two & a half gamers

This is no BS gaming podcast 2.5 gamers session #66. Sharing actionable insights, dropping knowledge from our day-to-day User Acquisition, Game Design, and Ad monetization jobs. We are definitely not discussing the latest industry news, but having so much fun! Let’s not forget this is a 4 am conference discussion vibe, so let's not take it too seriously.

Panelists: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Jakub Remia⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠r, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Matej Lančarič⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

For the actual gameplay, check out Youtube: https://youtu.be/4hlmgMVdm-g⁠

Today’s episode is brought to you by Mistplay, the #1 loyalty app for mobile gamers. Mistplay is a media source that leverages continuous rewarded engagement to drive retention and LTV for advertisers. If you’re looking to reach high-value users and achieve your performance goals, check out Mistplay and get in touch at ⁠mistplay.com⁠!

Agenda:

00:00 Epic intro

00:45 Squad Busters intro + gameplay tutorial

03:15 Every time you say, "Ads are beautiful," the Supercell game gets killed in Softlaunch!

06:15 Maven Matej starts playing Squad Busters while Remo talks Game design

11:45 Streamers usually win always

12:18 Plaza upgrades

13:50 Marvel Snap locations vs. battle mods

14:32 The Cannon is really OP

14:52 You buy a battle pass for each world

17:52 Combat mechanics

21:32 You can only re-roll once per battle

24:40 Fusion mechanic explanation

26:20 What is the incentive to kill other players?

29:40 What's new? What is the biggest difference between builds?

33:50 No gachapoooools!

35:00 Supercell games number comparison

38:00 Killing games in soft launch

38:26 Remo conspiracy - Clash heroes = Squad busters!

40:00 How to download Squad Busters?

41:53 #supercellpartner

42:26 Soft launch strategy

44:00 EL PRIMOOOOOO!

45:45 How would you classify Squad Busters?

50:00 What would you monetize?

50:30 Supercell is fair!

53:25 Listening to the feedback & trying to improve the game

54:13 Player rating, game design rating & global launch prediction

55:25 Random chest timer scales!!! I was right!

Please share the podcast with your industry friends, dogs & cats. Especially cats! They love it!

Hit the Subscribe button on Youtube, Spotify, and Apple!

Please share feedback and comments - matej@lancaric.me

If you are interested in getting UA tips every week on Monday, visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠lancaric.substack.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ & sign up for the Brutally Honest newsletter by Matej Lancaric

New article: https://lancaric.me/11-tips-for-killer-user-acquisition-ops-q2-version

This is no BS gaming podcast 2.5 gamers session #65. Sharing actionable insights, dropping knowledge from our day-to-day User Acquisition, Game Design, and Ad monetization jobs. We are definitely not discussing the latest industry news, but having so much fun! Let’s not forget this is a 4 am conference discussion vibe, so let's not take it too seriously.

Panelists: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Jakub Remia⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠r, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Matej Lančarič⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Felix Braberg⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Youtube: https://youtu.be/s-BCrDt88Rk

Today’s episode is brought to you by Mistplay, the #1 loyalty app for mobile gamers. Mistplay is a media source that leverages continuous rewarded engagement to drive retention and LTV for advertisers. If you’re looking to reach high-value users and achieve your performance goals, check out Mistplay and get in touch at mistplay.com!

Agenda:

00:00 Epic Intro

03:25 Ad monetization review

05:55 Pesky IAP revenue

06:22 Small Waifus in tile games are coming

09:57 Exact Admon monthly revenue assumption A'la Felix

12:15 Felix cracks an admon jokes

12:17 "Haha" moment

15:12 BS meter is blinking

17:08 UA review

17:51 Revenue by country breakdown

19:48 Very accurate, amazing budget calculations, A'la Felix

21:12 Definitely Woo rather than a Boo

22:41 UA channel mix investigation

24:41 Felix is not brave enough to speak up

25:27 Altered gameplay with enhanced interaction

28:05 Old Lady kicking ass on the UA front

29:50 Feels a little bit ASMR, no? Shut up!

31:15 Why would you use a slot machine in your creatives?

33:19 Triple match 3D!

34:43 UA channel mix of Triple Match 3D

35:57 Live Creatives comparison

39:19 Game design review

40:30 History lesson

41:27 Austin is trying to escape the evil shark

44:30 Jakub is being attacked by three interstitials in a row!

49:35 Clash of Clans UA people, please get your banner sizes in order

50:36 Ad SDK investigation

52:13 Automatic UGC?

53:50 MAU 2.5gamers Party - signup now!

We are co-organizing a fun night at the Encore beach club. Please register on this link⁠ https://info.youappi.com/mau-2023-club-guest-list-general⁠⁠⁠⁠ or ping me. ⁠⁠⁠⁠

Please share the podcast with your industry friends, dogs & cats. Especially cats! They love it!

Hit the Subscribe button on Youtube, Spotify, and Apple!

Please share feedback and comments - matej@lancaric.me

If you are interested in getting UA tips every week on Monday, visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠lancaric.substack.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ & sign up for the Brutally Honest newsletter by Matej Lancaric

New article: ⁠⁠https://lancaric.me/legend-of-slime-post-idfa-global-launch-ua-strategy

This is no BS gaming podcast 2.5 gamers session #64. Sharing actionable insights, dropping knowledge from our day-to-day User Acquisition, Game Design, and Ad monetization jobs. We are definitely not discussing the latest industry news, but having so much fun! Let’s not forget this is a 4 am conference discussion vibe, so let's not take it too seriously.

Panelists: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Jakub Remia⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠r, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Matej Lančarič⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Felix Braberg⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Youtube: ⁠https://youtu.be/6VHp7py_FzY

Today’s episode is brought to you by Mistplay, the #1 loyalty app for mobile gamers. Mistplay is a media source that leverages continuous rewarded engagement to drive retention and LTV for advertisers. If you’re looking to reach high-value users and achieve your performance goals, check out Mistplay and get in touch at mistplay.com!

Agenda:

00:00 Intro

00:51 it's 4 am somewhere

01:10 no chit-chat! Let's talk about most Eastern European LinkedIn post!

03:45 no margaritas in the house; please don't make your segment too long, Jakub.

04:20 Two friends & one hostile asshole

04:45 This is who Jakub is!

05:13 Ad monetization update: Meta email

06:27 How do we know ad networks are fingerprinting?

06:44 Where were you when ATT happened?

08:20 Facebook adds "enhanced interaction" to the rewarded video

09:47 Enhanced interaction, my ass

11:15 NPCs an ad in VR

11:50 Felix answering questions from the audience

12:13 How to prepare your admon stack to prep for Google change?

13:19 Ping Felix for help

14:55 Few words about Mistplay

16:20 UA challenges by Gamesforum

17:12 Finding flamingo slippers is the biggest challenge

19:07 Creative trends Q1 2023

19:58 Royal Match

22:45 Jakub & Felix having fun while seeing 0 ads

23:25 Topwar

26:32 Township

28:35 Cooking Madness

30:25 Merge mansion

30:40 No one hates Pedro Pascal

31:50 Couldn't find the screenshots, sorry!

32:56 Evony & Stormshot

33:20 Herowars

34:41 What are the trends?

34:54 The real gameplay is going to win! At some point!

37:00 Jakub is starting a new segment!

37:05 Soft launch sonar

37:50 My periscope is out, my friend!

44:02 No Gachapools!

52:00 Ubisoft really needs a mobile hit game!

We are co-organizing a fun night at the Encore beach club. Please register on this link https://info.youappi.com/mau-2023-club-guest-list-general⁠⁠⁠ or ping me. ⁠⁠

Please share the podcast with your industry friends, dogs & cats. Especially cats! They love it!

Hit the Subscribe button on Youtube, Spotify, and Apple!

Please share feedback and comments - matej@lancaric.me

If you are interested in getting UA tips every week on Monday, visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠lancaric.substack.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ & sign up for the Brutally Honest newsletter by Matej Lancaric

New article: ⁠⁠https://lancaric.substack.com/p/10-tips-for-killer-user-acquisition

East side games case study:

https://www.mistplay.com/resources/loyalty-drives-scale-and-retention-for-east-side-games

This is no BS gaming podcast 2.5 gamers session #63. Sharing actionable insights, dropping knowledge from our day-to-day User Acquisition, Game Design, and Ad monetization jobs. We are definitely not discussing the latest industry news, but having so much fun! Let’s not forget this is a 4 am conference discussion vibe, so let's not take it too seriously.

Panelists: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Jakub Remia⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠r, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Matej Lančarič⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Felix Braberg⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Youtube: ⁠https://youtu.be/nhTzSeenLJ8

Today’s episode is brought to you by Mistplay, the #1 loyalty app for mobile gamers. Mistplay is a media source that leverages continuous rewarded engagement to drive retention and LTV for advertisers. If you’re looking to reach high-value users and achieve your performance goals, check out Mistplay and get in touch at mistplay.com!

Agenda

00:00 Intro

01:23 Stuff that nobody cares about

02:56 Important announcement & Mistplay intro

04:35 Does Mistplay actually work? Yes!

05:30 Agenda of today's session

06:14 Two waifus & half male character

07:48 People come for ads

08:30 Smoky Admon backrooms

16:37 Viva la dirt league

19:36 Jakub making enemies

24:48 Why are we even talking about Viva La Dirt League?

26:35 How do you even measure campaigns like these?

27:25 Viva La Dirt league is a step up from influencer marketing

29:54 Pedro Pascal & Merge mansion audience mismatch?

31:30 How much money do they charge for a video? Benchmarks from other influencers

33:05 Human ads on Linkedin

34:05 Remo skips the intro because he assumes everybody knows Honkai: Star Rail

36:20 Matej goes full ASMR

38:25 Is Honkai: Star Rail basically a Raid Shadow legend?

40:16 Where are the horse girls?

42:30 No Ads, goodbye Felix

46:59 No social features yet

48:30 Is this game going to cannibalize Genshin?

We are co-organizing a fun night at the Encore beach club with YouAppi, Sensortower and MetricsWorks. Register on the link in the show notes, or ping me. 

⁠https://info.youappi.com/mau-2023-club-guest-list-general⁠

Please share the podcast with your industry friends, dogs & cats. Especially cats! They love it!

Hit the Subscribe button on Youtube, Spotify, and Apple!

Please share feedback and comments - matej@lancaric.me

If you are interested in getting UA tips every week on Monday, visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠lancaric.substack.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ & sign up for the Brutally Honest newsletter by Matej Lancaric

New article: ⁠https://lancaric.me/ua-manager-life-post-idfa-reality

This is no BS gaming podcast 2.5 gamers session #62. Sharing actionable insights, dropping knowledge from our day-to-day User Acquisition, Game Design, and Ad monetization jobs. We are definitely not discussing the latest industry news, but having so much fun! Let’s not forget this is a 4 am conference discussion vibe, so let's not take it too seriously.

Panelists: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Jakub Remia⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠r, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Matej Lančarič⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠,

Youtube: ⁠https://youtu.be/1a3L9sx0EbE

Agenda

00:00 Intro

02:02 Great time not to have Felix on

02:50 Why are we talking about Call of Dragons?

04:16 Game design intro

06:15 TOP10 4X strategy games

13:13 Jakub finally struggles to play games on an emulator

14:15 Revenue per download comparison

16:20 Jakub showcases the Call of Dragons gameplay

18:58 Hello Supercell!

19:59 Noob vs. Pro game

24:04 Mr. Gachapoooool is back in the game

25:00 Players are the content

31:32 Hospitals in 4X games

37:52 These games have 150k spend depth

38:35 User acquisition intro

38:41 Soft launch of CoD

41:10 Top 10 countries - revenue wise

42:39 Competitors

43:18 Retention comparison

45:12 UA channel mix

45:40 Creative showcase

51:20 Interesting tidbits

54:00 Viva La Dirt League

57:15 Call of Dragons overall rating

Please share the podcast with your industry friends, dogs & cats. Especially cats! They love it!

Hit the Subscribe button on Youtube, Spotify, and Apple!

Please share feedback and comments - matej@lancaric.me

If you are interested in getting UA tips every week on Monday, visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠lancaric.substack.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ & sign up for the Brutally Honest newsletter by Matej Lancaric

New article: https://lancaric.me/ua-manager-life-post-idfa-reality

This is no BS gaming podcast 2.5 gamers session #61. Sharing actionable insights, dropping knowledge from our day-to-day User Acquisition, Game Design, and Ad monetization jobs. We are definitely not discussing the latest industry news, but having so much fun! Let’s not forget this is a 4 am conference discussion vibe, so let's not take it too seriously.

Panelists: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Jakub Remia⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠r, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Matej Lančarič⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Felix Braberg⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Youtube: https://youtu.be/1qY6jZVSOeQ

Agenda

00:00 intro

00:57 Thank you very much for your support!

01:27 Imitation is the best form of flattery

01:40 You can't copy fun

01:52 Agenda of this session

02:26 Matej's ego is not out of the control

03:17 Legend of Slime revenue split

03:30 Jakub challenges Felix for leadership of the ads movement

03:54 Matej makes assumptions about the revenue split

04:30 Million-dollar questions: Why push players to watch 500 ads? Not answered!

05:09 Jack, the legend of Slime, talks about the game

06:35 Ad monetisation intro

07:35 Why is this game doing so well in Asia?

07:59 Waifu game design Puritans denying ads

10:19 The heart of the ads

11:17 30+ ad placements

12:20 Million-dollar questions: Why push players to watch 500 ads? Answered!

13:55 Jakub cheats all the time

14:08 11 ad partners!

15:06 How much money are they earning on ads?

17:40 600-900k a day on ads? :-O

18:42 User Acquisition Intro

19:20 Thank you, Game Refinery, for providing insights!

20:00 Felix's job is done

21:07 Top geos

21:38 Competitors?

22:37 Matej is not a friend with Mariana Trench

25:30 UA channel mix

26:40 Let's look at the Applovin Legend of Slime playable

28:04 TOP 3 UA channels

28:50 Deep Creative review

34:23 No AI UGC

36:36 Interesting User Acquisition tidbits

38:15 Maven Matej UA rating

40:40 Kudos to Luna

41:35 Expressing a disappointment in the UA

43:00 UA could be so much better

43:32 One gamer and two noobs

45:00 Tell me the edge, it's no bullshit

45:16 My name is Felix, and I disapprove of this message

45:51 The evolution of Idle games

47:22 GACHAPOOOOOL

Please share the podcast with your industry friends, dogs & cats. Especially cats! They love it!

Hit the Subscribe button on Youtube, Spotify, and Apple!

