Ball X-Pit is one of the most creative roguelite hits on Steam - a blend of Arkanoid, Vampire Survivors, and base-building meta that delivers insane depth. In this episode, we dive into the full gameplay loop, the fission/fusion/evolution system, the “two games in one” base mechanic, and why this could be a massive mobile hit if executed properly.

What you’ll learn

• How Ball X-Pit sold 367k units & $4.4M in under a week

• Why its roguelite mechanics go deeper than Balatro/MegaBong

• How fission → evolution → fusion creates multi-layer combos

• The innovative base-building/harvesting system

• Why it’s trending on Steam, TikTok, Reddit, and Twitch

• Why this will definitely come to mobile

• Why Devolver publishing matters for reach & discovery

Key takeaway

Ball X-Pit proves that roguelites can still innovate - especially when they merge physics, skill, and deep buildcraft with a completely new meta layer.

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

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

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 — What is Ball X-Pit & why it’s trending

04:20 — Roguelite design: fission, fusion, evolution mechanics

10:56 — Combat depth: balls, builds, synergies, boss fights

17:56 — The base-building metagame (the real innovation)

26:50 — Why this could work on mobile + final thoughts

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

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]

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

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

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

This week’s Breaking News covers the wildest stories from mobile gaming, ad tech, privacy, and monetization. From brand-new global launches (Bleach, Resident Evil, Villains Robot) to Unity’s new ad-tech push, to JamCity’s $1.4M CCPA fine — Matej breaks it down with zero fluff.

What you’ll learn

• Bleach: Soul Resonance launches with millions of preregs

• Resident Evil Survival Unit hits 1M downloads in 48 hours + $150K/day

• Real Farm Craft expansion (but almost no revenue)

• Villains Robot BR + blockchain weirdness

• Molang: Match & Munch launches (and makes $100/day)

• Unity’s “Vector” returns again + new ad ecosystem tools

• Playable ads → the next $124B brand frontier

• JamCity fined $1.4M for CCPA violations

• Why e-commerce brands are now using playables

Get our MERCH NOW: 25gamers.com/shop

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

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 — Intro

00:18 — Bleach: Soul Resonance launch

01:00 — Real Farm Craft expansion

01:38 — Villains Robot Battle Royale

02:20 — Resident Evil Survival Unit hits 1M downloads

03:10 — Molang Match & Munch release

03:45 — Seven Deadly Sins Grand Cross update

04:20 — Zombies, Run rights reacquired

04:55 — Paysafe adds Brazil payments

05:25 — DC Dark Legion Thanksgiving event

05:55 — Solo Leveling Winter update

06:30 — Unity ad-tech announcements

07:35 — JamCity fined $1.4M

08:55 — Playable ads become brand frontier

09:40 — Apple pushes playables into e-commerce

10:20 — Wrap-up

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

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]

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

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

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

West Game 2 is the first real King Shot clone built by a Chinese 4X team acquired by Tripledot, layered on top of Frozen City / Whiteout Survival onboarding, and wrapped in Western cowboy aesthetics.

In this breakdown, we dive into:

• Full onboarding → Lucky Luke opener → King Shot 1:1 copy

• Frozen City mechanics, chapter quests, invasion timers

• Why 4X innovation happens only in onboarding, not the core

• Webshops & D2C: now up to 50% of revenue for some studios

• The creative madness: Red Dead cinematics, Idle Lumber, Goblins, Save the Dog, Lens of Jail, ASMR mining, drama Playrix, Sims life-sims, TikTok memes

• Why running 1000 creatives in 30 days is “normal” now

• And how they cloned King Shot’s onboarding in under 7 months

Key takeaway

West Game 2 is proof: onboarding = everything. Whoever controls the first 10 minutes controls CPI… and 4X revenue.

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

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

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

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

Chapters

00:00 — Why West Game 2 Matters: The First Real King Shot Clone

04:20 — Onboarding Breakdown: Lucky Luke → King Shot → Frozen City Mix

10:45 — The Chinese Production Engine: 1000 Creatives in 30 Days

18:00 — Creative Chaos: Red Dead Cinematics, Goblins, Idle ASMR & More

23:30 — The New 4X Meta: Onboarding beats Gameplay + Webshops Rising

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

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]

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

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

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 delivers a 30-minute solo masterclass on how the top-grossing mobile games use ads, revealing the real truth:

Only 14 of the Top 100 IAP games use in-game ads.

This is shocking considering the category earned $2.6B in the last 30 days — likely over $3.6B when counting D2C webstores. Yet only 55M of the 660M DAU are exposed to ads.

