two & a half gamers

This episode is special. We sit down with Akin Babayigit — early Facebook gaming, Audience Network launch team, King, co-founder of Tripledot, investor at Arcadia — to talk about what actually builds winning game studios.

We go deep into:

Why Pixelflow exploded

Why Match Villains keeps growing

Why China, Turkey & Vietnam are ahead

Why copying doesn’t kill winners

Why are ads misunderstood?

Why execution beats everything

And why is there no such thing as an “end game” in your career

This is not surface-level advice. This is 15+ years of pattern recognition distilled into one conversation.

🧠 Key Takeaways

Execution beats ideas (but intuition is back)

If you know you have something, scale aggressively

Ads are not the enemy. Poor integration is.

Turkey’s gaming ecosystem is structurally advantaged

China wins because of patience + scale

Match-3 is not dead — the bar is just brutal

Long-term greedy beats short-term greedy

There is no finish line in building

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

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

Special guest: Akin Babayigit

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

Join our slack channel here: https://join.slack.com/t/two-and-half-gamers/shared_invite/zt-3bckldvr8-8PXvzciMWdheOzED9hq0SA

Chapters

00:00 – Why This Episode Is Special

02:10 – Akin’s Background (Facebook → King → Tripledot → Arcadia)

06:00 – The Birth of Audience Network

10:00 – Ads: The Most Misunderstood Revenue Stream

16:00 – Hybrid Monetization & CPM Decay

20:00 – Pixelflow’s Explosive Growth

27:00 – Copycats, China & Scaling Fast

34:00 – Why Match Villains Keep Growing

40:00 – Turkish Gaming Incentives Explained

48:00 – China’s Work Ethic & Competitive Edge

55:00 – Career Philosophy: There Is No End Game

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

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

Mobile revenue barely grew in 2025. Downloads fell on both app stores. Meanwhile 200,000+ new games launched across iOS and Google Play. The market is saturated and attention is fragmented.

The only category that keeps expanding across downloads, revenue and time spent? Strategy. Especially 4X. Deep systems, high LTV, long retention curves. That’s where scale still exists.

The lesson is simple. You can launch another puzzle game. You can chase trends. Or you can build depth and monetization power. In 2026, monetization design and category selection matter more than ever.

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

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 – Strategy Is Still Expanding (Hello Kingshot)

00:30 – Fresh Game Launches This Week

01:15 – Tencent x Blockblast Talks

01:55 – ByteDance Selling Moonton?

02:20 – Sensor Tower State of Gaming 2026

03:05 – 55K Games Launched… Downloads Falling

03:30 – Rainbow Six Mobile Goes Global

03:50 – Agatha Christie & Survivor Partnerships

04:10 – Playtika Earnings Breakdown

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

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

In this episode, we break down War Inc: Rise, the new title from the studio behind Art of War: Legions - a game that previously generated over $150M.

The gameplay? Solid.

The systems? Efficient.

The monetization? Confusing.

The UA strategy? Questionable.

We dive into:

Why War Inc feels like Battle Legion + Lucky Defense combined

How Fastone Games recycled their old IP smartly

Why ad monetization is almost nonexistent (and why that’s crazy)

The missed Applovin opportunity

Creative strategy mistakes that cap scale

Whether this can become their next big hit

This game should be scaling 2–3x harder. It’s not. And the reason is simple.

War Inc is actually good. Clean core loop. Smart recycling of IP from Art of War. Efficient production. Even layered modes like Lucky Defense built in.

But here’s the problem.

They barely monetize through ads. They don't push AppLovin. They’re still heavy on Facebook and Google. And their creative playbook looks like 2021.

The lesson? In 2026, you can’t just build a good game. You need the full growth stack aligned. Miss one piece of the puzzle and you cap your scale.

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 Isn’t This Game Bigger?”