Please share feedback and comments - matej@lancaric.me

If you are interested in getting UA tips every week on Monday, visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠lancaric.substack.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ & sign up for the Brutally Honest newsletter by Matej Lancaric

New article: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://lancaric.me/8-must-have-before-post-idfa-soft-launch

This is no BS gaming podcast 2.5 gamers session #60. Sharing actionable insights, dropping knowledge from our day-to-day User Acquisition, Game Design, and Ad monetization jobs. We are definitely not discussing the latest industry news, but having so much fun! Let’s not forget this is a 4 am conference discussion vibe, so let's not take it too seriously.

Panelists: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Jakub Remia⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠r, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Matej Lančarič⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Felix Braberg⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Special guest: ⁠Manuel Prueter⁠

Youtube: ⁠https://youtu.be/79dnIjfWbRA⁠

Agenda

00:00 Intro

01:10 Manuel intro

02:18 Jakub is cheap

03:48 Is mobile really dead?

05:37 King of Organic Downloads

06:52 How to think about ASO?

08:28 How to get into Auto Collection similar games?

09:08 Stop with keyword stuffing

09:38 Google loves revenue (as quickly as possible)

10:05 App health intro

10:49 What are ANRs?

12:02 Magic number for ANRs is 0.47%

12:20 Why 0.47%?

12:48 mmmmmm

12:53 Put on your tinfoil hat pls!

14:23 How does the app loading process look like?

17:50 When do most ANRs occur?

18:32 You don't know when mommy is calling

19:28 Why is this app on pause consuming so many resources

19:38 Ways to mitigate ANR's

21:05 Manuel spilled already all the meat about ANR's :(

22:31 but shares more actionable tips about ANRs

23:40 Removing firebase help decrease ANRs by 25%

25:35 Tinfoil hat part 2

27:15 When to update the SDKs?

28:04 How ANRs influence the organic downloads

29:45 Lost organics, buy more users with UA

30:22 Slowcode, what is it?

31:07 Look at home first!

32:06 Million-dollar question: How hard is it to implement SDKs?

33:43 It's a business decision!

36:10 How to project ad revenue?

36:22 Remo gets excited and eventually asks a question!

38:11 Am I working for the paper bin now?

39:18 Do you exclude devices for showing ads?

41:03 Shout-out to Xiaomi devices

41:24 What are web view and ad loading?

43:30 No Ads for you, sir!

44:10 Manuel loves all SDKs

46:27 How do you structure the team around updating SDKs?

47:46 If you had to choose, what would you implement: SKD or a new feature?

GitHub resource mentioned in the podcast - ⁠https://github.com/AppLovin/AppLovin-MAX-Unity-Plugin/issues/165#issuecomment-1504341154⁠

Please share the podcast with your industry friends, dogs & cats. Especially cats! They love it!

Hit the Subscribe button on Youtube, Spotify, and Apple!

Please share feedback and comments - matej@lancaric.me

If you are interested in getting UA tips every week on Monday, visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠lancaric.substack.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ & sign up for the Brutally Honest newsletter by Matej Lancaric

New article: ⁠https://lancaric.me/ua-manager-life-post-idfa-reality⁠

This is no BS gaming podcast 2.5 gamers session #59. Sharing actionable insights, dropping knowledge from our day-to-day User Acquisition, Game Design, and Ad monetization jobs. We are definitely not discussing the latest industry news, but having so much fun! Let’s not forget this is a 4 am conference discussion vibe, so let's not take it too seriously.

Panelists: ⁠⁠⁠Jakub Remia⁠⁠⁠r, ⁠⁠⁠Matej Lančarič⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠Felix Braberg⁠⁠⁠

Youtube: https://youtu.be/Ct-h1YmYEiY

Agenda

00:00 Intro

01:08 Ad mon beef

02:02 Phil Collins in Korean games

03:12 UA flamboyant session intro

03:38 UA flamboyant checklist

05:20 Epic UA flamboyant session intro

07:31 How to do a proper UA & creative review?

12:15 CPI benchmarks

14:50 Goal setting for the UA team

18:25 Well, it depends...

20:34 Growing UA budgets

22:22 Maven Matej doesn't only acquire payers? Pche!

24:01 Campaign structure consolidation

26:17 You should always have a margarita

26:25 UA diversification

28:40 Creatives are made for players, not Art directors

31:08 Political ads THE OG's of fake ads

31:23 Generative AI in UA workflow

34:29 Where to get inspiration for creatives?

35:38 Confused Travoltas

37:08 Fake ads = lower retention, BUT!

39:30 Matej is saying some controversial shit

39:45 Meme & AI creatives

42:37 Anatomy of the well-performing creative

46:08 You keep the charade!

46:40 Videos leveraging Youtubers with channels and their audience

51:05 2nd best UA manager on the podcast has spoken!

52:39 Article for you guys: ⁠https://lancaric.me/hybrid-casual-sssnaker-habby-post-idfa-ua⁠

Please share the podcast with your industry friends, dogs & cats. Especially cats! They love it!

Hit the Subscribe button on Youtube, Spotify, and Apple!

Please share feedback and comments - matej@lancaric.me

If you are interested in getting UA tips every week on Monday, visit ⁠⁠⁠lancaric.substack.com⁠⁠⁠ & sign up for the Brutally Honest newsletter by Matej Lancaric

⁠https://lancaric.me/ua-the-new-frontier-of-game-dev

This is no BS gaming podcast 2.5 gamers session #58. Sharing actionable insights, dropping knowledge from our day-to-day User Acquisition, Game Design, and Ad monetization jobs. We are definitely not discussing the latest industry news, but having so much fun! Let’s not forget this is a 4 am conference discussion vibe, so let's not take it too seriously.

Panelists: ⁠⁠Jakub Remia⁠⁠r, ⁠⁠Matej Lančarič⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Felix Braberg⁠⁠

Youtube: https://youtu.be/ojqMHg0d03c

Agenda

00:00 Intro

00:50 Special guest Philips

02:47 Jakub goes full systems & vectors on Diablo 4

04:50 SSSnaker introduction

05:00 SSSSSSSSSnakeeeeer

06:14 SSSSnake jazzzzz

07:40 SSSSnaker Ad mon analysis time

08:29 7 Jakub's sons = 1 Katarina

08:39 two noobs & one gamer

10:06 Jakub is having some technical issues

10:25 Showing the actual gameplay with ad placements

11:38 six rewarded videos placements

12:58 SSSnaker makes around $17-20k ad revenue per day

14:25 Could SSSnaker be making 30-40% ad revenue?

15:10 Philips is an SSSnaker noob

18:11 SSSSnake jazzzzz

19:32 Flamboyant UA intro & country breakdown

21:54 Survivor.io & SSSnaker global launch numbers comparison

22:11 Soft launch review

25:00 Creatives

26:37 UGC creative deep dive

27:18 14862.23 USD for a creative?

28:11 How do AI creatives perform against real people?

32:00 UA channel mix

33:00 Behind the curtains deal?

35:11 Retention comparison Habby games vs. action category

39:14 Habby monetization framework

41:00 Hypercasual is dead

41:50 No more ASMR background noise :(

42:36 Snake master vs. SSSnaker - gameplay comparison

43:21 Life lesson no.1 - play with the keyboard

44:03 We hope you get killed!

45:32 Unfolding gameplay

45:54 It would take generations of Felixes to get to world 11

47:21 Is Habby the new Voodoo?

48:20 It's all about the efficiency

49:00 Is Habby publishing two more games in 2023?

50:00 This episode is brought to you by stuck Felix

53:16 Jesper is amazing!

Please share the podcast with your industry friends, dogs & cats. Especially cats! They love it!

Hit the Subscribe button on Youtube, Spotify, and Apple!

Please share feedback and comments - matej@lancaric.me

If you are interested in getting UA tips every week on Monday, visit ⁠⁠lancaric.substack.com⁠⁠ & sign up for the Brutally Honest newsletter by Matej Lancaric

https://lancaric.me/ua-the-new-frontier-of-game-dev

This is no BS gaming podcast 2.5 gamers session #57. Sharing actionable insights, dropping knowledge from our day-to-day User Acquisition, Game Design, and Ad monetization jobs. We are definitely not discussing the latest industry news, but having so much fun! Let’s not forget this is a 4 am conference discussion vibe, so let's not take it too seriously.

Panelists: ⁠⁠Matej Lančarič⁠⁠, Kate Lovejoy, Loic Anton

Youtube: https://youtu.be/z6QTF7oHu-I

Agenda

00:00 Intro

02:36 What the hell is Privacy Sandbox?

05:44 How does the Privacy Sandbox work?

07:34 Why should we pay attention to the privacy sandbox?

10:37 What can you beta test?

15:58 Do you need to implement SDK for every client?

17:44 How does the cooperation with Google look like?

22:31 Audience definition before and after Privacy Sandbox

29:41 When is the Privacy Sandbox happening?

36:32 When do you need to deep-dive into Privacy Sanbox?

40:00 Closing remarks

Email at kate@adikteev or loic@adikteev.com for more information

Please share the podcast with your industry friends, dogs & cats. Especially cats! They love it!

Hit the Subscribe button on Youtube, Spotify, and Apple!

Please share feedback and comments - matej@lancaric.me

If you are interested in getting UA tips every week on Monday, visit ⁠⁠lancaric.substack.com⁠⁠ & sign up for the Brutally Honest newsletter by Matej Lancaric

User Acquisition as the New Frontier of game development

https://lancaric.me/ua-the-new-frontier-of-game-dev/

This is no BS gaming podcast 2.5 gamers session #56. Sharing actionable insights, dropping knowledge from our day-to-day User Acquisition, Game Design, and Ad monetization jobs. We are definitely not discussing the latest industry news, but having so much fun! Let’s not forget this is a 4 am conference discussion vibe, so let's not take it too seriously.

Panelists: ⁠Jakub Remia⁠r, ⁠Matej Lančarič⁠, ⁠Felix Braberg⁠

Youtube: https://youtu.be/ON3hmNokPfQhttps://youtu.be/ON3hmNokPfQ

Agenda

00:00 Intro

00:15 Chit-chat (nothing important, you can skip this)

05:20 Century games intro

09:15 Frozen City ad monetization update

11:21 Felix is heartbroken

13:41 Frozen City making about $1mil ad revenue/month

14:20 Felix gives ad placements suggestions

15:08 How much more could they be earning?

16:20 Double placements during weekends

17:00 Negative nancy dresses up as a detective

21:08 Felix's wet ad revenue dream in 4x games starts

25:00 Whiteout Survival UA epic intro

25:43 Soft launch dates of Frozen City & Whiteout survival

28:31 Unity Square videos beta? Pls, pls, pls. Can I get in?

29:30 Top 10 Geos revenue wise

30:31 Retention KPIs

32:43 UA is dead? How come they get so many users on iOS?

34:50 Whiteout survival creative strategy

38:50 Game design intro

42:00 Wait, wait, wait, wait?! Is this a 4X game?

44:11 Smooth transition from idle game to 4X

45:25 Where are the ads?

47:34 Chef's Kiss

50:07 Baloon mechanic, pure genius

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Frozen City post-IDFA global launch UA case study

https://lancaric.me/post-idfa-ua-frozen-city-global-launch-case-study/https://lancaric.me/post-idfa-ua-frozen-city-global-launch-case-study/

This is no BS gaming podcast 2.5 gamers session #55. Sharing actionable insights, dropping knowledge from our day-to-day User Acquisition, Game Design, and Ad monetization jobs. We are definitely not discussing the latest industry news, but having so much fun! Let’s not forget this is a 4 am conference discussion vibe, so let's not take it too seriously.

Host: Matej Lančarič

Special guest: Eran Friedman 

Youtube: https://youtu.be/edfxCUnVOnI

Agenda

00:00 Intro

04:18 State of the iOS

07:11 Current adoption rate of SKAN 4.0 (iOS 16.1 and above)

09:17 Why update MMP SDK now? 

10:35 What's the advantage of being an early adopter?

12:19  Is it possible to have SKAN 3 in place and start testing SKAN 4.0?

14:22 What's the most significant difference between SKAN 3 and SKAN 4?

15:47 What are the different postbacks? How do the conversion windows look for these postbacks?

22:17 How to think about the three postbacks? Is it actionable?

26:27 What is the locking window feature about?

28:37 How can I track the evolution of LTV in SKAN 4.0?

32:20 Could you set up different conversion schemas for each postback?

39:58 Is there a SKAN 4.0 checklist?

46:05 How to get creative-level data? 

49:30 Crowd anonymity 

51:30 Eran's contact details (eran@singular.net)

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11 tips for killer User Acquisition ops (Q1 version) - https://lancaric.me/11-tips-for-killer-user-acquisition-ops-q1-2023/

This is no BS gaming podcast 2.5 gamers session #54. Sharing actionable insights, dropping knowledge from our day-to-day User Acquisition, Game Design, and Ad monetization jobs. We are definitely not discussing the latest industry news, but having so much fun! Let’s not forget this is a 4 am conference discussion vibe, so let's not take it too seriously.

Panelists: Jakub Remiar, Matej Lančarič, Felix Braberg

Special guest: Eric Kress

Youtube: https://youtu.be/mzxxL_UtzoI

00:00 Intro

01:00 Jakub makes himself visible by introducing

02:53 Eric, is this glass half full or half empty?

03:36 What does Eric actually do?

06:42 Is mobile dead?

08:49 six people on the top destroying the lives of mobile developers

10:00 UA is shifting

11:50 Kumbaya Matej strikes again on iOS

12:38 What is the adoption rate of SKAN 4?

13:15 Everybody does fingerprinting (Unity, Applovin, Ironsource)

14:02 What story are Unity, Applovin, and Ironsource trying to spin?

16:00 Jakub wakes up & shoots vectors immediately

18:31 Eric disagrees with us! No shit sherlock!

20:20 New frontier of game development

21:15 Felix sharing UA secrets from his smokey darkrooms

22:25 Old companies gonna die

24:10 Gaming trends are coming from East to West

24:52 Jakub goes into the rabbit hole with Eric

27:55 Applovin increases revenue guidance

30:38 Why Eric got so negative?

32:48 Which companies does Eric like the most?

33:40 VR is dead again (blockchain dead too)

34:42 What is the endpoint for mobile?

35:50 30% fee is a joke!

38:00 Hypercasual shit is on!

40:08 Ads are beautiful

41:18 The new frontier of game development

44:20 You can always lie in your ads

46:55 Mr. Gachapool returns

48:35 Matej is Matthew from now on

48:51 How bad will things be for Unity, Applovin, and Ironsource?

