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The Organizational Meta: A New Blueprint for Work in the Age of AI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WMn9Z5OF4jA&ab_channel=GameMakers The Game Has Changed I’ve spent much of my career at the intersection of technology and human endeavor, from gaming to organizational design in large companies. In titles like League of Legends, the “meta” is the most effective tactic available, an emergent pattern of strategies, builds, and compositions that shifts as the game’s mechanics change. When a patch drops, the meta doesn’t adjust—it transforms. Optimality is dynamic; it's a response to change. Today, the rapid advancement of artificial intelligence (AI) is reshaping the way we work, challenging traditional roles, and forcing us to rethink the structure of organizations. The current approach of bolting AI onto existing organizational structures and processes is reactive and fails to capture the systemic value that AI promises. The core problem is not a lack of tools or use cases, but a lack of a strategic framework for redesigning […]

Joseph Kim August 14

Analysis

State of the brutally honest UA 2025

In this solo episode, I broke down the new rules of user acquisition for mobile games in 2025, backed by real survey data from all of you, my dear subscribers, and hundreds of UA managers. This episode is based on the report I published recently: From channel splits and rewarded UA to the creative volume arms race, fraud, AI hacks, and why your next UA hire needs to be a creative prompt engineer, nothing is off the table. This is the data-driven, brutally honest update the industry needs. What’s inside: UA Channel Reality: Most studios still pump 80 percent of their spend into Facebook and Google, even when running across nine channels and doing seven million a year. Some are forced to pause Facebook or shift heavy budgets to Applovin—yet diversification is still rare and risky. Rewarded UA Surge: Rewarded […]

Matej Lancaric August 14

Journal

Which app categories are concentrating most heavily on paid traffic?

Which app categories are concentrating most heavily on paid traffic? This question is challenging to answer for a couple of key reasons: ▪️ This type of data is often proprietary and difficult to access. ▪️ The data is multi-dimensional, with significant variations by country, platform, etc.However, data from Sensor Tower can provide some valuable insights. The comparison below shows the relative share of paid traffic by category (top apps by downloads). I believe focusing on relative data is more reliable, as it allows for a fair comparison across different categories when a consistent methodology is used.Unsurprisingly, mobile gaming is a dominant force. At the same time, we are seeing a strong push in other categories, including Personalization, Social, Education, Finance, and Beauty (a sector with many AI-driven apps).

Mariusz Gąsiewski August 14

Analysis

3 Genres Generating 80% of Revenue

A new force is emerging in 2025 that cannot, and shouldn’t be ignored: Hybridcasual Puzzle games have become one of the key points of interest across the market! To put these shifts in context, we need to start with the bigger picture. In H1 2025, global Сasual games revenue grew by 0.8% YoY, with downloads up by 5.8%. As a result, Casual games generated about $12B in Net IAP Revenue worldwide. Market Segment Comparison Dashboard: Casual market revenue That is a huge figure, but here’s the reality: nearly 72% of this $12B comes from just two genres, Puzzle and Casino. Add Simulation as the third (but sturdy) wheel, and you’ve got 80% of the market revenue concentrated in just three categories. The dominance goes even deeper. Among the Top 100 Grossing Casual games of H1 2025, 41 are Casino titles and 32 are Puzzles: so, 73 out of 100 games are from […]

Andrei Zubov August 14

Highlights

AppLovin’s Q2 2025: Record Revenue, Q2 Surges 77% to $1.26 Billion

AppLovin just dropped some seriously strong Q2 2025 numbers, and the growth curve is looking like a hockey stick. The company pulled in $1.26 billion in revenue this quarter, a 77% jump year-over-year. Both gaming and non-gaming segments delivered the goods, but it’s the advertising arm — especially its self-serve eCommerce platform — that’s catching fire and gearing up for a global rollout this October. And that’s not all. The business is scaling fast without losing its profitability edge. Adjusted EBITDA hit a massive $1.02 billion with an 81% margin, while free cash flow climbed 72% to $768 million. Earnings per share landed at $2.39, comfortably beating forecasts by more than 22%. 📊 Quarter by the Numbers: Revenue: $1.26B (+77% YoY) Adjusted EBITDA: $1.02B (81% margin) EPS: $2.39 (+22.56% above estimates) Free Cash Flow: $768M (+72% YoY) Cash & Equivalents: […]

Gamigion August 14

Highlights

Gaming ON: David Pan Talks Habby!

We sat down with David Pan, Head of BizDev at Habby, the boutique publisher that’s quietly reshaping mobile gaming one genre hit at a time. No overthinking. Just asked what we’re curious about. With a track record that includes Archero, Survivor.io, and three fresh chart-climbers launched in June 2024, Capybara Go!, Archero 2, and Wittle Defender, Habby has racked up 342M downloads and $1.2B in IAP, not even counting ad revenue. And now, with a $2M investment in Turkish studio Mavis Games, shifting into an even higher gear! What's in? David breaks down how Habby picks its winners, partners with studios, and pushes the boundaries of fun, one carefully crafted hit at a time. If you are a development studio that wants to pitch Habby your game, just find David on Linkedin or email him at [email protected]! 📈 Team & […]

Gamigion August 13

Journal

Do & Don’ts for Mobile Game Studios

Success in mobile games isn’t a result of just a new idea. It’s about data-driven creative decisions over time. I highly suggest the following for new studios:⛔ Try not to do:↱ Monetization focus,↱ Ignore the competitors,↱ Overlooking market data,↱ Relying on creative videos,↱ Prototyping your "good" idea,↱ Not planning a live ops strategy.✅ Try to do↳ Creative Data Driven Design,↳ Game play focus creatives,↳ Analyze the market early, ↳ Study your competitors,↳ Spot potential areas,↳ Player centered.Do you agree?Cheers!

