Archero 2: Onboarding done right!

🚀 Onboarding done right! Archero 2, the sequel to the popular Archero game by Habby, has a fantastic 3-day offer for new players. It's clever because it tackles retention right from the start—once you buy the pack, you’re motivated to log in daily to claim the rewards you’ve already paid for. This helps bring players back during the critical first few days, setting strong engagement habits early on. What’s even better? The twist! They’ve added three pricing tiers, offering better rewards as you move up, ensuring value at every level. It’s a smart mix of monetization and retention.

Michael Kopelovich January 20

Journal

20 metrics all game devs should hold close.

20 metrics all game devs should hold close. (there are more, but I’ll keep it simple)First, remember 3 core pillars:1. New Players ↳ How you acquire your audience.2. Active Players ↳ How you retain your audience.3. Paying Players ↳ How you monetize your audience.Second, there’s no one-size-fits-all set ofmetrics, but here's the truth:20% of your game’s metrics drive80% of your game’s performance.Here are the 20 most important metrics:📊 Acquisition Metrics• New Daily or Monthly Active Users• CPA (Cost Per Install/Login/Battle)• Fraud Share: Invalid ad metrics• New Players Retention Rate• New Players Churn Rate• K-Factor: Viral growth📊 Retention Metrics• Daily/Monthly Active Users• 1, 7, 30 Day Retention• Session Length• Session Count• Churn Rate• Lifetime📊 Monetization metrics• LTV: Revenue over player Lifetime• ARPPU: Revenue Per Paying User• Daily/Monthly Paying Users• Average Transaction Value• ARPU: Revenue per User• Number of Transactions• Payer Retention• […]

Sergei Vasiuk January 20

Journal

90% of Games Fail at Monetization

90% of Games Fail at Monetization The truth? Monetization Model isn’t about squeezing every dollar - it’s about finding what WORKS for YOUR game.I’ve laid out 6 models with:🟢 The wins.🔴 The pitfalls.But first, focus on these 4 factors:1. Game Genre• Story-heavy? Go premium.• Fast-paced? Free-to-play wins.2. Target Audience• Casuals love “free.”• Hardcore? They’ll pay for the good stuff.3. Game Lifespan• Subscriptions win with long-term play.• Short-term? In-game payments do the job.4. Game Design & Value• Players will pay if it’s worth it.• But don’t pull shady pay-to-win moves.Monetization is NOT just about the money.It’s about building trust, delivering value, and creating something players want to come back to.

Sergei Vasiuk January 19

Journal

Why Duolingo succeeds

I just wrote a piece on why Duolingo succeeds (and where the opportunities are) in language learning apps 🎮📱 I the piece, I'm breaking down what makes Duolingo work, and where new startups can find opportunities:1/ The Power of Game Mechanics- Leaderboards + league system drove 17% more learning time- 3x increase in highly engaged learners- Streak features + rewards keep users coming back- Former Zynga expertise in analytics drives optimization2/ The Reality Check- Most users treat it as a casual game, not serious learning- Example: Friend spent 2 years on Finnish, still struggles with basic conversations- Success metric: Making language learning a daily hobby vs. achieving fluency3/ Market Positioning MatrixTwo key axes to evaluate language learning apps:- Progress (study depth + learning progression)- Engagement (entertainment + stickiness)4/ Where are the opportunities?- "Hardcore" language learning remains untapped- Gap between casual […]