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11 tips for killer User Acquisition ops (Q1 version) - https://lancaric.me/11-tips-for-killer-user-acquisition-ops-q1-2023/

This is no BS gaming podcast 2.5 gamers session #53. Sharing actionable insights, dropping knowledge from our day-to-day User Acquisition, Game Design, and Ad monetization jobs. We are definitely not discussing the latest industry news, but having so much fun! Let’s not forget this is a 4 am conference discussion vibe, so let's not take it too seriously.

Panelists: Jakub Remiar, Matej Lančarič, Felix Braberg

Youtube: https://youtu.be/GwoG7SIfkUY

00:00 Intro

01:05 Numbers Chit chat

03:22 No official multiple Admob statement (ask your admob rep)

05:00 Matej = Felix's secretary

05:28 Kimono session

06:11 Eversoul intro

07:02 Why are we even reviewing this (boring) game?

09:05 Full admon part in 2 seconds

09:39 Why games from the east don't have ads?

10:41 Camera zooms in on Jakub's premium BS

12:55 UA intro

14:12 Mr. Gachapool got introduced to the podcast

15:08 Comparing Eversoul to the Goddess of Nikke

16:54 UA dark secrets spilled by Mr.Gachapool

17:17 UA channel mix

18:22 Actual gameplay in the creatives

19:06 Creative strategy

21:35 Flamboyant UA strategy for Eversoul

24:52 Collabs in anime games

27:16 Starting to share gameplay of Eversoul

27:37 Game design Eversoul intro

33:51 Jakub talking about two different progressions

34:53 Please keep the story

35:23 Big +1 feature - engagement prolonging tactic

36:30 Felix looks really confused

37:04 Why is the game making so much money? GACHAPOOOOOL!

37:24 Can you buy a ticket to the waifu concert?

38:10 Infinite starter banner

43:27 Waifu games are saving mobile!

46:15 Get back to the podcast Jakub!

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11 tips for killer User Acquisition ops (Q1 version) - https://lancaric.me/11-tips-for-killer-user-acquisition-ops-q1-2023/

This is no BS gaming podcast 2.5 gamers session #52. Sharing actionable insights, dropping knowledge from our day-to-day User Acquisition, Game Design, and Ad monetization jobs. We are definitely not discussing the latest industry news, but having so much fun! Let’s not forget this is a 4 am conference discussion vibe, so let's not take it too seriously.

Panelists: Jakub Remiar, Matej Lančarič, Felix Braberg

Youtube: https://youtu.be/J0CZ8yV__7U

00:00 Intro

04:30 few words from our friends from Adikteev 

05:05 Oj oj oj Admonetisation secrets 

07:15 Ad monetization for the people

07:35 The admon gossip corner intro

10:22 Unity bug 10x over-reporting earnings

13:56 Top tip - Don't lose money!

17:00 2018 is THE back in the days

18:11 Amazon Publisher Services Update

22:35 Sharing the TOP DSP list

24:50 Jakub hates putting ads in games

25:45 Matej in Australia episode 34 reference 

28:05 CTR benchmarks

29:40 Experimenting with End cards

32:40 Felix can tell who serves the ad!

33:25 We are going to test Felix, if he is truly the king of admon

34:15 Felix explains the reasoning behind his corner

34:33 Admob is dropping the three-placement rule

41:05 Everybody wins! maybe

Please share the podcast with your industry friends, dogs & cats. Especially cats! They love it!

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Dumb ways to die hit the #1 download rank in the US. Here is how: https://lancaric.me/ua-how-to-be-top1-downloaded-game-us/

https://www.felixbraberg.com/post/is-admob-removing-its-three-placement-limit 

https://www.adikteev.com/case-studies/how-sdv-increased-in-app-transactions-by-over-30

This is no BS gaming podcast 2.5 gamers session #51. Sharing actionable insights, dropping knowledge from our day-to-day User Acquisition, Game Design, and Ad monetization jobs. We are definitely not discussing the latest industry news, but having so much fun! Let’s not forget this is a 4 am conference discussion vibe, so let's not take it too seriously.

Panelists: Jakub Remiar, Matej Lančarič, Felix Braberg

Special live episode! The sound quality is a little bit worse. DUH! It's live. 

Youtube: https://youtu.be/uuP2NjMxSiM

Agenda:

00:00 Intro

03:20 Ad monetization tips & numbers

13:12 UA outlook for 2023

20:38 Game design & creatives part

Please share the podcast with your industry friends, dogs & cats. Especially cats! They love it!

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Dumb ways to die hit the #1 download rank in the US. Here is how: https://lancaric.me/ua-how-to-be-top1-downloaded-game-us/

This is no BS gaming podcast 2.5 gamers session #50. Sharing actionable insights, dropping knowledge from our day-to-day User Acquisition, Game Design, and Ad monetization jobs. We are definitely not discussing the latest industry news, but having so much fun! Let’s not forget, this is a 4 am conference discussion vibe, so let's not take it too seriously.

Panelists: Jakub Remiar, Matej Lančarič, Felix Braberg

Special Guest: Nicolas Vereecke

Check out - FOGDAO (https://www.futureofgaming.wtf/)

Youtube: https://youtu.be/h1DBUR4x6To

Agenda:

00:00 Intro

01:20 Nico intro 

01:42 FOGDAO https://www.futureofgaming.wtf/

02:40 Special honorable mention - Zaair! 

04:00 Recap of our session #7 with Nico! Listen here https://spotifyanchor-web.app.link/e/qj186h2V7wb

05:15 Terra & FTX collapses

09:24 Grants in Web3

10:00 What is not a risk in Web3?

10:22 How to choose a blockchain to build on properly? 

15:50 FTX follow-ups? 

18:00 Lot of web3 companies are getting into trouble!

19:05 What happened to Axie infinity? 

21:10 Borrowing term mice nuts from TWIG! Thanks

23:20 State of Axie infinity at the end of 2023

25:25 UA in web3 is extremely challenging for non-UA gaming people

27:34 iOS guidelines for web3

29:55 Superbowl & web3 ads

31:20 Digidaigaku thesis

36:00 Apex legends mobile is dead, blockchain would help!

37:10 You have nothing even on the blockchain!

37:45 On-chain games live forever

38:30 Voodoo moves into crypto space

41:39 Bullshit articles from agencies

42:34 Square Enix in web3

44:30 What kind of company will release a big web3 hit?

47:00 Game as a whitelist for NFT sale

48:22 Where would the raised money go? 

50:00 Lot of people got super rich early! 

52:00 Jakub goes on and on and on with his suuuper long question

56:25 We will see AI being used in very weird places

57:14 Is there any web3 game launch in 2023 to look forward to?

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Web2 vs web3 UA blog: https://lancaric.me/user-acquisition-fundamentals-web2-vs-web3-comparison/

This is no BS gaming podcast 2.5 gamers session #49. Sharing actionable insights, dropping knowledge from our day-to-day User Acquisition, Game Design, and Ad monetization jobs. We are definitely not discussing the latest industry news, but having so much fun! Let’s not forget, this is a 4 am conference discussion vibe, so let's not take it too seriously.

Panelists: Jakub Remiar, Matej Lančarič

Special guests: Clement Favier & Cameron Thom

Learn more about Adikteev: https://bit.ly/3Dp1f5k

Youtube: https://youtu.be/t8aId6iwNBY

Agenda:

00:00 Intro

01:07 Clement & Cam intros

04:50 PGC conference quick review & comments

09:18 Definition of User Churn 

11:49 How to look at User Churn prediction?

18:04 how reliable are predictions when a new UA channel comes in? 

19:05 Explaining AUC measures?

20:33 What to do with the User Churn prediction models? 

31:28 How early could you predict churn? 

37:12 What kind of uplift could I expect?

Please share the podcast with your industry friends, dogs & cats. Especially cats! They love it!

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Please share feedback and comments - matej@lancaric.me

If you are interested in getting UA tips every week on Monday, visit https://lancaric.me/user-acquisition-brutally-honest-newsletter-signup & sign up for the Brutally Honest newsletter by Matej Lancaric

Latest blog: https://lancaric.me/how-to-choose-an-mmp-in-a-privacy-centric-mobile-ecosystem/

Adikteev's latest blog: https://www.adikteev.com/blog/how-to-face-the-80-d1-churn-rate

This is no BS gaming podcast 2.5 gamers session #48. Sharing actionable insights, dropping knowledge from our day-to-day User Acquisition, Game Design, and Ad monetization jobs. We are definitely not discussing the latest industry news, but having so much fun! Let’s not forget, this is a 4 am conference discussion vibe, so let's not take it too seriously.

Panelists: Jakub Remiar, Felix Braberg, Matej Lančarič

Youtube: https://youtu.be/_agD-bPS--k

Agenda:

00:00 Intro

01:45 User Acquisition 

02:25 Frozen City fun stuff

03:22 Top 10 countries in terms of revenues

04:08 UA channel mix

04:45 120 creatives running on Facebook

05:17 UA channel mix on Android

06:00 Are Idle games scaling especially on Applovin?

06:25 Publisher analysis

07:10 Low poly

07:31 Is high art style quality bringing more IAPs?

08:35 Mr.UA Felix has a strong opinion

09:34 Adikteev cross-promo!

10:06 Frozen City Creatives

12:28 Jakub is complaining because of creatives!

14:05 Would you spend in Frozen city?

14:28 6.5 Maven Matejs out of 10

15:10 Ad monetisation intro about Frozen City

16:35 Felix pulls off an epic intro

17:05 Ad placements

17:58 IAP whales vs Ad whales

18:32 Secret Ad placement guess

18:48 New Ad Placement ideas & recommendations

20:38 7 DAU per user gives $1 in D14 LTV

20:57 Mad Ad mon MATH happening 

21:20 Please put an ad to skip night!

22:46 Mediation info

23:01 Pls update app-ads.txt to get 10% ad revenue

23:43 Felix pulls off an epic intro about potential revenue (decimals)

25:50 Jakub pulls off an epic intro about Game design of Frozen City

26:11 A History lesson

34:10 Everything is easy for Jakub

35:15 Frozen City event setup

35:37 Non-prominent Ad placements

36:15 Internal fights against ads?

36:40 People begging to get ads (and Felix too!)

37:25 Modes of Frozen city

38:10 $1.5Mil revenue in the first month

39:00 Why not put more ads in the game?

40:35 Catch your breath for an ad in Call of Duty!

41:38 Frozen city could earn 80% more revenue

Please share the podcast with your industry friends, dogs & cats. Especially cats! They love it!

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If you are interested in getting UA tips every week on Monday, visit https://lancaric.me/user-acquisition-brutally-honest-newsletter-signup & sign up for the Brutally Honest newsletter by Matej Lancaric

Latest blog: https://lancaric.me/how-to-choose-an-mmp-in-a-privacy-centric-mobile-ecosystem/

Adikteev's latest blog: https://www.adikteev.com/blog/how-to-face-the-80-d1-churn-rate

This is no BS gaming podcast 2.5 gamers session #47. Sharing actionable insights, dropping knowledge from our day-to-day User Acquisition, Game Design, and Ad monetization jobs. We are definitely not discussing the latest industry news, but having so much fun! Let’s not forget, this is a 4 am conference discussion vibe, so let's not take it too seriously.

Panelists: Jakub Remiar, Felix Braberg, Matej Lančarič

Youtube: https://youtu.be/Pi_JEHK32mE

Agenda:

00:00 Intro

03:00 Kudos to us! 1 year anniversary

03:54 Admon is easy, ehm hard, ehm checking creatives is easy

04:38 How to check competitor creatives for free? 

07:24 Royal Match tested 15 different creatives in last 14 days

07:51 Top1 Royal Match creative connecting all the dots 

09:00 Nobody: Nothing. Jakub starts drinking: CAMERA ZOOMS IN

10:08 Top3 Royal Match 

12:21 Top1 Township creative

12:56 Top2 Township creative

13:24 Which of the Township creatives is more fake? 

14:10 Top1 Merge Mansion creative

14:42 Top2 Merge Mansion creative

15:18 Top3 Merge Mansion creative

17:00 Who is the winner publisher on Android?

17:40 Top1 Hero Wars creative

18:15 Top2 Hero Wars creative

19:05 Top War game running 20 creatives in the last 14 days

19:16 Top1 Top War creative

20:30 Top War creative strategy masters - https://lancaric.me/ua-creative-strategy-user-acquisition/

21:38 Mistplay intro

23:05 Top Mistplay creative(s)

25:14 UA view on Creative trends for 2023

25:50 Maven Matej pats himself on the back (again)

26:00 Adapting hypercasual mechanics & games into your creative

26:54 Camera zoomed in on Jakub's surprised face

29:00 Save the dog phenomenon 

30:20 Altered gameplay trend

32:18 (no) ASMR trend

32:33 UGC trend

33:10 UGC can suck for some games

34:23 Pornstars in the creatives

35:10 Royal Match B actors from Cameo

36:43 Coinmaster leveraging local influencers

37:10 Generative AI trend

39:10 Fake ads with generative AI

39:45 Tiktok creative research

40:23 Shots fired!

40:40 Ducktape example 

45:00 Multiple core gameplays

48:46 Royal Match implemented drilling creative into the game!

49:15 UA DESIGNS YOUR GAME IN 2023

50:30 Anniversary "gift"

Please share the podcast with your industry friends, dogs & cats. Especially cats! They love it!

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Please share feedback and comments - matej@lancaric.me

If you are interested in getting UA tips every week on Monday, visit https://lancaric.me/user-acquisition-brutally-honest-newsletter-signup & sign up for the Brutally Honest newsletter by Matej Lancaric

Latest blog: https://lancaric.me/user-acquisition-stop-sexist-ads/

This is no BS gaming podcast 2.5 gamers session #46. Sharing actionable insights, dropping knowledge from our day-to-day User Acquisition, Game Design, and Ad monetization jobs. Also discussing the latest industry news from time to time while having so much fun! Let’s not forget, this is a 4 am conference discussion vibe, so let's not take it too seriously.

Panelists: Jakub Remiar, Felix Braberg, Matej Lančarič

Youtube: https://youtu.be/pvrV1_9rciA

Agenda:

00:00 Intro 

00:40 - Remo shows off his new annoying camera 

01:52 - In today’s episode / Not about Gaming 

02:27 - Two and a Half Gamers Top 10 Podcast in Mobile 

02:41 - Message from our Sponsor Adikteev 

03:24 - Application Design vs Game Design 

04:41 - Redecor 

08:22 - Duolingo 

10:59 - It’s an App Remo, not a game 

14:10 - Duolingo’s $224m subscription revenue 

16:28 - Duolingo makes $50k/day from ads 

18:12 - Kahoot! 

22:11 - Ad Monetization in Apps 

24:02 - Google Ad Manager in Apps 

24:45 - How to get Gaming demand in GAM 

26:34 - Are SDKs Hassle-free?  

