User Acquisition reports and market data
1,364 documents·55 writers·3,211 charts and tables
Documents
PocketGamer.biz29 min
In the Hot Seat: Three ways Western developers are leaving a fortune on the table in China
Western game developers often struggle to penetrate the Chinese market due to a fundamental misunderstanding of its unique operational landscape, which frequently results in significant lost revenue.
- China represents approximately 20% of global player spending and 38% of total market growth, yet many Western studios fail to enter the market due to a lack of dedicated local resources.
- Successful entry into the Chinese mobile market requires a dedicated team of three to five people to manage the significant technical support and localization work necessary for local partnerships.
- Unlike the Western model of soft-launching to improve metrics, the Chinese market utilizes a 'wishlist' system where games build massive pre-launch interest over six months to trigger millions of day-one downloads.
PocketGamer.bizJul 2026
PocketGamer.biz47 min
How Different Are UA & Monetisation Strategies In Eastern And Western Markets?
User acquisition and monetization strategies diverge significantly between Eastern and Western markets, driven by distinct platform ecosystems and consumer behaviors.
- The mobile gaming industry is currently dominated by legacy titles, with new game launches struggling to break into the top 10 charts on the App Store and Google Play due to high development costs and market saturation.
- Western user acquisition is heavily concentrated on Meta, Google, and TikTok, creating a 'single basket' risk where publishers struggle to scale or attribute performance due to IDFA and privacy-related data limitations.
- Direct-to-consumer (DTC) web stores are becoming a critical strategy for publishers to increase profitability by bypassing platform fees, despite ongoing legal uncertainty surrounding Apple and Epic Games' court battles.
PocketGamer.bizJul 2026
How To Market A Game96 min
Live Q&A: Steam Next Fest, AI Slop, Getitng wishlists
The independent game development landscape currently offers a unique window of opportunity, characterized by a high demand for quality titles that prioritize gameplay depth over excessive production values.
- The most critical marketing decision for Steam success is genre selection, as Steam's PC-centric player base generally under-indexes on fast-twitch, arcade-style shooters in favor of deep, slow-paced, or management-heavy titles.
- Steam players prioritize original visual experiences; using store-bought assets is a significant deterrent in genres like Metroidvanias, RPGs, or Souls-likes where exploration of a unique world is a core expectation.
- Avoid launching immediately after Steam Next Fest, as the high volume of developers attempting this strategy creates excessive competition that diminishes individual visibility.
How To Market A GameJul 2026
Thomas Brush55 min
His Dream Game Flopped... And Then Made $200,000+ In 2 Months (w/ Mateo Covic) — Ep 71
The modern indie game landscape increasingly rewards a bifurcated development strategy that balances high-fidelity, ambitious projects with rapid, viral-focused titles.
- Mateo Covic's 'friend slop' game, Paddle Paddle Paddle, generated over $200,000 in revenue within two months, significantly outperforming his previous niche projects.
- Multiplayer 'friend slop' games currently trend well on Steam because they offer casual, accessible fun that appeals to streamers and their audiences, unlike more complex or niche titles.
- Effective marketing for Paddle Paddle Paddle relied on a publisher-led strategy that included professional cover art, targeted influencer outreach, and building a community around a demo prior to launch.
Thomas BrushJul 2026
PocketGamer.biz43 min
Panel: Beyond Play: What Can Games & Apps Learn From Each Other?
The gaming and application sectors are increasingly converging, driven by a mutual need to optimize user retention and monetization within a highly competitive attention economy.
- Game studios should adopt non-gaming app strategies for lifecycle management, as many top publishers have only recently begun implementing win-back campaigns for lapsed players despite possessing vast amounts of real-time behavioral data.
- Non-gaming apps can improve user retention by integrating intrinsic motivators from positive psychology and gamification, moving beyond simple rewards to foster emotional connections and community-driven engagement.
- Hybrid monetization models are becoming standard, with apps like Duolingo generating 10% of revenue from in-app purchases while using ads to drive growth, and platforms like Tinder allowing users to watch ads to bypass paywalls.
PocketGamer.bizJul 2026
Mobile Dev Memo45 min
S07, E24: Understanding rewarded user acquisition (with Tricia Han and Sampsa Jaatinen)
Rewarded user acquisition has transitioned from a niche Android-centric tactic into a sophisticated, primary growth engine for the global mobile gaming industry.
- Rewarded user acquisition has evolved from a niche strategy representing 1-2% of mobile gaming ad spend five years ago into a primary growth engine for the industry.
