Apple Faces Investigation in China Over Monopoly

China's antitrust regulator is preparing an investigation into Apple, Bloomberg reports, citing sources familiar with the situation. The potential subject of the investigation is the App Store's policies. According to Bloomberg, Chinese authorities suspect that Apple forced app developers to pay excessively high fees — ranging from 15% to 30% depending on their income levels. Additionally, the antitrust officials intend to assess the legality of prohibiting the use of alternative payment systems and mobile stores on iOS. It is reported that the State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) in China began discussing this issue with Apple executives and developers last year. Representatives from Apple and SAMR did not comment on the Bloomberg report. Notably, Chinese developers had previously attempted to sue the corporation, accusing it of imposing excessively large commissions in the App Store. Their efforts were unsuccessful. In May […]

Ömer Yakabagi February 5

Journal

Some insightful takeaways from the CTA survey

Some nonobvious / insightful 💡 takeaways from the CTA survey: • 18% of gamers (28.6m) are hardcore; most economically active. 73% male, avg. 29 y/o. Play 42h / week, spend most time on premium games. 91% play on PC / consoles. 51% engaged in creating content. Preference for multiplayer games, shooters, open-world games.• 46% of gamers (72.1m) are "core" gamers. Not as active as hardcore, play fewer games & genres, but still quite often.• 36% (55 million people) are casual gamers (least engaged)• Gaming lifecycle chart (below) is interesting food for thought, and resonates with my own experience.• Every generation self-identifies more strongly as 'gamers' than the one before.From Consumer Technology Association Survey.For anyone with access to full survey, I'd be curious to know the 𝘦𝘹𝘢𝘤𝘵 criteria for placing a respondent into one of the three groups (hardcore, core, casual).

Matthew Emery February 5

Analysis

Royal Kingdom vs Royal Match

Royal Kingdom vs Royal Match 𝟭. 𝗙𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝗣𝘃𝗣 𝗯𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗹𝗲𝘀 ⚔️ • Every 10th level, players attack opponent castles using Match-3. • Shields protect, potions repair. 𝟮. 𝗔 𝗻𝗲𝘄 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗼𝘂𝗿𝗰𝗲 𝘀𝘆𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗺 ⭐ • Potions replace stars as rewards. • Variable potion amounts instead of a fixed one-star reward. 𝟯. 𝗘𝘃𝗼𝗹𝘃𝗲𝗱 𝗱𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗺𝗲𝘁𝗮 🏰 • Multiple separate locations instead of a single expanding one. • Clearer visual progression to show total work scope. • Team ranking system with weekly goals and rewards. • Player rank system that unlocks new areas. 𝟰. 𝗡𝗲𝘄 𝗯𝗼𝗼𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘀 💥 • Wizard Hat: Changes random color elements. • Bomber Plane: Drops 3 bombs that auto-activate. 𝟱. 𝗣𝗿𝗲𝗺𝗶𝘂𝗺 𝗰𝘂𝗿𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗰𝘆 𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗳𝘁 💎 • Earned through meta-tasks instead of level completion. • Players can request potions from teammates once per day. • More emphasis on team cooperation. 𝟲. 𝗨𝗽𝗴𝗿𝗮𝗱𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗺 𝗳𝗲𝗮𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲s […]

Anton Slashcev February 5

Analysis

Why Some Puzzle Games are More Addicting?

The puzzle genre is a powerhouse in mobile gaming, generating over $7 billion annually in in-app purchases (IAP). Despite this immense market, more than half of the revenue comes from a single subgenre: Match-3. Established giants dominate not only Match-3 but also other popular subgenres like Merge and Blast, making it incredibly difficult for new entrants to gain traction. In such a highly competitive space, innovation is the key to creating new opportunities, and we've seen that with the rise of Physical Match and Tile Match games. Titles like Match Factory, Triple Match 3D, and Tile Busters have successfully carved out space by introducing fresh mechanics to the puzzle category. “Pair” games mainly consisting of Physical Match and Tile Match titles didn’t take long to become the third largest puzzle subgenre. As the puzzle market evolves, a new wave of […]

Ahmetcan Demirel February 5

Journal

Mobile Gaming Brands Winning with UGC

We all know that gaming marketers are loving UGC ads right now, I've spoken about this multiple times recently and it's definitely a trend that is going to keep gaining in traction and user performance (ROI). I was recently approached by the folks at Ramdam to review their market report on just this subject and I found a world of really useful data points that further validate my whole hypothesis around the ad-type shaping the cultural norms in marketing.Probably my favourite state overall was that ads incorporating UGC achieve on average a 7.5% higher Day 30 retention rate! I think all studios right now could do with seeing those kinds of performance bumps from using this strategy!Download the report here.

John Wright February 5

Journal

How to Monetize Whales Through Milestone Events

How to Monetize Whales Through Milestone Events 🐋 Monetization features for whales are designed to target the highest-spending players, while also engaging less-spending players with the potential to convert them into whales.💡 How milestones tied to hard currency spend work:Players complete milestones and receive rewards by spending standard hard currency during the event.🐳 In-game Examples:— “Emerald Waterfalls” event in Hero Wars is held weekly, starting on Wednesdays. While its long duration and regularity make its exact impact on revenue harder to measure, its continuous rotation demonstrates its importance.— “More Than Gems” event in Rise of Kingdoms is held on weekends during major clan events like the “Sunset Canyon Tournament” and “Alliance Mobilization,” resulting in a 12–40% revenue increase on the following Mondays.✅ Why it’s important:Whales are one of the most important cohorts that can generate the absolute majority of revenue […]

Andrei Zubov February 5

Journal

Merge-2 with Complex Meta: The Year of LiveOps & Monetization

Merge-2 with Complex Meta: The Year of LiveOps & Monetization 🚀 The genre surged in 2024, with revenue up 106% YoY and downloads rising 43%.But here’s the catch—this growth comes from just a few dominant titles, including Merge Mansion, Travel Town, Gossip Harbor, and Seaside Escape. 👑How did they achieve this? By doubling down on LiveOps and refining monetization strategies, drawing inspiration not just from each other but also from Match-3 and Casual Casino. 🎰Want the details? You’ll find them all in our report.Casual Games Report 2024 also covers:🏆 How Two games outperformed Merge Mansion, which dominated the niche for three years.🔄 How Merge Mansion is fighting back to reclaim its position.📈 How three new games broke into the Top 10—and what set them apart.

