More Installs, Zero Cost: Cross-Promote in Applovin MAX with Google Ad Manager

Over the past few months, I’ve noticed growing interest from teams trying to run house ads, often to support new launches, bring life back to older titles, or just reduce churn to other games. The challenge is, Applovin MAX quietly removed its direct sold campaigns feature in early 2025, which used to be the standard way to handle this. So I spent some time figuring out how to make cross-promotion work using MAX + Google Ad Manager, and wrote this to help others avoid the same trial-and-error. If you're looking to scale installs across your portfolio without touching your UA budget and without hurting monetization, this setup can really help. Cherry on top? Monetization might actually improve when cross-promotion is added strategically. Let’s take a look at how to set it up. What Is It, Exactly? Cross-promotion is simple at […]

Ezgi Dogan April 10

Highlights

Mobile Game Market Research: What Everyone Gets Wrong

Most studios say they’ve “done market research” before greenlighting a new game. But more often than not, what they actually did was check the top charts, scroll through a few competitors, and call it a day. The result? Missed opportunities, misaligned concepts, and wasted dev time. If you’re serious about building a successful mobile game—especially in the free-to-play space—you need to go deeper. Here’s what most teams get wrong about market research, and how to fix it. Start With Reality, Not Charts Before looking outward, start inward: What is your company’s vision? What are your team’s actual strengths? (Genre mastery matters.) What is your timeline and resource allocation? This context is essential. There’s no point identifying a billion-dollar opportunity in hardcore strategy if your team excels in casual puzzle and has 9 months of runway. Market research should align with what […]

Jukka Hilvonen April 10

Analysis

Gaming Under Fire: China vs. Tariffs

This topic is on fire. Covered by our dear friend, Zach. *Spoiler Alert: No, but we are all under uncertainty. As the latest round of U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods grabs headlines, it’s natural to wonder: Is China’s dominance in the global gaming market under threat? For now, the answer is no, but the landscape is shifting, and the ripple effects are worth watching closely. China & Europe Hit Back as U.S. Tariffs Kick In 🚨 Update: Tariff War Intensifies On Wednesday, China raised its retaliatory tariffs to 84%, with Trump firing back by immediately increasing U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods to a staggering 125%. While mobile games remain untouched, the message is loud and clear: this is no longer just a trade dispute, it’s a full-blown standoff. If geopolitical tensions continue, we may see actions beyond tariffs, such as […]

Gamigion April 9

Analysis

Rip and Tear: Job Hunting in Gaming’s Hunger Games Era

I have a high degree of impostor syndrome going into this. 😅 I feel that these kinds of articles are usually written by big names in the gaming industry who have the power to shake things up and draw attention to glaring issues. However, I'll bite the bullet! Today, you won't read the story of a gaming industry veteran, ex-Blizzard, ex-Riot, etc., but rather one of a “more average Joe”. Or Paul. But a Paul who is passionate about gaming and the industry of creating games. My higher education is in management and marketing, but my chosen path is that of a Product Manager for digital apps. Including free-to-play mobile games. I worked for around 15 years as a PM so far, 5 of which are in the gaming industry. I came to the gaming industry from classifieds/e-commerce and was […]

Paul Gramada April 9

Highlights

Mobile Gaming Today: April’9 Week

Hey Fam, I’m pretty curious if Trump’s new +104% tariffs on China will affect mobile gaming. Lmk how you feel about that ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ And - Lezgo! 👇🏻 👌🏻 Top Gaming Content » Why Now Is the Worst Time to Launch a Match-3? 🧩 Match-3 is still a $5B beast, dominating Puzzle Game revenue, but breaking in is brutal. No Western Match-3 title has hit $100M since Royal Match (2020), unlike the 2013–2017 boom. It’s saturated with UA hurdles and content-rich giants guarding the gates. The smarter move? Start with adjacent hits, Tile Match, Sort, Match-3D. These rising subgenres offer room to build your puzzle chops, monetization muscle, and LiveOps flow, without getting crushed. Think Spyke Games: smaller wins today, bigger Match-3 ambitions tomorrow. In this red ocean, scaling sideways might be the only way up. 🍕 Game of the Week: […]

Gamigion April 9

Highlights

Long Ads, Tiny Close Buttons: Maximize CPM Without Losing Players

You’ve spent hours crafting a beautiful game that hooks players, but now it’s time to make money. The tiny, tiny close button — often hidden in the farthest corner of the screen — is a seemingly innocent little dot that holds the fate of your game’s retention and monetization. Every time an interstitial ad pops up, it takes multiple taps, finger gymnastics, and maybe even some squinting. As the ads get longer, your players’ frustration grows. They’re desperate to close the ad, but hey—your CPM is up! It seems like a win, right? But here’s the big question: How long can you really stretch those ads, and how tiny can that close button be, before your players hit their breaking point and rage quit? It’s a tricky balancing act, like playing with fire—walking a fine line between keeping the revenue […]

Ezgi Dogan April 9

Highlights

Applovin vs. Unity: How Applovin Has Been Winning It All!