The episode breaks down each of those 14 games, but uncovers three major meta-shifts.

This episode reveals how Candy Crush, Coin Master, Gossip Harbor, Merge Mansion, Homa, June’s Journey, and more use segmentation, boosters, energy, timers, SkipIt tickets, Remove Ads bundles, and hybrid strategies to unlock millions in incremental ad revenue.

This is the most practical breakdown of how ads work at the highest tier of mobile gaming.

What you’ll learn

• How Candy Crush earns $200M+ yearly from ads

• Why only 14 of the top 100 IAP games use ads (and why that’s changing)

• The difference between Western “premium illusion” mindset vs Chinese “data-first” mindset

• SkipIt tickets → now invading midcore and puzzle (June’s Journey)

• Remove Ads Bundles (iKIM, Capybara Go, Merge Prison)

• Why merge, match, and puzzle rely on energy boosters & timers

• How to segment ads by GEO, payer probability & time since last IAP

• The next wave of hybrid monetization

The future isn’t “ads OR IAP.”

The winning studios are mastering ads + IAP, using segmentation, bundles, SkipIts, and hybrid models to grow revenue without hurting payers.

Get our MERCH NOW: 25gamers.com/shop

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

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 — intro

02:00 — Candy Crush & Coin Master: The Segmentation Masters

05:20 — Merge & Match: Energy, Boosters, and Rewarded Moves

10:00 — SkipIt Tickets & Remove Ads Bundles Take Over

14:30 — Chinese Studios vs Western Studios: Mindset Split

19:10 — Subscriptions, Ad-Free Bundles & Perk Stacking

23:30 — The New Hybrid Meta: Ads + IAP → The Future

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

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]

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

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

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

This is the ultimate AI creative breakdown: 112 creatives in 36 minutes.

Jakub, Matej, and Felix review the best (and worst) AI-generated ads across rise of castles clones, tasty travels madness, fluffy animals, Pixar-style mutations, fake physics, and high-production AI cinematics that now rival outsourcing studios.

AI is no longer “experimental.”

It is the creative pipeline.

What you’ll learn

• How to spot AI in 2025 (lighting errors, physics breaks, muscle glitches)

• The new top AI hooks (animals, food, POV inward movement, waifus, chaos)

• The rise of “high-production AI” replacing studio cinematics

• Why Rise of Castles, Golden Goblins, Tasty Travels, and Whiteout Survival dominate AI usage

• How top teams use loras, inpainting, upscaling & 20-step workflows

• The new East–West gap in creative production

• Why by end of 2026, 50% of ads will be AI-driven

• And the moment Candy Crush uses AI bear attacks 😅

Key takeaway

AI creatives are no longer a gimmick. They’re a production system, and the studios that master workflows will own the CPI curve.

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

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

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

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

00:00 — AI jokes

02:30 — Spotting AI: Botox faces, broken physics, weird lighting

04:00 — Tasty Travels deep dive: AI characters, mutation loops, animal overload

07:40 — AI pets, fluffy rabbits, “cuteness overload” & why animals = low CPI

09:20 — AI POV trends: camera moving towards the object, not the player

11:00 — Rise of Castles AI: medieval films, flying swords, fake Warcraft scenes

14:40 — Engine-quality AI creatives (text errors, menu artifacts, but insane quality)

16:00 — How top teams build AI workflows (loras, upscaling, inpainting, layering)

18:50 — God-hand AI creatives, bear rescues, cinematic transitions

25:00 — Whiteout Survival hooks: 2D, 3D, transitions, smooth animations

27:20 — Idle Lumber & Golden Goblins: the kings of AI hooks

29:00 — Horror hooks, brain-rot, Tom the Train nightmares

30:20 — Full-length AI creatives: stitched shots, Olympics watermarks (!?)

34:00 — Why Western studios are late & who dominates the meta

35:40 — Final insights: AI catching up to real cinematics

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]

In this week’s News Navigator, Jakub breaks down the biggest global gaming stories from November 17th. Apple tries its own WeChat-style mini-app ecosystem. Unity and Epic shock the industry with a collaboration nobody saw coming. Roblox revamps age restrictions. Google Play crowns Pokémon TCG Pocket as Game of the Year after $1B+ in revenue. And Ubisoft’s trading halt hints at a looming plot twist.

What you’ll learn

• How Apple’s 15% MiniApps program works

• Why Unity & Epic are suddenly “friends”

• The new rules for US third-party payments

• Roblox’s age-based chat brackets and moderation strategy

• The insane scale of Pokémon TCG Pocket

• Why Ubisoft halted trading and delayed earnings

• Why the AI bubble isn’t slowing down (NVIDIA’s numbers)

Key takeaway

The industry is shifting toward open ecosystems, cross-engine collaboration, and safer platforms—while the biggest revenue wins still come from IP heavyweights and AI-driven infrastructure.