28:26 - eCPM floor for Interstitial adds 

30:33 - Rewarded ads in Apps 

33:18 - Facebook Rewarded ad policy rant 

35:53 - UA channel mix for apps 

37:21 - Best campaign structure for Apple Search Ads start

38:42 - If ASA comes out with something new always wait 

41:42 - UA creatives for Apps 

44:47 - Maven Matej pats himself on the back 

47:15 - UA on Web

Please share the podcast with your industry friends, dogs & cats. Especially cats! They love it!

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Please share feedback and comments - matej@lancaric.me

If you are interested in getting UA tips every week on Monday, visit https://lancaric.me/user-acquisition-brutally-honest-newsletter-signup/ & sign up for the Brutally Honest newsletter by Matej Lancaric

Latest blog: https://lancaric.me/user-acquisition-stop-sexist-ads/

Adikteev blog: https://www.adikteev.com/case-studies/how-sdv-increased-in-app-transactions-by-over-30

This is no BS gaming podcast 2.5 gamers session #45. Sharing actionable insights, dropping knowledge from our day-to-day User Acquisition, Game Design, and Ad monetization jobs. Also discussing the latest industry news from time to time while having so much fun! Let’s not forget, this is a 4 am conference discussion vibe, so let's not take it too seriously.

Panelists: Jakub Remiar, Felix Braberg, Matej Lančarič

Youtube: https://youtu.be/JCc5LA0Auxw

Agenda:

00:00 Intro

04:00 Ad monetisation predictions 2023

06:55 Meta rebranding to Feta by Felix

10:08 Nothing is for fee, dude!

12:54 Jakub & Godfather Apple ransom

13:25 Amazon will take top3 spot in Admon

16:57 Jakub CN predictions?! wtf?

18:11 Jakub is on fire! Amazon buys Unity in 2023. 

19:30 Next year is the year of VR

20:55 Apple dad joke

24:20 Nothing is going to happen to VR

24:25 Sun is going to come out tomorrow

25:00 Hypercasual genre as a new onboarding for more gaming genres

29:50 Marvel Snap clones? Wen?

32:47 The rise of the retention games (Netflix mobile)

33:45 A game designer's wet dream

35:25 UA  "predictions"

45:30 No sexist ads at the end of 2023!

Please share the podcast with your industry friends, dogs & cats. Especially cats! They love it!

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Please share feedback and comments - matej@lancaric.me

If you are interested in getting UA tips every week on Monday, visit lancaric.me and sign up for the Brutally Honest newsletter by Matej Lancaric

Latest blog: https://lancaric.me/user-acquisition-stop-sexist-ads/

This is no BS gaming podcast 2.5 gamers session #44. Sharing actionable insights, dropping knowledge from our day-to-day User Acquisition, Game Design, and Ad monetization jobs. Also discussing the latest industry news from time to time while having so much fun! Let’s not forget, this is a 4 am conference discussion vibe, so let's not take it too seriously.

Panelists: Jakub Remiar, Felix Braberg, Matej Lančarič

Youtube: https://youtu.be/H5WyEwzm0-A

Agenda:

00:00 Intro

03:00 New creative strategy coming from China

07:31 Creative d*ck move

09:10 Meta, Google, and Facebook can do something about it (right, Felix?)

oh yeah, Meta = Facebook

11:50 Rewarded ads are only for Games, not Apps!

12:54 Games updates

16:20 No segmentation for Special offers? WHY NOT?

19:25 Survivor.io Numbers update

29:46 UA review of 2022

30:20 Adikteev Crosspromo

30:50 TikTok UA Winner of 2022

39:20 UA diversification

41:49 Diversification is fucking important

43:47 Fill rates in India - How to increase it?

48:53 Predictions coming next week!

Please share the podcast with your industry friends, dogs & cats. Especially cats! They love it!

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Please share feedback and comments - matej@lancaric.me

If you are interested in getting UA tips every week on Monday, visit lancaric.me and sign up for the Brutally Honest newsletter by Matej Lancaric

Latest blog: https://lancaric.me/user-acquisition-creative-learnings-2022/ 

Latest Adikteev blog: https://www.adikteev.com/blog-adikteev/cross-promotion-for-mobile-app-growth-why-now

This is no BS gaming podcast 2.5 gamers session #43. Sharing actionable insights, dropping knowledge from our day-to-day User Acquisition, Game design, and Ad monetization jobs. Also discussing the latest industry news from time to time while having so much fun! Let’s not forget, this is a 4 am conference discussion vibe, so let's not take it too seriously.

Panelists: Jakub Remiar, Felix Braberg, Matej Lančarič

Special Guest: Joseph Kim

Youtube: https://youtu.be/YELacUx-_E8

Agenda:

00:00 Intro

02:00 JK intro

03:14 Why India?

07:24 WE ARE BRUTALLY HONEST (as is my newsletter! Sign up)

07:55 Incredible talent in India

09:06 Ping JK for the PM role at LILA Games

10:30 Why build a shooter game? 

13:00 Subgenre expansion

14:40 Look at how Felix is amazed by JK

15:35 Shooter Crazy shit articulation

15:52 Successful 4X characteristics

20:20 The amount of stress is enormous!

20:37 Who is this ghost talking?

21:40 Systems and vectors 

22:25 Ads in shooter games

24:33 How to implement Ads into the game?

25:48 How to validate product controversy

27:02 Validation models

29:52 Throw me under the bus, BOYZ!

30:20 Marketability tests & market research

32:00 You need to be cool as JK to see trends in gaming

33:00 Is mobile F2P dead?

37:52 What if Ads monetization disappears?

38:48 What if Appstore won't exist?

39:23 Apple is working on allowing sideloading in the EU

41:30 New business models in F2P?

42:32 Is really hard to get your company funded? 

44:29 New buzzword Generative AI

46:41 Best advice on how to approach building new games or companies?

48:23 Remo is actually generated by AI

Please share the podcast with your industry friends, dogs & cats. Especially cats! They love it!

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If you are interested in getting UA tips every week on Monday, visit lancaric.me and sign up for the Brutally Honest newsletter by Matej Lancaric

Latest blog: https://lancaric.me/user-acquisition-predictions-2023/

This is no BS gaming podcast 2.5 gamers session #42. Sharing actionable insights, dropping knowledge from our day to day User Acquisition, Game design and Ad monetisation jobs. Also discussing the latest industry news from time to time while having so much fun! Let’s not forget, this is a 4am conference discussion vibe, so let's not take it too seriously.

Panelists: Jakub Remiar, Felix Braberg, Matej Lančarič

Youtube: https://youtu.be/dlBSemAPfmE

Agenda:

00:00 Intro

03:32 Matej with T-Shirt on (fans want, fans get)

04:05 Good Job Singular Webinar

04:49 Modern Arnold Schwarzenegger

05:12 Battle against the sexist ads begins

05:48 Sexist ads admon perspective

06:47 Decimals - the Signature admon move 

10:38 Jakub thinks FTC blocks the M&A of Activision

12:46 Golds & Goblins intro

14:02 Felix & Jakub take a guess about certain monetisation strategy

15:19 UA channel mix of Gold & Goblins

16:49 How much money are they spending?

17:27 Cats come here for decimals!

17:40 EHM!

18:25 Creative strategy

19:43 Matej makes a surprise prediction

21:21 Ad monetisation deep dive 

21:59 Give me your lunch decimals!

25:17 Scandinavians love Goblins!

26:42 Admon is working super well, dont touch it!

27:11 Jakub and Felix invite you to sign up to Matej's newsletter at lancaric.me

27:45 Idle genre history lesson

34:49 Gold & Goblins core gameplay

39:19 Pacing is important for exponential growth

40:00 Design space for system and vectors

40:15 Felix wants to hear about the ads, Felix wants to hear about the ads

44:36 Little bit of the game design improvements

45:10 JAKUB HAS SEEN IT ALL 

47:20 People should talk about the game more, its excellent! 

48:28 Retention numbers

Please share the podcast with your industry friends, dogs & cats. Especially cats! They love it!

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If you are interested in getting UA tips every week on Monday, visit lancaric.me and sign up to Brutally Honest newsletter by Matej Lancaric

Latest blog: https://lancaric.me/11-tips-for-killer-user-acquisition-ops-q4-version/

Adikteev resources: https://www.adikteev.com/whitepaper/smart-cross-promotion-is-the-future-of-app-marketing 

This is no BS gaming podcast 2.5 gamers session #41. Sharing actionable insights, dropping knowledge from our day to day User Acquisition, Game design and Ad monetisation jobs. Also discussing the latest industry news from time to time while having so much fun! Let’s not forget, this is a 4am conference discussion vibe, so let's not take it too seriously.

Panelists: Jakub Remiar, Felix Braberg, Matej Lančarič

Youtube: https://youtu.be/-qlfBKC9jBY

Agenda:

00:00 Intro

04:12 Felix and his Q4 admon fun stuff

05:06 Jakub yawning because Felix is boring audience with economics and BS

07:35 no wishy-washy predictions - decimals makes a difference for fucks sake

08:34 No BS Felix pls

09:35 Biggest eCPM gains (go big or go home)

11:48 Top Admon tips for Xmas

12:23 Jakub brainfarted on admon networks

14:00 Felix shills his own admon blogpost. Dont read it pls!

14:44 UA intro of Goddess of Victory: Nikke

17:00 Why is the game earning so much money?

19:06 UA mix review

19:41 no fake creatives, but sexist AF

21:48 new wave of sexist ads emerging for match3 and merge games

22:40 tactile games started this new trend unfortunately

24:45 STOP WITH THE SEXIST ADS NOW!

27:25 UA Rant over

28:12 Matej shut up, your surface level review is not enough

29:08 Super boring Jakub intro about Goddess of Victory: Nikke

33:00 5 million downloads and 83 million revenue

33:40 Nerds vs Otakus (gimme your lunch money OTAKU!)

38:45 The secret sauce of Waifu games

40:15 That pool vs deadpool making money

46:11 Azur lane liveops

47:30 Nikke revenue by country

48:30 Remoson was born

53:30 Waifu differentiators

Please share the podcast with your industry friends, dogs & cats. Especially cats! They love it!

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If you are interested in getting UA tips every week on Monday, visit lancaric.me and sign up to Brutally Honest newsletter by Matej Lancaric

Latest blog: https://lancaric.me/11-tips-for-killer-user-acquisition-ops-q4-version/

Welcome dear listener! This is a 2.5 gamers podcast with an honest interviews segment #5. Asking tough questions, having fun and dropping some knowledge with gaming industry peeps.

Rafael Vivas & Felix Braberg

Youtube:  https://youtu.be/O5ip4p73TrU

Agenda

00:00 - Intro

00:40 - Welcome to the podcast Rafael Vivas

01:38 - Rafael’s background

05:01 - Where is mobile gaming heading as an industry?

07:14 - ATT gaming winners

07:42 - What is Vessel? 

09:10 - What does Vessel do?

09:28 - Vessel’s in-game metrics?

10:18 - Would you not get the same results with normal game events?

10:48 - Vessel results over time 

11:52 - How should Vessel be used?

14:28 - Which gaming genera’s work best?

15:58 - Does Vessel have Apple and Google’s blessing?

15:40 - Apples new NFT guidelines

17:23 - What’s the cost? 

18:07 - Cost in % please!

18:40 - Competition?

19:00 - Roomers…

19:30 - Free to own 

20:56 - Remove royalties

22:00 - How to think about in game NFTs?

23:10 - How to get started?

24:14 - What % revenue can Vessel earn devs?

Please share the podcast with your industry friends, dogs & cats. Especially cats! They love it!

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If you are interested in getting UA tips every week on Monday, visit lancaric.me and sign up to Brutally Honest newsletter by Matej Lancaric

This is no BS gaming podcast 2.5 gamers session #40. Sharing actionable insights, dropping knowledge from our day to day User Acquisition, Game design and Ad monetisation jobs. Also discussing the latest industry news from time to time while having so much fun! Let’s not forget, this is a 4am conference discussion vibe, so let's not take it too seriously.

Panelists: Jakub Remiar, Felix Braberg, Matej Lančarič

Youtube: https://youtu.be/E6ZYNQExv2A

Agenda:

00:00 Intro

03:05 Kudos to us

05:10 Newzoo forecast clickbait 

07:10 Felix can't write headlines

08:15 but can predict 2023 industry growth (only after thanksgiving though)

09:00 Google struck a deal with Activision - getting sued

12:38 Felix is looking forward to the best days in his life

13:09 Google bidder update (approach your Admob friend for beta)

14:50 Amazon Publisher Services update

16:51 Predictions suck

17:13 Q4 is tough (only Felix is happy)

19:09 Redecor stopped UA totally

21:00 Budget scenarios

23:53 How to decrease budget efficiently?

26:04 Q4 UA tips for Megacorps 

27:30 CARPE YOLO!

27:57 Rapid creative testing

28:23 No Holiday BS pls

28:40 No UA experiments

30:54 Getting pleasure from watching Ads

32:57 Heroes vs Hordes is growing

33:40 Q4 Liveops tips & prep

43:34 Azur lane & Township adding mini games as Liveops events

Please share the podcast with your industry friends, dogs & cats. Especially cats! They love it!

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If you are interested in getting UA tips every week on Monday, visit lancaric.me and sign up to Brutally Honest newsletter by Matej Lancaric

Thanks to our sponsor Adikteev! Read the Upland case study - https://www.adikteev.com/blog/how-upland-drove-high-engagement-to-boost-in-app-conversions-by-33 

This is no BS gaming podcast 2.5 gamers session #39. Sharing actionable insights, dropping knowledge from our day to day User Acquisition, Game design and Ad monetisation jobs. Also discussing the latest industry news from time to time while having so much fun! Let’s not forget, this is a 4am conference discussion vibe, so let's not take it too seriously.

Panelists: Jakub Remiar, Felix Braberg, Matej Lančarič

Special guest: Maria Gillies

Youtube: https://youtu.be/jqa5V05U1eM

Agenda:

00:00 Intro

04:04 My.games was removed from App store & GP

05:00 Why did it happen? Oligarchs much?

08:11 How do you do a game review properly?

08:40 UA review in general. What to look for?

10:20 Unfortunate news. Diversify the diversification t-shirts stuck in China. 

Pre-order now at matej@lancaric.me

13:27 Reviewing individual UA channels

14:40 UA benchmarks

15:50 Rush Royale creatives strategy

19:40 How to approach the game review from the product side?

20:50 Wild Detective Pikachu appears

25:40 Product trick how to do a fast review

29:00 You need to know the archetypes 

29:50 Jakub & his balloons

31:00 Habby examples

31:23 What is the difference between the core gameplay and game meta with examples?

