Marketing reports and market data
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Bridge Between Marketability Testing & $100m UA Spend: Go-to-market Strategy Optimised for Growth
A full life-cycle go-to-market strategy integrates continuous marketability testing from the earliest stages of pre-production through global launch, replacing traditional siloed development with an iterative, data-driven framework.
- Integrating continuous marketability testing from pre-production through global launch replaces siloed development with an iterative framework that de-risks projects and builds a library of high-performing creative assets.
- This methodology accelerates time-to-market by three to six months by allowing studios to optimize cost-per-install metrics and creative strategies before the game is fully built.
- Independent data collection via web-based testing and simulated store pages mitigates the impact of platform privacy changes like IDFA, enabling more reliable cash flow projections.
30 Minute Steam Page Makeovers
Steam page optimization serves as a critical bridge between development and commercial success, requiring a strategic shift from passive presentation to active, data-driven marketing.
- Prioritize custom-illustrated capsules over raw screenshots to signal high production value and overcome the market stigma associated with low-quality shovelware.
- Replace dense, text-heavy descriptions with animated GIFs and consistent art direction to communicate gameplay depth and genre identity to prospective players instantaneously.
- Align game metadata with the Steam algorithm by modeling tags after top-performing titles within the same genre to ensure accurate categorization and audience reach.
Secrets to Successful Cross Promotion with Playtika
Cross-promotion has transitioned from a secondary marketing tactic to a fundamental pillar of mobile game growth, particularly as privacy-centric shifts in the digital landscape have constrained traditional user acquisition channels.
- Cross-promotion has evolved into a primary growth pillar for mobile games, necessitated by privacy-centric shifts that have restricted traditional user acquisition channels.
- Effective cross-promotion relies on AI-driven personalization and behavioral correlations across genres rather than superficial game similarities to minimize cannibalization.
- Playtika manages a portfolio of over 15 titles and 30 million monthly active users, demonstrating that success requires heavy investment in R&D and internal data infrastructure.
Twitch Kills Game Sales... but not equally! - Extra Credits
The impact of video game streaming on industry sales is a complex, multifaceted issue that presents both significant opportunities and distinct risks for developers.
- Streaming acts as both a discovery tool and a consumption substitute, with 40% of U.S. consumers purchasing a game after watching it, while 39% forgo a purchase because watching the stream provided sufficient satisfaction.
- Narrative-heavy, linear games are at the highest risk of lost sales, as viewers often feel they have experienced the core content without needing to play the game themselves.
- Competitive, puzzle, and creative-building games benefit from streaming, as these genres foster long-term community engagement and increased player spending, as evidenced by data from titles like League of Legends and Dota 2.
How the Industry Can Change the "Games Are Bad" Narrative
The gaming industry faces a persistent, fifty-year-old narrative of moral panic that characterizes video games as inherently harmful.
- The gaming industry must shift from internal research to collaborative partnerships with independent academics to replace long-standing moral panics with evidence-based findings.
- Research relying on self-reported play time is fundamentally flawed, as players frequently overestimate their actual usage by nearly twenty hours per week.
- Studies utilizing objective server-side log data, such as the 2020 research involving Electronic Arts and Nintendo, consistently demonstrate a positive correlation between gameplay and mental health.
IDFA Loss: Real Data & Real Talk
The deprecation of the Identifier for Advertisers (IDFA) on iOS has fundamentally restructured the mobile gaming industry, resulting in a 15% to 20% decline in revenue across diverse portfolios.
- The deprecation of IDFA has caused a 15% to 20% decline in revenue across mobile gaming portfolios due to the collapse of granular tracking and lookalike audiences.
- Market efficiency has decreased as the loss of deterministic tracking leads to higher costs per mille and lower install quality.
- Niche, whale-dependent genres like social casino and strategy games have experienced the most significant disruptions, whereas broad-market titles remain more resilient.
