two & a half gamers

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