January 08, 2024

Hybrid casual Tower War: The evolution of core gameplay, growth & creatives, admon excellense (#93)

1 hour 6 minutes

This is no BS gaming podcast 2.5 gamers session #93. 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

Youtube: https://youtu.be/Gn49tbtPvYU

Join our slack channel here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://join.slack.com/t/two-and-half-gamers/shared_invite/zt-235cralar-rzJNo5gNa~yrYrrun7PDjQ

PGC Party signup - https://www.eventbrite.com/e/pgc-london-after-party-kwalee-x-bambassadors-x-two-a-half-gamers-tickets-788126897767?aff=oddtdtcreator

Agenda

00:00 Epic intro

01:25 Introduction and Game Overview

04:02 Tower War's Rapid Growth

05:29 Similarities with Other Games in the Genre

14:56 The Evolution of Tower War's Core Gameplay

19:48 Monetization and Hidden Features

25:13 Improvements and Missed Opportunities

26:51 Interstitial Ads and Gameplay

32:13 Different Approaches to Ad Placements

35:20 Ad Revenue Breakdown

38:31 Overall Evaluation and Rating

42:45 Creatives

46:13 Experimentation with Visual Styles

50:38 PvP and Hyper-Casual Headlines

53:48 Confusing Creatives and Inconsistent Visuals

54:24 Evolution of Games and Revenue

55:07 Game Revenue and Downloads

56:02 Top Games and Revenue

58:20 User Acquisition Channels

59:50 Advertising Spend on Facebook

01:01:25 UA Summary and Recommendations

01:02:45 Game Design and Progression

01:03:29 Retention and Long-Term Potential

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

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/⁠

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

Takeaways

Saygames has seen significant revenue growth, with the top month reaching over $5 million in IAP revenue.

My Perfect Hotel and Tower of War are the top games in terms of revenue and downloads.

User acquisition is primarily driven by Applovin, Google, and Facebook, with Mintegral and TikTok also playing a role.

Advertising spend on Facebook is relatively low in the US, indicating a focus on the EU markets.

The game's core gameplay and progression mechanics are strong, but there is room for improvement in adding more mechanics and progression layers.

Retention rates are relatively good, with around 40% on day one and 3% on day 60/90.

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

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]

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

If you are interested in getting UA tips every week on Monday, visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠lancaric.substack.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ & sign up for the Brutally Honest newsletter by Matej Lancaric

Latest article - https://open.substack.com/pub/lancaric/p/stay-ahead-in-ua-for-2024-my-top?r=7qqaf&utm_campaign=podcast&utm_medium=web&showWelcome=true

Do you have UA questions nobody can answer? Ask ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Matej AI⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ - the First UA AI in the gaming industry! https://lancaric.me/matej-ai

Felix Latest Article -

https://www.felixbraberg.com/post/the-end-of-gam-and-admob-placement-refreshes

...more

View all episodes

By Lancaric.me

33 ratings

January 08, 2024

Hybrid casual Tower War: The evolution of core gameplay, growth & creatives, admon excellense (#93)

1 hour 6 minutes

Youtube: https://youtu.be/Gn49tbtPvYU

Join our slack channel here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://join.slack.com/t/two-and-half-gamers/shared_invite/zt-235cralar-rzJNo5gNa~yrYrrun7PDjQ

PGC Party signup - https://www.eventbrite.com/e/pgc-london-after-party-kwalee-x-bambassadors-x-two-a-half-gamers-tickets-788126897767?aff=oddtdtcreator

Agenda

00:00 Epic intro

01:25 Introduction and Game Overview

04:02 Tower War's Rapid Growth

05:29 Similarities with Other Games in the Genre

14:56 The Evolution of Tower War's Core Gameplay

19:48 Monetization and Hidden Features

25:13 Improvements and Missed Opportunities

26:51 Interstitial Ads and Gameplay

32:13 Different Approaches to Ad Placements

35:20 Ad Revenue Breakdown

38:31 Overall Evaluation and Rating

42:45 Creatives

46:13 Experimentation with Visual Styles

50:38 PvP and Hyper-Casual Headlines

53:48 Confusing Creatives and Inconsistent Visuals

54:24 Evolution of Games and Revenue

55:07 Game Revenue and Downloads

56:02 Top Games and Revenue

58:20 User Acquisition Channels

59:50 Advertising Spend on Facebook

01:01:25 UA Summary and Recommendations

01:02:45 Game Design and Progression

01:03:29 Retention and Long-Term Potential

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

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/⁠

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

Takeaways

Saygames has seen significant revenue growth, with the top month reaching over $5 million in IAP revenue.

My Perfect Hotel and Tower of War are the top games in terms of revenue and downloads.

User acquisition is primarily driven by Applovin, Google, and Facebook, with Mintegral and TikTok also playing a role.

Advertising spend on Facebook is relatively low in the US, indicating a focus on the EU markets.

The game's core gameplay and progression mechanics are strong, but there is room for improvement in adding more mechanics and progression layers.

Retention rates are relatively good, with around 40% on day one and 3% on day 60/90.

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

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]

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

Latest article - https://open.substack.com/pub/lancaric/p/stay-ahead-in-ua-for-2024-my-top?r=7qqaf&utm_campaign=podcast&utm_medium=web&showWelcome=true

Do you have UA questions nobody can answer? Ask ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Matej AI⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ - the First UA AI in the gaming industry! https://lancaric.me/matej-ai

Felix Latest Article -

https://www.felixbraberg.com/post/the-end-of-gam-and-admob-placement-refreshes

...more