Andrei Dubinin

🚀 Explore Real-World Examples from Mr.Beast x Top Troops Influencer campaign or Podcast ads for June's Journey as Alternative Mobile UA Channels for 2024 In today's fast-evolving mobile landscape, sticking solely to Google and Facebook for user acquisition isn't enough. With economic shifts demanding more scrupulous budgeting and quicker payback, diversification isn't just beneficial—it's necessary. 👉 Why Diversify? More channels mean more opportunities for testing, discovering potentially profitable new channels, and not putting all your eggs in one basket. When one channel stumbles, your strategy doesn’t have to. I’m excited to share insights on alternative mobile UA channels that are making waves in 2024. Also, thanks Media Bodies | Influencer Marketing Agency & Vibe.co for additional insights: Influencer Marketing: Discover how collaborations with mega-influencers like Mr. Beast (Jimmy Donaldson) can drive significant engagement and installs, as seen with the Top Troops by Socialpoint, which included custom assets and challenges to maximize ROI. Podcast Ads: Learn from successful podcast campaigns that utilize the trust and intimacy of this medium to boost app installs—insights backed by campaigns like those run by Tactile Games for Lily's Garden or Wooga for June's Journey. Connected TV (CTV): See how brands leverage CTV advertising to effectively reach massive audiences, highlighted by real-time optimized campaigns by Huuuge Games on different platforms. Strategic Partnerships: Gain insights from the unique partnership between Clash of Clans and Chess.com, which cross-promoted content to mutual benefit, boosting user bases significantly. Retail Media Networks: Get a peek at how major brands utilize spaces in retail media, from Amazon Advertising to newer platforms like inflight entertainment systems. These examples aren’t just theories but actionable strategies that have been implemented and tested in the market, offering you a clear pathway to diversify and strengthen your mobile UA efforts. 💬 I’d love to hear about your experiences with these or other innovative UA channels. Have they transformed your approach? What worked and what didn’t? Let’s exchange insights and learn together! 🔄 Engage, Comment, and Share this post to help others in our community stay ahead of the curve in mobile user acquisition strategies! 🔗 Dive deeper into each of these strategies by reading the full article here: The Art of Diversification: Alternative Mobile UA Channels for 2024 https://lnkd.in/dwjeKUNc #UserAcquisition #MobileMarketing #DigitalMarketing #RealWorldExamples #InfluencerMarketing #PodcastAds #ConnectedTV #StrategicPartnerships #TikTokMarketing #RetailMedia #MobileGames

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NEW GAME TRENDING SUPERMARKET SIMULATOR (ROUND 2) In April, I published a post about the new trend of supermarket simulators 🛒 in the games industry. There I mentioned that this trend emerged on Steam (by Valve corporation) under the title "Supermarket Simulator", developed by Nokta Games. The trend quickly spread to the mobile market and spawned some hits, such as "Supermarket Manager Simulator" by Polish studio Digital Melody Games. 🇵🇱 At that time, the games that took advantage of this trend reached around 35MM downloads and US$512k in IAP revenue. What has happened since then? 🤔 Well… some gaming studios have read my post 🤣 and launched their versions of supermarket simulators. And studios that had already developed supermarket simulators, either in a different version to Nokta's game, also took advantage of the trend. 📈 (This is the case with "Hypermarket 3D", a Hypercasual simlutator published by Sunday and developed by Suji Games) The trend is still hot! 🔥 "Manage Supermarket Simulator" by Zego Studio has jumped to the top of the charts in recent weeks. 🔝 According to AppMagic, since March the supermarket trend has generated around 69MM downloads and US$1.1MM in IAP revenue in the mobile gaming market. Here's a list of the five most downloaded mobile games (from March to June 12th): 🥇 “Supermarket Manager Simulator” by Digital Melody Games. 🥈 "Hypermarket 3D" published by Sunday and developed by Suji Games. 🥉 “Manage Supermarket Simulator” by Zego Studio (iKame Global). 4º - “Retail Store Simulator” by Kosin Games. 5º - “Supermarket Simulator Game 3D” by Emir Tarek (Peace Games Studio). 👇 Scroll through the slides below to see some details about these games. 👇 - X - I've put together a list of the 30 most downloaded market simulator games in recent months. Interested in it? 🤔 Then follow the step-by-step instructions in the comments and access my private AppMagic dashboard. - X - This research was supported by Cost Center. Cost Center is a tech company that offers a powerful suite of tools for Mobile Publishers to optimize UA campaigns. 💪 Its portfolio includes amazing clients such as Amanotes and Lihuhu. 🏆 Do you like it? 🤩 Call my friend Yi Ting Ho She'll show you a demo. 😉 #gaming #gamedevelopment #HypercasualByCarlosPereira