33:27 Explaining excel sheets to random industry peeps

34:15 Pacing is a delicate balancing act

36:33 My.games portfolio 

36:35 Jakub is geeking out on the Rush Royale product review 

42:50 Jakub is happy Maria is on the pod 

43:35 The BEST part of the product review - Ad monetisation

45:30 6 ads placements 

46:52 Hypothetical question: Should you add ad monetisation to the game or bank on the premium feel? 

48:30 Marvel Snap AdWINK

48:50 Felix magical Daily Ad revenue estimate calculation 

51:15 How critical is it to hire an expert in Admon?

54:00 Ad network mix review

56:00 What to add into the mix to get ARPDAU higher by 5% 

58:50 How to select the games for review?

1:00:00 How do you know what to look for? 

1:01:00 How do you define interesting live ops?

1:03:00 Please share the podcast with your industry friends, dogs & cats. Especially cats! They love it

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This is no BS gaming podcast 2.5 gamers session #38. Sharing actionable insights, dropping knowledge from our day to day User Acquisition, Game design and Ad monetisation jobs. Also discussing the latest industry news from time to time while having so much fun! Let’s not forget, this is a 4am conference discussion vibe, so let's not take it too seriously.

Panelists: Jakub Remiar, Felix Braberg, Matej Lančarič

Youtube: https://youtu.be/KwYPBbIrRUE

Agenda:

00:00 Intro

02:30 Podcast agenda

04:18 How to maximise Ad revenue for a holiday season? 

05:33 Mariah Carey made over 50mil! Devs, please look at her..

06:50 Q4 Admon tip 1

08:52 Q4 Admon tip 2

10:20 Q4 Admon tip 3 (how to make $26k extra/year)

13:38 Mr.Robot Remiar gives a compliment to Felix 

14:40 Admob people please leave here!

14:42 Q4 Admon super pro tip 4

16:37 Admob people please come back here!

16:43 UA Q4 intro

17:43 Seasonal creatives in UA

20:40 New TikTok SPC campaign

23:00 SPC campaign perfomance

23:52 Noob question from non-UA Jakub

24:50 How could you get the best performance on SPC campaign? 

25:52 Facebook UA vs TikTok UA?

27:57 War of Clones - Heroes vs. Hordes intro

28:42 Brief UA check 

30:11 Jakub's excitement about Heroes vs. Hordes is immense

32:10 Timelines

33:40 Heroes vs. Hordes numbers 

34:40 Vectors & systems

39:00 Is survivor.io or Heroes vs. Hordes niche?

41:14 Marvel Snap patchnotes

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Learn more from our sponsor: https://www.adikteev.com/blog/implement-cross-promotion-for-apps

This is no BS gaming podcast 2.5 gamers session #37. Sharing actionable insights, dropping knowledge from our day to day User Acquisition, Game design and Ad monetisation jobs. Also discussing the latest industry news from time to time while having so much fun! Let’s not forget, this is a 4am conference discussion vibe, so let's not take it too seriously.

Panelists: Jakub Remiar, Felix Braberg, Matej Lančarič

Youtube: https://youtu.be/LnA10ZZ3Nc4

Agenda:

00:00 Intro

03:20 Second Dinner company intro

05:40 Jakub being rude!

06:50 Channel mix (Facebook is the biggest spender)

07:30 How to stop pouring UA money down the drain

08:55 GEO revenue mix

09:40 GEO mix both Android and iOS in terms of spend

10:45 Shotgun UA approach

11:30 how to run CCG UA on ad networks?

15:05 Tiktok UA strategy

16:50 Creative strategy 

21:42 Admon intro

22:55 Ads vs Marvel license?

24:50 Highest AdARPDAUs 

25:00 Ad realm of speculations

26:40 Missing out on $500k of Ads? 

28:10 Game design & Second dinner team intro 

28:45 Good old mulligan

31:00 Gwent vs Marvel Snap comparison

33:45 what can you buy for hard cold cash?

34:00 pre-scripted pools of cards

37:30 Rock-paper-scissors 

39:20 You can't speed up the game with money!

40:50 calculating the spending depth

45:57 Win rate increases retention

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Welcome dear listener! This is a 2.5 gamers podcast with an honest interviews segment #4. Asking tough questions, having fun and dropping some knowledge with gaming industry peeps.

Erik Gloersen & Matej Lancaric

Youtube: https://youtu.be/U9VvPzLk3Pk

Agenda

00:00 Podcast intro

01:28 Erik Gloersen introduction

08:00 Erik & Sisu ventures

08:50 Pre-powerpoint investment

09:35 Which skills do you require to be a general manager in a fund?

11:20 Investing in repeat-founders

13:44 How to do the due diligence? 

17:00 UA is hard, mobile is dead

21:00 Is blockchain a new way of gaming?

28:00 Who do you need in your founding team

29:20 Is UA important in the first stage?

32:00 How many home runs per failure do you need? How does the VC model work?

34:30 When bootstrap and when to take VC money?

40:19 Biggest regret in investment

42:00 Favourite books 

https://www.amazon.com/Creativity-Inc-Overcoming-Unseen-Inspiration/dp/0812993012

https://www.amazon.com/Built-to-Last-Jim-Collins-audiobook/dp/B0813QCVN9/ref=sr_1_1

https://www.amazon.com/Zero-to-One-audiobook/dp/B00M284NY2/ref=sr_1_1

44:35 Rapid quiz

sisu.vc

Please share feedback and comments - matej@lancaric.me / lancaric.me

This is no BS gaming podcast 2.5 gamers session #36. Sharing actionable insights, dropping knowledge from our day to day User Acquisition, Game design and Ad monetisation jobs. Also discussing the latest industry news from time to time while having so much fun! Let’s not forget, this is a 4am conference discussion vibe, so let's not take it too seriously.

Panelists: Jakub Remiar, Felix Braberg, Matej Lančarič

Youtube: https://youtu.be/i3g99yfCS5E

Agenda:

00:00 Intro

03:23 Google AdROAS campaigns

09:25 Hamburger optimisation approach

10:30 Proxy events BS

12:30 Proxy event test suggestions

15:20 Ads are beautiful

16:00 Exchanges are growing

20:40 Inventory LOL!

22:31 Admon Super secret & super helpful tip

24:00 IT'S JUST ONE LINE OF CODE! 

26:18 Admon tip no.2

26:44 Survivor.io observations & updates

28:08 Props to us

30:40 What is a horizontal content?

35:10 1.5Mil USD /day revenue!

35:20 Retention metrics Archero vs Survivor.io

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This is no BS gaming podcast 2.5 gamers session #35. Sharing actionable insights, dropping knowledge from our day to day User Acquisition, Game design and Ad monetisation jobs. Also discussing the latest industry news from time to time while having so much fun! Let’s not forget, this is a 4am conference discussion vibe, so let's not take it too seriously.

Panelists: Jakub Remiar, Felix Braberg, Matej Lančarič

Youtube: https://youtu.be/WOyKNFO36HE

Agenda:

00:00 Intro

03:40 Amplify update

05:50 App open ads getting Interstitials 

08:10 Wild hostile Remo appears 

10:10 Branding comes to Applovin exchange

12:25 High five to Felix (check on youtube!)

13:10 How developers earn more money from Brand ads?

14:05 Vessel - a new NFT marketplace

23:30 Facebook User Acquisition tech checklist

29:43 App-ads.txt importance

31:00 Is Tiktok as complicated as Facebook?

32:00 This week in Japan 

32:18 Charge Champions soft launched by Small Giant Games 

33:10 Uma Musume Pretty Derby intro 

36:00 Demographics of Uma Musume Pretty Derby

38:40 Definition of a Horse Girl

41:30 Small giant games soft launch release 

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Please share feedback and comments - matej@lancaric.me / lancaric.me

This is no BS gaming podcast 2.5 gamers session #34. Sharing actionable insights, dropping knowledge from our day to day User Acquisition, Game design and Ad monetisation jobs. Also discussing the latest industry news from time to time while having so much fun! Let’s not forget, this is a 4am conference discussion vibe, so let's not take it too seriously.

Panelists: Jakub Remiar, Felix Braberg, Matej Lančarič

Youtube: https://youtu.be/ELLmCtF5iVs

Agenda:

00:00 Intro

01:50 PGC vibe & news

04:20 Amazon Publisher Services update

11:40 UA on Amazon

18:02 Global launch newsletter tip humiliation 

22:30 Low budget UA tips

26:30 When to increase budgets?

28:40 Sheep a Sheep game exploding in China

37:20 Is this game making 7 Million revenue a day?

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This is no BS gaming podcast 2.5 gamers session #33. Sharing actionable insights, dropping knowledge from our day to day User Acquisition, Game design and Ad monetisation jobs. Also discussing the latest industry news from time to time while having so much fun! Let’s not forget, this is a 4am conference discussion vibe, so let's not take it too seriously.

Panelists: Jakub Remiar, Felix Braberg, Matej Lančarič

Youtube: https://youtu.be/-qRBi3s4w68

Agenda:

00:00 Intro 

05:00 Why developers use fake ads?

06:00 Why is it happening? 

08:00 Reviews? 

12:00 Facebook banning the fake ads? how about nope

13:20 Fake ads as a funnel

14:30 What affects the CPI?

16:50 fake core gameplay as an evolving trend

18:30 evolution fake ads

24:00 8 million a month revenue for 5 year old game with 0 changes

https://lancaric.me/fake-ads-in-user-acquisition-the-untold-story/

27:20 Is Jakub a changed man after getting covid? 

27:30 Is Kingdom Guard a tower defense? WRONG!

34:40 X-Hero example

36:00 Fake ads = game play illusion 

37:00 Best predictor of creative performance? 

38:20 End cards 

39:10 3 click end card template

42:55 "You don't need to have great creatives", Felix

45:20 Real data for longer end cards

See you at PGC Helsinki!

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This is no BS gaming podcast 2.5 gamers session #32. Discussing the latest news, fun stuff and dropping knowledge. Don't forget, this is a 4am conference discussion vibe so let's not take it too seriously! Let’s dive in and enjoy.

Panelists: Jakub Remiar, Felix Braberg, Matej Lančarič

Youtube: https://youtu.be/De1Io0Hgp_s

Agenda:

00:00 Intro

03:20 Admob Bidder update

05:19 Google tROAS update

07:24 Roblox bringing ads into the experiences next year

10:35 New Marvel AR game is coming

14:43 Marvel snap launches in October

17:31 Global launching like a pro intro!

18:26 What does global launch mean for ad mon?

19:59 Top Ad networks to start with 

20:30 strong GEO centric Ad networks

23:00 Admon

first game launch ever I’d say start with in USA:

iOS

$210 iOS - on RVs $200 iOS - on Inters $9 iOS - Banners

Android

$200 Android - Rewarded $200 Android - Inters $10 Android Banners

26:00 What are add.app.txt & info.plist files

27:30 A/B testing during Global launch

29:00 Game Design starting with content pipeline

29:53 99% of games don't make money during soft launch

30:30 Please hire Jakub Remiar for motivational speeches / motivate your company

32:00 Optimal content for global launch

33:30 Simulate your spend depth & how to do it?

36:20 Have conversion offers ready (ideally in monetisation stage)

38:00 Events!

39:00 Balance game as fast as you can!

41:00 Global launch black screen issues

42:00 What questions do you need to ask yourself?

42:54 Gardenscapes rumour

43:43 Big splash GL over

45:20 Cashflow for global launch

46:30 UA team experience

47:10 Creatives 

49:00 Budget scenarios

51:10 Simplified UA structure for global launch

See you at PGC Helsinki!

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This is no BS gaming podcast 2.5 gamers session #31. Discussing the latest news, fun stuff and dropping knowledge. Don't forget, this is a 4am conference discussion vibe so let's not take it too seriously! Let’s dive in and enjoy.

Panelists: Jakub Remiar, Felix Braberg, Matej Lančarič

Youtube: https://youtu.be/mowIJKtG1M8

News

UA tips for Killer User Acquisition Q3 version 

https://lancaric.me/11-tips-for-killer-user-acquisition-q3-version/ 

Agenda:

00:00 Intro

02:11 Survivor.io redemption story

09:10 Matej was correct about $500k/day IAA estimation

11:50 UA tips article

12:50 You scaled your game, now what?

13:50 What does scale mean in terms of Ads monetisation? 

15:00 Top Ad networks you need in mediation at scale

17:00 Never put interstitials or banners in your game (or?)

19:00 What is refresh rate for banners?

20:30 Cool rewarded video placements

26:00 Game design vectors intro

29:10 Talent grid system example

33:00 Lazy game design or efficient

36:30 in UA "I scaled a game doesn't exist"

37:45 Golden cohort explanation

40:30 Experimenting in UA

41:00 Incrementality tests

42:30 Top UA channels to work with

44:00 UA is changing at scale on a weekly basis

44:30 More creatives at scale

46:30 New pair of eyes in UA

See you at PGC Helsinki!

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This is no BS gaming podcast 2.5 gamers session #30. Discussing the latest news, fun stuff and dropping knowledge. Don't forget, this is a 4am conference discussion vibe so let's not take it too seriously! Let’s dive in and enjoy.

Panelists: Jakub Remiar, Felix Braberg, Matej Lančarič

Youtube: https://youtu.be/erMhpmdw5dA

Agenda:

00:00 Intro

05:00 Survivor.io intro

8:10 Daily revenue of the game

8:55 User acquisition

14:00 Who is the mediation partner?

15:30 Do you need to create tiktoks instead of creatives? 

16:40 How long was survivor.io in the soft launch?

20:20 Do they use companies for UA funding?

22:30 Admonetisation numbers and calculations

27:00 Admon SDKs implemented

30:05 Ads placement suggestions & discussion

33:00 UA channel mix

36:30 Survivor.io Creatives 

37:50 global launching in 2020 vs 2022

39:40 How much money they could earn in peak?

https://lancaric.me/survivor-io-global-launch-ua-case-study/ 

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This is no BS gaming podcast 2.5 gamers session #29. Discussing the latest news, fun stuff and dropping knowledge. Don't forget, this is a 4am conference discussion vibe so let's not take it too seriously! Let’s dive in and enjoy.

Panelists: Jakub Remiar, Felix Braberg, Matej Lančarič

Youtube: https://youtu.be/6AYhhP6VYkk

Agenda:

00:00 Intro

03:11 gamescom rumours

09:00 Mintegral issue

10:35 Google Play Games on PC

14:50 Google iOS tROAS update

17:30 Google Admob bidder update

22:00 How to scale a game?

