Marketing reports and market data
Documents
Panel: Success Spotlight: TikTok Strategies for New Title Launches.
TikTok has emerged as a foundational pillar for mobile game launches, functioning as a primary engine for organic growth and user acquisition.
- TikTok serves as a primary engine for organic growth and user acquisition, requiring developers to frame gameplay within provocative or debate-inducing narratives to boost algorithmic visibility.
- High-volume creative production is necessary to combat rapid creative fatigue, with teams identifying high-performing assets through rigorous testing cycles within 12 hours.
- Long-form videos between 30 and 60 seconds often outperform shorter clips, provided the initial hook is strong enough to capture immediate attention.
Keynote: A New Era for Mobile Gaming - Noam Zada.
The mobile gaming industry is currently navigating a period of intense competition, characterized by an oversaturated market with over one million titles on app stores.
- The mobile gaming market is currently oversaturated with over one million titles, necessitating a shift from traditional user acquisition to deep community engagement for long-term growth.
- TikTok serves as a primary driver for gaming discovery, with 82% of its one billion monthly active users engaging with gaming content on a weekly basis.
- Gaming has evolved into a cultural force that integrates with film, music, and lifestyle, resulting in trillions of annual views for gaming-related content on social platforms.
Fireside Chat: Content Creator Programs - The Hidden Secret for Mobile Growth & Monetization.
Content creator programs have emerged as a critical, high-impact strategy for mobile game growth and monetization.
- Formalized content creator programs shift influencer marketing from brand awareness to a measurable, performance-driven channel for mobile growth and monetization.
- These programs are most effective for live-service games featuring in-game purchases, high replayability, and an existing organic base of content creators.
- Successful integration requires providing creators with direct developer access, exclusive game updates, and financial incentives tied directly to sales performance.
Ranking our 5 Biggest Pain Points in UA & how we Overcame Them (With use Cases!) - BoomBit.
BoomBit, a game developer and publisher, addresses the operational complexities of modern user acquisition (UA) by developing a proprietary business intelligence dashboard.
- BoomBit manages a $29 million annual UA spend and 1.5 billion total installs by replacing manual spreadsheet workflows with a proprietary business intelligence dashboard.
- The company developed an algorithmic bidding tool that automates granular sub-source adjustments, allowing UA managers to focus exclusively on high-impact campaign optimizations.
- To overcome post-ATT data limitations, the dashboard integrates MMP data, SKAdNetwork signals, and organic estimations into a unified, hourly-updated performance view.
Games: Once Upon Now in Hollywood
The entertainment industry is undergoing a fundamental shift as video games emerge as the primary source of intellectual property for Hollywood.
- Hollywood is shifting its primary source of intellectual property from comic books to video game franchises, following the commercial success of titles like The Super Mario Bros. Movie and The Last of Us.
- Game developers are increasingly retaining significant creative control, including script and director approval rights, to ensure adaptations remain faithful to their established canon.
- Upfront royalty payments for game-to-film adaptations currently range from $1 million to $20 million per project.
Reinventing Successful Game Launches - Jesse Lempiäinen, Geeklab.
The current mobile gaming landscape is highly saturated, with approximately 700,000 titles competing for attention.
- Most new mobile game launches fail, as evidenced by the fact that only one game released in 2023, Monopoly GO, reached the top-grossing charts in the United States.
- Game development should shift from a linear, internal-focused process to a continuous loop of external validation, where developers test concepts with real audiences before committing to full production.
- Early market validation is cost-effective, requiring as little as $1,250 to gather initial insights and gauge market traction through surveys and simulated app store pages.
Monetising First Party Data for in app Advertising - Geeshan Willink, Nefta.io
The mobile gaming industry currently faces significant headwinds, including stringent privacy regulations, shifting market dynamics, and the erosion of ad revenue following Apple’s App Tracking Transparency (ATT) policy.
- Apple’s App Tracking Transparency (ATT) policy has caused a significant revenue decline of 18% to 50% within iOS opt-out cohorts.
- Developers are shifting toward first-party behavioral data—such as in-game progression and spending habits—to monetize traffic while maintaining privacy compliance by avoiding universal identifiers.
- Standardized data models now allow publishers to isolate and analyze user data in secure environments, enabling them to optimize ad bids and target high-value cohorts without building proprietary infrastructure.
In the Sandbox With Creative Success! AppsFlyer, ACE Games, Product Madness.
This discussion, held at Pocket Gamer Connects London 2024, explores the evolving role of creative assets in mobile game user acquisition.
- Creative assets have replaced granular user-level data as the primary lever for mobile user acquisition due to ongoing privacy restrictions on iOS and Android.
- Effective creative strategy requires a data-driven feedback loop that integrates attribution data with business intelligence tools like Looker or Tableau to move beyond vanity metrics.
- Marketers must shift from single-asset campaigns to creative sequences that build brand familiarity and hook users within the first three to five seconds.
The Future of Web Stores: AI Personalisation & Gamified Sales - Miikka Luotio, Appcharge
The mobile gaming industry is experiencing a significant shift toward direct-to-consumer (D2C) web stores as publishers seek to mitigate rising user acquisition costs and navigate restrictive platform policies.
- Direct-to-consumer (D2C) web stores are generating 30% to 40% in incremental revenue growth for top-grossing mobile publishers.
- Publishers are adopting web stores as essential infrastructure to bypass platform policies and mitigate the impact of rising user acquisition costs.
- AI-driven conversational commerce is expected to shift web stores from static storefronts to concierge-like models that facilitate social mechanics and group discounts.
How To Sell 1 Million Copies Of Your Game (In A Week)
The success of the indie game Cult of the Lamb, which achieved over one million sales within its first week, serves as a case study for effective game design and marketing.
- Success in the indie market requires a strong, easily communicable 'hook' that combines novelty with familiarity, such as the 'Big Butt' principle (e.g., 'Binding of Isaac but with cult management').
- Developers should prioritize replayability by avoiding 'single-use' content, favoring genres like colony sims or roguelites where game systems provide long-term engagement.
- Effective game design often relies on brutal iteration and A/B testing rather than rigid adherence to a Game Design Document (GDD), allowing the game to evolve based on how it feels during play.
Mistplay’s Gabriel Lewis On Leveraging Loyalty To Keep Paying Players Coming Back
The mobile gaming industry is undergoing a significant shift in user acquisition and retention strategies, moving away from short-term tactics toward long-term loyalty and lifetime value (LTV) models.
- Mobile gaming strategy is shifting from short-term user acquisition tactics to long-term loyalty models focused on maximizing player lifetime value (LTV) and year-long retention.
- Rewarded play has evolved from a stigmatized, short-term incentive into a core, integrated component of game design that requires active player progression.
- Modern loyalty platforms utilize data-driven insights and predictive modeling to move beyond simple cashback, offering personalized perks tailored to individual gaming lifestyles.
Watch THIS Before Making Your First Game!
This discussion explores the critical challenges faced by solo game developers, emphasizing the necessity of disciplined scope management and strategic planning for commercial success.
- Avoid the trap of attempting to build a massive 'dream game' as your first project; instead, start small with simple mechanics to ensure you actually finish a product.
- Strictly control project scope by cutting features that require complex tutorialization or narrative justification, as these often bloat development time and dilute the core gameplay loop.
- Develop games that play to your existing strengths rather than attempting to learn complex new skills like professional voice acting or scriptwriting during your first commercial release.