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The mobile gaming landscape welcomes a new player: Juicy Button Games! Based in Limassol, Cyprus, this studio has already secured a promising $3 million in funding led by The Games Fund (TGF). Juicy Button boasts a powerhouse founding team. Alexander Kravchuk (creator of mobile strategy hit Total Battle), Anton Sinelnikov (design director of Pixel Gun 3D), and Aleksandr Zaytsev (co-founder of Mighty Party developer Panoramik) bring a combined track record of success. Their previous titles have reportedly garnered a staggering $180 million to $220 million in revenue and a massive player base with 43 million to 190 million downloads across their lifetimes. The studio isn't wasting any time setting its sights on a new challenge. Their debut project will be a 4X strategy game designed specifically for mobile platforms. This genre is currently dominated by Chinese developers, but Juicy Button aims to break the mold and become a "worthy European challenger." This sentiment aligns with TGF's vision. Ilya Karpinskiy, co-founder of the VC firm, sees immense potential in Europe's game development scene. "We want to connect outstanding gaming founders from overlooked regions with the global industry," says Karpinskiy, highlighting the firm's mission to bridge the gap between talented European developers and the international gaming market. Juicy Button Games, with its experienced team and ambitious goals, is definitely a name to watch in the mobile strategy space. Can they dethrone the current giants and reign supreme? Only time will tell, but their journey promises to be an exciting one. (source: https://lnkd.in/e94ebWGv)

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Alexandra Trifonova from Hitapps tips on finding a new monetization partner "Reputation and Reliability: Research the partner’s market reputation, stability, and reliability. Look at reviews, ask for references, and consider their industry presence. - Scalability: Determine whether a potential partner can scale operations to meet growing demands. This is crucial for expanding projects or entering new markets."

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Hi there! This week, 1464 new games have been added to the Megamod catalog. Thanks to our distribution network, we track daily metrics for the games, and today we want to show you the top-rated ones (selected by users, based on one of the days of the past week) as an example. Top 3 games by completion rate per day: MONKEY ISLAND by Mark Frosy (34.87%) https://lnkd.in/dJ8-3u6w NIGHT OF THE DEAD by diatonika (34.71%) https://lnkd.in/dwJXbQrB MEGA FUN by Izottop (31.56%) https://lnkd.in/dkFXdVcW Top 3 games by hours played per day: HOLY CARROT by Mark Frosy (26 hours) https://lnkd.in/dAQ2gRXm ANGEL by KaylaW (22 hours) https://lnkd.in/dVeczYu9 PARTY RUNNER by Izottop (21 hours) https://lnkd.in/d8tujZ4v This data helps our community of creators develop games based not only on their own creativity but also on player feedback. We started collecting this analytics relatively recently, with the beginning of our partnership with CrazyGames, and it has already allowed us to evaluate and improve our games based on solid numbers as well as creative ideas. These and other insights will also help creators with their games monetization in the future. Best wishes, Alex Kostarev and the Megamod team

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During one cozy IT event, someone asked me if it's the right time to develop a game, given the tough times without big marketing budgets or a strong IP brand, and without a superstar team. Is there opportunity for a just good game to succeed in such a competitive market? The gaming industry is in the “darkness”. While the number of releases has increased, revenues remain unchanged and have shifted to corporations buying up ad space and pushing out indie developers. Players end up consuming bland, mass-advertised games. With the cost of player acquisition rising, it seems like the worst time to start game development. Throw your money out the window instead, you might say. But then again, hasn't it always been “darkness”? Maybe it's time to look at the situation differently. While big corporations have the money, their size makes them slow, which could be an advantage for agile, rule-free companies. Yes, many small startups are closing, perhaps a reaction to the COVID-19 boom, but if it leads to less competition with cookie-cutter games, isn’t that better for your unique product? I disagree that we are in “darkness”. With today’s technology accelerating development and so many market research tools available, if you want to create a truly good game, now could be the time. It won’t be easy, but it’s possible.May our gamedev future be bright and sunny! #GameDev