Andrei Zubov February 5

Highlights

AppsFlyer lays off 100 employees, 7% of its workforce.

After "AppLovin's Adjust Layoffs", now AppsFlyer's turn. CEO Oren Kaniel says the company will focus on AI and scalability as part of long-term growth plans. Unicorn AppsFlyer is laying off 100 of its employees, about 7% of its workforce. The company currently employs 1,200 people, two-thirds of whom are based in Israel. The layoffs will affect employees both in Israel and in the company’s other global offices. AppsFlyer was founded in 2011 by Oren Kaniel and Reshef Mann. According to estimates, the company's revenue is currently around $400 million, and the layoffs may be part of preparations for a planned IPO in the coming year. AppsFlyer was founded in 2011 by Oren Kaniel and Reshef Mann. The company has developed technology that allows app owners to identify where their most profitable users originated from, such as a Google search, an […]

Ömer Yakabagi February 5

Journal

The Future of F2P Games and Hybrid Monetization

Systematic and emergent gameplay mechanics are a powerful tool in game design; shaping some of the most memorable and engaging player experiences.From physics-driven mechanics, puzzles, etc. to open-ended economic and systemic simulations, these mechanics allow players to interact dynamically with a game world rather than following pre-scripted paths. However, despite their growing popularity, their full potential for F2P mobile games and premium games incorporating F2P economies is still largely untapped.In this article, we'll explore how systematic and emergent gameplay can be leveraged for monetization, engagement, and live service sustainability — making it a cost-efficient alternative to content-heavy LiveOps while maintaining player retention. We’ll also take a look into how these mechanics align with intrinsic motivations, intrinsic monetization and social group monetization, creating deep and meaningful engagement-monetization loops that extend beyond e.g., traditional extrinsic reward systems.The Efficiency of Systematic and Emergent […]

Antti Kananen February 4

Highlights

Türkiye’s Laton Ventures raises $50M to invest in Game & App Startups

🚀 🟣 Laton Ventures announces:- $50M Fund raised- 5 investments were completed in TR/EU/US, 2 of them raised Series-A rounds within a year. Grand Games, one of our first investments, raised $30M- Ranked among the global top 10 most active gaming VCs- Backed by 40+ exited gaming/tech founders and industry veterans from 10+ countriesLaton Ventures, Melisa Yaguboglu, Volkan Özen Laton Ventures: Görkem Türk (left), Melisa Yaguboglu, Volkan Özen. Laton Ventures, a Gaming & Apps focused VC firm founded by Görkem Türk, has closed its first fund with $50 million. The Istanbul venture capital fund is the largest gaming and apps-focused fund in Türkiye, which has become one of the prominent global hubs for the gaming industry, said Türk in a statement. Laton Ventures will globally invest in pre-seed and seed-stage gaming startups, while also backing non-gaming app companies. Back in April, […]

Ömer Yakabagi February 4

Highlights

1287326723 new AI tools every day!

1287326723 new AI tools every day! If you don't use these AI tools, you are already obsolete. 𝗝𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗾𝘂𝗶𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗨𝗔 𝗷𝗼𝗯 𝗿𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝗻𝗼𝘄👇 🔍 𝗦𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗰𝗵 & 𝗥𝗲𝘀𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗰𝗵 • OpenAI o1 — The most advanced reasoning model. • DeepSeek AI - yes. I use it too! • Gemini Live — Engage with AI as it watches your screen. • Perplexity — Combines AI with powerful web search.⚡ 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗶𝘁𝘆 • Superhuman AI — Turbocharge your email writing. • Wispr Flow — Achieve 99% accuracy in speech-to-text dictation. • Lindy — Simplify your life with seamless task automations. • Delphi — Create a digital version of yourself. • Granola — Your go-to AI meeting notes assistant.🎨 𝗖𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗧𝗼𝗼𝗹𝘀 • Midjourney (DALL-E Open Ai, Stable Diffusion AI, Leonardo.Ai) — Generate stunning AI-crafted images. • Krea — Your AI-powered visual design companion. • Freepik […]

Matej Lancaric February 4

Journal

Be Careful with the new adROAS campaigns in Meta

🚨Be Careful with the new adROAS campaigns in Meta🚨 As I recently shared on LinkedIn (I’ll leave the link in the comments), Meta has rolled out a new Value Optimization (VO) campaign specifically for mobile games that monetize mainly through ads rather than in-app purchases. For now, this is only available on Android..I started testing this with one of my clients, and the initial results were impressive. We were reaching profitability in a much shorter period compared to other main channels like AppLovin and Google. Naturally, we began scaling gradually, as you can see in the graph.But then... things took a turn. Once we reached $1k/day in ad spend, we saw a drastic drop in efficiency, which is clearly reflected in the declining ROAS.The main reason seems to be the steady decline in retention rate (see screenshot 2), which is […]

David Vargas February 4

Journal

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