Fireside Chat: Is it Time to Rethink the Ad Monetisation Waterfall
The mobile advertising landscape is undergoing a fundamental transition from manual, waterfall-based mediation to fully automated, real-time bidding.
- The mobile advertising industry is transitioning from manual waterfall mediation to fully automated real-time bidding, with full adoption expected within the next two years.
- Privacy-related changes, specifically the deprecation of IDFA, have triggered a 20% to 50% decline in eCPM across the industry.
- Developers must move beyond eCPM and fill rates to incorporate payment terms and opportunity costs into their financial models to accurately assess the net value of ad networks.
Superstar Session: Key to Success in Post-iOS 14 Advertisements: SKAdNetwork Data Reconciliation
The implementation of Apple’s App Tracking Transparency policy has fundamentally restructured the mobile user acquisition landscape by restricting access to the Identifier for Advertisers.
- The mobile user acquisition landscape has shifted from deterministic tracking to the privacy-centric SKAdNetwork framework following Apple’s App Tracking Transparency policy, which saw opt-in rates reach only 24 percent by mid-2021.
- Developers must pivot to aggregate analysis and channel-level monitoring because SKAdNetwork introduces reporting latencies of 24 to 48 hours and masks granular data through privacy thresholds.
- Long-term user value prediction now relies on the strategic use of conversion values as a proxy within the restricted tracking windows provided by SKAdNetwork.
Panel: What Changes in Ad Monetisation Post-IDFA - The Good, the Bad & the Ugly
The removal of the Identifier for Advertisers (IDFA) and the implementation of App Tracking Transparency (ATT) have fundamentally restructured the mobile advertising ecosystem.
- The removal of IDFA and the implementation of ATT have forced a shift from granular, user-level tracking to fragmented measurement strategies, rendering traditional metrics like D7 ROAS less effective.
- Developers are pivoting to contextual intelligence and behavioral modeling, utilizing on-device data such as session depth and game category to identify high-value users without personal identifiers.
- The loss of deterministic data and effective retargeting capabilities has necessitated a move toward hybrid monetization models to maintain revenue efficacy.
Superstar Session: Breathing Life Into a New IP: A Lesson in Rethinking What You (Think You) Know
The development of successful intellectual property in the gaming industry requires a transition from isolated product creation to the cultivation of a cohesive, interconnected ecosystem.
- Shift from developing standalone titles to building a cohesive, interconnected ecosystem that utilizes cross-platform integration and diverse media channels to ensure long-term user engagement.
- Integrate distribution teams into the earliest stages of the ideation process to ensure products are aligned with specific market demands rather than relying on legacy development models.
- Utilize small-scale testing as a primary mechanism for data-supported decision-making to validate concepts and mitigate financial risk before committing to full-scale production.
Fireside Chat: Ignite Your Brand With High-impact Collaborations.
High-impact collaborations have become a critical strategy for navigating the saturated mobile gaming market, serving as a primary lever for boosting brand awareness, accelerating user acquisition, and sustaining long-term player engagement.
- High-impact collaborations serve as a primary strategy for mobile game developers to boost brand awareness, accelerate user acquisition, and maintain long-term player engagement in a saturated market.
- Effective partnerships move beyond traditional top-of-funnel celebrity advertising by utilizing deep, in-game integrations that align external intellectual property with specific player interests and seasonal events.
- Developers should design game systems with the flexibility to accommodate external brands during the initial development phase to ensure seamless, organic integration.
Panel: The Truth About Ads: Is it a Disruption, a Requirement or an Opportunity for Game Makers?
Advertising in the modern gaming landscape functions as a strategic exchange mechanism rather than a mere disruption.
- Modern game advertising functions as a strategic exchange where rewarded videos and context-aware placements provide a sustainable revenue model that supports free-to-play access.
- Integrating ad experiences directly into the core game loop can improve player retention rather than acting as a disruptive force.
- Studios can mitigate financial risk by using early-stage video ads and playtests to validate core mechanics and monetization strategies before full production.