether that absurdly expensive campaign actually paid off, the fact that […]

Ahmetcan Demirel May 27

Journal

Google co-founder Sergey Brin believes threats of physical violence improve AI performance.

Google co-founder Sergey Brin believes threats of physical violence improve AI performance. Sergey Brin stated on the All-In podcast that threats of physical violence increase the effectiveness of interacting with AI.“All models, not just ours, work better if you threaten them. For example, saying: ‘I will kidnap you if you don’t do this, this, and that.’ But the community doesn’t talk about this — it sounds strange and awkward, so the topic is kept quiet,” he explained.Brin stepped down from his role in 2019, but a conversation with an OpenAI employee convinced him to return to the company and work on developing the Gemini neural network — one of ChatGPT’s main competitors. Google CEO Sundar Pichai has repeatedly praised Brin’s deep involvement in AI projects. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8g7a0IWKDRE&ab_channel=All-InPodcast

Michael Khripin May 27

Journal

Lands of Jail passed $250K a day, after 2 months from launch.

Lands of Jail already passed $250K 🤑 a day in revenue after 2 months from launch. What is this prison themed game about ??? 🤔 The game is clearly following a Century Games 4X template of Idle Core first and then 4X map later. You start the game as jail warden, which later operates a force labor toy factory in the jail itself 😅 - that is the idle part modeled after Frozen City. There are some "flavor" mechanics added into the gameplay to spice it up, such as jail rebellion, similarly how Kingshot added the occasional enemy units invasion. In the auto combat based level saga you are capturing prisoner "villains", which you then collect in a sticker album style fashion, giving you boosts to your whole facility. Our narrator character gets captured around 1 hour mark (as always […]

Jakub Remiar May 27

Highlights

What’s wrong with 5-0 Poker from Mobile Brain?

Want to know what's wrong with 5-0 Poker from Mobile Brain? Prepare for a deep dive into first hour of gameplay, but beware - the game is highly addictive! The message texts are poorly written, looking like a bad localization job. The formatting is odd, as if not written by a person — or at least never reviewed by one. The tutorial is good and clearly explains the rules. But linking to YouTube is questionable. Will it take the player out of the game and interrupt the session? It doesn’t seem like a good idea to direct players away from the game during the tutorial. A strange decision, in my opinion, is using four colors for suits: in addition to red and black, there’s blue and green. I’m no poker purist, but I’ve never seen this before. It feels odd […]

Michael Khripin May 27

Highlights

Burny Games: Integrating AI Agents into Mobile Game Dev

Just sat down with the engineering team at Burny Games about integrating AI into internal development processes – from research and architecture to testing and documentation. Infrastructure Engineer Elena Shtogrina and Product Technical Lead Vitalii Sukhomlyn share current solutions, technology limitations, and tips for those just starting out. Got a concise Q&A about how they're integrating AI Agents into Mobile Game Development. About Burny Games Burny Games is a Ukrainian Mobile Games Publisher founded in 2022, specializing in the puzzle genre. Its flagship title, Colorwood Sort, has 25 million downloads and over 50% first-day retention. Other popular games include Colorwood Words, Colorwood Blocks, and Playdoku. Since 2022, the studio has become Ukraine’s fastest-growing mobile game company. As of May 2025, total downloads exceeded 48 million, with 5 million monthly active users. Revenue in 2024 grew fivefold. The team includes 115 […]

Gamigion May 27

Journal

Mobile games use various psychological tricks.

Mobile games use various psychological tricks. Here are 10 techniques used to keep players hooked:𝟭. 𝗙𝗢𝗠𝗢 ⏳ Limited-time events and exclusive offers create urgency. • Players feel it’s now or never.𝟮. 𝗟𝗼𝘀𝘀 𝗔𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻 😣 Failing hurts more than winning feels good. • Lose a level, get an offer to buy back progress. • The closer you are to winning, the harder it is to quit.3. 𝗚𝗮𝗺𝗯𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗠𝗲𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗶𝗰𝘀 🎰 Unpredictable rewards tap into our dopamine system. • Free spins, no loss, no limits. • Often combined with other features for more excitement.4. 𝗡𝗲𝗮𝗿-𝗪𝗶𝗻 😬 Almost winning makes players try again. • One move away from victory. • First-time wins come with extra rewards.5. 𝗦𝗼𝗰𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗼𝗳 🏆 We play more when others are watching. • Join teams for bigger rewards. • Leaderboards increase pressure to stay engaged.6. 𝗢𝗽𝗮𝗾𝘂𝗲 𝗖𝗼𝘀𝘁𝘀 💸 When spending […]

