Blog horizontal

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

Journal

Rollic’s Color Block Jam scaled past $500K in IAP

Rollic's Color Block Jam 🟥, continues to scale past $500K in IAP 🤑 revenue only and 200K downloads a day. What new features have they added recently to continue this monster growth? 🕵 The team is adding a standard "level based puzzler" systems such as: ◾ 2 Pre-level boosters (Time + Rocket) ◾ 1 new booster during gameplay (Rocket from previous step) ◾ 5 steps streak mechanic, which ties this all together giving you those 2 boosters as you win in a rowAs the new king of Hybrid-casual puzzlers, even Color Block Jam is no exception to its continuous evolution towards going full casual. These latest features that they added are a clear sign of that direction. As the game is currently more and more driven by IAP 💸 revenue instead of Ad revenue, this ratio will now get even […]

Jakub Remiar May 26

Journal

7 things to know about Voodoo

Here are 7 things you need to know about Voodoo in 2025. I'm introducing new series flash takes for quick insights! 2025 started tough for many mobile publishers.Pressure from Eastern Developers,Saturated market in hybridcasual games,Lower profit margins...All pushes big publishers to try new things.Here are flash takes:1. Quality > Quantity prototyping,2. Still depending on its older titles,3. Most unique - innovative portfolio,4. Still follows market "puzzle" trends,5. Bigger testing groups on early stage,6. Choosing talented but smaller studios,7. Hybrid casual strategy figured out well..So innovative gameplay with proven mechanics,Crazy creative ideas and high retention player base.The most powerful creative scale & budget in market.

Gökhan Üzmez May 26

Journal

TikTok changed the iOS campaign setup

🚨 TikTok has changed the iOS campaign setup 🚨 Today, I noticed a new option when creating an iOS campaign on TikTok: you can now enable or disable SKAN attribution.This is essentially the same approach Meta uses with AEM, but TikTok still gives you the option to activate SKAN attribution so you can view SKAN data directly in the dashboard (something that you can also do with Meta but not in TikTok if you disable this option)The question is: What signals are the campaigns using now? Previously, you couldn't disable SKAN when ADC was enabled so I assumed the campaigns were still relying on SKAN signals for optimization. But now, it looks like TikTok has taken things a step further. It appears the algorithm is ready to optimize based on probabilistic signal attribution only.Time to test!

David Vargas May 26

Journal

Mobile Game Meta Guide

Mobile Game Meta Guide 🏡 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗶𝘀 𝗠𝗲𝘁𝗮?• It’s not a new hero, booster, or ability.• It’s the layer outside the core loop: rewards, progression, collectibles, narrative.• It gives players goals that feel fresh—without breaking the game’s balance.❓ 𝗪𝗵𝘆 𝗮𝗱𝗱 𝗺𝗲𝘁𝗮?Because it:• Adds depth without power creep• Scales cheaply (mostly art & narrative)• Opens up easy A/B tests• Boosts retention and ARPU• Creates endless Live-Ops hooks: collections, events, FOMO⭐ 𝗣𝗼𝗽𝘂𝗹𝗮𝗿 𝗺𝗲𝘁𝗮 𝗮𝗿𝗰𝗵𝗲𝘁𝘆𝗽𝗲𝘀: • Decoration: rooms, gardens (Homescapes)• Leaderboards: ranks, badges (Marvel SNAP)• City-building: slots → coins → village (Coin Master)• Collections: stickers, pets (Merge Mansion)• Storylines: chapters, cut-scenes (Episode)• Campaigns: world maps, biomes (mid-core RPGs)• Customization: skins, outfits (Overwatch)• Romance: branching relationships (Choices)🕵️ 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗺𝗲𝘁𝗮 𝗳𝗶𝘁𝘀 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗴𝗮𝗺𝗲?• Match-3: decoration + light story• PvP: skins + ranks• Mid-core: base-building + epic cut-scenes• Casual sims: expansive city + collectionsBut skip meta […]

Anton Slashcev May 26

Journal

Chinese-built 4X survival-sim: Lands of Jail making 250K a day!