Get our MERCH NOW: 25gamers.com/shop

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

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 — Cold open: Welcome to News Navigator

00:15 — Apple MiniApps Program explained

02:00 — Why MiniApps work in China (but may struggle in the West)

03:10 — Unity & Epic partnership: what it really means

05:00 — D2C & payments: Stash x Galleon, Google ruling

06:10 — Roblox age-based chat brackets

07:00 — Google Play Awards: Pokémon TCG Pocket hits $1B+

08:00 — Vampire Survivors deckbuilder spin-off

08:40 — NVIDIA’s monstrous $57B AI quarter

09:10 — Dark Horse: Ubisoft trading halt mystery

10:00 — Wrap-up: Stay two and a half steps ahead

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

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]

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

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

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

Level Devil (solo dev) proves that level design is a UA channel. The game’s “troll but fair” traps create clips that people have to share, fueling TikTok/YouTube reach with essentially zero paid spend.

Monetization is light: interstitials triggered by deaths on a cooldown, occasional rewarded skip, one ad network (Unity), no mediation.

We est.: $5–7K/day; with mediation + a couple of safe placements, $11–14K/day looks realistic.

What we cover

• How the level-design craft creates infinite hooks (rage → laughs → shares)

• The actual ad logic (death-based interstitials; rewarded skip after streak)

• Why copycats fail (it’s the hours-per-trap polish, not the theme)

• Monetization gaps (no mediation; limited placements) and easy wins

• Viral geos & creator angles (Brazil/ES longform shout-casts = IPM rocket fuel)

When the product manufactures shareable moments, you don’t need paid UA to grow - just enough monetization hygiene (mediation + safe placements) to convert all that free attention.

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

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

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

00:00 — Cold open: product-led growth in a troll platformer

01:20 — The solo-dev story and why it resonates

03:10 — Virality loop: die → laugh → share → install

06:15 — Core monetization today: death-based interstitials + rewarded skip

09:40 — What’s missing: no mediation, limited placements

12:05 — Safe add-ons: menu banner, app-open, regional “remove banners” IAP

15:10 — Creator/geography angles (why BR/ES clips pop)

18:30 — Retention pattern and how level craft sustains it

22:10 — Why copycats fail: the craft, not the theme

34:00 — Wrap-up: ops to turn virality into $$$

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

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]

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

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

In this solo episode, Matej walks through the exact step-by-step method he uses to launch successful Meta (Facebook) UA campaigns in 2025. From SDK setup to event engineering, targeting, budgets, creative strategy, and daily management - this is the “MVP strategy” every UA manager needs.

Direct links to step-by-step guides:

https://lancaric.substack.com/p/mvp-ua-template-i-want-to-launch

https://lancaric.substack.com/p/mvp-ua-iaa-template-i-want-to-launch?triedRedirect=true

https://lancaric.substack.com/p/creative-brief-template-7-creative

Softlaunch E-BOOK: https://payhip.com/b/fJi9E

What you’ll learn

• Minimum viable tracking setup (Facebook SDK, Firebase, MMPs)

• How to build meaningful event combinations (WY S WYG)

• Purchase-optimized vs. app-event optimized campaigns

• How to structure T1, T2, and ROW for better learning

• Targeting that still works in 2025 (broad, genre interest, lookalikes)

• Budget pacing rules and when to scale

• 3 starting concepts → 9 ad variations

• Using AI hooks, memes, UGC & dev-cam videos

• Daily operations: When you should do nothing

• Moving from AEO to value optimization

• Live example: Creating a full Meta campaign

Actionable checklist

Integrate Facebook SDK + Firebase + MMP.

Build 5–10 event combinations (engagement + monetization).

Start with 3 concepts → 9 variations.

Use T1 (US/UK/DE/CA/AU/NZ/KR/JP) + ROW.

Don’t scale before day 3–5 stability.

Check KPIs 2–3× per day, not hourly.

Switch to value optimization once you have depth of payers.

Key takeaway

Your UA performance is defined by the events you send, the creatives you test early, and how fast you can validate your first 3 concepts.

Get our MERCH NOW: 25gamers.com/shop

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

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 — Cold open & why this solo episode matters

00:40 — The original problem: “Where do I start with Meta UA?”

