We dissect the phenomenon of FPS Strike, a low-poly, Counter-Strike-inspired mobile shooter racking up more than 4 million DAU, mostly across India, Pakistan, Brazil, Egypt, and Southeast Asia. Despite its massive scale, nearly everything about the game is stuck in the “admon nightmare” zone—zero iOS presence, almost no user acquisition, unoptimized ad stack, endless rewarded ads, and zero LiveOps. Yet, even with all those gaps, it is still a money-printing machine, generating $30,000 to $50,000 a day, primarily from video ads and interstitials.

What’s inside:

Ad Stack Trainwreck

Ads Everywhere, Little Monetization

Creative and UA Fail

Fake Counter-Strike, Real Results: The “nostalgia” is more about experiencing a shooter for the first time on mobile, not actual Counter-Strike memories. Simple graphics, bots for everyone, and a skin shop that barely matters.

Key Takeaway:

You do not need next-gen graphics or live PVP to win in Tier 3. But if you do not optimize your ad stack, creatives, and UA, you are burning money every day. FPS Strike is a case study in “good enough” that could be so much more.

Get our MERCH NOW: 25gamers.com/shop

--------------------------------------

PVX Partners offers non-dilutive funding for game developers.

Go to: https://pvxpartners.com/

They can help you access the most effective form of growth capital once you have the metrics to back it.

- Scale fast

- Keep your shares

- Drawdown only as needed

- Have PvX take downside risk alongside you

+ Work with a team entirely made up of ex-gaming operators and investors

---------------------------------------

Vibe. Vibe is the leading Streaming TV ad platform for small and medium-sized businesses looking for actionable advertising campaign performance.

https://www.vibe.co/

---------------------------------------

For an ever-growing number of game developers, this means that now is the perfect time to invest in monetizing direct-to-consumer at scale.

Our sponsor FastSpring:

Has delivered D2C at scale for over 20 years

They power top mobile publishers around the world

Launch a new webstore, replace an existing D2C vendor, or add a redundant D2C vendor at fastspring.gg.

---------------------------------------

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 to the Game Landscape

04:42 Analyzing Game Metrics and User Engagement

07:38 Gameplay Mechanics and User Experience

10:38 Monetization Strategies and Ad Integration

13:36 Game Features and User Retention Strategies

18:27 The Importance of Monetization Strategies

21:08 Ad Revenue Insights and Optimization

24:51 Maximizing Ad Stack Efficiency

27:37 User Engagement and Retention Strategies

31:38 Influencer Marketing and Organic Growth

35:34 Game Mechanics and Player Experience

38:42 Future of FPS Games and Industry Trends

---------------------------------------

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

---------------------------------------

Please share the podcast with your industry friends, dogs & cats. Especially cats! They love it!

Hit the Subscribe button on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple!

Please share feedback and comments - [email protected]