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This is my first experience as a CMO and my first job in the gaming industry on the client side. For the past 7 months, we have been promoting League of Masters. From the very first weeks, it became clear that this project is not typical. Here are the challenges we’ve encountered: - Despite being a quality game, it's struggling to find its audience. - Media buying costs are rising, retention is falling, and Facebook tools are failing. - The mid-core genre transitioning into hardcore immediately dismisses a large part of the gaming audience, while we target the most solvent one (mid-core shows high revenue values in game dev reports for 2022-2023). - The need to make the game an esports discipline. - Working with bloggers not only on the "we paid - you did" scheme but also through an ambassador program. - The press doesn't want to write about "another battler," and we have to break through to them from ten different angles. How we are addressing these issues: - Testing audiences from competitors and different genres in media buying. Retention is growing, but so is the CPI. We are trying to identify where the higher quality audience is. Google Ads works worse for us than Facebook, and we will soon try TikTok Ads and Unity. - We are finding the mid-core audience through targeted bloggers and specialized press. - We've connected with several esports teams to gather feedback before launching the first tournaments. Not all feedback is free, research costs money. - We are bombarding thousands of small bloggers with emails, offering support and in-game goodies. Some are interested and start creating content. - With the press, not being able to meet in person, we network through social media and email, looking for direct contacts with journalists. This has resulted in a few good publications. Currently, my main task is to gather 10-20,000 wishlists to get featuring from Steam at launch and to form a core audience interested in the game. Additionally, we continue to seek out esports teams and gather their feedback. We have organically grown our Facebook group to 2,100 members and our YouTube channel to 780 subscribers. Soon, we plan to start paid influencer campaigns with the sole aim of adding the game to wishlists. Like this post if you find this interesting and I keep sharing!

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Benchmark Traffic for MVP Mobile Games Launching a mobile game at the MVP or soft-launch stage is challenging. The development team needs to measure product metrics and track changes. Since the product lacks enough content for full payback, any purchased traffic will run at a loss. The first idea is to buy active traffic in the target GEO. This is the most reliable but also the most expensive option. For example, if your game has a month’s worth of content, the traffic payback will be 30-50%. To check Day 1 Retention, you need at least 400 users, preferably 1,000. Suppose your target retention is 45%. This means you need almost 900 users. If we’re testing the game in the US, and the cost per user let's say $7, then 900 users will cost $6,300. However, it’s a different story with long-term metrics like Day 30 Retention. If the target value is 5%, and you need 400 users to reach Day 30 for reliable data, it will cost $56,000. How can we reduce testing costs? Optimization for Install (MAI): This is cheaper, but the traffic quality is lower. MAI traffic often includes non-paying users, which reduces metric reliability. Buying traffic optimized for payment often results in worse quality, as paying users are taken by expensive auctions, leaving non-paying users for MAI traffic. Their behavior is generally worse for in-app products, showing significantly lower Retention, making it hard to get reliable values. Different GEO: A GEO similar to the target one may be cheaper but still has lower traffic quality. Cheaper GEOs will show lower absolute Retention values than the target GEO. Organic Traffic: This is the best option, but there may not be enough organic traffic. Its quality varies greatly and may differ from purchased traffic (for better or worse). Also, if you’re working on ASO, organic traffic might constantly change, complicating data reliability. What’s the solution? Choose a GEO similar in behavior to the target one, buy traffic for installs, and measure relative rather than absolute values. Buy traffic, get baseline data, average it weekly, make changes, and compare growth. Then extrapolate relative percentage growth to absolute numbers. Challenges: Fluctuating Metrics: Metrics can vary daily, so it’s crucial to average weekly values. Inconsistent Traffic: Traffic comes from different creatives and placements, causing variability, leading to inaccuracies in metrics. Creative Burnout: Creatives may burn out even at low volumes; CPI and CPM increase, affecting traffic quality. Monitor creatives, upload consistent and non-misleading ones, and turn off those with abnormal metrics. For rare metrics like the percentage of paying users on Day 30, you’ll need many users and a big budget. MAI traffic won’t work; you’ll need in-app traffic. To check such metrics, it’s ideal for the product to have more content and higher actual payback, reducing losses through ROI.