Joakim Achren January 19

Highlights

Mobile Gaming Today: 43

Hola Fam ☃️ Lezgo with hot stuff. Bye, TikTok. Aaand - Already back, lol. Strong reminder: Don't rely heavily on a single UA channel. Smt fun? Game of The Week: Block Blast Block Blast has created the biggest ad revenue game from a simplistic block-blasting mechanic. It's using the Tetris "likeness" to its advantage, but it still has a lot of iteration to differentiate from its predecessor. But don't be fooled, under the surface, there is a lot of hidden stuff that is the secret sauce of the game such as difficulty balancing. More? Here on YouTube & Spotify Mobile Marketing » Magic Sort Analysis: Grand Games’ New Treasure 📈 Paid campaign effect on organic traffic 🤟🏻 Evolution of Stacking Mechanics 👥 Player Segmentation to boost LTV 📱 Mobile Games Marketing Predictions 🇹🇷 Top 10 Turkish Mobile Game Publishers 👾 […]

Ömer Yakabagi January 19

Highlights

How TikTok’s US Ban Could Reshape Mobile Gaming Marketing

TikTok went offline on Saturday. The law passed by Congress last year gave TikTok's Chinese parent company ByteDance until Jan 19 to divest from TikTok or be cut off from U.S. App Stores and hosting services. TikTok said a sale wasn't possible and challenged the law in court, but the Supreme Court rejected it on Friday. Trump on Sunday posted that he'd restore TikTok, first writing "SAVE TIKTOK" and then vowing to issue an executive order on Monday to extend the time before the law takes effect. However, TikTok is already back. After being banned for not even 1 full day, it displays a "Welcome Back" pop-up. More? Marvel Snap is now banned following the TikTok US Ban. Marvel Snap's publisher Nuverse is owned by TikTok parent company ByteDance. Industry's Take? I think TikTok ban is kind of not the […]

Ömer Yakabagi January 19

Journal

Want to be a top 1% game producer?

Want to be a top 1% game producer? Here are 20 lessons every great game producer lives by: 1. Passion matters. ↳ You can’t lead gamers without being one. 2. Own your mistakes. ↳ Transparency builds trust within your team. 3. No decision is perfect. ↳ Every choice comes with trade-offs and uncertainty. 4. There’s no magic formula. ↳ Chasing mythical insights leads to failure. 5. Iteration is key. ↳ No game starts perfect—refine it continuously. 6. Ideas are worthless without execution. ↳ Cool ideas are common; great execution is rare. 7. Respect your players. ↳ Treat them like valued guests, or they’ll leave. 8. Fun comes first. ↳ Features or monetization can’t fix a boring game. 9. Start small, succeed big. ↳ Prove a small concept before scaling up. 10. Profit is the ultimate measure of success. ↳ Revenue […]

Anton Slashcev January 18

Highlights

Konvoy Q4 2024 Gaming Industry Report

🎮 Konvoy Q4 2024 Gaming Industry Report - funding in 2024 was down 15% from 2023, and Q4 saw $286m in funding (the lowest funding in 5+ years for gaming venture). ↗️ - AI funding is marginally increasing in gaming (10% of funding this quarter) - Series A graduation rates for gaming startups dropped to just 11.5%, signaling an opportunity for more support for early-stage founders.- Big tech is doubling down on immersive platforms with Google Android XR launch, and rising scrutiny around child safety is reshaping trust and accountability online.👀 We expect the gaming market size to hit $223B by 2029, the road ahead is packed with many challenges and unique opportunities.🎮 Full report here. Source: Konvoy & Josh Chapman

