HungryStudio is Hungry for More!
I’ve written many times about HungryStudio’s ad monetization behemoth Block Blast!. The studio has gone from strength to strength, scaling the game to over 41 million daily active users, making it the largest ad-monetized title in the world. But today, I don’t want to talk about that. I want to discuss their latest project, Sudoku Master!
Launched in September 2024, Sudoku Master! is currently ranked #13 in the Numbers genre by DAU, according to Sensor Tower. The category is still primarily dominated by Miniclip, which owns six of the top 20 titles, especially after its high-profile EasyBrain acquisition. But between May and October, Sudoku Master!’s DAU has tripled, and by downloads, it’s now ranked #6 in the genre, and was driving over 25% of the downloads in the top 10 titles in the genre.
The game monetizes with interstitials and rewarded ads, which is a core competency of HungryStudio, while completely ignoring banner ads (because banners are dead). I estimate that the game currently generates around $50,000 per day in ad revenue. But after playing it myself and comparing my experience with online forums, it’s clear that the key driver behind Sudoku Master! is how and when it chooses to show interstitials.
Comparing my ad frequency to what players report elsewhere, it’s evident that HungryStudio is applying the same ad serving A/B test logic they perfected in Block Blast! to optimize retention over the long term.
Keep an eye on this one. HungryStudio is squaring up against Miniclip for control of the Numbers genre. And if they manage to dominate the Sudoku space, you can bet they’ll apply their playbook across every ad monetization genre that follows. A quick look at their portfolio suggests they’ve already chosen which ones come next.
💰Great Content 💰
We had the pleasure of hosting David Pan from Habby, marking the studio’s first-ever Western interview. He gave us a rare look into how Habby approaches game design and strategy. We explored how the studio is shifting its monetization model toward in-app purchases and deep, long-term retention, moving away from heavy reliance on ads 😒 to improve user experience and offset rising user acquisition costs. David also discussed the challenges of breaking into Western markets, where UA creatives that perform well in East Asia often fail to resonate. And finally, we discussed Habby’s global ambitions, including their $2 million investment in their Turkish partner, Mavis Games, a clear signal of their intent to expand beyond Asia.
🎯The Cinderella of the Week🎯
Miracles still happen! Despite the highly competitive landscape in mobile, solo developers can still scale their IAA monetized games to impressive levels. This section is to salute you. Why? Because everyone loves a Cinderella story… that’s why.
Really clever game design always wins. Even in a crowded marketplace, games like Balatro and Granny have proven to be breakout hits by leveraging clever game design. Now let’s chat about what’s probably the largest Cinderella story I’ve come across in 2 years… I’m talking about the Tower by Tech Tree Games.
The Tower, at its core, is a mobile idle strategy and tower-defense game where you build up a single central tower and defend it against waves of enemies. As you play, you collect coins and gems, research in a lab, unlock cards and modules, and permanently upgrade your tower through a Workshop system to grow stronger even while offline. The game combines idle mechanics with active strategy, requiring wise upgrade choices and precise timing to survive increasingly challenging waves.
This game has made a stunning $50+ million in IAPs and $5 million in adssince launching in 2022. What’s even more astonishing is that to date, the company has only four full-time employees and was founded and designed by Anthony Tirone, a former Chemical Engineer with no formal background in gaming. I highly recommend you to play the game, as one thing is very certain: clever game design always wins in the end.
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