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Learn more about how EA FC 24 and UEFA are using FC to bring train young players and inspiring kids to play football. ⚽️ #WeAreEA #EAFC24

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gamescom latam was a blast. However, one week of discussions with game developers from Latin America and around the globe spotlighted the weaknesses of the European digital trade promotion policy. First of all, the Chinese and Indians were visible at the event, but the EU was missing. The trade consulates of EU countries still see each other as their main competitors, but our main competitors are non-EU giants like the USA, China, and India. Only by collaborating, finding synergies, and pooling resources will the EU member states be able to challenge the global visibility of American, Chinese, and Indian trade promotion activities. Secondly, we might be too focused on talent attraction and outsourcing opportunities. Do not get me wrong; both are critical topics for the growth of the European game industry, and we must continue working with them. However, we should not be blinded by those goals. Brazilian game dev studios are rapidly expanding, and the largest of them are already starting to open their local studios in the EU. It is time to broaden our focus and begin promoting the EU more as an investment location and an ideal sport for co-productions. Thirdly, the EU parades itself as the forerunner and trendsetter of digital regulation. As Brazilian efforts to build a GDPR-adequate privacy policy framework and their plans to regulate gatekeeper platforms demonstrate, Brussels's effect is true. However, if the EU does not take a more active role in aligning digital policies inspired by it, we will face a significant risk of deepening global regulatory market fragmentation. It is clear that trade agreements are not an instrument that is agile enough to address this challenge. Instead, the EU should focus on building joint guidelines with third countries on how to align regulatory requirements. In practice, we need joint guidelines between, for example, European and Brazilian data protection authorities addressing the potential conflicts between the EU and Brazilian data protection frameworks. Thank you so much for the invite, great hospitality and enabling the trip Eliana Russi 🔜 gamescom latam , congrants for successful event Stefan Heikhaus 🔜 gamescom latam and thank you for all the help Alessandra Leone.

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We as Go On Board are very active during the pre-campaign of “Cyberpunk 2077 - The Board Game” with weekly updates revealing what this game contains and what it is about. 💬 Last week we unveiled the real-time feature in the action part of the game. During the upcoming weeks we will talk about the exploration part of the game, and soon the campaign date will be announced and the gameplay video will be presented, so make sure to follow us on Gamefound! 🚨 It is important for us to update backers, hear their opinions on our product, and work on it with them even during the pre-campaign phase. We make sure to slowly uncover how our game looks like - we have already shown the player board, follow gift, some of the characters that will be playable in the game, and some of the components - weapon cards and weapon dice, and more things before the campaign starts will be revealed! 🎲 Community is an integral part of our company - that is why we stay in touch with them through their comments - addressing what they would love to have in the game, what they think will not work out, or what should be changed. Based on their feedback we make changes to the content of the game, so it is the best version of the game, made by us & backers together. 🚀 Make sure to follow us now on this adventure, see how it is developed, and have a real input in the creation of this board game: https://lnkd.in/d-fk7xUC #cyberpunk2077 #cdprojektred #boardgame #tabletop #gamefound #campaign #goonboard

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These are the numbers which demostrate that 1️⃣ 𝐖𝐄 𝐀𝐑𝐄 𝐒𝐓𝐈𝐋𝐋 𝐒𝐎 𝐄𝐀𝐑𝐋𝐘 𝐈𝐍 𝐆𝐀𝐌𝐈𝐍𝐆 (And even more in WEB3 Gaming!) 2️⃣ 𝐎𝐔𝐑 𝐒𝐄𝐂𝐓𝐎𝐑 𝐈𝐒 𝐂𝐎𝐍𝐓𝐈𝐍𝐔𝐎𝐔𝐒𝐋𝐘 𝐆𝐑𝐎𝐖𝐈𝐍𝐆 🔥 Only in 2023 in 🇪🇸 we have had a growth of 𝟏𝟔.𝟐𝟗% compared to 2022. Additionally to this, I share with you some interesting data provided by AEVI - Asociación Española de Videojuegos 📊👇