02:00 – First Impressions & Battle Legion Comparison

06:30 – Core Loop Breakdown (Merge + Army Builder)

10:30 – Gacha System Explained (And Why It’s Weird)

15:30 – Limited Banner Strategy & Power Units

18:30 – Lucky Defense Mode Inside War Inc

23:00 – Why Co-Op Actually Matters

26:00 – Comparing It to Art of War: Legions

30:00 – Revenue & Spend Deep Dive ($40K/Day Reality)

33:30 – Retention, Payback & Scaling Limits

36:00 – Creative Strategy Review (What’s Missing)

39:00 – The Ad Monetization Mistake

41:30 – AppLovin, Blended ROAS & The Missed Scale

43:00 – Final Verdict: Great Game, Capped Growth

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

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]

I also built a playable during the recording! Playables are no longer optional. If you're running on AppLovin, Unity, ironSource, or any SDK network and you don’t have playables, you’re leaving scale on the table.

https://playablemaker.com/25gamers/ build your playables now!

In this solo episode, I break down:

• Why top games produce 60 playables per month

• The real playable testing structure

• Why “just wrapping your tutorial” doesn’t work

• Template strategy vs gameplay fidelity

• How to iterate instead of building from scratch every time

• And I built a playable live on camera

This episode is a teaser for the upcoming Playable Bible.

If you want to scale outside Meta/Google/TikTok in 2026, this is mandatory.

🧠 Key Takeaway

Playables are not a creative asset. They are a system these days. If you build one playable and stop, you lose. If you build a pipeline that outputs 5+ per month, you scale.

Recent playable trends: https://open.substack.com/pub/lancaric/p/playable-ads-trends-in-mobile-games-127?r=7qqaf&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true

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

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: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ 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 – Why Playables Are Mandatory in 2026

02:20 – The Shift to SDK Networks (AppLovin, Unity, etc.)

05:00 – Why Longer Ad Units Convert Better

07:30 – Build Playables as a System, Not One-Offs

10:00 – What’s Working Now (4X, Merge, 3x3, Gates)

13:00 – Templates vs Real Gameplay Debate

16:00 – Anatomy of a Converting Playable

19:00 – Testing Structure (Video + Playable Combinations)

22:30 – Iteration Framework & Monthly Cadence

25:00 – Case Study: 3x3 Puzzle That Scaled

27:30 – Building a Playable Live (Quick Walkthrough)

29:00 – Final Advice + Playable Bible Teaser

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

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

AI game creatives just made another massive leap. In this episode, we break down 127 new creatives across Dark War, Top Heroes, Township and more and the quality jump in just one month is honestly insane.

We’re talking:

• Full anime-quality world model sequences

• AI influencers everywhere (grandmas, gamers, street interviews)

• 50+ completely different “games” promoted under one title

• Movie-level 4X fantasy ads

• Hyper-niche creative strategy instead of broad targeting

This is not an incremental improvement. This is a structural shift in how UA works. If you run paid UA, creative production, or mobile marketing… this episode is mandatory.

👇 Drop your hottest AI take in the comments. WE CAN'T WAIT!

Key Takeaway

The creative strategy is shifting from “broad appeal” to “own every niche.”

AI now allows studios to generate dozens of fully different game fantasies — and scale them all at once.

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 – The AI quality jump in 30 days

01:20 – 127 creatives this week (yes, seriously)

03:25 – King Shot & localization with AI

06:45 – AI influencers take over UGC

09:50 – Cute overload & grandma trend

12:10 – Stitching vs realism: does it even matter?

14:30 – Dark War’s massive creative evolution

20:30 – Old vs new: 1 month difference

22:40 – The River team = top AI creative squad

27:00 – Township & AI story hooks

29:50 – Top Heroes goes nuclear (50+ concepts)

33:00 – “All niches” strategy explained

36:30 – Why this shouldn’t work… but does

39:10 – AI fantasy RPGs that look real

41:45 – What this means for UA teams

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

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 episode centers around two major AI developments in gaming. Unity claims its upcoming AI beta will allow developers to prompt full casual games into existence. At the same time, Meta has begun embedding Manus AI into Ads Manager, signaling deeper automation inside UA workflows. The industry is clearly shifting — but whether this is real product evolution or investor-driven positioning remains the big question.

