two & a half gamers

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 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 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) 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 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? 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 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! 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 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! 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 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! 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 https://lancaric.me/user-acquisition-brutally-honest-newsletter-signup & sign up for the Brutally Honest newsletter by Matej Lancaric 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

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! 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 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! 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 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! 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 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! 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 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! 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.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! 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.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! 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.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! 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.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! 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.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! 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.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! 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.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 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 #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 Hit the Subscribe button on Youtube, Spotify and Apple! Please share feedback and comments - matej@lancaric.me / lancaric.me 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 Hit the Subscribe button on Youtube, Spotify and Apple! 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 #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 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 #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  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 #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? 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 #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! 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 #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

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! 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 #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/  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 #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 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/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 #16. 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  Youtube:  https://youtu.be/Ys7A3F7MFt4   Agenda 00.40 Matej missing in action after beach party 02.00 Introduction 03.36 Possible EA Acquisition 06.50 Marvel Snap  11.40 Ubisoft want Eur 60 per share 14.11 Tencent revenue growth slows 18.53 TikTok wants to release in-app games this year 23.00 Ad Monetization Secrets 24.00 All is a negotiation  26.00End cards from ads  29.00 X close button 32.00 Audio turning on 33.00 High placement price points 35.00 Vungle Bidder 36.30 Unity Latency  38.24 Admob Placements 40.51 Rewarded Video icons during holidays 7 Secrets of making more money with Ad monetisation   As an Admon person it’s your job to know as much as possible about as many networks as possible. This gives you the edge to make more ad revenue. So I learned all these things in a variety of ways. Ranging from being angry, making mistakes, and at 4 am at a conference bar. I’ll start with some general ones then network specific ones.    Everything when it comes to ad networks is a negotiation and you can negotiate anything!    The real first make or break moment comes when you’re able to get an AM in all the networks that you work with. Having this connection allows you to ask for all things  Bigger networks obviously listen less  End cards from ads   X’s to close ads   Audio Turning on when phone is muted  Placement Price Points are too high   Moving on to Network specific tips   Vungle - If you’re using Vungle on bidder and your average eCPM in the waterfall is higher than $26 you should move to Vungle Placements   Unity - Everyone talks about latency on the mediation side. On Unity you can also get latency if you have too many placements created on Unity that you’re not using.   Admob - This is a deadly tip but a bit of a double edged sword. The admob algo works by ramping up data in the first 3 days to feed its algo on price points.    Game Design for ads?  Change ad buttons every time there is a holiday (Christmas, Halloween etc).    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