Mobile reports and market data
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How to maximise mobile game revenue with Firebase and AdMob
Mobile game development faces significant operational friction due to the proliferation of disparate software development kits, which often distract developers from core gameplay design.
- Avid gamers represent only 35% of the total gaming population but generate 69% of total industry revenue.
- Avid gamers are significantly more likely to discover new titles through YouTube and Google search compared to light gamers.
- Consolidating backend management, user acquisition, and monetization tools into a unified ecosystem reduces technical overhead and allows developers to focus on core gameplay design.
Games marketing for the sophisticated buyer
Mobile gaming is a rapidly expanding sector, with projections indicating that 77% of mobile users will engage in smartphone gaming by 2019. Despite this growth, the industry faces significant monetization challenges.
- Mobile gaming is a high-growth sector projected to reach 77% of all mobile users by 2019.
- Developers must utilize third-party attribution systems to verify ROI and justify marketing spend, as attempting acquisition without these tools is the industry's most common failure point.
- Effective monetization requires moving beyond basic install tracking to analyze granular in-app events, such as specific currency usage and item purchases.
Advertising is a tax on the poor, and that’s OK
The mobile gaming industry faces significant challenges regarding user acquisition and retention, characterized by high costs and low conversion rates.
- Fewer than 2% of mobile game users make in-app purchases, necessitating advertising as a primary monetization strategy for the remaining 98% of the user base.
- Providing real-world rewards like coupons or discounts is the most effective advertising strategy because it offers tangible value that extends beyond the game environment.
- Delivering ads during positive gameplay milestones, such as leveling up or achieving high scores, increases the perceived value of the user's time and improves engagement.
Pokémon GO - Designing for the Real World - Extra Credits
The rapid rise of augmented reality games, exemplified by the massive popularity of Pokémon GO, necessitates a fundamental shift in design philosophy to prioritize real-world safety.
- Developers must prioritize real-world safety in augmented reality games to prevent physical hazards and avoid restrictive government legislation.
- Implementing crowdsourced safety tools allows users to flag dangerous terrain, triggering visual alerts that break immersion to restore player situational awareness.
- Developers should integrate robust safety features for vulnerable players, including parental proximity-tracking, panic buttons, and established emergency protocols for law enforcement cooperation.
Hacking the human brain – Irrational thinking will triple your game revenue
The core thesis of this analysis is that game developers can significantly increase revenue by applying principles of behavioral economics and cognitive psychology to their monetization strategies.
- Strategic application of behavioral economics and decoy pricing can increase in-game revenue by up to 425% compared to standard, non-optimized payment interfaces.
- Developers can drive higher-value purchases by using psychological anchors and relative comparisons rather than relying on the absolute value of in-game currency packages.
- Labeling specific purchase tiers as 'most popular' or 'best offer' effectively nudges players toward higher-priced options by leveraging predictable cognitive biases.
Maximising ad revenue through the next generation of Mobile advertising
Mobile game developers can unlock significant new revenue streams by shifting from traditional interstitial and video advertising toward immersive, brand-sponsored gameplay experiences.
- Mobile game developers can generate higher revenue by replacing traditional interstitial ads with immersive, brand-sponsored gameplay experiences integrated via server-side architecture.
- A Scattergories campaign with Universal Studios generated 16.5 million impressions, exceeding its 12 million-impression goal and producing six-figure revenue that outperformed standard advertising models.
- Branded content drives deep user engagement, as evidenced by Scattergories players participating in themed tournaments an average of 16.3 times with session lengths reaching 33 minutes.
How in-game events can boost your monetisation, retention and gameplay variety
In-game events serve as a critical mechanism for mobile game developers to drive long-term engagement, revenue, and gameplay variety.
- Implement a server-side event system independent of core client code to enable rapid iteration, feature testing, and real-time responses to player feedback without permanent structural changes.
- Drive monetization by aligning high-value, limited-time bundles with event schedules to capitalize on periods of peak player engagement.
- Increase retention by segmenting event complexity, offering high-coordination challenges for veteran players and simpler objectives to facilitate onboarding for novices.
KamaGames on keeping millions of social casino game players entertained for the long-term
Social casino gaming operates as a distinct sector within the mobile industry, prioritizing entertainment and social connectivity over financial risk.
- Social casino games function as play-for-fun environments that prioritize entertainment and social connectivity over financial risk, as users cannot cash out their winnings.
- The business model thrives in regions with strict real-money gambling regulations, such as North America and the Middle East, by offering a risk-free alternative for casino-style gaming.
- KamaGames maintains player trust by utilizing certified random number generators that adhere to the same rigorous standards required by real-money gambling operators.
How Rovio spent five years making The Angry Birds Movie
The Angry Birds Movie represents a significant milestone in Rovio’s strategy to expand its intellectual property beyond mobile gaming.
- Rovio successfully transitioned its business model from premium games to a free-to-play, service-oriented approach between 2014 and 2015.
- The Angry Birds Movie, developed over five years with expertise from Marvel Studios veterans, opened at number one in 52 countries and became the third-highest-grossing imported animated film in China at the time.
- The company now utilizes a data-driven strategy for live operations, prioritizing key performance indicators and rigorous soft-launch processes to refine gameplay before global releases.
Appodeal on the best types of mobile ads and what the future holds for the ad space
Appodeal provides a programmatic monetization solution designed to simplify mobile ad integration for developers.
- Appodeal’s programmatic mediation platform uses a single SDK to aggregate over 35 ad providers, automating the selection of the highest-yielding ad networks in real-time.
- Dynamic mediation replaces manual 'waterfall' processes by analyzing geographic and user-segment data to ensure optimal fill rates and revenue performance.
- Rewarded videos are the most effective format for long-term monetization, as they allow users to sample premium features and increase the likelihood of future in-app purchases.
How The Specialist Works tracks mobile app downloads from TV ads
The Specialist Works provides a framework for integrating offline media, specifically television, into mobile user acquisition strategies.
- The Specialist Works enables performance-based TV advertising by correlating broadcast schedules with organic download spikes to attribute mobile installs to specific TV spots.
- Attribution is achieved by establishing baseline organic download rates and monitoring deviations within specific windows following a broadcast.
- Once installs are attributed to a TV spot, mobile SDKs track post-install metrics like lifetime value, retention, and in-app purchases to measure campaign ROI.
How to get funding to set up a games company in British Columbia
British Columbia offers a robust ecosystem of financial support for game studios, centered on a strategic combination of federal grants, provincial tax credits, and specialized labor incentives.
- The Canada Media Fund offers competitive grants of up to $1.2 million for innovative projects, contingent upon the studio providing 25 percent in matching funds.
- Studios can claim a 17.5 percent Interactive Digital Media Tax Credit on eligible labor costs to reduce operational expenses.
- Fiscal stability can be enhanced by stacking the Interactive Digital Media Tax Credit with federal Scientific Research and Experimental Development (SR&ED) tax credits.