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The best thing about Burny Games among an endless list of advantages – is its mature, conscious, and professional team. I've said this phrase myself and heard it from every employee of any department – every month of working together, we get better. I'm genuinely happy to have the opportunity to work with such strong personalities and experts. Read Andriy's article, and you'll see it for yourself. It’s great to watch him come up with clever solutions when others might give up. #burnygames #gamesindustry #gamedevelopment

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I more or less started this series of posts with what I called Dansky's First Rule of Game Writing, namely, that words are always the cheapest fix until suddenly they are the most expensive. That line got a lot of rueful laughter and a lot of agreement, but today I want to dive a little deeper into it and talk about what it means. First of all, I absolutely believe this is true. When something gets cut or changed or added, it is much easier and faster to add, edit, or cut dialog around it, or rewrite backstory (assuming it hasn't already been put in a player-facing format) than it is to change a character model or a map or an animation, at least early in the project. Narrative folks should understand this and be flexible, because it comes with the territory and pushing back against a solution that saves time and money is not a good look. But. Too often this gets taken to extremes. When narrative is constantly called on to paper over the cracks caused by others' decisions, certain things happen. One is that as a solution, it is easy to overuse. Yes, it may be less work for narrative than for other teams, but it's still work, and it still involves throwing out work that has been already done. That comes with multiple costs, not the least of which is a morale hit. Constantly asking one team to be the only ones who bend can feel a little like they're being picked on, or worse, taken for granted. And that's a great way to demotivate people. Because with that comes an inevitable devaluing of narrative work. I've heard "It's just words" too many times in my career. Nobody says "It's just pixels" or "It's just lines of code" to other departments. The assumption that rewrites are a cheap and easy fix is incorrect; it is cheap, not easy. It takes craft and skill to seamlessly close the gap in a narrative when an entire level gets cut. It takes craft and skill to turn around a rewrite immediately because a recording session is coming up and another department failed to read a character design doc so the character details have to change. And on it goes, and on and on. The other half of the statement is that words suddenly get expensive, which is also true. Once you record dialog, once you put stuff into localization, all of a sudden changing those words gets pricey. Want to make a tweak to a level that contradicts a line that's already been recorded? That means hiring back the actor, plus the studio, plus the director. plus plus plus. And while pickup sessions are a thing, there is not infinite time or money to keep going back to the well every time someone wants to fiddle with something that was supposed to be nailed down for script lock. "It's just words" isn't true any more at this point, and other departments need to be cognizant of upcoming recording session dates and script deadlines in order take their requests timely. Otherwise, everyone's going to be unhappy.

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Dear Stretch Network Partners, Please allow me to inform you about additional changes that will take place in the global network on July 8. 🍀 All Heads-up tables will be removed 🍀 Badugi cash tables will be removed 🍀 Sonic cash tables will become 6-max 🍀 The minimum buy-in for Sonic Omaha cash tables will be 20 BB 🍀 Sonic Omaha 7 card cash tables will be added These changes apply only to cash tables and only to our Global Network. In your local networks, you decide your product strategy, but we would be happy to assist you in managing your local networks as well. If you need our help, please contact us. The above-mentioned changes are part of the new strategy for the Stretch Network Global Network, which prioritizes the comfort of novice players and casual traffic to maintain the proper balance of our ecosystem between amateurs and professionals. Caring for the ecosystem of the Global Network is our priority. The changes we are implementing now and will continue to implement will significantly improve the user experience for your players, extend their LTV, ARPU, and, of course, Revenue.

