PocketGamer.biz Podcast

Our host Peggy Anne Salz brings us another on-the-ground interview this episode as she chats with Playstack’s CMO, Harriet Hughes. The two get honest about the decision to work with a publisher and how developers can find the right one. Harriet says that a publisher’s job is not to take over the game but to make the community as excited for release day as the developers are. She shares how Playstack helped a two-brother studio and a single developer grow their creations into critically acclaimed games with hundreds of players and why free casual games might fade away. CHAPTER TIMESTAMPS 00:00 - What does a successful developer-publisher relationship look like? 03:33 - Good publishing=good community-driven marketing 05:44 - Let developers develop! 08:21 - Is subscription gaming on the rise? * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ** 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

Creative is king, and Luis Leon is here to tell you how to deliver killer content on a budget. Peggy Anne Salz is on the ground in this episode with Luis, Head of Creative Business Development at Creadits, a production platform for performance marketers. Luis says Creadits is a "creative partner, not a creative agency." The company strategizes with studios, advising them on what is working now in gaming ads. Luis also shares a hack on how to do more with less while A/B testing. CHAPTER TIMESTAMPS 00:00 - A creative partner, not a creative agency 01:08 - Doing more with less 02:55 - Creadit's best creative and the company's future with UGC * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ** 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

2023 is the year to perfect your live ops, and Leanplum is here to help. This mobile marketing platform simplifies multichannel campaigns to increase customer engagement and surpass revenue goals. Peggy Anne Salz linked up with Yeshas Nakshathri, Head of Partnerships at Leanplum, to discover how the platform helps renowned companies like Big Fish Games and MobilityWare exceed their expected revenue by 300% for a single live op event. Yeshas also shares how to integrate hyper-personalization and data feedback to reduce churn and bring back past users. CHAPTER TIMESTAMPS 00:00- Leanplum reinventing live-ops 02:59 - Hyperpersonalization the right way 05:35 - What can the data tell you? * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ** 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 

We're going back to basics in this episode. This week we chatted with Thomas Jonasson, Head of Publishing at Gold Town Games, about how his small Sweedish studio perfects quality game design and development. Throughout the episode, Jonasson shares a psychology trick that helped boost the company’s live ops, resulting in a 20-70% game revenue lift; what developers can learn from e-commerce; and how to look deeper into trends to truly understand your customers' desires and what your studio can add to the conversation. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ** 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

Despite a market valuation of nearly two billion dollars worldwide, many people still view gaming as a pastime with little social or cultural value. Tiltify is here to change that belief. In this episode, we meet Tom Downie, UK Charity Manager of Tiltify, a livestream and digital fundraising platform, who says the games industry is actually a community-centric space bursting with people who do good. Tom explains that studios who have fundraised in the past are discouraged from hosting events often because of obstacles like navigating taxation and physically delivering the money to charities. With Tiltify, fundraising becomes a part of gameplay and sends cash to verified organizations in real-time. For example, developers can offer exclusive DLC whose profits go immediately to the charity of choice, giving them a chance to connect with their community and the greater corporate responsibility. With Tiltify, Tom says, “Suddenly, they’re not “gamers” or people addicted to their screens any more. They’re philanthropists, and they’re amazingly generous people in our community who get together to support something that we all care about.” * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ** 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

Our host Peggy Anne Salz is on the ground at PGC London 2023 again this episode, where she chats with two experts in live ops and trend analysis. First, we meet Alex Haley, Principal Games Operations Manager at Product Madness, one of the largest mobile game studios in the world. Alex shares a live ops crash course and the strategy that helped Product Madness host over 600 in-app events last year. Afterward, we ask Patty Toledo, the genius behind every Pocket Gamer event, for her advice on how to get in touch with trends and curate epic events. According to Patty, you have to go where the players are, and the most important people to talk to might not be the CEOs and VPs. Tune in to this episode to hear it all and peek into Peggy's dungeon. CHAPTER TIMESTAMPS 00:00- Entering Peggy's dungeon...duh duh duh 01:42 - The foundations of a killer live op event 04:51 - Don't worry about creating a perfect campaign; just start one! 07:05 - You might not need that Christmas campaign 09:21 - Optimize your onboarding strategy 13:09 - The tools and structure to create a successful live ops team 17:23 -Pocket Gamer's rennaissance woman, Patty Toledo 20:16 - How Patty tracks and predicts trends 26:09 - Balance international trends and local interests 30:10 - Get in touch with the Pocket Gamer Podcast * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ** 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