26:50 CPI vs LTV & payback period

32:30 UA diversification 

36:20 Seamless flow for UA 

41:20 Ad monetisation improvements unlock scale

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This is no BS gaming podcast 2.5 gamers session #27. Discussing the latest news, fun stuff and dropping knowledge. Don't forget, this is a 4am conference discussion vibe so let's not take it too seriously! Let’s dive in and enjoy.

Panelists: Jakub Remiar, Felix Braberg, Matej Lančarič

Youtube: https://youtu.be/U-DQSUagL48 

Agenda: 

00:00 Intro 

02:50 Embracer Group Q1 financials reveals 107% increase in net sales 

07:10 Google iOS + Retargeting updates 

09:10 Admob Bidding update with numbers! 

20:00 How do hypercasual games make money?  

33:33 Ad network campaign structure  

Mentioned gamecamp video with high optin rates examples https://youtu.be/ncnjjfAVS5E 

Hit the Subscribe button on Youtube, Spotify and Apple! 

Please share feedback and comments - matej@lancaric.me / lancaric.me

This is no BS gaming podcast 2.5 gamers session #27. Discussing the latest news, fun stuff and dropping knowledge. Don't forget, this is a 4am conference discussion vibe so let's not take it too seriously! Let’s dive in and enjoy.

Panelists: Jakub Remiar, Felix Braberg, Matej Lančarič

Youtube: https://youtu.be/lvbNEEATP68

Agenda:

00:00 Intro 

05:30 Applovin has stunned our industry by offering to Merge with Unity. 

13:50 Zynga gambling apps $12M class action settlement 16:30 

99 percent of Netflix subscribers haven’t tried its games yet 

23:15 Biggest Fuck Ups in Our Career

Hit the Subscribe button on Youtube, Spotify and Apple!

Please share feedback and comments - matej@lancaric.me / lancaric.me

Applovin has stunned our industry by offering to Merge with Unity.

https://www.reuters.com/markets/deals/applovin-offers-buy-unity-software-2022-08-09/

Zynga gambling apps $12M class action settlement

https://topclassactions.com/lawsuit-settlements/consumer-products/mobile-apps/zynga-gambling-apps-12m-class-action-settlement/

99 percent of Netflix subscribers haven’t tried its games yet

https://www.theverge.com/2022/8/8/23296545/netflix-games-1-percent-subscribers

Welcome dear listener! This is a 2.5 gamers podcast with an honest interviews segment #3. Asking tough questions, having fun and dropping some knowledge with gaming industry peeps.

Sophie Vo & Matej Lancaric

Youtube: https://youtu.be/gIWQSCVvz6g

Agenda

0:00 Intro

2:50 Masterclass definition

6:55 Rise & Play showcasing female leaders

10:15 How did Sophie measure podcast KPIs? 

13:10 Team motivation - How to approach that?

21:50 What are the clues of low motivation? 

22:54 How to motivate people in the current market conditions?

26:10 Thought process of joining Voodoo from Rovio

29:30 Should you speed up hiring process?

32:50 How to kill a game properly? 

38:20 Do your homework before killing a game

40:00 Model situation

Model situation:

We have a game in soft launch, our KPIs are really close to our goals. But not quite there yet. We just released the new version with our last feature. The KPIs still did not meet goals. What should we do? Why?

44:50 Sophie taking some time off

46:00 What keeps Sophie up at night? 

47:30 Favourite book & why?

https://www.amazon.com/15-Commitments-Conscious-Leadership-Sustainable-ebook/dp/B00R3MHWUE 

Rapid quiz

Please share feedback and comments - matej@lancaric.me / lancaric.me

This is no BS gaming podcast 2.5 gamers session #26. Discussing the latest news, fun stuff and dropping knowledge. Don't forget, this is a 4am conference discussion vibe so let's not take it too seriously! Let’s dive in and enjoy.

Panelists: Jakub Remiar, Felix Braberg, Matej Lančarič

Youtube: https://youtu.be/95lLVn4Q3q8

Agenda:

3:00 Better Ads Experiences by Google https://support.google.com/googleplay/android-developer/answer/12253906

11:50 New App store ads in Today tab https://www.macrumors.com/2022/07/29/new-app-store-ads-today-tab/

19:10 Google joins bidder on Max https://www.applovin.com/blog/google-joins-sdk-bidders-on-max/ 

26:20 What would you ask surprise segment about fake ads, scaling games, VR, intrusive ads and more .. 

Hit the Subscribe button on youtube, Spotify and Apple!

Please share feedback and comments - matej@lancaric.me / lancaric.me

This is no BS gaming podcast 2.5 gamers session #25. This week we continue with our new segment! The Mobile Gaming Company Happy Hour where we do a deep dive on a mobile gaming company from the perspective of Game Design, UA and Ad Mon. Don't forget, this is a 4am conference discussion vibe so let's not take it too seriously! Let’s dive in and enjoy it.

Panelists: Jakub Remiar, Felix Braberg, Matej Lančarič

Youtube: https://youtu.be/i5uGERxrZMk

Today we’ll be discussing Ubisoft

1:18 Some general information on Ubisoft:

Let’s dive into the first sets of numbers!

Ubisoft is as all of you know a French company which is also reflected in their 2021 annual financial statement. The cover page which you’re greeted by has a picture of two playable characters that are looking down on you with a look of sheer superiority. Ubisoft was founded by Yves Guillemot, who still leads the company as its CEO and largest shareholder with an 18% stake.

7:41 Felix speaks French about Ubisoft mobile

8:21 Ubisoft mobile portfolio general info & revenues

23:50 Insider South Park info

25:00 Idle miner OG idle game + all other new IDLE games 

29:00 Ubisoft non-mobile portfolio info

32:20 User Acquisition intro

33:20 UA spend

34:08 Main UA channels

36:10 Creatives FB vs Google

38:20 UA suggestions

42:00 Kolibri UA 

42:30 Kolibri main UA channel

44:00 Admon intro

47:10 Kolibri Admon

50:00 Greenpanda games admon

50:30 1492 admon

Please share feedback and comments - matej@lancaric.me / lancaric.me

This is no BS gaming podcast 2.5 gamers session #24. Discussing the latest news, fun stuff and dropping knowledge. Don't forget, this is a 4am conference discussion vibe so let's not take it too seriously! Let’s dive in and enjoy.

Panelists: Kate Lovejoy, Niels Beenen, Felix Braberg, Matej Lančarič, 

Youtube: https://youtu.be/2NE3ls6nVu4

We will be discussing one year after the IDFA "apocalypse" & tectonic shifts happened. Everything UA, Ad monetisation, retargeting and Skan 4.0 related.  Whoop whoop! 

Agenda:

2:34 How did our day to day job changed after IDFA bullshit happened?

8:05 Felix, you had some (secret) tips and tricks on how to increase it. Could you share? Why should companies test out pre-prompt windows?

12:10 How do gaming companies look at retargeting in general? Or, how was it before IDFA and how is it now? Is it a significant % of their spend?

13:20 How to incorporate retargeting spend into UA costs / CPIs?

16:44 How do MMP approach retargeting? 

19:47 Retargeting & control groups!

20:16 How to approach retargeting on iOS?

22:52 UA & Retargeting is dead

24:06 Were companies pulling back spend on iOS? 

26:27 Apple recently announced SKAN 4.0. Without going too geeky, what can we expect? How are these changes going to affect measurement?

31:00 Tip for SKAN 4.0

32:00 No SKAN no problem for retargeting

32:30 Creative testing on retargeting

33:30 Which game genres have the highest opt-in rates from what you can see? And why?

35:00 Singular Product innovations for iOS

36:50 IDFA dinosaurs vs Google privacy sandbox

41:00 iOS LTV prediction

42:00 last comments, tips & tricks, recommendations

Please share feedback and comments - matej@lancaric.me / lancaric.me

This is no BS gaming podcast 2.5 gamers session #23. Discussing the latest news, fun stuff and dropping knowledge. Don't forget, this is a 4am conference discussion vibe so let's not take it too seriously! Let’s dive in and enjoy.

Panelists: Jakub Remiar, Felix Braberg, Matej Lančarič

Youtube: https://youtu.be/7LIHLx4fWeU

What should we look at?

UA 

Channel performance

Campaign structure / campaign type (AAA vs regular) Targeting options (interests, broad vs LAL) Optimisation structure (Purchase or VO? - mostly VO only) GEOs Creatives Age segments Android Device performance (exclusion list)

Creative history

What really worked and what really didnt? And WHY? Types of creatives Creative team and their process

Daily spend vs daily revenue

Paid vs organic

Data health check

Admon

Do a sanity check Fill eCPM Revenue Network SoR v SoV Waterfall

GD?

The Team The Production The Game

Please share feedback and comments - matej@lancaric.me / lancaric.me

This is no BS gaming podcast 2.5 gamers session #22. Discussing the latest news, fun stuff and dropping knowledge. Don't forget, this is a 4am conference discussion vibe so let's not take it too seriously! Let’s dive in and enjoy.

Panelists: Jakub Remiar, Felix Braberg, Matej Lančarič & special guest Enric Pedró

Youtube: https://youtu.be/Q2q6LKJ6QDQ

Q&A

How does Tilting point snipe companies? 

(Looks like you talked to almost every company out there) How does the BD strategy look? Is it connected to UA? How do you evaluate games before entering your portfolio?

We’ve heard from a banker that Tilting point shares are going for a hefty mark up in the secondary market - what’s TPs secret?

“We get to be very good at predicting game performance.” said your CEO in one of the interviews. How exactly are you predicting the performance? Can you share the process?

What is your UA process? How do you approach creatives?

How do you structure your UA team? Based on games, platforms or channels?

What is the long term goal of the company?

How do you see the current game’s publishing environment and its evolution in recent years?

“Web3 strategy is now one of our core strategic pillars.” says one of your blogs. Can you please elaborate a bit more? How can you help companies bridge games from Web2 to Web3?

How can you help native Web3 game companies reach broader audiences? What is the UA strategy there?

Please share feedback and comments - matej@lancaric.me / lancaric.me

This is no BS gaming podcast 2.5 gamers session #21. Discussing the latest news, fun stuff and dropping knowledge. Don't forget, this is a 4am conference discussion vibe so let's not take it too seriously! Let’s dive in and enjoy.

Panelists: Jakub Remiar, Felix Braberg, Matej Lančarič

Youtube: https://youtu.be/0aHX6LQrhrs

Agenda:

1:30 Explicit ads (Breaker Fun 1 & 2 by MoGame)

https://res1.applovin.com/o7e02c07/c90fed39eb8753b02925462885680884e45f69e9_v23_phone.mp4

https://res1.applovin.com/o7e02c07/723bb9954d431db13fbbad23fc66e1546398d74b_v23_phone.mp4

Google Play SDK Index - https://play.google.com/sdks

6:30 Bobby Kotick voted to be re-elected to board by Activision Blizzard shareholders

https://www.pocketgamer.biz/news/79039/bobby-kotck-voted-re-elected-board-activision-blizzard-shareholders/

8:03 Meta Reveals VR Headset Prototypes Designed to Make VR ‘Indistinguishable From Reality

https://www.roadtovr.com/meta-vr-headset-prototypes-visual-fidelity-indistinguishable-from-reality/

11:20 TikTok’s ByteDance Generates $1 Billion From Mobile Games in One Year

https://sensortower.com/blog/bytedance-mobile-games-one-billion-revenue

16:50 Tiktok rocket ship

Slope after hitting $10bn in revenue what happens after that

Report from May 2022 said Tiktok is on track to triple it’s ad revenue passing revenue of Twitter and Snap Tiktok (only) triple from $3.8bn in 2021 to $11.6bn in 2022 (200% increase) Those numbers don’t lie - you can't reach this scale without advertisers getting value Thought that could be a nice segway into Matej doing a state of the tiktok

19:20 Tiktok UA intro

20:15 Tiktok Fun facts (location targeting restrictions)

29:00 Pangle issues

33:00 UA best practices

39:00 US Purchase campaign (FB vs tiktok CPI comparison)

39:40 UA challenges

42:30 Initial campaign structure & targeting

44:00 "predictions"

Please share feedback and comments - matej@lancaric.me / lancaric.me

This is no BS gaming podcast 2.5 gamers session #20. Discussing the latest news, fun stuff and dropping knowledge. Don't forget, this is a 4am conference discussion vibe so let's not take it too seriously! Let’s dive in and enjoy.

Panelists: Jakub Remiar, Felix Braberg, Matej Lančarič

Youtube: https://youtu.be/dQLmWPIHPgk

The Ants: Underground Kingdom base-building strategy game and moves the player's perspective to the underground ant kingdom, and the 3D realistic modeling of the game screen mixed with the real image of ants, so that players can recognize a variety of ant species while playing the game, this fresh and unconventional theme is really attractive. 

The game offers a Rich Multilayered strategic gameplay and graphics experience. Unlike most modern games, it is lightweight in size, making it accessible for lots of players. 

In this game, the Player is the Ultimate Ant Ruler who leads the Queen, Builds the Anthill, grows the colony, and defends against the enemies. 

According to Sensor Tower, the fastest growing theme in terms of revenue was animal/insect, which generated $26.5 million in U.S., representing an increase of 904% year-over-year. Sensor Tower attributed the majority of this growth to The Ants: Underground Kingdom from StarUnion, which accounted for 89.6% of consumer spending.

Agenda:

1:50 Gamesforum Berlin (kudos)

3:40 Intro about StarUnion Interactive

6:30 Are Ants a 4X game or not?

10:10 What stands behind the success of the game?

13:20 realistic life of ants creatives

17:00 levelup creative concepts

21:30 What kind of % is UA or GD behind the success?

27:00 Ant breeding concept

29:10 Hypercasual & competitors inspiration

31:00 No one complains about the Ant creatives

36:00 Female vs male oriented creatives

38:30 Which creative concept to start with? 

39:45 What kind of theme has the lowest CPI? 

Article with creatives - https://lancaric.me/deconstruction-of-the-ants-underground-kingdom-creatives/ 

Please share feedback and comments - matej@lancaric.me / lancaric.me

This is no BS gaming podcast 2.5 gamers session #19. Discussing the latest news, fun stuff and dropping knowledge. Don't forget, this is a 4am conference discussion vibe so let's not take it too seriously! Let’s dive in and enjoy.

Panelists: Jakub Remiar, Felix Braberg, Matej Lančarič

Youtube: https://youtu.be/NS8KHTzuJuw

Agenda

2:00 Vungle correction

4:30 The King info leak

15:25 5 Game design tips to level up your game

Please share feedback and comments - matej@lancaric.me / lancaric.me

This is no BS gaming podcast 2.5 gamers session #18. This week we continue with our new segment! The Mobile Gaming Company Happy Hour where we do a deep dive on a mobile gaming company from the perspective of Game Design, UA and Ad Mon. Don't forget, this is a 4am conference discussion vibe so let's not take it too seriously! Let’s dive in and enjoy it.