Lands of Jail making 🤑 $𝟮𝟱𝟬𝗸/𝗱𝗮𝘆, a Chinese-built 4X survival-sim mashup that combines Frozen City onboarding, Whiteout Survival progression, and King Shot-style map layering 👇 All dressed in prison jumpsuits, toy factories, and riot suppression mechanics. 𝗕𝘂𝗶𝗹𝘁 𝗯𝘆 𝗖𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀𝗲 𝘀𝘁𝘂𝗱𝗶𝗼 𝗲𝗪𝗼𝗿𝗹𝗱, 𝗶𝘁 𝗺𝗶𝘅𝗲𝘀:Frozen City-style idle onboardingHardcore 4X warfareSaga events, riots, gacha, and Discord-forced alliance spamA prison toy factory (yes, really)And some of the most absurd AI-generated creatives on mobile𝗬𝗼𝘂 𝘄𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗻: What’s working in monetization, pacing, and theme alignmentWhy KingShot might be its closest cousinWhere the game borrows from Whiteout Survival, and where it improvesHow creative strategy blends GTA, toilet humor, AI anime, and frozen family failsWhy this might be the next 4X template other Chinese devs will clone. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k-r2MT16zlc&ab_channel=two%26ahalfgamers

Matej Lancaric May 26

Journal

Gaming Industry Professions

Think games are made only by programmers? Think again! Here’s a glimpse into the professionals it takes to bring a game to life:Development • Programming: gameplay programmers, AI engineers, full-stack developers • Art: concept artists, 3D modelers, illustrators • Game Design: level designers, narrative designers, system designers • Quality Assurance: QA testers, compliance testers, automation engineers • Animation & Audio: character animators, sound designers, audio engineers Localization & Community • Localization: translators, cultural adaptation specialists • Community Management: community managers, social media managers, moderators Marketing & Sales • Marketing: creative producers, content makers, growth managers • Business Development: sales managers, licensing managers, monetization experts Administration • Management: CEOs, CTOs, product managers • HR & Finance: recruiters, payroll managers, legal counsel • Support: customer service reps, player support specialists Other Key Roles • Esports & Events: tournament organizers, coaches, commentators • […]

Anton Slashcev May 25

Highlights

Jobs in Mobile Gaming: May’24

1111 Jobs in Mobile Gaming 🦄 👉🏻 Data from Gamigion.com/jobs 🕺🏻 Dev 💻 Art 🎨 Product 📱 Marketing 🎯 Business 💰 Data 📈 QA ⚒️ 💻 Dev Unity Client Engineer - Scopely 🇪🇸 Tech Team Lead (Shanghai based) Scopely 🇸🇬 🇨🇳 🇰🇷 🇮🇪 🇪🇸 Engineering Manager - LiveOps Automation Scopely 🇪🇸 🇵🇹 Staff Engineer - Monopoly GO! Scopely 🇨🇦 🇺🇸 Technical Lead, Esports Supercell 🇫🇮 LLM Engineer Supercell 🇫🇮 Senior Gameplay Programmer, Clash Royale Supercell 🇫🇮 Senior Software Engineer II Zynga 🇮🇳 Principal Software Engineer Zynga 🇮🇳 Senior Network Engineer Playtika 🇺🇦 Corporate Development Manager Moon Active 🇮🇱 Full Stack Developer Moon Active 🇮🇱 Automation Developer Moon Active 🇮🇱 Software Engineer (Part-time) Dream Games 🇹🇷 Software Engineer Dream Games 🇹🇷 Game Developer Dream Games 🇹🇷 Senior Software Engineer Dream Games 🇹🇷 SecOps Engineer Dream Games 🇹🇷 Senior Art Engineer, Unity […]

Gamigion May 24

Journal

Dream Games knows how to keep players engaged

Dream Games knows how to keep players engaged 𝟭. 𝗦𝗶𝗱𝗲 𝗘𝘃𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗣𝘂𝘇𝘇𝗹𝗲 𝗠𝗲𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗶𝗰𝘀 🧩 • Use event currency from core gameplay • Add familiar puzzles from other games • Encourage smart spending with fun problem-solving𝟮. 𝗧𝗲𝗮𝗺 𝗧𝗼𝘂𝗿𝗻𝗮𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀 🤝 • Team-based item collection • Shared and bonus rewards for top players • Builds social bonds and gives players mid-term goals𝟯. 𝗟𝗮𝘃𝗮 𝗤𝘂𝗲𝘀𝘁-𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲 𝗦𝘁𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗸 🔥 • Win streaks vs. 100 players • One loss = out • Big prize for the top, high-stakes excitement𝟰. 𝗥𝗲𝗴𝘂𝗹𝗮𝗿 𝗧𝗼𝘂𝗿𝗻𝗮𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀 🏁 • 1–7 day cycles, solo or team • Harder levels give more event resources • Keeps players returning with daily goals𝟱. 𝗦𝗵𝗼𝗿𝘁-𝗧𝗶𝗺𝗲 𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗲𝘁𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 ⏱️ • 30 or 60-minute events • Starts when the player joins • One leaderboard winner — short, intense fun𝟲. 𝗦𝗲𝗮𝘀𝗼𝗻 𝗣𝗮𝘀𝘀 🎟️ • Free and paid tiers • More points […]

Anton Slashcev May 23

Login to enjoy full advantages

Go Premium!

Enjoy the full advantage of the premium access.

Stop following

Cancel subscription