Anton Slashcev May 27

Journal

Blending Vectors: Designing Games at the Intersection of Campaign, Mixed, and Multiplayer Modes

Fresh Design Frontier In the current era of incipient genre-blending, the walls separating campaign, mixed, and multiplayer experiences can be dissolved. The above images: 1) three vertical vectors, and 2) three interconnected loops — illustrate the Campaign, Mixed, and Multiplayer modes and their interlinking red arrows, symbolizing this systems design approach. This direction encourages player autonomy while enabling e.g., a continuous flow of character and gear progression across distinct yet connected gameplay experiences / sub-vectors. In this article, we explore how this tri-vector design can create a rich, player-driven experience where gameplay modes evolve organically, offering new frontiers for e.g., RPGs, MMORPGs, looter shooters, and beyond — in a way we’re talking about blending and cross-play innovation through certain gameplay mechanisms fitting for achieving this innovation depth. Note: Readers should acknowledge that there can be duo-vector approaches as well to […]

Antti Kananen May 27

Journal

Putting emoji in your App’s name?

Wait… you can actually put emojis in your app’s name? Just noticed the ⚔️ icon in Empires & Puzzles — and apparently it’s not some weird glitch. It’s part of the app name itself!Had no idea this was a thing, but turns out developers can use emoji or symbols in their App Store titles, and they’ll show up right on your home screen.Cool little trick for standing out — and now I’m curious how many other games do this…

Michael Kopelovich May 27

Journal

Facetune’s localization strategy on the App Store is next-level.

Facetune's localization strategy on the App Store is next-level. Lightricks did not just translate copy for their AppStore page.They went above & beyond for their photo editing app:→ Fully localized visuals→ Different faces, styles, aesthetics→ Matching each market’s beauty standards + cultural cues🇺🇸 Inclusive & polished in the US🇬🇧 Clean, glowy in the UK🇯🇵 Soft & natural in Japan🇰🇷 K-pop glam in Korea🇫🇷 Editorial chic in France🇦🇪 Luxe & HD in the UAEThis isn’t just ASO.It’s knowing your audience, and showing it clearly.Make people feel like the app was made for them.

Julie Tonna May 27

Analysis

The Definitive Mobile Game Tech Market Map

This comprehensive overview highlights the key infrastructure and service providers that empower mobile game development, operations, and growth. This map covers 12 categories, from game engines and backend services to ad mediation, customer support, and data infrastructure. Whether you're a studio evaluating tools or an investor exploring the space, this map offers a concise overview of the most important players in the mobile game tech ecosystem. Below, we introduce each category and provide succinct overviews of the featured companies. 🧱 Game Engines Unity: The dominant engine for mobile games; widely adopted for its robust tooling, asset store, and cross-platform support. Unreal Engine: Known for high-fidelity rendering, though less common in mobile than console/PC. Cocos Creator: Lightweight and especially popular in Asia, great for 2D and casual games. Godot: Open-source and growing rapidly among indie developers. GameMaker: Accessible 2D engine, often […]

Joseph Kim May 27

Journal

Breaking the Failure Trap: Why We Choose 99% Failure Over 10% Success

The psychology behind our worst strategic decisions, and how to escape it. Choosing Success Over Failure: The Ghost of Christmas Future The psychology behind our worst strategic decisions—and how to escape it Would you rather have a 10% chance of success or a 99% chance of failure? I've probably asked employees, cofounders, and investors this question at least 30 times in the past few years. The answer seems obvious. But here's what's fascinating: when faced with this choice in real situations, almost everyone chooses the 99% path to failure. Here's why: Most people focus on the immediate pain of change rather than the ultimate cost of not changing. They would rather accept a 99% chance of failure than face what it would take to pursue a 10% chance of success. This is the failure trap, and it's everywhere. Fear Locks Us […]

Joseph Kim May 26

Journal

Fortnite is back! After 5-year Apple ban.

Fortnite is back! After 5-year Apple ban. Let's take a look at their purchase flow.1. Tap an item to purchase, then choose payment method: Epic or 'In-app purchase'2. That 'In-app purchase' button doesn't look very inviting to me, Epic store has a nice icon AND a 20% back kicker. Probably will choose that route. 😅 3. No scary popup confirmation after tap!Wild.Is this the beginning of a new era?

Matthew Emery May 26

Login to enjoy full advantages

Go Premium!

Enjoy the full advantage of the premium access.

Stop following

Cancel subscription