Exploring Game Reviews and Creative Trends

This is no BS gaming podcast 2.5 gamers session #120. 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 a.m. conference discussion vibe, so let's not take it too seriously. Panelists: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Jakub Remia⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠r,⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Felix Braberg, Matej Lancaric⁠ Podcast: Join our slack channel here: https://join.slack.com/t/two-and-half-gamers/shared_invite/zt-2ftcc85es-CesThaafn9k0BIFSVAV8FQ Agenda 00:00 Epic intro 00:29 Catch-up and Boat Discussion 09:01 Review Radar: AFK Journey 11:24 Merch Episode: Travel Town, Gossip Harbor, Seaside Escape 15:34 Merch Episode: Merge Mansion 17:29 The Coexistence of Multiple Merge Games 18:38 The Growth and Challenges of the Mobile Gaming Industry 23:09 Analyzing the Performance of SquadBusters, Pizza Ready, and Supermarket Manager Simulator 25:38 The Decline of Hale Divers 33:23 Previously Covered: Zombie I.O. 33:58 Analyzing the Performance of Zombie.io and Screwjam 35:24 Scaling Up: Tower War's Revenue and Download Numbers 36:44 Bang Bang Survivor: A Popular Game in Asian Countries 42:31 Reviewing Top Creatives and Advertising Strategies 44:59 The Impact of Mergers and Acquisitions in the Mobile Gaming Industry --------------------------------------- Matej Lancaric User Acquisition & Creatives Consultant ⁠https://lancaric.me Felix Braberg Ad monetization consultant ⁠https://www.felixbraberg.com Jakub Remiar Game design consultant ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/jakubremiar --------------------------------------- Takeaways Legend of Mushrooms offers incentives for returning players and has a strong revenue stream from Asia. AFK Journey has seen a decline in revenue and needs more frequent content updates. Travel Town, Gossip Harbor, and Seaside Escape are all merge games that are performing well and growing steadily. Merge Mansion is still a top-performing game, but its revenue has slightly declined. Creative advertising plays a crucial role in the success of mobile games. Multiple merge games can coexist and attract different players. Zombie I.O. was previously covered in a separate episode. Zombie.io and Screwjam have lower revenue and download numbers compared to Legend of Mushroom, but they are still sustainable and profitable. Tower War is scaling up and showing a U-turn in downloads, with a revenue of 33k IP-wise and 200k downloads per day. Bang Bang Survivor is mainly popular in Asian countries, with 80% of revenue coming from China. It has a revenue of 500k per day and 45k downloads per day. The hosts discuss the top creatives and advertising strategies of various games, including the use of hooks, real-world backgrounds, and different creative concepts. They highlight the importance of simplifying game names and improving localization for better discoverability. The hosts mention the impact of mergers and acquisitions in the mobile gaming industry and the need for Western simplification in certain genres. --------------------------------------- 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 Latest article - https://open.substack.com/pub/lancaric/p/match-3d-ua-playbook-real-data-inside?r=7qqaf&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true Do you have UA questions nobody can answer? Ask ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Matej AI⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ - the First UA AI in the gaming industry! https://lancaric.me/matej-ai