PocketGamer.biz Podcast

A hit game doesn’t wait for user feedback until after publishing; a hit game integrates it during development. AppQuantum, a mobile free-to-play game publisher, collects that feedback. Whether through creatives testing, monetisation strategy, or by measuring session time, AppQuantum delivers user input at every stage of a game’s life cycle. In this episode, our cohosts, Peggy Anne Salz and Brian Baglow, sit down with AppQuantum’s Victoria Beliaeva (Head of Bus. Dev. and PR) and Alexey Gavrilov (Marketing Producer) to discuss how the international publisher uses a structural approach to boost games from every genre—from hyper-casual runner games to large-scale live-ops or RPG games. Victoria and Alexey reveal how AppQuantum increased one game’s monthly revenue from thousands to millions and why integrating marketing early in development is the best decision you can make for your game. CHAPTER TIMESTAMPS 00:00 - Welcome Victoria and Alexey 02:39 - Fail small, fail fast, fail cheap 07:36 - How to tell if a game will be a hit 09:35 - What is the next big game feature? 13:24 - Test from the beginning 15:02 - Taking a game from thousands in revenue to millions 18:50 - The casual mobile game market in 2023 22:25 - Victoria and Alex's current and all-time favourite games * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *  ** Let's Connect ** 👉🏻 Twitter - https://twitter.com/pgbiz  👉🏻 LinkedIn Group - https://www.linkedin.com/groups/144491/  👉🏻 Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/PGbiz  👉🏻 Website - https://www.pocketgamer.biz  Check out more world-class speakers sharing their insights and expertise at one of our events. You can find details of our next event here - https://www.pgconnects.com/next-event

The PGC team is back from GDC 2023! In this episode, our cohosts, Peggy Anne Salz and Brian Baglow, regroup with Steel Media CEO Chris James and COO Dave Bradley to recap the latest and greatest in the world of gaming. The four discuss a new blockchain ecosystem, how AI is empowering storytellers and reshaping NPC interactions, and if the F2P era is coming to an end. Chris and Dave also share what to expect from PGC Seattle 2023 and reveal a new, unexpected PGC event location. CHAPTER TIMESTAMPS 00:00 - GDC is back! 02:07 - Is the free-to-play era on its last legs? 06:16 - Blockchain games after the hype-curve 08:53 - AI to enhance storytelling 10:55 - VR made a splash at GDC 2023 14:07 - What to expect from PGC Seattle 16:47 - PGC and game events for the rest of 2023 * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *  ** Let's Connect ** 👉🏻 Twitter - https://twitter.com/pgbiz  👉🏻 LinkedIn Group - https://www.linkedin.com/groups/144491/  👉🏻 Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/PGbiz  👉🏻 Website - https://www.pocketgamer.biz  Check out more world-class speakers sharing their insights and expertise at one of our events. You can find details of our next event here - https://www.pgconnects.com/next-event

Construct 3 is revolutionizing games creation and helping grow a new generation of content creators. Our hosts, Peggy Anne Salz and Brian Baglow, talk about the 2-D, block-based game engine with Construct co-founders Ashley and Tom Gullen. With Construct 3, anyone can build a game. The beginner-friendly design showcases game-making as an art form and an educational tool. The tool has an impressive roster of customers and fans. NASA and Microsoft use it for prototyping, universities to teach programming, and even the Royal Navy relies on it to simulate submarine driving. Ashley and Tom explain the benefits of using a fully web-based engine and how Construct 3 helps indie developers ramp up their publishing revenue. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *  ** Let's Connect ** 👉🏻 Twitter - https://twitter.com/pgbiz  👉🏻 LinkedIn Group - https://www.linkedin.com/groups/144491/  👉🏻 Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/PGbiz  👉🏻 Website - https://www.pocketgamer.biz  Check out more world-class speakers sharing their insights and expertise at one of our events. You can find details of our next event here - https://www.pgconnects.com/next-event