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🎮 Top-10 Games by Revenue in the USA and Europe in Q1'24 The amazing team at Newzoo have listed the top 10 games by revenue in the US and Europe for Q1 2024: 🥇 Fortnite - the revenue leader in the first quarter of 2024 🥈 EA Sports FC 24 is in second place 🥉 Helldivers II is third. 🎖 Surprisingly, Dragon’s Dogma II has surpassed Palworld in revenue 💰 Revenues: 📊 Fortnite accounts for 10% of all revenue in the past quarter 📊 EA Sports FC 24 - 8.3% 📊 For comparison, Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six: Siege, which is in 10th place, only accounts for 1.6% of total revenue. The difference is significant! (source: https://lnkd.in/d3EBs698)

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The games industry is undergoing an unprecedented transformation today. With news of layoffs and team restructuring dominating our channels almost every other day, the question I often get - 𝐖𝐡𝐲 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠? The normalization of unprecedented gains during COVID, overestimated future demand, inflation, challenges in user acquisition post-IDFA/privacy changes, an overcrowded market, rising costs, and the complexity of game production and live services are all contributing factors. Additionally, Gen AI forces everyone to rethink production to stay competitive. 𝐍𝐞𝐰 𝐆𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐋𝐚𝐮𝐧𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐬 Over the years, the risk-to-reward ratio for new game launches has been shifting unfavorably. Increasing costs, red ocean markets, and the complexity of live services make capturing, engaging, and retaining players to achieve profitable outcomes incredibly challenging. Efficiently translating game ideas/IPs into successful games is tough. Highly experienced teams equipped with cutting edge technology and tools are more likely to create great games. In contrast, inexperienced teams often end up over-iterating, learning on the go, stretching timelines, and/or diluting quality. Great talent is essential today and in the future to build great games. Period. 𝐆𝐫𝐨𝐰𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐄𝐱𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐆𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐬 & 𝐄𝐱𝐩𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐓𝐀𝐌  This is a safer, more predictable, and an incremental risk path for companies with successful games. Doubling down on existing games is a no-brainer part of every company's strategy. However, due to talent bandwidth constraints, companies often focus on their top games while many high-potential games in their portfolio are deprioritized and forced to die a slow death. In my years of experience in the industry, this is a massive untapped opportunity highly worth leveraging! Expanding TAM (Total Addressable Market) can provide significant gains for successful games. This complex task depends on a deep understanding of market differences and motivations that drive engagement and monetization behaviors, applying these insights to game and live services operations to unlock growth. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐢𝐥𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐋𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 This is undoubtedly a massive event on the games industry timeline. But time will reshape how games are designed, produced, and shipped to global audiences in meaningful ways. Gen AI and other technologies will make game production more efficient, high-quality, and predictable. 𝑃𝑒𝑜𝑝𝑙𝑒 𝑤ℎ𝑜 𝑙𝑜𝑣𝑒 𝑚𝑎𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑔𝑎𝑚𝑒𝑠 𝑤𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑟𝑒𝑚𝑎𝑖𝑛 𝑎𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑟𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑦𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔, 𝑎𝑠 𝑎𝑙𝑤𝑎𝑦𝑠, 𝑏𝑢𝑡 𝑤𝑒 𝑤𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑘 𝑖𝑛 𝑛𝑒𝑤, 𝑢𝑝𝑔𝑟𝑎𝑑𝑒𝑑 𝑤𝑎𝑦𝑠, 𝑐𝑟𝑎𝑓𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑔𝑎𝑚𝑒𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑒𝑥𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑒𝑠 𝑙𝑖𝑘𝑒 𝑛𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟 𝑏𝑒𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑒 𝑎𝑠 𝑤𝑒 𝑚𝑜𝑣𝑒 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑓𝑢𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑒!