- The shift toward rewarded UA is driven by the ability to leverage rich, post-install behavioral data to optimize engagement and long-term retention, which is superior to the limited signals available in traditional ad networks.
- Machine learning and AI engines are now essential to manage rewarded ecosystems, specifically by determining the optimal timing and nature of rewards to ensure users are incentivized to discover new games without disrupting their current engagement.
Mobile Dev MemoJul 2026
Two & a Half Gamers19 min
🟥🟩🟨🟦Did Block Blast finally peaked? And why they added 7 more minigames??? 👀 by Jakub Remiar
Block Blast has reached a critical inflection point in its lifecycle, transitioning from a singular viral hit into a diversified games portal.
- Block Blast has reached a natural scale ceiling, with daily active users (DAU) stabilizing at approximately 50 million after peaking at 56 million.
- The developer has pivoted to a 'no-wifi' games portal model by integrating eight minigames, such as Fruit Merge and Sudoku, to maximize retention and leverage existing traffic.
- User acquisition has significantly downscaled, with active creatives dropping from 30,000 in December 2024 to 5,000, and daily downloads falling from 1.5 million to 600,000.
Two & a Half GamersJul 2026
Thomas Brush22 min
My Game Just Got 100,000 Wishlists... Here's How To Do It
Achieving 100,000 wishlists on Steam requires a multifaceted strategy that prioritizes algorithmic visibility and clear market positioning.
- Steam's internal algorithm is the primary driver for high-volume wishlists, particularly when external traffic from events like Steam Next Fest signals to the platform that a game is gaining traction.
- The 'Trinity Hook' framework—consisting of a visual hook, a mechanical hook, and a story hook—is essential for capturing user attention quickly on a Steam page, which is critical for converting page visits into wishlists.
- Leveraging Steam Next Fest by launching a demo and coordinating streamer coverage is a highly effective strategy for climbing the platform's charts and generating significant wishlist growth.
Thomas BrushJul 2026
Deconstructor of Fun31 min
The Mobile vs Web User Acquisition: What Nobody's Talking About
The gaming industry is undergoing a fundamental shift toward a unified marketing infrastructure that bridges the historical divide between mobile, web, and console platforms.
- The gaming industry is shifting toward a unified marketing infrastructure that standardizes attribution metrics across mobile, web, and console platforms to eliminate fragmented, platform-specific tools.
- Developers are increasingly applying mobile-centric performance optimization strategies to web-based direct-to-consumer shops to diversify acquisition channels beyond mobile-only environments.
- AI-driven automation is transitioning from simple rule-based campaign management to handling complex, large-scale data synthesis and repetitive tasks like reporting and creative production.
Deconstructor of FunJul 2026
Two & a Half Gamers39 min
🎮 Path of Kings review: Voodoo's midcore pivot is real
Voodoo is executing a deliberate strategic pivot from its origins in casual puzzle games toward the midcore market, leveraging idle RPG mechanics to capture a broader audience.
- Voodoo is executing a strategic pivot from casual puzzle games to the midcore market, with its broader midcore portfolio now generating $25 million in monthly revenue.
- Path of Kings serves as a key case study for this transition, currently generating approximately $30,000 in daily revenue through idle RPG mechanics and gear progression.
- The publisher utilizes AI-generated creative assets to facilitate rapid user acquisition and high-volume testing of marketing concepts.
Two & a Half GamersJul 2026
Naavik64 min
Can Performance Marketing Finally Work On Steam?
PC and console gaming are undergoing a fundamental shift as they transition from traditional, brand-heavy marketing toward the performance-driven acquisition models that have long dominated the mobile sector.
- Performance-based marketing is projected to account for up to 50% of publisher marketing budgets within the next five years.
- Empirical data from over 100 titles indicates that paid traffic on Steam is comparable in quality to organic traffic.
- Studios are overcoming Steam's lack of native ad infrastructure by using mobile-first funnels, conversion APIs, and cross-device fingerprinting to track user acquisition.
NaavikJul 2026
PocketGamer.biz22 min
Session: How to Make a Successful Web Game in 2026: What Actually Works - R. Dincer & R. Morgan.
The web gaming industry is undergoing a significant evolution, characterized by increased accessibility and a shift toward higher-fidelity experiences.
- Web games are increasingly viable for developers, with platforms like Crazy Games managing over 5,000 partners and receiving approximately 2,500 game submissions per month.
- Browser-based gaming maintains a strong desktop presence, with desktop users accounting for 65% to 70% of the audience on platforms like Crazy Games.
- Game performance and accessibility are critical for retention, as large, unoptimized projects often lose half their potential audience before the game even starts.
PocketGamer.bizJul 2026