Gökhan Üzmez August 13

Highlights

D2C Rocks: Appcharge raises $58M!

Appcharge, a leading direct-to-consumer (DTC) platform for mobile game publishers, has secured $58 million in Series B funding led by IVP, with participation from Playrix and existing backers including Creandum, Play Ventures, and BITKRAFT Ventures. This brings its total funding to $89 million. The company plans to use the investment to expand its product suite, meet global demand, and drive the next wave of mobile game player engagement. Appcharge offers publishers branded web stores, gamified offers, global payment solutions, in-app payment SDKs, and more—helping them keep player relationships in-house and boost profits. The platform processes over $500 million in transactions annually and has grown 14x year-over-year, with publishers seeing up to 35% higher profits and improved retention. The raise follows the launch of its iOS Payments SDK and AppDirect, which, alongside its popular Payment Links, give publishers a comprehensive, compliant, […]

Gamigion August 13

Journal

Top 10 Casual Subgenres H1 2025

Top 10 Casual Subgenres H1 2025 Worldwide In H1 2025, global Casual games revenue grew by 0.8% year-over-year (YoY), reaching $12B in net IAP revenue 🔥Three genres — Puzzle, Casino, and Simulation — generated 80% of the total. Puzzle showed a confident 14% YoY growth, driven by mature hits like Royal Match and Candy Crush Saga, which together accounted for 30% of the genre’s revenue in H1 2025.Casino saw a decline after the 2024 revenue peak of Monopoly Go!, with the genre now settling into a new normal as the game’s numbers stabilise 🧘The fastest-growing genre among the top 10 was Arcade, up 26% YoY to $316M, powered by the 2023 release Zombie Miner: Gold Tycoon. In H1 2025, the game’s monthly revenue is already on par with the all-time favourite Gold & Goblins: Mining Games.

Andrei Zubov August 13

Analysis

New Games 2025 H1 Analysis

I analyzed 26,191 new mobile games launched in H1 2025. Based on AppMagic data, here is how they performed:𝗞𝗲𝘆 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝘁𝘀• 26 191 new titles (up +50% !)• $1.09B IAP — just 3.5 % of total game revenue• 2.18 B downloads — 7.1 % of all installs𝗥𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗻𝘂𝗲 𝗱𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗯𝘂𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 🤑• 0.5% of games cleared $1.1 M+• 83% earned $0• The odds remain brutal𝗧𝗼𝗽 𝗴𝗲𝗻𝗿𝗲𝘀 𝗯𝘆 𝗿𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗻𝘂𝗲 (≥ $𝟭𝟬𝟬𝗞 / 𝗺𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗵)1. RPG — $850M | 6.5% hit rate 2. Strategy — $634M | 2.9% 3. Sports — $50M | 2.8 %𝗗𝗼𝘄𝗻𝗹𝗼𝗮𝗱 𝗶𝗻𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁𝘀 🔎• 0.2% of games broke 5M+ installs• 70% never hit even 10K downloads𝗧𝗼𝗽 𝗴𝗲𝗻𝗿𝗲𝘀 𝗯𝘆 𝗱𝗼𝘄𝗻𝗹𝗼𝗮𝗱𝘀 (≥ 𝟭𝟬𝟬 𝗞 𝗶𝗻𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘀 / 𝗺𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗵)1. Action — 310M installs | 8.3% hit rate 2. Simulation — 777 M | 5.8% 3. Puzzle — 858 M | 2.2%𝗧𝗮𝗸𝗲𝗮𝘄𝗮𝘆Supply keeps soaring; breakout wins remain scarce. More […]

Anton Slashcev August 13

Journal

Match-3 Games To Watch!

Beyond the dominance of Dream Games, King, and Playrix, here are seven casual games worth watching from the AppMagic Casual Games Report: Four games launched in H1 hit $100kpcm. It's interesting to note that three of them are focused on Asian markets:- Family Farm Match- Puzzle Seventeen (across Asia)- 君のことが大大大大大好きな100人の彼女ビビーン!!とパズル (roughly translates as "100 Girlfriends Who Really Really Really Love You Vivien!! and Puzzles", Japan)- 假日乐消消 (roughly a more to-the-point "Holiday Fun", China)Beyond that, there are three new games that look likely to have an impact:- Good Job Games, my favourite, Match Villains making solid in-roads in the category- Vertex Games Inc. Matching Story has already booked over $50m- Playrix have Austin's Adventure in soft launchYou can read the full report at the link in the comments, which also covers Merge, Match 3D, Hybrid-casual (very interesting), Casino, and Farming.

Tom Storr August 13

Journal

Seriously impressed with Meta’s Value Rules!

Last week, I shared that I’d started using them with one client. After seeing how quickly they shifted spend distribution, I decided to test them in another account. In this case, a casual mobile game whose core segment is women 55+.On August 8th, I started a new ad group with a lower daily budget to compete against the classic "broad" ad set with no limitations and here you have. Numbers speak for themselves:✅ CPA down 50%✅ 63% of spend in the target segment (vs. 13% in the broad ad set ❌)We were already spending in old segments and mainly Facebook Feed as the main placement (which is our core placement) with the broad ad group but with the value rules we're now able to push one segment which despite being more expensive (CPM is 58% higher), it works much better […]

David Vargas August 13

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