We are at a dangerous crossroads where Applovin is poised to dominate the mobile ads market completely. What's going on? How did this happen? And what's next? Pay attention, folks, this one is a banger and has critical implications for the games industry's future. Something strange has happened in the mobile ads market since the failed merger between Applovin and Unity in August 2022. Applovin has quietly been dominating and significantly growing its share of the market. Source: GameMakers 2025 We can easily see the relative performance of both companies reflected in their market valuations. What happened? How did Applovin win vs. Unity? Why does Applovin have a massive competitive advantage and iron grip customer lock-in? How does the current situation critically impact the games industry (this is important)? How can Unity or anyone else help create a healthier market […]

Joseph Kim April 8

Highlights

Gaming ON: Rina Onur Sirinoglu Talks Spyke Games

Last week, we had a wonderful chat with Rina Onur Sirinoglu, CEO & Co-Founder of Spyke Games, and one of the key figures behind Peak’s legendary rise. We talked about how far Turkey's Mobile Gaming ecosystem has come and where it’s headed next. From humble beginnings to billion-dollar exits, from scrappy teams to world-class talent, all about what’s changed, what still matters, and why the next big gaming wave might just start in Istanbul. Some real gems in here, lezgo! 🕺🏻 How has the Turkish gaming ecosystem changed since the founding days of Peak? When Peak was founded in 2010, the gaming world was a completely different place. There was virtually no mobile gaming scene, and certainly no “ecosystem” to speak of in Turkey. In those early days, we found ourselves learning by doing—figuring things out as we went along. […]

Ömer Yakabagi April 8

Analysis

Pizza Ready! – From Dough to Domination: The Idle Arcade Success

If there’s one thing we can all agree on, it’s that pizza is a universal love language. So when Supercent decided to channel that into a mobile game, it’s no wonder they struck gold. Or in this case, a piping hot slice of success. Pizza Ready! didn’t just show up – it dominated. It became the mozzarella on the hyper-casual genre’s crust, the sauce that bound mobile gamers together. But how did it manage to do that? Well, buckle up, because we’re about to dive into the gooey, cheesy center of why Pizza Ready! became one of the most downloaded and, surprisingly, most monetarily delicious games of the past year. 🎮 The Simulation Gold Rush - Why Everyone’s Making Arcade Idle Games Here’s the thing – making an arcade idle game might seem like the easiest recipe in the book. You’ve got the simplified […]

Aylin YAZICI April 8

Highlights

The making or breaking of your incentivized campaign?

And so it’s true, in our burgeoning corner of UA - as advertisers in the incentivized space know all too well, how you choose to pay for traffic can determine the ultimate success or failure of your campaign. There are two primary models for paying incent networks: CPI (Cost Per Install): The advertiser pays a fixed amount when a new user installs the game. MRCPE (Multi-Reward Cost Per Engagement): The advertiser pays per engagement milestone completed by the user (e.g., reach level 10, make a purchase, complete a mission). Both have their merits - and risks. Let's break them down. CPI: give control to the incent network to make your life easier Fixed cost Knowing exactly what you’ll pay per install is a compelling proposition. With a fixed CPI, advertisers lock in costs at the moment of install - no […]

Paul Bowen April 8

Analysis

Why Now Is the Worst Time to Launch a Match-3

For any team eyeing a sizable market, Match-3 has always been an incredibly tempting target. Puzzle games remain one of the biggest and most consistent genres on mobile, and within that space, Match-3 stands out as a true titan. Generating over 60% of puzzle IAP revenue and pulling in more than $5 billion last year, Match-3 has long held the promise of massive returns. It’s the kind of stat that makes even the most disciplined team think, “If we could just carve out 1% of this market…” That thinking has led so many teams into the grinder… Despite the genre’s enormous size, we haven’t seen a single new Match-3 title cross the $100M lifetime revenue mark in the West since Royal Match, which launched in 2020. Considering the scale of the market, that benchmark isn’t just fair, but it’s actually […]

Ahmetcan Demirel April 7

Analysis

Sort Games Monetization: Complete Guide

Hello and welcome back, everyone! Thank you for joining me for another genre exploration in our journey through the diverse world of mobile gaming monetization. If you missed our last discussion on the most utilized monetization strategies in merge games, be sure to check it out here. It's full of insights that might inspire your next big idea, regardless of the genre you're currently working on. Today, we're delving into the captivating world of sort games. While different from merge games, the principles of monetization remain universal and highly adaptable. So, let's uncover how this genre keeps players engaged and, more importantly, how it turns that engagement into revenue. Market Trends and Evolution in Sort Games Sort games have seen a massive surge in popularity over the past few years, evolving from ultra-casual tap experiences into deeper, more strategic titles […]

Michael Kopelovich April 7

Highlights

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