Panelists: Jakub Remiar, Felix Braberg, Matej Lančarič

Youtube: https://youtu.be/vD221MHe6SU

Today we’ll be discussing King

Before Diving in here’s some topline information about King:

King of course as everyone knows is owned by ActivisionBlizzard Activision Blizzard posted $8.8bn in revenues in 2021 (highest ever) King made up 28% of that coming in at around $2.5bn which was their best year to date King grew an impressive by $416m in 2021 or by about 19% Interesting thing here Activision Blizzard grew by about $800m (10%) in 2021 This means that King was responsible for 50% of Activision Blizzard overall growth in 2021! In other words King is a beast

Agenda

2:05 King topline information

4:00 Intro to King User Acquisition

4:45 UA general information

8:24 King doesnt love external UA

11:20 Top UA channels

12:00 Why Applovin makes a lot of sense

14:15 Interesting UA facts

16:40 Creatives

21:00 UA suggestions

24:30 Live ops fuels UA

25:20 King Admonetisation

27:30 Chink in the Royal armor

28:30 King selling inventory old way (no mediation)

30:00 Ad revenue assumptions

33:00 How could King increase ad revenue by 30%?

38:52 King & competitors in puzzle genre

41:45 King’s IAP revenue

44:20 Candy crush history & analysis

48:00 11k levels in Candy Crush - WOW

49:20 Candy crush soda saga analysis

50:45 What kind of games King launched in the last years?

52:00 Crash bandicoot

54:00 King killed games

56:30 Snowprint information

1:01:40 Knighthood

1:03:00 Phoenix games takes Knighthood & increase revenue

Please share feedback and comments - matej@lancaric.me / lancaric.me

This is no BS gaming podcast 2.5 gamers session #17. Discussing the latest news, fun stuff and dropping knowledge. Don't forget, this is a 4am conference discussion vibe so let's not take it too seriously! Let’s dive in and enjoy. 

Panelists: Jakub Remiar, Felix Braberg, Matej Lančarič

Youtube: https://youtu.be/Gs3YE6MJKIg   

Agenda 

2:55 Recession & mobile games

14:50 Apex Legends 

21:34 The creative framework  

40:40 5 secret tips where to get inspiration

Describing creative process from scratch 

competitor research + old creatives assessment, brainstorming, creative brief, production, testing, evaluation, iteration, new brainstorming,  all over again 

What kind of tools to use for competitor research?  

5 secret tips where to get inspiration 

Youtube videos with millions of views (unboxing - chest openings) 

Current situation (covid, EURO, seasonal creatives - although those suck balls) 

Memes (drake, whatever else trending at the moment… ) 

Hype (Netflix series, …) 

Different game genres

Why are we making creatives for players and not art directors? 

presentation with tips & examples 

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1azXidQYoAneJgEAaV-ylJ67c8XVFallrzY4OIHSE5B0/edit   

Please share feedback and comments - matej@lancaric.me / lancaric.me

This is no BS gaming podcast 2.5 gamers session #15. Discussing the latest news, fun stuff and dropping knowledge. Don't forget, this is a 4am conference discussion vibe so let's not take it too seriously! Let’s dive in and enjoy it.

Panelists: Jakub Remiar, Felix Braberg, Matej Lančarič

Youtube: https://youtu.be/BKyjxR8t_qg

Agenda

1:30 Correction of Admon stuff from session #14

6:20 Applovin buys Wordle! (Modern cinderella story)

10:00 Mobile game revenue decreased for first time ever in Q1 2022

13:00 Despite record Q1 2022 for declared M&A, value of closed deals decreased

Sell in May and then be away…

20:00 Ads in the metaverse

Basics of UA

22:30 when to start working on UA?

23:20 How UA can help before game is built? What are the KPIs to look at?

24:20 video #10 marketability tests

25:00 technical stage & KPIs

26:15 Retention KPIs (game + UA)

27:45 What kind of budget to use?

30:50 Never kill a game based on only one channel

32:30 Proxy events dont work in reality

34:15 Scaling the game and profitable UA

34:45 Top 3 creative tricks

36:00 Golden cohorts

38:30 Use Soft launch data for global launch assumptions

40:20 Different optimisation methods (Purchase vs AdROAS)

UA Myths

42:20 - UA can save your game

45:00 UA is the problem why your game is not working

46:00 how to see the UA is shit?

49:10 game will work without UA

Please share feedback and comments - matej@lancaric.me / lancaric.me

Welcome dear listener! This is a 2.5 gamers podcast with an honest interviews segment #2. Asking tough questions, having fun and dropping some knowledge with gaming industry peeps.  

Felix Braberg & Elena Egorova  

Youtube: https://youtu.be/BFfe9djd7g0

Agenda

1:30 Elena intro 

5:40 About Flexion mobile 

9:00 M&A process (How do you find companies? How do you approach them?) 

14:00 Initial due diligence = evaluation 

20:00 How long does this process take? From scouting to popping the champagne? 

22:30 Eye popping valuations - how are companies priced?  

27:30 Multiples in gaming 31:20 acquiring a company (cash vs. stock deals)  

36:00 What is earn-out? How is it structured? 

39:30 golden handcuffs - how is it decided? 

44:00 Failure rate in gaming M&A 

50:45 M&A predictions (or not) 

55:00 Model situation 

Model Situation I run a mobile gaming company and I want to be bought. How do you go about it and what are some common pitfalls to avoid as the entity being acquired?  

Please share feedback and comments - matej@lancaric.me / lancaric.me

This is no BS gaming podcast 2.5 gamers session #14. Discussing the latest news, fun stuff and dropping knowledge. Don't forget, this is a 4am conference discussion vibe so let's not take it too seriously! Let’s dive in and enjoy it.

Panelists: Jakub Remiar, Felix Braberg, Matej Lančarič

Youtube: https://youtu.be/m8k9OhVghlw

Agenda

4:40 Meta numbers

10:10 Rovio revenue increase & quarterly results

13:40 ATT numbers, player segmentation & ad monetisation

20:20 Is Ubisoft getting bought? 

25:10 Activision numbers 

31:30 How to read Ad mon data for beginners?

How to look at the data? Applovin and iS don’t really have a good guide for how to use their platform as it’s not in their interests. So it’s not your fault you don’t know this, it's by design! They’re both great companies but the perfect client for MAX and iS is a dev who signs up and does nothing. This is a short guide for beginners on how to look at admon data. This presentation is for Applovin and I’ll do Ironsource another time. I actually have slides so for you listening I’ll try to narrate as best as I can. There’s 2 topics that I’d like to cover are “Advanced reporting” and “AB tests” with an extra bonus CYA topic on “Network Comparison” if we have time.

Slides: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1KdQeSzYzi4Ty6yicYT1hh7HIcbQ8uqSOZwUT3MUWLOI/edit#slide=id.g11b4a57a28b_0_18

Please share feedback and comments - matej@lancaric.me / lancaric.me

This is no BS gaming podcast 2.5 gamers session #13. This week we’re starting a brand new segment! The Mobile Gaming Company Happy Hour where we do a deep dive on a mobile gaming company from the perspective of Game Design, UA and Ad Mon. Don't forget, this is a 4am conference discussion vibe so let's not take it too seriously! Let’s dive in and enjoy it.

Panelists: Jakub Remiar, Felix Braberg, Matej Lančarič

Youtube: https://youtu.be/p-9ls_UOFPM

Agenda

2:00 Intro

3:10 Topline information about Rovio

8:20 Game Design

16:00 Same game different IP

28:30 User Acquisition

31:00 Diversifying UA channels

43:00 AdROAS UA campaigns

44:25 Ad monetisation

45:00 LAT traffic

52:20 Brand lift studies

52:50 Best practices for pre-prompt ATT window

56:00 Takeaways & Summary

Topline information about Rovio:

2021 Revenue Eur286.2 million that’s 5% up from 2020 but down 1% from 2019 Pretty flat revenue growth 2017 revenue (year went public) EUR297m 66% Revenue from USA, 21% from EMEA and 12% from Asia 80% IAP, 15% Ads, 3% Licensing deals, 2% other deals 5m Daily Active Users in 2021 Claiming a 93% global awareness of Angry birds “Put 10 people in a room and only 1 hasn’t heard of me. That’s probably the baby who doesn’t have the internet yet.” Rovio went public at around EUR11.80/share and is currently trading around EUR7.20/share which is up from about EUR5 in late 2021. MarCap is around EUR603 meaning that Rovio trades at about a 2.1x rev multiple. New Rovio CEO commits to making more acquisitions

Please share feedback and comments - matej@lancaric.me / lancaric.me

This is no BS gaming podcast 2.5 gamers session #12. Discussing the latest news, fun stuff and dropping knowledge. Don't forget, this is a 4am conference discussion vibe so let's not take it too seriously! Let’s dive in and enjoy it.

Panelists: Jakub Remiar, Felix Braberg, Matej Lančarič

Youtube: https://youtu.be/5eHUepqV_zE

Agenda

2:50 Metacore 20 million TV ads & 65 millions loss in last year

11:30 Meta will charge creators fees of up to 47.5% (Animated Avarat cirkus)

16:00 US government says $600M Axie Infinity crypto-heist was pulled by North Korea

19:00 Peridot is an upcoming AR game from Niantic about breeding unique creatures

23:00 Sonic the Hedgehog is coming to a new platform: Roblox

27:20 CD Projekt Red's 2021 sales generated $207m in revenue

33:20 Industry Conference Guide

Conferences went offline or no conference at all status during corona.

What was the value of offline conferences? Did you attend any? Did you get any value?

Now that matters are returning back to their original state, how do you plan conferences?

Going on Lectures? Roaming through Expo? Scheduling meetings? Where to meet/ mingle with folks? 3rd party vendor section?

Which were the conferences you get the biggest value out of?

What are your favorite industry events? Any stories? Where to spend most of your time? Which parties to attend?

Please share feedback and comments - matej@lancaric.me / lancaric.me

This is no BS gaming podcast 2.5 gamers session #11. Discussing the latest news, fun stuff and dropping knowledge. Don't forget, this is a 4am conference discussion vibe so let's not take it too seriously! Let’s dive in and enjoy it.

Panelists: Jakub Remiar, Felix Braberg, Matej Lančarič & Steven-Elliot Altman

Youtube: https://youtu.be/BjKFpDtcYzA

Agenda

18:30 How to increase game revenue by 35% as a Loremaster? 

22:00 What genres are more suitable for narrative design?

24:00 How story influences game KPIs?

26:40 Story as a retention driver

27:00 Wooga tracking if players are reading the story

28:10 What kind of data influence the story?

30:00 Different modes of writting

33:00 How do you prepare for writing a story for a mobile game?

47:00 How can movies inspire a storyteller?

51:00 Live ops & story telling 

and much more ...

Please share feedback and comments - matej@lancaric.me / lancaric.me

Welcome dear listener! This is a 2.5 gamers podcast with an honest interviews segment #1. Asking tough questions, having fun and dropping some knowledge with gaming industry peeps.

Youtube: https://youtu.be/wkEcGZ1-3So

Matej Lančarič & Joakim Achren

Questions:

Why did you start elite game developers and not a new gaming studio?

How can someone become a partner at Play Ventures? What are the requirements/skills you need to do your job?

What is your due dilligence process? How do you do your homework?

-How do you apply that diligence process to crypto games? Is that done more by feel than data as there is no data yet?

-When investing in crypto games is token/coin allocation pre drop more important than stock? (Justified that owning stock can take 10 years + to get payback and multiple and having token/coins you can sell as soon as the drop takes place)

-If token is important / does that not create the incentive to finance hype pump and dumps?

Could you explain what pre-seed, seed or Series A mean? How do you define those stages?

What are you looking for when investing in companies in different stages? Pre-seed, seed, series A?

How do you really decide where to invest? What is THE KPI? 

Why are you as an investor so keen for companies to have internal UA manager?

Could you tell me a bit more about the syndicate?

Why having only one line on the cap table is better than 20 names. 

Why do you think a lot of gaming companies with mediocre/decent results pivoted super quickly to web3? Free money?

Why There's Never been a better time to start a games company?

Let’s discuss your anti portfolio - what’s the biggest regret so far of a company that you passed on?

Model situation:

I want to start a gaming studio. I have around 500k from my previous jobs. Should I use this money and bootstrap or should I try to get an investor (just in case)? Why boostrap? Why investor?

What is Joakim's favourite book?

https://www.amazon.com/Stillness-Key-Ryan-Holiday/dp/0525538585 

Please share feedback and comments - matej@lancaric.me / lancaric.me

This is no BS gaming podcast 2.5 gamers session #10. Discussing the latest news, fun stuff and dropping knowledge. Don't forget, this is a 4am conference discussion vibe so let's not take it too seriously! Let’s dive in and enjoy it.

Panelists: Jakub Remiar, Felix Braberg, Matej Lančarič

Youtube: https://youtu.be/SjtrJ1wG0I8

Agenda

News

3:00 Netflix boosts mobile games approach with acquisition of Boss Fight Entertainment

10:20 KRAFTON, INC. SIGNS LONG-TERM COOPERATION AGREEMENT WITH SOLANA LABS FOR BLOCKCHAIN-BASED GAMES AND SERVICES

12:25 Crypto investor Katie Haun raises $1.5 billion, the largest debut fund ever by a female VC

18:40 In-game ads are getting more misleading, sexist and misogynistic, says Meretzky

27:00 Pre softlaunch activities

https://lancaric.me/how-to-save-millions-with-marketability-testing/

What can we do pre-soft launch of our game? What to do before we decide to develop a game? Which questions to ask?

Market research
Target audience
USP
Game genre
Marketing team capabilities
Company strategy
How to do market research?

Tools? Competitor ads?

How to define target audience?

Demo, motivations, profiles, persona

Playtesting

What? How? Why?

When do we start with UA/marketing?

Marketability tests campaign optimisation Fake store pages (tools or DIY) Which channels? What to test? Player survey at the end (what questions to ask?) no suggestive questions!

Please share feedback and comments - matej@lancaric.me / lancaric.me

Hello & welcome everyone. This is no BS gaming podcast 2.5 gamers session #9. Let’s dive in.

Youtube: https://youtu.be/0swB8x-YB5U

Panelists: Jakub Remiar, Felix Braberg, Matej Lančarič

Agenda:

News Ad monetization fundamentals AMA

Ad Monetization fundamentals discussion:

What’s the most important ad revenue metric?

How’s eCPM calculated by ad networks?

Which ad network is the most trustworthy?

Which ad network is the least trustworthy?

