How a Chinese Survivor.io Clone Is Printing $170K/Day in a Brutal Category?

We tear into Mech Assemble: Zombie Swarm, a high-performing “shoot ‘em up” that’s managing to out-earn Survivor.io in a red-ocean market. With nearly $4M monthly revenue, $170K/day at peak, and only ~12K daily downloads, the game is proof you can win with ruthless monetization, creative overload, and a mix of East + West appeal.

Key takeaways:

Category Killer: In a genre where most titles die after launch month, Mech Assemble is holding and scaling revenue.

Revenue Mix: 85%+ IAP with whales from the US, Japan (20%), South Korea, Taiwan, and Tier 1 EU. Ads add ~$14K/day.

Customization Hook: Fully movable, functional weapon placement on mechs — a novelty in the subgenre.

Onboarding Power Move: Classic “Asian onboarding” — start overpowered, then strip it away.

Aggressive Monetization: 200-pull pity timers, daily ad boosts, limited waifu offers, and multiple battle passes.

Creative Strategy: 500+ pages of creatives across TikTok, Google, and Facebook. Mix of AI-generated, meme-driven (Skibidi Toilet, Gundam knockoffs), and misleading playables.

UA Reality: CPIs hitting $30+ in US, mitigated by whale-heavy spending and blended campaigns. Downloads modest, but ARPDAU sky-high.

Why It Works: Strong East + West monetization, relentless creative testing, genre familiarity + novelty in mech customization.

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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

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 Episode

04:21 Exploring the Game: Make Assemble

07:16 Gameplay Mechanics and Features

10:10 Monetization Strategies and Revenue Insights

13:14 Customization and Player Engagement

16:08 Creative Marketing and User Acquisition

19:22 Comparative Analysis with Other Games

22:09 Future Predictions and Closing Thoughts

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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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