🧠 CORE INSIGHTS

1️⃣ Unity Is Selling the “No Code” Dream

Prompt-based game creation sounds revolutionary. But fully AI-generated casual games are not realistically replacing studios yet. Templates and tooling? Yes. Instant hits from text prompts? Not there.

2️⃣ AI’s Real Impact Is Marketing

Creative generation, playables, automation workflows — that’s where AI is actually changing mobile gaming today. Not full game engines.

3️⃣ Meta Is Signaling AI Monetization

Manus AI inside Ads Manager is less about utility and more about showing investors measurable AI impact. Automation + reporting + agents = Wall Street comfort.

4️⃣ M&A & Global Power Shifts Continue

ByteDance potentially selling Moonton to Saudi-backed Savvy signals broader strategic repositioning in gaming.

5️⃣ Regulators Are Watching

The UK's ban on Call of Duty’s ad shows edgy marketing still has limits. Creative boundaries matter.

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

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

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

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

In this episode, we break down what’s really happening in mobile game creatives right now. Creative trends for January 2026 are here..

From Kingshot clones everywhere to Pixel Flow conveyor belts invading other genres… from 2022 impulse puzzles coming back to life… to the brutal truth about creative fatigue lasting DAYS instead of weeks.

We look at Golden Goblins, Royal Kingdom, Match Factory, Tasty Travels, Tile Survive and more, and what their ads tell us about 2026.

If you work in UA, creative production, or game marketing… this one matters.

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

0:00 – Why Creative Trends Matter More Than Ever

2:45 – Golden Goblins & The Decline Curve

6:20 – Creative Fatigue Is Now Measured in Days

10:05 – Borrowing Hypercasual Mechanics Into 4X

12:10 – Noob vs Pro Is Back

16:00 – KingShot’s Influence Across Genres

20:00 – Royal Kingdom, Block Blast & Fake Mini-Games

23:10 – Tower War, Mob Control & Genre Crossovers

28:40 – 2022 Concepts Are Working Again

30:55 – Elevate vs Impulse & The “IQ App” Strategy

33:00 – Tile Survive & Massive Playable Scaling

36:45 – Tasty Travels & 10-Click Playables

38:25 – The Real Lesson for 2026

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

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

If you think eCPM is the most important metric in ad monetization, this episode is for you.

Felix breaks down:

• eCPM vs Fill Rate

• Why Ad ARPDAU is king

• Recency model & impression decay

• Why more ads can hurt revenue

• SDK crash risks & ANR thresholds

• Aggressive end cards & churn

• How mediation doubles revenue

• Networks vs exchanges explained

This is a practical introduction to how mobile ads actually work once the SDK is live.

Key takeaway:

Ad monetization is not about showing more ads. It’s about optimizing per user.

The biggest misconception in mobile ad monetization is obsessing over eCPM. eCPM alone is meaningless. Revenue comes from eCPM × fill rate, and the only metric that truly matters is Ad ARPDAU. That’s your real performance line of sight. If eCPM goes up but fill drops, you can still lose money. Networks respect publishers who talk about Ad ARPDAU because it shows you understand the business, not just vanity metrics.

eCPMs are not fixed. They are dynamic and driven by complex algorithms. Networks use dozens of parameters including device type, geo, historical installs, auction loss rate, and most importantly recency models. The first few impressions per user are the most valuable. After 5–7 impressions, the per-unit value drops sharply. If you keep pushing more interstitials, you may increase impressions per DAU but flatten total revenue while damaging retention. More ads ≠ more money.

Operational discipline separates professionals from amateurs. Never rush SDK updates. Android ANRs and crash thresholds can destroy organic distribution. Aggressive end cards increase churn. Mediation doubles revenue when implemented correctly because it creates a marketplace instead of a single buyer. And exchanges are not networks — they are resellers. Understanding these mechanics is the difference between earning $100 a day and scaling to $1,200+ before expanding demand sources.

