In this episode, we dive deep into the wild world of ad monetization trends in mobile gaming for 2025. From Vietnamese studios like ABI Games printing money daily to hypercasual reskins and even mobile rip-offs of popular Steam games, we break it all down.

🎮 Games Discussed:

Cooking Dom by ABI Games 🇻🇳

Merge Sticker Playbook by Lion Studios

Hamster Escape by Sunday Games

REPO Mobile (Steam-inspired horror)

Dreamy Rooms (IAP-driven ultra-casual)

Word Search Explorer by PlaySimple Games 💥

💰 Discover:

How some games are pulling $70K+ per day in ad revenue

Why Vietnam is crushing it in ad monetization

The rise of hybrid casual and reskin templates

How fake gameplay is being replaced with real engagement loops

Why retention is still king, and creative fatigue is deadly

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This is no BS gaming podcast 2.5 gamers session. Sharing actionable insights, dropping knowledge from our day-to-day User Acquisition, Game Design, and Ad monetization jobs. We are definitely not discussing the latest industry news, but having so much fun! Let’s not forget this is a 4 a.m. conference discussion vibe, so let's not take it too seriously.

Panelists: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Jakub Remia⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠r,⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Felix Braberg, Matej Lancaric⁠

Podcast:

Join our slack channel here: https://join.slack.com/t/two-and-half-gamers/shared_invite/zt-2um8eguhf-c~H9idcxM271mnPzdWbipg

Chapters

00:00 Introduction and Podcast Setup

04:23 Ad Monetization Trends Overview

06:05 Introduction and Game Overview

08:28 Deep Dive into Cooking Them by ABI Game Studios

11:27 Exploring Merge Sticker Playbook by Lion Studios

14:34 Hamster Escape: A New Puzzle Adventure

17:29 Repo Mobile: The Horror Co-op Game

19:26 The Rise of Little Company

22:26 Exploring Dreamy Rooms and Premium Models

25:28 Ad Revenue Insights and Game Monetization

29:20 Word Search Explorer's Success Story

32:30 Future Trends in Gaming and Monetization

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Matej Lancaric

User Acquisition & Creatives Consultant

⁠https://lancaric.me

Felix Braberg

Ad monetization consultant

⁠https://www.felixbraberg.com

Jakub Remiar

Game design consultant

⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/jakubremiar

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