two & a half gamers ⚠️ The Industry’s Dirty Little Secrets: Confessions from the UA Underground
🎙️ This might be the most dangerous podcast episode we’ve ever released.
An anonymous insider, voice-modulated for protection, joins us to expose the truth about mobile UA, ad network manipulation, and how millions are spent with zero payback logic. With voice modulation in place, our guest “Dr. Doom” reveals what happens behind the dashboards, network sales decks, and investor slides.
You’ll hear :
Dream Games' $50M brand campaign: brilliant market takeover or the dumbest ROI play of 2025?
Why are most UA managers glorified spreadsheet jockeys, and why can’t founders tell the difference?
The smoke-and-mirrors of cohort data, fake growth stories, and shady LTV curve manipulation.
Chinese game studios' 300-person creative teams, outworking and outspending the West with terrifying efficiency.
Rewarded traffic, fake installs, App Store gaming, everything still happens. We pretend it doesn’t.
Ad network manipulation — how early numbers are fluffed, forecasts are gamed, and management eats it up.
This episode is a gloves-off, bullshit-free reality check. No brand-safe talking points. Just raw, uncomfortable truth from someone who’s spent millions and seen the industry from every dirty angle.
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This is no BS gaming podcast 2.5 gamers session. 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: Matej Lancaric, Joseph Kim
Special guest: Dr. Doom (anonymous gaming industry legend)
Youtube: https://youtu.be/1Rb3L6gBK9E
Join our slack channel here: https://join.slack.com/t/two-and-half-gamers/shared_invite/zt-2um8eguhf-c~H9idcxM271mnPzdWbipg
Chapters
00:00 Introduction to the Podcast and Guest
04:57 The Overrated Studios in Mobile Gaming
06:40 Analyzing Dream Games' Strategy
12:39 Understanding User Acquisition Challenges
18:44 The Role of UA Managers and Internal Metrics
25:46 Understanding User Acquisition Campaigns
28:16 The Evolution of User Acquisition Strategies
30:15 The Importance of Community in User Acquisition
31:56 Creative Teams and Competitive Advantage
33:09 The Role of Chinese Studios in the Market
37:57 Challenges for Western Developers in Forex Games
42:00 The Impact of AI on Creative Processes
45:22 The Viability of Bot Downloads Today
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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
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Please share feedback and comments - matej@lancaric.me
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