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

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 – Why Most Studios Misunderstand Ads

01:20 – The 4 Metrics That Actually Matter

03:30 – Why eCPM Is Overrated

05:10 – Ad ARPDAU: The Only Metric That Counts

07:00 – How Networks Calculate eCPM

09:20 – Recency Model & Impression Decay

11:40 – Why More Ads Don’t Always Mean More Revenue

13:00 – SDK Risks, ANRs & Crash Thresholds

15:10 – Aggressive End Cards & Churn

17:10 – Mediation Explained (Why It Doubles Revenue)

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

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

We sat down with Stan (CEO of Oh BiBi, creator of Asphalt) and Luis (VP Global Marketing at Rovio) to break down Angry Birds Rush. We discuss how the game was born, why they built 6 prototypes, how they benchmarked against slot machines, how they secretly tested fans on Discord, and why they’re aiming for a billion-dollar game. A bold attempt to merge:

• Luck Battle meta (Monopoly Go / Coin Master)

• Runner-style core gameplay

• Slingshot physics nostalgia

• The biggest family IP in mobile

And what you’re seeing publicly right now? It’s only a prototype.

This is one of the most transparent product breakdowns we’ve ever recorded.

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

Special guests: Luis de la Cámara, Stanislas Dewavrin

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

https://www.linkedin.com/in/stanislas-dewavrin-2a57294/

https://www.rovio.com/careers/

https://jobs.ohbibi.com/

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 Could Be a Billion Dollar Game

03:40 – The Origin of Angry Birds Rush

07:50 – Why Luck Battle Is Still Early

12:10 – The First Prototypes (And Why They Failed)

17:30 – Building on Top of Another Game

22:40 – Benchmarking CPI vs Slot Games

27:10 – Runner vs Slingshot: The Core Breakthrough

32:00 – Retry Rate vs Retention: What They Actually Track

36:20 – Designing for Scale, Not Just Soft Launch

41:10 – Working With Angry Birds Superfans

45:00 – Social Layer: The Real Long-Term Bet

50:30 – Competing With Monopoly Go (What They’ll Do Differently)

55:10 – Risks, Market Timing & Billion Dollar Ambition

58:30 – Final Thoughts & What Happens 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]

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

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

Supercell’s annual letter was supposed to be routine. Instead, it triggered backlash around Clash Royale’s “resurgence” narrative. Influencers were credited for growth, including major names amplifying the story, which upset parts of the community. The reaction escalated to organized boycotts, forcing Ilkka Paananen to issue an apology and update the letter publicly. Meanwhile, revenue tells a simpler story: Clash Royale spiked aggressively, then dropped aggressively, returning close to its previous baseline.

Layoffs continue across the industry. Riot cut around 80 people from its 2XKO fighting game. Ubisoft faces union-led strikes following structural division moves that look increasingly like pre-sale positioning. Highguard is downsizing shortly after launch. Unity stock dropped roughly 30%, founders exited, and Bernard Kim steps in. Contrast that with AppLovin reporting $5.4–5.5B revenue in 2025, up ~70% YoY. One side restructures. The other compounds.

On the upside, indie and system-driven plays are thriving. The Steam indie hit sold 500k copies in its first week. ARK Raiders drove revenue growth to $3.1B (+6.5%). Overwatch doubled its concurrent record to 165k after a story-driven update. Arknights: Endfield crossed $30M within weeks of launch. The lesson is clear: execution and product-market clarity still win, even when public markets wobble.

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 — 🚨📢 Supercell annual letter backlash

01:10 — Clash Royale spike & community boycott

02:20 — Riot layoffs (2XKO) & early launch cuts

03:10 — Ubisoft strike & restructuring signals

04:10 — Indie Steam hit sells 500k week one

05:00 — ARK Raiders & Overwatch concurrency jump

06:00 — AppLovin Q4 earnings explode

07:00 — Unity stock slide & founder exits

08:10 — Roblox child safety scrutiny

09:00 — Arknights: Endfield momentum

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

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]