01:20 — Tracking essentials (SDKs, MMP, events you MUST send)

03:00 — WYSIWYG: “What You Send Is What You Get” explained

04:20 — Event combinations that actually help Facebook find payers

05:40 — Purchase vs. App Event optimization: when to use each

07:00 — Geo setup: US, Tier 1, ROW, and why you always need all three

08:10 — Targeting in 2025: broad, interests, lookalikes (what still works)

09:30 — Budgets: first 7-day rules & how not to break learning

11:00 — Creative framework: 3 concepts → 9 ad variations

12:30 — What concepts to start with (gameplay+finger, AI hooks, UGC/dev-cam)

14:00 — Creative iterations: hooks, pacing, soundtrack, memes

15:10 — Daily UA workflow: why “doing nothing” is sometimes the best move

16:40 — When to switch to value optimization (signals + payer depth)

18:00 — Live walkthrough: building a Meta campaign step-by-step

19:20 — Final advice

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

Matej Lancaric

User Acquisition & Creatives Consultant

⁠https://lancaric.me

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

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

This month’s creative trends episode exposes the real state of mobile UA:

We’ve officially entered the Era of Creative Theft 2.0 - not “heavily inspired,” but direct 1:1 stolen ads, chopped end cards, mirrored clips, watermarks still visible… and nobody cares because they convert 4-5× better.

Three mega-trends emerge:

1) The “Stolen but Performing” Era

• Social casino, idle, 4X… everyone is lifting creatives from other genres.

• Teams aren’t even recreating the concept - they’re copying the whole video, trimming it, mirroring it, or leaving the watermark.

• Networks don’t police it, platforms don’t care, and small studios can’t compete with the CPI gap.

2) The Golden Age of ASMR / Wood / Cleaning Satisfiers

• The “Idle Lumber” effect: anything with chopping, slicing, scrubbing, wood, logs, dust → crushing low CPI.

3) The King Shot → Royal Kingdom → Everyone Else Pipeline

• King Shot’s onboarding + mass battle + RTS-style transitions have reshaped the entire industry’s ads.

• Royal Kingdom straight-up used the formula for a match-3 playable.

• 4X games (Last War, Last Z, Total Battle) are adopting the mass-battle → puzzle fusion.

Key takeaway

The best-performing creatives aren’t the most original - they’re the most optimized. The industry now rewards speed, iteration, theft-based inspiration, and cross-genre pattern-breaking above everything else.

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

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

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

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

Chapters

00:00 — Hook: The “Creative Theft Era” has arrived

01:30 — Missing a month & why trends feel different now

03:10 — ASMR cleaning & wood: why the motif is everywhere

05:20 — Exposed: 1:1 stolen creatives (no end cards, mirrored, trimmed)

08:40 — Why theft works: CPI vs LTV beats morals

11:50 — The ecosystem problem: no creative police, no consequences

14:30 — New industry rule: cross-genre stealing = normal

17:40 — King Shot → Royal Kingdom → Everyone copy

30:10 — The future: watermark creatives, mirror hacks, and AI hooks

43:00 — Wrap-up: where the creative meta goes next

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

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]

We break down Supercell’s new twin-stick “boat game” (second alpha): a PvE → PvPvE loop where we farm island quests, haul up to three chests on a fast boat, and can flip a “go bad” switch to steal other players’ chests - triggering bounties and protections for non-PK players (revenge respawns).

What works

Fast, readable boating and clear risk/reward moments when we carry 2–3 chests.

A theft moment (“go bad”) that can create highlight-reel clips for UA if tuned right.

What doesn’t (yet)

Flat progression (gear score + light passives/chips) limits long-term goals.

Ultra-light economy and shaky matchmaking make the loop feel aimless/punishing.

Audience fit feels unclear (Gen-Z, Fortnite-lite vibe vs. strategy/4X loyalists).

Market lens

Supercell’s portfolio still leans on legacy hits; competitors with genre focus + aggressive UA (e.g., strategy/4X) scale more reliably.

Without deeper economies, UA-product co-design, and a clearer genre thesis, this boat may never scale past alpha.

Key takeaway

Depth beats novelty. We need deeper economy + UA-ready moments or this won’t sail beyond alpha.

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

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

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

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

Chapters

00:00 Why this alpha matters

01:10 Core loop—quests → 3 chests → extract

05:00 Twin-stick feel & aiming on mobile

07:40 Progression—gear score, passives, chips

10:50 “Go bad” theft, bounties, anti-grief

15:30 Matchmaking & PvE→PvPvE tension

19:10 Economy depth vs. moment-to-moment fun

24:20 Portfolio & market reality checks

30:30 UA-product integration: what creatives need

36:30 What would actually ship (templates & seasons)

43:00 Verdict & 2025 predictions

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

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]

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

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