Pocket Gamer Connects London 2023 was Steel Media’s biggest event yet, with over 2600 attendees and 1200 companies attending the leading mobile gaming industry conference. Our hosts, Peggy Anne Salz and Brian Baglow, recap “wow” moments from the show with the “PG Tribe” of Chris James (Steel Media CEO), Dave Bradley (COO), and Daniel Griffiths (PG.Biz Editor). This game-loving group also weighs in on hot topics and how AI can help indies take on major studios and win. Peggy also welcomes a surprise (and furry) co-host and chats with Daniel Helmhold, VP of Marketing and Head of Growth at Big Fish Games, an industry leader in casual mobile gaming. Daniel is a big believer that branding starts on Day One and shares what you can do now to avoid expensive changes later. He also reveals the equation you can use to measure brand value and impact on LTV.

In a fast-paced and wide-ranging discussion, co-hosts Brian Baglow and Peggy Anne Salz speak to the companies which are helping developers offer a flawless user experience from start to finish, with a focus on keeping players happy (and playing the game). Brian is joined by Eric Vermillion, the CEO of Helpshift, Peter Gerson, a Senior Manager with Keyword Studios, KatanaAI’s Technology and Sales Director Dominick Kelly and Oz Syed, a Game Development Evangelist from Backtrace. This crack team explores how to do more with less, exploring the ways in which technology and automation can bring speed and efficiency to areas such as player support, localisation, quality assurance (QA) and more. As the role of artificial intelligence in game development and publishing becomes an ever more contentious topic, we dive into the reality of AI and machine learning in the player journey, looking for examples, case studies and best practice to help every studio without breaking the bank. ** 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 a winning formula to pick your winning ad creative and streamline your A/B testing? In this episode of the PocketGamer Podcast, our hosts Brian Baglow and Peggy Anne Salz chat with Trailmix’s Senior UA Manager Philippa Layburn on how she is changing the ads playbook with constant creatives analysis. Part of her secret: think outside the box and measure success using a metric blend that makes sense for their game. This episode isn’t one you want to miss as Philippa details hook rates (her new metric, by the way) and how she hacked Google Ads using UGC. 00:00 - The PGB Podcast Mini Class 03:51 - Introducing Phillipa 06:11 - Your narrative should go beyond written words 07:29 - Influencing ad spends with good creative 11:36 - Hook rate: the key to understanding why your ad works 16:20 - Phillipa “called out” her gameplayers…and it worked 18:11 - Cultivate a team mindset of iterating to reduce CPI 23:55 - Your ads need to include real gameplay 25:14 - Don’t be afraid to break the playbook 28:23 - Peggy and Brian’s wrap-up ** 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 

Building and maintaining a great game doesn't require a big budget. Take it from Larry Hsieh, Principal Product Manager at MobilityWare. In this episode, Larry joins our partners in crime, Peggy Anne Salz and Brian Baglow, to share his tips and tricks on engaging and retaining users through customized events and live ops. By capitalizing on Santa, building scalable tools, and designing a flexible system with multiple variables, anyone can create a game on par with those from the top 50 developers. 00:00 - A new pair on the PG Biz Podcast 04:39 - Introducing Larry Hsieh: Lover of Live Ops 09:03 - Solitaire meets Monopoly in a strategic partnership for ultimate gameplay 12:33 - Attracting and retaining users with push notifications, segmentation, and flexible targeting 18:39 - Santa's "Naughty or Nice" list as a case study in event customization 23:07 - Personalizing customer touch points and in-app messaging with Leanplum 25:03 - Reduce, reuse, reimagine: a mantra for indie studio success 27:32 - "Use your engineers to build scalable tools" 29:59 - What's in store for the PG Biz Podcast in 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