There's a hidden universe inside every narrative game just waiting to be discovered. The technology at Charisma has the power to unlock it. Charisma, a plug-ʼnʼ-play platform for creating interactive stories with believable virtual characters, redefines how we play games. In this episode, our hosts, Peggy Anne Salz and Brian Baglow, talk with Charisma Co-founder and CEO Guy Gadney about how Charisma harnesses the power of AI to increase game complexity and allow players to interact with every character. Characters enhanced by Charisma aren't limited to a prewritten dialogue. They can remember your name and your answers to questions and quote you later in gameplay. NPCs come to life in a way that Guy says would be impossible to write without AI technology. You might need a bag of peas for your head after this episode as Peggy, Brian, and Guy get philosophical and ask the world: what role should AI play in games, and what does good AI x human collaboration look like? CHAPTER TIMESTAMPS 00:00 - Hello to Guy Gadney 02:02 - The lampposts at SXSW 05:13 - Using AI to create limitless narrative options 07:27 - Creating an immersive theater in a game 10:05 - Predicting the future of game characters 14:12 - "AI is not gonna take your job, but the people who know how to use AI will" 17:49 - Let's start vertical binging 20:13 - What does good collaboration with AI look like? 26:02 - Bringing your dreams to life...literally 30:57 - Where could AI have been used to improve a narrative game?  33:24 - Where will Charisma be in a year from now? * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *  ** Let's Connect ** 👉🏻 Twitter - https://twitter.com/pgbiz  👉🏻 LinkedIn Group - https://www.linkedin.com/groups/144491/  👉🏻 Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/PGbiz  👉🏻 Website - https://www.pocketgamer.biz  Check out more world-class speakers sharing their insights and expertise at one of our events. You can find details of our next event here - https://www.pgconnects.com/next-event

How can publishers boost retention and user acquisition efforts and bring stability to their game all in one step? Teis Anker Mikkelsen says you can have it all by joining Multiscription and offering Unleashd, a cross-publisher subscription service for free-to-play games, to your players. In this on-location chat with our co-host Peggy Anne Salz, Teis explains how his company leverages the “strength in numbers” approach. The Multiscription co-founder and CEO works with publishers across genres, bundling their games into one package under one fee. In addition, Teis says that unifying under one service allows players to explore games they typically wouldn’t download and quickly revisit ones they’ve left, amplifying UA and simplifying retargeting campaigns.  CHAPTER TIMESTAMPS 00:00 - Why use a subscription service for mobile gaming? 02:27 - Easy revenue and easier retargeting with Multiscription 04:27 - How to hook a subscriber and benefits to publishers * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *  ** Let's Connect ** 👉🏻 Twitter - https://twitter.com/pgbiz  👉🏻 LinkedIn Group - https://www.linkedin.com/groups/144491/  👉🏻 Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/PGbiz  👉🏻 Website - https://www.pocketgamer.biz  Check out more world-class speakers sharing their insights and expertise at one of our events. You can find details of our next event here - https://www.pgconnects.com/next-event

According to Ray Gregory (Founder/CEO) and Noah Rosenfield (CMO) of One Ton, the more solutions in a game, the better. Peggy Anne Salz journeyed to the cowboy-hat-clad pair at PGC London 2023 to learn how they are lassoing in a new era of puzzle games. In One Ton's beta game, Addagrams, players are encouraged to make different anagrams than their fellow users—a 180 from traditional word puzzles with only one solution. Ray explains, "[You can play] different words yet [have] the same score. So it's all what you see and how that reflects on your personality." There is no wrong answer at One Ton Games when you build community and personality directly into a game. CHAPTER TIMESTAMPS 00:00 - The "One-Ton Man" and personalized Addagrams 02:29 - Entertaining without being competitive 03:40 - Beta testing around the world * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *  ** Let's Connect ** 👉🏻 Twitter - https://twitter.com/pgbiz  👉🏻 LinkedIn Group - https://www.linkedin.com/groups/144491/  👉🏻 Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/PGbiz  👉🏻 Website - https://www.pocketgamer.biz  Check out more world-class speakers sharing their insights and expertise at one of our events. You can find details of our next event here - https://www.pgconnects.com/next-event