Ömer Yakabagi January 18

Journal

Jobs in Mobile Gaming: 28

🎨 933 Jobs in Mobile Gaming » 10-17 January 👉🏻 Data from Gamigion.com/jobs 🕺🏻 Dev 💻 Art 🎨 Product 📱 Marketing 🎯 Business 💰 Data 📈 QA ⚒️ 💻 Dev Technical Team Lead (Client) Scopely 🇨🇳 Senior Fullstack Engineer - LiveOps Automation Team Scopely 🇪🇸 Client Engineer Scopely 🇨🇳 Senior Analytics Engineer Scopely 🇲🇽 Senior Client Programmer, Project R.I.S.E Supercell 🇨🇳 Game Client Programmer, Clash Royale Supercell 🇨🇳 Senior Software Engineer- Website Development Zynga 🇮🇳 Principal Software Engineer - Developer Services, ZMGT Zynga 🇺🇸 🇨🇦 Lead Technical Program Manager/Lead Producer - Systems, ZMGT Zynga 🇨🇦 🇺🇸 Senior Software Developer - Small Giant Games Zynga 🇫🇮 Senior Performance Engineer - Echtra Games Zynga 🇺🇸 Senior Software Engineer 1 Zynga 🇮🇳 Gamplay Engineer 2 Zynga 🇮🇳 Unity Developer Playtika 🇵🇱 🇷🇴 Software Architect Playtika 🇮🇱 Ad Tech Product Manager MobilityWare 🇺🇸 Director […]

Gamigion January 18

Journal

The ‘Why’ Behind Grand Games’ $30M Investment

We wrote about "Grand Games secures $30M Series A" last week. Cooler stuff? Just published our "Magic Sort Analysis", check it out! Let's talk about the How & Why. Securing $30M just 9 months after its launch? 🦄 Folks, it's something big. The publisher behind Magic Sort made $4M+ in 6 months. Among the largest Series A rounds for Turkish gaming startups. Turkey’s Casual Mobile Gaming scene is booming. Or, it's been booming 😅 Check out: Mobile Gaming World: Türkiye Dream Games raised $255 million in 2022. Peak Games was acquired by Zynga in 2020 for $1.8 billion. Spyke raised $50M last year and launched with $55 million. DoubleU Games Acquires Turkish Studio Paxie Games Azur Games, has acquired the hypercasual portfolio of Good Job Games. Agave Games' $18M Series A at a valuation of around $100M last month. Cypher Games Secures 10M$ Investment […]

Ömer Yakabagi January 17

Journal

How to use Player Segmentation to boost LTV

How to use Player Segmentation to boost LTV Based on Playliner research, here are the most common approaches to player segmentation𝗪𝗵𝘆 𝘂𝘀𝗲 𝗶𝘁: • Tailored experiences: Match offers to player preferences. • Optimized monetization: Align pricing with spending capacity. • Better engagement: Address player needs, reduce churn. • Smarter resource allocation: Focus on what works. 𝗣𝗹𝗮𝘆𝗲𝗿 𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘀𝗲𝗴𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀: 1. Non-payers: $0 spent. 2. Minnows: Under $10 (75% of paying players). 3. Dolphins: $10–$50 (15%). 4. Whales: $50–$150 (9%). 5. Grand Whales: $200+ (1%). 𝗣𝗿𝗶𝗰𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗴𝗶𝗲𝘀: • Non-payers: Ad rewards, starter bundles. • Minnows: Affordable offers. • Dolphins: Upsell with double offers. • Whales: High-value bundles. • Grand Whales: Exclusive premium content. 𝗢𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝘄𝗮𝘆𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝘀𝗲𝗴𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁: • Engagement: Hardcore vs. casual players. • Demographics: Age, region. • Behavior: Social vs. solo. • Device type: High-end vs. low-end. • Play style: Achievers, […]

Anton Slashcev January 17

Journal

How paid campaigns affect your app’s organic traffic

Explore the connection between paid campaigns and organic app growth—and how to make them work together. Nearly all apps today use paid campaigns to grow. After working with more than 95 apps over the last six years, I’ve seen how important paid traffic is—not just for driving installs but also for improving organic traffic. In the long run, organic traffic is what creates the consistent cash flow apps need to scale effectively. Paid campaigns significantly influence organic traffic, no matter the channel. Yet, paid campaigns and ASO (App Store Optimization) are often handled by separate teams. To thrive it’s essential to understand how these two areas work together. In this post, we’ll cover: Why optimizing ASO is crucial before running paid campaigns. How ASO and paid user acquisition (UA) support each other. Real-world examples of how paid campaigns can boost […]

David Vargas January 17

Journal

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