Mobile reports and market data
4,106 documents·271 writers·21,955 charts and tables
Documents
Two & a Half Gamers55 min
two & a half gamers session #11 - How to increase game revenue by 35% with Narrative design
Narrative design serves as a critical lever for enhancing mobile game performance, functioning as a bridge between core mechanics and player retention.
- Integrating narrative design from the inception of a project can increase game revenue by up to 35%.
- Narrative design functions as a bridge between core mechanics and player retention, transforming gameplay loops into immersive experiences that drive higher lifetime value.
- Applying universal storytelling frameworks like the Hero’s Journey provides structural progression that prevents player boredom and reduces churn.
Two & a Half GamersMay 2024
Two & a Half Gamers55 min
two & a half gamers session #10 - How to save millions with marketability tests? Fake ads going n...
The mobile gaming industry is increasingly defined by a tension between creative vision and the rigorous demands of user acquisition.
- Marketability testing via fake ads and landing pages allows developers to validate game concepts and audience interest before investing in full production, effectively treating game development as a high-risk lottery where data-driven guidance reduces failure rates.
- Marketability tests should be used for directional guidance rather than definitive performance predictions, as metrics like CTR on landing pages do not accurately reflect actual mobile app install conversion or long-term player value.
- To mitigate bias in player surveys during testing, avoid suggestive questions and implement screening criteria, such as verifying if participants are active mobile gamers or have a history of in-app purchases.
Two & a Half GamersMay 2024
Two & a Half Gamers59 min
two & a half gamers session #9 - How to increase AdARPDAU? How Adnetworks make money? Admonetisat...
The gaming industry is currently navigating a complex transition period characterized by aggressive investment in blockchain technology and the strategic repurposing of established mobile intellectual property.
- Hiring a dedicated ad monetization manager is only financially viable once a game reaches $20,000 to $30,000 in daily ad revenue, as the role typically yields a 20% revenue improvement that must justify the salary.
- Games with high ad reliance, particularly in the idle genre, should aim for more than five impressions per daily active user (DAU) to effectively scale campaigns and ensure ad revenue accounts for at least 40% of total income.
- The blockchain gaming sector saw significant investment growth in 2022, reaching $2 billion by mid-March, following a trend of increasing quarterly funding from $430 million in Q1 2021 to $1.6 billion in Q4 2021.
Two & a Half GamersMay 2024
Two & a Half Gamers56 min
two & a half gamers session #8 - Game design fundamentals & AMA. When to kill a game?
The mobile gaming industry is currently navigating a period of significant volatility, marked by high user acquisition costs, the lingering impact of privacy changes like IDFA, and a shift in corporate strategies.
- Teams should prioritize day-one retention as the primary metric for evaluating core gameplay and be prepared to kill projects if radical iteration fails to yield meaningful KPI improvements within a three-to-six-month window.
- Successful mobile development requires moving beyond cloning to master complex backend mechanics, economic balancing, and long-term retention models.
- True innovation in a saturated market is driven by rigorous market analysis and the identification of upward-trending genre combinations rather than content creation alone.
Two & a Half GamersMay 2024
Two & a Half Gamers56 min
Creative trends Q3, Merge mansion Japan, Admon tips, Habby: Souls review (#87)
Mobile gaming strategy currently centers on aggressive user acquisition through high-frequency creative refreshes and the strategic adoption of successful, genre-agnostic hooks.
- Mobile user acquisition strategy is shifting toward genre-agnostic creative hooks, such as physics-based puzzles and animal themes, to lower cost-per-install regardless of core gameplay alignment.
- Habby’s idle RPG 'Souls' generated $13 million in revenue between its August 2023 launch and the report date, maintaining a balanced 50/50 revenue split between Android and iOS.
- Technical stability is now a primary operational requirement, as publishers must meet strict Google Application Not Responding (ANR) thresholds to protect organic traffic from SDK-related crashes.
Two & a Half GamersMay 2024
Two & a Half Gamers43 min
From Hypercasual to Hybridcasual - The Estoty Portfolio story (#86)
Estoty has established itself as a major force in the mobile gaming sector, amassing over one billion downloads and 200 million active players through a strategic evolution from hypercasual titles like Johnny Trigger to more complex hybridcasual experiences.
- Estoty has transitioned from a hypercasual model to a hybridcasual strategy, focusing on refining a core 'arcade-survivor' gameplay loop across multiple titles with varying themes.
- The studio's shift to a direct-to-consumer model highlights the industry trend where developers are moving away from publishers like SayGames to retain control over their own UA and product roadmaps.
