Brutally Honest #159

Hey, FAM! What’s up?

🥃 Drink talk

Still can’t believe there are more than 18,000 people subscribed (Substack + LinkedIn). Thanks for being a part of my journey.

🦩Tip of the week

Follow carefully what is happening in the 4X genre (and Match3 to a certain extent). These two genres are obvious red oceans, but you can get inspired so much.

There hasn’t been a big innovation happening in the UA space lately, but the 4X genre has to innovate. Why? Because the CPIs are so high, you could almost buy a flat for that price per install.

Anyway, the innovation comes from the combination of creative trends and UA-led game design. Everybody talks about the mini-games implementation since Gardenscapes did it (thanks to Hero Wars)

But it’s not easy to pull it off properly. For example, it took several years to get it right for Total Battle.

Now, they are at an all-time high.

You are dead if you don’t look at the different genres or even outside of gaming. This is mandatory now.

🐊 Cornelius: The Suspicious Investi-gator

True detective-like exploration of creative trends and historical influences. Delving deep into the world of creatives to uncover hidden patterns and inspirations:

𝗪𝗵𝗼 𝗱𝗶𝗱 𝗶𝘁 𝗳𝗶𝗿𝘀𝘁? 𝗔𝗻𝗱 𝗱𝗼𝗲𝘀 𝗶𝘁 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗻 𝗺𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗮𝗻𝘆𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲? In mobile game marketing, inspiration is everything. But there’s a fine line between 𝗯𝗼𝗿𝗿𝗼𝘄𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗰𝗲𝗽𝘁 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗰𝗼𝗽𝘆𝗶𝗻𝗴 it pixel for pixel. 👇 While researching the latest wave of “Save Me” creatives, I came across two nearly identical executions: one from Toon Blast (Peak) and one from Triple Tile (Tripledot Studios). Same core idea. Similar visual treatment. Only one of them launched first. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗼𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿? Likely inspired and inspired me, too, for a few games (I have to admit). 𝗧𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗿𝗮𝗶𝘀𝗲𝘀 𝗯𝗶𝗴𝗴𝗲𝗿 𝗾𝘂𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀: How do we define creative originality in an industry that thrives on iteration? At what point does “trend-jacking” become creative theft? And when everyone copies the winning formula, 𝘄𝗵𝗼 𝗮𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝘄𝗶𝗻𝘀? Curious to hear how others navigate this. Let’s talk about it—what’s your line between inspiration and imitation?

Yours truly, Cornelius.

💀 Dr. Doom is not amused

One of my industry friends amused me with his direct and honest TL;DRs, so we agreed to share it here, too! My friend remains anonymous as Dr.Doom!

“Industry is changing and so its wording. Long gone are the day when Supercell would kill a game 1 month into soft launch and everything was clear. These days you global launch a game, and then if the numbers are shit, you call it ” launch and learn” 😅 because when you have Candy Crush sitting in your portfolio making $3 Mil. a day, launching a new game that makes $50K will really be “learning”, like learning how it will not make a dent alright.” Sincerely, Doom.

🎉  “Ha-ha” moment

Because life is too short to be serious.

🎮 two & a half gamers – UA led Gamedesign

Matching Story is a Masterclass. $𝟭𝟬𝟬 𝗠𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝗮 𝗚𝗮𝗺𝗲 𝗧𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗧𝗼𝗼𝗸 𝟮 𝗬𝗘𝗔𝗥𝗦 𝘁𝗼 𝗟𝗮𝘂𝗻𝗰𝗵!? Soft-launched in 2021. Exploded in 2024. Freezing Families, Merge Chaos & Match-3 Meta: 𝗨𝗔-𝗟𝗲𝗱 𝗚𝗮𝗺𝗲 𝗱𝗲𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗻 𝗜𝘀 𝗥𝗘𝗔𝗟.

Matching Story is a puzzle game that cleverly combines match-3 gameplay with merge-based island-building mechanics. The merge aspect also 𝗼𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗺𝗼𝗻𝗲𝘁𝗶𝘇𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗼𝗽𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁𝘂𝗻𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗲𝘀: for example, players might buy a “𝗕𝘂𝗯𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝗼𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗿” item to duplicate a high-level merge item, effectively speeding up island development.

Matching story was 𝘀𝗼𝗳𝘁𝗹𝗮𝘂𝗻𝗰𝗵𝗲𝗱 𝗶𝗻 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟭, marketing was minimal and targeted. The game was likely tested under the radar in specific regions without heavy promotion. They run UA mainly on Facebook/Instagram showcasing the 𝗺𝗲𝗿𝗴𝗲+𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗰𝗵 𝗴𝗮𝗺𝗲𝗽𝗹𝗮𝘆 𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗴𝗲𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗹 𝗞𝗣𝗜𝘀.

𝗠𝗮𝘁𝗰𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗦𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆 𝗴𝗼𝗲𝘀 𝗹𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗹𝗱𝘄𝗶𝗱𝗲 𝗟𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟯: Within weeks, the game hits 𝘁𝗼𝗽-𝟮𝟬𝟬 𝗴𝗿𝗼𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗿𝘁𝘀 in the U.S. and other countries, marking a successful launch. Quickly grew to $250k/day in revenues in 2024 and stayed stable.

𝗢𝗻𝗲 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗹𝗲 is that Matching Story also launched on the ONE Store in Korea and on TapTap (popular in Chinese-speaking regions). We were pretty sure during the recording that the developers were from China, and we were right. I just found out that Joycastle is the developer of Matching Story. Founded in 2014 and based in 𝗕𝗲𝗶𝗷𝗶𝗻𝗴, 𝗖𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗮, Vertex Games Studio is a publisher! Felix, that’s why there is no mention on their website about Matching story.