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The most frequent question over the last 60 days: Why is the games job market the way it is; reflects only my personal views. The Games Consumer - Supply - Companies offer free games more frequently than ever across platforms like Epic, Prime Gaming, NYT, and more. Each year, tens of thousands of games launch on Steam, and UGC platforms boast countless games. AI continues to simplify game creation, and subscription services offer unlimited titles. The Games Consumer - Demand - Gamers have learned to wait for predictable discounts, with Nintendo as a notable exception. - Many gamers have vast libraries of unplayed games, and on average, purchase three titles annually. - The novelty of online gaming and live services has waned after two decades of major titles like Call of Duty and World of Warcraft, making it difficult to shift attention. - Gamers average seven hours of play weekly, down due to competition from social media, streaming, etc. - To increase revenue, companies intensify monetization in live services and have raised game prices to $70 or more, creating a cycle. What Works for Indie Developers Often Doesn’t Translate to Large Companies - In many larger companies, a project must be equivalently lucrative to other businesses to gain executive approval, often restricting development to specific genres and involving live services. - These large projects are high risk, high reward; unsuccessful ones are often quickly eliminated. - The focus is often on pursuing spectacular, risky successes. The Pandemic - While significant, the pandemic is just one factor among many. Why Large Companies Dictate the Market - Thirty companies control half of the new hiring in the sector. A North American Phenomenon (Labor Protections) - North America accounts for 80% of the job cuts since 2022, likely due to weaker labor protections. Victims of Our Own Success (Everyone Wants In on Games Now) - Surging interest from venture capitalists, private equity, and banks has driven up valuations, leading to riskier investments sometimes by those less familiar with the industry. Relative Lack of AAA Innovation - AAA titles increasingly avoid risks, especially within established series, aiming to meet financial objectives. The Cannibals and The Ecosystem - Subscription services and areas like eSports and streaming have not been as successful as anticipated, weakening the ecosystem. The Larger Problems for Early Career Folks - Streams of graduates entering the market simultaneously exacerbate employment challenges and increase the sense of replaceability. Why Now - Competition for limited IPs has intensified, prompting larger and riskier investments during and after the pandemic. Companies undergoing consolidation swiftly eliminate parts of their acquisitions that don't meet performance metrics. The entrance of more players into the market has led to the acceptance of higher valuations and riskier deals. Executives may anticipate AI scaling.

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TOP 10 HYBRID & HYPERCASUAL # 3 WEEK, MAY, 2024 Hi Hyper Friends! 🤟 Would you happen to know the Cost Center? 🤔 Cost Center offers a powerful suite of tools for Mobile Publishers to optimize UA campaigns. 💪 Its portfolio includes amazing clients such as Amanotes and Lihuhu. 🏆 Do you like it? 🤩 Call my friend Yi Ting Ho. She'll show you a demo. 😉 We had a highlight on the list for the 3️⃣ week of May. “Relax Mini Games” by Superior Studio is an app with many satisfying experiences. 62 in total. 🤯 ASMR games have always been a trend in the Hypercasual market. Israeli publisher CrazyLabs Labs 🇮🇱 has been a master of ASMR games with titles such as “Phone Case DIY” (260MM) and “Sculpt People” (180MM). 👏 ASMR games have always had shallow gameplay. However, since last year, they have had even less. 👀 Previously, these games had a slight game narrative (e.g. customizing the cover of a smartphone, sculpting a face, painting nails, etc). Today's ASMR games are just clicks and sounds. 👆👂 These are pure ASMR experiences, with few or no goals. Whether it's a game or not, the fact is that these “games” are well-received on the market. 📈 "Satisgame" by game developer Molehole/dishudong was one of the pioneers of this trend. With an attractive cartoon-style game art and a linear progression system with click-and-sound mechanics, "Satisgame" has achieved almost 13MM downloads. With good penetration in the US market (9.5%). 🇺🇸 And probably with a high organic installation rate. 😱 In other words, a dream in the mobile games market. 💝 This good performance has the support of social media. Especially the millions of views from TikTok. 👈 Let's list the top 10 Hybrid & Hypercasual games of the 3rd week of May. 🥇- “Pizza Ready!” by Supercent / Molip. 🥈- “Relax Mini Games” by Superior Studio. 🥉- “Wood Nuts & Bolts, Screw” by Zego Studio (iKame Applications Publishing). 4º - “Wood Nuts & Bolts Puzzle” by ABI Game Studio. 5º - “Race Master 3D - Car Racing” by SayGames / Beresnev Games. 6º - “Build A Queen” by Supersonic from Unity / Polystation. 7º - “Rollance : Adventure Balls” by Azur Games / ATES GAMES. 8º - “Magic Tiles 3” by Amanotes. 9° - “Bridge Race” by Supersonic from Unity / Garawell Games. 10º - “Brain Test: Tricky Puzzles” by Unico Studio. For more details, read the slides below. All data from AppMagic. 💯 #HypercasualByCarlosPereira #gaming #gamedevelopment #mobilegames

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