What if you could predict what players need, personalize pricing and generate more revenue in the process? This is the sweet spot where Assetario is staking its turf, and enabling publishers to predict LTV with high certainty. Peggy Anne Salz meets with Assetario’s CEO, Matej Novak, to learn more about the B2B machine learning engineer that partners with gaming leaders like Century Games to raise their LTV by 30%. Matej reveals how Assetario utilizes first-party, cost, and anonymized metadata to deliver never-seen-before, customizable campaign and revenue predictions. CHAPTER TIMESTAMPS 00:00 - Assetario: the B2B ChatGPT  02:15 - Machine learning for live ops, global spending, and UA 05:26 - Personalized pricing 07:07- Combining data in ways human marketers struggle to 10:50 - A customizable AI service 13:28 - Branching into subscription apps * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *  ** Let's Connect ** 👉🏻 Twitter - https://twitter.com/pgbiz  👉🏻 LinkedIn Group - https://www.linkedin.com/groups/144491/  👉🏻 Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/PGbiz  👉🏻 Website - https://www.pocketgamer.biz  Check out more world-class speakers sharing their insights and expertise at one of our events. You can find details of our next event here - https://www.pgconnects.com/next-event

Want to improve your user experience, develop relationships with major brands, and significantly increase your ARPDAU? Odeeo has got you covered. Peggy Anne Salz chatted with Odeeo Co-Founder and CEO Amit Monheit at PGC London 2023 about how the company's audio ads delivered 5-15% incremental ARPDAU uplifts to studios Superfine (previously Gamejam Co) and TapNation. Amit says in-game audio advertising is ideal for mobile gaming, allowing players more control over their ad experience while increasing brand awareness. He thinks this ad category will be "huge within the next three or four years," so get on board now! CHAPTER TIMESTAMPS 00:00 - Jingles for games? 03:52 - Increased ARPAU and brands' dedication to games 06:32 - Working with B2C and D2C brands in mobile games * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *  ** Let's Connect ** 👉🏻 Twitter - https://twitter.com/pgbiz  👉🏻 LinkedIn Group - https://www.linkedin.com/groups/144491/  👉🏻 Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/PGbiz  👉🏻 Website - https://www.pocketgamer.biz  Check out more world-class speakers sharing their insights and expertise at one of our events. You can find details of our next event here - https://www.pgconnects.com/next-event

Someone get Ezra Regev and Isacc Goldenberg a crystal ball because they are on fire predicting the marketing future. The co-founders of PlayBatch chat with Peggy Anne Salz in this episode to explain how their hybrid-casual games studio foresaw Apple’s privacy changes and built their game and company structure accordingly. PlayBatch’s latest game, University of Magic, combines a larger merge game with several smaller hyper-casual games—each with a custom product page. The pair share how this setup optimises attribution and merges F2P and P2E for an improved player experience. Ezra and Isacc encourage developers to build with privacy policies in mind instead of responding to them after publishing.  CHAPTER TIMESTAMPS 00:00 - Anticipating marketing changes with games within a game 03:32 - Work with the new data structure instead of going around it 06:15 - Marketing and product teams as one * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *  ** Let's Connect ** 👉🏻 Twitter - https://twitter.com/pgbiz  👉🏻 LinkedIn Group - https://www.linkedin.com/groups/144491/  👉🏻 Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/PGbiz  👉🏻 Website - https://www.pocketgamer.biz  Check out more world-class speakers sharing their insights and expertise at one of our events. You can find details of our next event here - https://www.pgconnects.com/next-event

With probabilistic matching coming to a close soon, marketers must start testing ad campaigns focusing on contextual signals and first-party data. Our co-host, Peggy Anne Salz, reunites with Philip Gontier, Chief Revenue Officer at Smadex and the “Godfather” of mobile advertising, in this episode to learn how the DSP is leading the charge in privacy-centric advertising and landing 500 million daily impressions for their clients. Peggy and Philip also discuss the metric benefits of CTV and how Smadex is already planning optimization campaigns for SKAdNetwork 4.0.  CHAPTER TIMESTAMPS 00:00 - Smadex testing in SKAN 4.0 03:38 - Looking outside the DSP box with CTV 05:54 - What game publishers are missing * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *  ** Let's Connect ** 👉🏻 Twitter - https://twitter.com/pgbiz  👉🏻 LinkedIn Group - https://www.linkedin.com/groups/144491/  👉🏻 Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/PGbiz  👉🏻 Website - https://www.pocketgamer.biz  Check out more world-class speakers sharing their insights and expertise at one of our events. You can find details of our next event here - https://www.pgconnects.com/next-event