- The success of 'Alien Invasion' (scaled in October 2022) compared to a previous, failed fishing-themed iteration demonstrates that theme selection is a critical driver for lowering CPI and reaching a broader target audience.
Two & a Half GamersMay 2024
Two & a Half Gamers60 min
two & a half gamers session #6 - Supercell rant, why do fake ads work? UA fundamentals Q&A
Supercell’s recent financial performance, characterized by a 45 percent revenue increase to 2.24 billion dollars in 2021, masks underlying structural challenges.
- Supercell reported a 45 percent revenue increase to 2.24 billion dollars in 2021, yet the company faces structural stagnation due to a lack of new global title launches since Brawl Stars.
- Supercell is pivoting toward PC and console markets to modernize monetization and user acquisition strategies that previously prioritized brand purity over aggressive performance marketing.
- The mobile gaming industry is facing significant disruption from privacy changes, specifically the impending phase-out of advertising IDs on Google platforms.
Two & a Half GamersMay 2024
Two & a Half Gamers69 min
two & a half gamers session #5 - Surprise crypto comments & How to tackle soft launch stages?
The mobile gaming industry relies on a disciplined, three-phased soft launch strategy to ensure long-term viability before global expansion.
- A disciplined soft launch requires three distinct phases: technical validation of data integrity, retention milestone testing (Day 1, Day 7, and Day 30), and monetization validation in tier-one markets like the UK and Germany.
- Statistical significance for soft launch data requires a minimum of 400 to 500 daily installs to accurately determine if lifetime value exceeds customer acquisition costs.
- Long-term mobile game success relies on core gameplay mechanics and live operations rather than blockchain-based speculative financial layers, which often suffer from inflationary pressures that undermine sustainability.
Two & a Half GamersMay 2024
Two & a Half Gamers52 min
two & a half gamers session #4 - How to soft launch a mobile game Ad monetisation Perspective
The mobile gaming industry is undergoing a period of rapid expansion, with ad spending projected to reach $130 billion by 2025.
- Ad spending in the mobile gaming industry is projected to reach $130 billion by 2025, necessitating sophisticated monetization strategies as Meta’s dominance declines and platforms like TikTok rise.
- Developers should target a baseline of 60% player engagement with at least five ad impressions per daily active user to maximize revenue without increasing friction.
- To protect profit margins, publishers must maintain a competitive ad waterfall and obscure performance rankings from individual networks to prevent revenue leakage.
Two & a Half GamersMay 2024
Two & a Half Gamers42 min
Stash Special: loyalty programs, well-made web shops, frictionless user experience
The gaming industry is undergoing a strategic pivot toward direct-to-consumer web storefronts as developers seek to reclaim autonomy from platform gatekeepers.
- Developers are shifting to direct-to-consumer web storefronts to bypass platform commission structures and mitigate the impact of 'core technology' charges imposed by app store gatekeepers.
- This strategic pivot is driven by evolving regulatory frameworks, specifically the EU’s Digital Markets Act and recent legal rulings in the United States.
- Web-based storefronts are most critical for game titles where annual monetization per user exceeds five dollars, particularly within the strategy and social casino sectors.
Two & a Half GamersMay 2024
Deconstructor of Fun76 min
Supercell's Squad Busters - The Definitive Deconstruction
Squad Busters represents a pivotal attempt by Supercell to secure its next billion-dollar franchise, serving as a strategic response to the company’s need for revenue growth.
- Supercell developed Squad Busters as a strategic growth initiative to secure a new billion-dollar franchise, supported by a massive pre-registration campaign exceeding 40 million users.
- The game utilizes a lean, agile development model with a core team of approximately 30 people, focusing on rapid iteration and live operations.
- The core gameplay loop centers on a hectic, accessible sandbox experience featuring roguelike elements and randomized character sets that force real-time adaptation.
Deconstructor of FunMay 2024
Two & a Half Gamers65 min
How to grow IAP revenue by 375%? SayGames Special with Anton Volnykh
The transition from hyper-casual to hybrid-casual gaming represents a fundamental shift in operational strategy, prioritizing long-term product sustainability over rapid prototyping.
- SayGames has successfully shifted its business model from a hypercasual focus to hybrid-casual, resulting in a significant increase in In-App Purchase (IAP) revenue across its portfolio.
- The company supports its development teams by providing internal tools, including a proprietary analytics system and SDK, to help them transition from simple ad-based games to more complex hybrid-casual titles.
- Rather than taking over projects, SayGames nurtures internal expertise by guiding teams through the long-term development and scaling process of hybrid-casual games.
Two & a Half GamersMay 2024
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