How do ad networks make money?

What is the cutoff point of eCPM degradation?

How players become Ad Whales?

Ask Me Anything section

I have ads in my game, using unity ads only because I have a good deal with them. Should I earn more? Why is admon and UA super connected in hypercasual games? Its usually one person. Why? When do you hire an internal admon person? What scale? Or is there a KPI to look for? (Daily revenue, impressions, number of ad networks in the waterfall) Do you ban competitor ads in your game? If yes why, if no why?

Please share feedback and comments - matej@lancaric.me / lancaric.me

Latest News:

$2 billion invested into blockchain game sector during 2022

https://gamestx.substack.com/p/2-billion-invested-into-blockchain?s=r

Idle Miner Tycoon Launches on Facebook Gaming

https://www.kolibrigames.com/press/idle-miner-tycoon-launches-on-facebook-gaming/

Google launches Google Play Partner Program for large game devs

https://venturebeat.com/2022/03/15/google-launches-google-play-partner-program-for-large-game-devs/

Mark Zuckerberg confirms NFTs are coming to Instagram

https://www.engadget.com/mark-zuckerberg-confirms-nf-ts-are-coming-to-instagram-204435805.html

Interest In NFTs And The Metaverse Is Falling Fast

https://www-forbes-com.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/www.forbes.com/sites/paultassi/2022/03/10/interest-in-nfts-and-the-metaverse-is-falling-fast/amp/

Hello & welcome everyone. This is no BS gaming podcast 2.5 gamers session #8. Let’s dive in.

Youtube: https://youtu.be/f_3GRQ8Wl-Y 

Panelists: Jakub Remiar, Felix Braberg, Matej Lančarič

Game Design fundamentals discussion:

Remo asking questions Felix & Lanco answering then Remo using militant pessimism

How to start with Game Design?

Mobile industry vs Premium/ Indie games?

What is hard and challenging about GD? Can everybody do it? (everybody does it already :D)

What are the main skills that define a game designer?

How do game design tests work?

What is an ideal background for a game designer?

“Let’s clone this game what can go wrong it is making so much money on the charts we can make at least ⅓ of that”

How ideas for new games are born?

Ask me anything

What’s the most you’ve been able to affect D1, D7, D30 retention with game features? When should you kill (give up) on a game? What’s the difference between a good game designer and shitty one?

Please share feedback and comments - matej@lancaric.me / lancaric.me

Hello & welcome everyone. This is no BS gaming podcast 2.5 gamers session #7. Let’s dive in.

Youtube: https://youtu.be/cpR3YZBB5Us

Panelists: Jakub Remiar, Felix Braberg, Matej Lančarič 

Special Guest: Nicolas Vereecke

As NFTs, Crypto and blockchain gaming are filling up the headlines we are doing a special episode on the current state of crypto gaming - not the peak of November 2021 but the fresh look at the end of Feb 2022.

Play to Earn - Play & Earn - Play to Own

I would start that discussion with the point that  the current consolidation in the big crypto games is more and more pointing to the fact that play to earn is unsustainable as there is “no free lunch” Therefore the buzzword is changing to Play & Earn or even Play to Own as the “earn” part is becoming harder and harder to realize - this is mostly seen in the depreciation of the Axie economy. One other milestone can be considered the recent blog post from Philip La Phil's Views: Axie Infinity Economy and Reasons to Play where admits this and refocuses the view on the original model of any game - to create fun and engaging experience as the primary reward for the player - not an investment vehicle.

“we will not be optimizing our game or experiences to drive short-term returns as it’s simply not sustainable”

“we will focus on is creating a balanced game economy with proper sources and sinks, just like non-blockchain games have done for years.”

Does this imply that Skymavis wants to compete with companies like Supercell, Playrix or King? The biggest innovation of the free to play model is removing the initial friction of a payment before the player plays the game - the first wave of crypto games have even bigger friction funnels on top of reversing this problem.

What is the current state of the friction funnel for a block-chain based game?

Friction to play a crypto game: current models:

Buy crypto assets first to even play - Browser/PC only (Axie infinity, Crypto Raiders) Download the game for free (find out about the secret crypto layer somehow from the game website - sell NFTs there) (Thetan Arena) Have the game on the store and streamline the funnel to crypto wallet Skyweaver Have a functional F2P game with F2P economy and implement the crypto layer into a later stage of the player progression - Future in hybrid? (Chromatic Souls: Afk Raid, Axie Origin?)

Burning questions about block chain games:

UA

Open economy

NFT design

Gass Fees

Business model - the most burning of them all!

Please share feedback and comments - matej@lancaric.me / lancaric.me

Hello & welcome everyone. This is no BS gaming podcast 2.5 gamers session #6. Let’s dive in.

Youtube: https://youtu.be/d_BDO5jnRTk 

Panelists: Jakub Remiar, Felix Braberg, Matej Lančarič

Google to limit ad tracking across apps on Android

Google has announced new measures that will limit tracking across its Android operating system, following a similar move by Apple to introduce restraints in the way the online advertising industry can target users. The changes, which will not be implemented for at least two years, are intended to curb the sharing of user data with third parties, restricting advertising tracking for users who move between different apps on billions of devices running Android. Google said it planned to eventually phase out advertising IDs, a code that allows marketers to track individual user behaviour, in favour of alternatives that protected user data while still supporting advertising efforts.

Supercell revenue increases 45% to $2.24bn in 2021

Supercell published its financial results for 2021, with revenue reaching $2.24 billion (€1.89 billion) compared to $1.48 billion (€1.30 billion) in 2020 -- a 45.3% increase year-on-year.

The studio generated profits before taxes of $852 million (€734 million), an impressive 80.3% growth compared to 2020's $463 million (€407 million).

But it's still not quite back to the level of its 2015 heydays, when the company made over $2 billion in revenue and $965 million (€848 million) in EBITDA.

The post also said that Clash of Clans and Clash Royale have now made over $10 billion in combined revenue since their respective launches.

Spotify is acquiring two major podcast tech platforms 

Spotify is making more podcast acquisitions. The company announced today it’s acquiring both Chartable and Podsights — two of the most prominent podcast marketing and ad attribution companies. The deal price hasn’t been disclosed, but this marks the first major acquisition the company has made this year in a long line of audio purchases.

This deal is particularly critical for the company as it tries to make its ad platform the best and most powerful in audio. If it wants everyone to purchase ads through its marketplace, then it needs technology to better figure out who’s listening to those ads and what they’re doing after hearing them.

AudioMob and Odeeo up next?

UA fundamentals discussion - Matej asking questions - Felix, Jakub answer & Matej gives his opinion at the end!

How or why to start with UA?

My game has amazing organics. I don't need UA! Is that true? Why not?

Are all UA channels equal?

-Break down the benefits and drawbacks of top 4 UA channels?

How to structure an UA budget?

What is the payback period we should look at?

What is hard and challenging about UA? Can everybody do it?

Listen in to learn more!

Please share feedback and comments - matej@lancaric.me / lancaric.me

Hello & welcome everyone. This is no BS gaming podcast 2.5 gamers session #5. Let’s dive in.

Youtube: https://youtu.be/9lMdZqLlvvM

Panelists: Jakub Remiar, Felix Braberg, Matej Lančarič

What is the point of releasing a new game or app to a restricted audience market in advance of a full launch?

Soft launch stages

I like to divide the soft launch into three stages: Technical, Retention, Monetization. Each stage serves a different purpose and different KPIs are measured.

While in the Technical stage, we are mostly focusing on data health, crash rate, and tracking in general, in the Retention stage we measure D1, D3, D7 Retention, FTUE, tutorial completion rate, and much more.

Game developers are obsessed with achieving the highest D1 retention numbers they can, but D1 is not the holy grail. I’ve seen games with D1 retention at roughly 25% still being able to generate many millions of Euros in revenue per month. The result was primarily driven by excellent D60 retention, which was 6-8%. Therefore, it is absolutely crucial to focus on the ratio between D1, D3, and D7.

The monetization stage is where the fun starts. Measuring ARPU, conversion to payment, and Dx ROAS requires running purchase (ROAS) oriented campaigns: AEO/VO on Facebook or tCPA/tROAS on Google Ads.

Listen in to learn more!

Please share feedback and comments - matej@lancaric.me / lancaric.me

Hello & welcome everyone. This is no BS gaming podcast 2.5 gamers session #4. Let’s dive in.

Youtube: https://youtu.be/ivPbZqA62VA

Panelists: Jakub Remiar, Felix Braberg, Matej Lančarič

Soft Launching a Mobile Game Ad Mon Perspective

What prompted me to want to talk about this is a Statisa article Mobile Game ad spend is expected to grow to $130bn by 2025. That’s up 300% from $32 bn in 2020 With this amount of money being pumped into UA its safe to say Mobile ad revenue will only grow and be a larger part of your overall revenue for mobile games I wanted to provide a how to guide for what you as a mobile game dev should think about when soft launching and global launching your next mobile game

First Ask

Think of all mobile games generas on a spectrum from hypercasual to Hardcore The two extremes will monetize 97% either from ads or from IAPs Advice here is for the middle ground - not hyper casual or Hardcore If your game genera sits in the middle of this spectrum you first need to decide which ad format to work with 9/10 the ad format that works best for you are Rewarded ads Rewarded ads are the undisputed king of game formats Highest eCPM compared to other formats Highest completion rates Lowest amount of friction from users since its opt-in Large competition on this inventory format from ad networks because it converts super well

Listen in to learn more! here https://lancaric.me/how-to-soft-launch-a-mobile-game-ad-mon-perspective/ 

Please share feedback and comments - matej@lancaric.me / lancaric.me 

Hello & welcome everyone. This is no BS gaming podcast 2.5 gamers session #3. Let’s dive in.

Panelists: Jakub Remiar, Felix Braberg, Matej Lančarič

Roblox

Steam hosts 55K Games vs Roblox 20 Mil “experiences” 47,3 Mil DAU Half of the users are aged 12 and under Current Market cap 38 Bil $ Roblox Cut 75,5% Roblox takes a 30% cut of every transaction on their platform Discoverability Robux Minimum Withdrawal to real life money 100K (1000 $) Second life comparison (10$) Withdrawal only possible with Roblox monthly 5$ subscription On every 1$ revenue of roblox only 17% make it out Historic example of “Company money Scrib” Workers spend their money at the company Workers become afraid to break company rules as company rules over their “money” This dependency increase friction on quitting the system Illegal in US 1938 Platform Capitalism - business model based on unsustainable expansion in order to monopolize a platform Experience based payouts Roblox “editor knowledge untransferable “Make serious cash” claim removed from the website after video Roblox moderation - shut down official forums in 2017 because they couldn’t moderate them Roblox Collectible Market Tie ins with Brands Collectibles that are sold for limited time skyrocket in value from 10 to 15K $ dollars Roblox still takes a 30% form all of the transactions Roblox Black market

Rewarded Interstitial ads - 6 months in

Around 6 months ago Google and Facebook announced the roll out of Rewarded interstitial ads. An interstitial ad that pops up and users can opt out of and thus forgo the reward Admob are pushing very hard on this format which is still in Beta Facebook were pushing it but not so much anymore Don’t monetize with this format! You’re opening yourself up to unnecessary stress and risk Only FB and Admob support it - thus you’ll get lower prices FB on iOS is pretty much non-existent so you have no competition Calling it now that in 12 months they won’t exist.

Please share feedback and comments - matej@lancaric.me

Hello & welcome everyone. This is no BS gaming podcast 2.5 gamers session #2. Let’s dive in.

Panelists: Jakub Remiar, Felix Braberg, Matej Lančarič

UA & Creative trends / learnings from 2021

Main trend 2022 UA diversification

Having Facebook as one and only UA channel is dangerous and the times when you could use FB up until the 1M monthly spend are gone. UA channel mix needs to be diversified even more. My UA go to channel was and still is Facebook, even though the quality decreased heavily in 2021, but I am running google UAC and Unity

Hypercasual-led creatives

The persona-led creatives is/was a trend everybody is talking about now thanks to the iOS14. The thing is, personas and motivations were here a long time ago. I guess it wasn't so popular to talk about back then. Let's focus on something else. Adapting hypercasual game concepts to your game creatives is going to explode next year. I’m pretty sure that you saw these ASMR videos on Youtube which let into the game development of the ASMR Slicing hypercasual game by Tricky Tribe – my friends from Slovenia – This ASMR game was a big hit in the United states and I think number one for a couple of weeks. I am also pretty sure you saw different games like Coin Master started slicing their coins. Why not use it for other games as well. Slicing a tomato? Hell yeah! We are not talking only about ASMR slicing here. There are other concepts you could use. Tangle Master 3D, Crowd City, etc. Great thing is, new ones are popping up every day! Look at hypercasual game called Countmaster, I am pretty sure there are some clones of it, but this game concept is now used by Warpath and some other strategy games. Topwar, merge strategy game is also leveraging hypercasual game concepts for creatives and I’ve also seen Playrix go into this direction. Gaming companies will do everything to decrease those CPIs!

Audio ads for games

Podcasts are really popular these days. Looks like almost every person on the Earth listens to a podcast. I even started one to educate and help build the game dev knowledge in Slovakia called Gamecast or 2.5gamers. But where am I going with this? Have you heard any game related ads in these podcasts or in games in general? This is relevant not only in terms of User Acquisition, but also a golden opportunity for game developers seeking to monetise their games without damaging retention. Audio ads can be played while you play the game and don't interrupt your gaming experience. Player retention doesn’t get hurt and therefore game devs can increase their profit and LTV. We already see a rise of companies focusing exactly on this topic. Everything looks on the paper, but I really feel we will see 2022 as a year of Audio ads. There is Audiomob and Oodeo in this space, let's watch it closely!

Hello & welcome everyone. This is no BS gaming podcast 2.5 gamers session #1. A safe space for all of us & you as well. Bringing you the feel of a 4am conference discussion about the gaming industry. Let’s dive in.

Panelists: Jakub Remiar, Felix Braberg, Matej Lančarič

Predictions? 

Who will be the biggest winner in the mobile gaming ecosystem in 2022? Who will be the biggest loser in the mobile gaming ecosystem in 2022? What was the biggest surprise you saw in the mobile gaming ecosystem in 2021?

No play-to-earn games in mobile app stores

How do we see it? Play to Earn vs Play and Earn Ponzi schemes + Scholarship mechanic - Prevalence in low salary countries Big Friction in user funnel Wallet & exchanges fees Very steep initial investment in some games (Axxie) User acquisition Discord communities & Early investors Conventional user acquisition Games soft launched/global launched in summer (and onwards) will have some form of blockchain in it What is it going to be like?

Please share feedback and comments - matej@lancaric.me