two & a half gamers

By Lancaric.meLeisure Video Games

two & a half gamers episodes

May 24, 2022 two & a half gamers session #16 - 7 Ad monetisation secrets how to make more revenue
This is no BS gaming podcast 2.5 gamers session #16. Discussing the latest news, fun stuff and dropping knowledge. Don't forget, this is a 4am conference discussion vibe so let's not take it too seriously! Let’s dive in and enjoy.
Panelists: Jakub Remiar, Felix Braberg
Youtube: https://youtu.be/Ys7A3F7MFt4
Agenda
00.40 Matej missing in action after beach party
02.00 Introduction
03.36 Possible EA Acquisition
06.50 Marvel Snap
11.40 Ubisoft want Eur 60 per share
14.11 Tencent revenue growth slows
18.53 TikTok wants to release in-app games this year
23.00 Ad Monetization Secrets
24.00 All is a negotiation
26.00End cards from ads
29.00 X close button
32.00 Audio turning on
33.00 High placement price points
35.00 Vungle Bidder
36.30 Unity Latency
38.24 Admob Placements
40.51 Rewarded Video icons during holidays
7 Secrets of making more money with Ad monetisation
As an Admon person it’s your job to know as much as possible about as many networks as possible. This gives you the edge to make more ad revenue. So I learned all these things in a variety of ways. Ranging from being angry, making mistakes, and at 4 am at a conference bar. I’ll start with some general ones then network specific ones.
Everything when it comes to ad networks is a negotiation and you can negotiate anything!
The real first make or break moment comes when you’re able to get an AM in all the networks that you work with. Having this connection allows you to ask for all things
Bigger networks obviously listen less
End cards from ads
X’s to close ads
Audio Turning on when phone is muted
Placement Price Points are too high
Moving on to Network specific tips
Vungle - If you’re using Vungle on bidder and your average eCPM in the waterfall is higher than $26 you should move to Vungle Placements
Unity - Everyone talks about latency on the mediation side. On Unity you can also get latency if you have too many placements created on Unity that you’re not using.
Admob - This is a deadly tip but a bit of a double edged sword. The admob algo works by ramping up data in the first 3 days to feed its algo on price points.
Game Design for ads? Change ad buttons every time there is a holiday (Christmas, Halloween etc).

Please share feedback and comments - [email protected] / lancaric.me
44 min
May 13, 2022 two & a half gamers session #15 - Can UA save your game? Does your game need UA? UA for beginners
This is no BS gaming podcast 2.5 gamers session #15. Discussing the latest news, fun stuff and dropping knowledge. Don't forget, this is a 4am conference discussion vibe so let's not take it too seriously! Let’s dive in and enjoy it.
Panelists: Jakub Remiar, Felix Braberg, Matej Lančarič
Youtube: https://youtu.be/BKyjxR8t_qg
Agenda
1:30 Correction of Admon stuff from session #14
6:20 Applovin buys Wordle! (Modern cinderella story)
10:00 Mobile game revenue decreased for first time ever in Q1 2022
13:00 Despite record Q1 2022 for declared M&A, value of closed deals decreased
Sell in May and then be away…
20:00 Ads in the metaverse
Basics of UA
22:30 when to start working on UA?
23:20 How UA can help before game is built? What are the KPIs to look at?
24:20 video #10 marketability tests
25:00 technical stage & KPIs
26:15 Retention KPIs (game + UA)
27:45 What kind of budget to use?
30:50 Never kill a game based on only one channel
32:30 Proxy events dont work in reality
34:15 Scaling the game and profitable UA
34:45 Top 3 creative tricks
36:00 Golden cohorts
38:30 Use Soft launch data for global launch assumptions
40:20 Different optimisation methods (Purchase vs AdROAS)
UA Myths
42:20 - UA can save your game
45:00 UA is the problem why your game is not working
46:00 how to see the UA is shit?
49:10 game will work without UA
Please share feedback and comments - [email protected] / lancaric.me
51 min
May 08, 2022 two & a half gamers honest interviews #2 - Elena Egorova (Can you even M&A bro?)
Welcome dear listener! This is a 2.5 gamers podcast with an honest interviews segment #2. Asking tough questions, having fun and dropping some knowledge with gaming industry peeps.
Felix Braberg & Elena Egorova
Youtube: https://youtu.be/BFfe9djd7g0
Agenda
1:30 Elena intro
5:40 About Flexion mobile
9:00 M&A process (How do you find companies? How do you approach them?)
14:00 Initial due diligence = evaluation
20:00 How long does this process take? From scouting to popping the champagne?
22:30 Eye popping valuations - how are companies priced?
27:30 Multiples in gaming 31:20 acquiring a company (cash vs. stock deals)
36:00 What is earn-out? How is it structured?
39:30 golden handcuffs - how is it decided?
44:00 Failure rate in gaming M&A
50:45 M&A predictions (or not)
55:00 Model situation
Model Situation I run a mobile gaming company and I want to be bought. How do you go about it and what are some common pitfalls to avoid as the entity being acquired?
Please share feedback and comments - [email protected] / lancaric.me
1 hr
May 02, 2022two & a half gamers session #14 - How to read Ad mon data for beginners? ATT & player segmentation
This is no BS gaming podcast 2.5 gamers session #14. Discussing the latest news, fun stuff and dropping knowledge. Don't forget, this is a 4am conference discussion vibe so let's not take it too seriously! Let’s dive in and enjoy it.
Panelists: Jakub Remiar, Felix Braberg, Matej Lančarič
Youtube: https://youtu.be/m8k9OhVghlw
Agenda
4:40 Meta numbers
10:10 Rovio revenue increase & quarterly results
13:40 ATT numbers, player segmentation & ad monetisation
20:20 Is Ubisoft getting bought?
25:10 Activision numbers
31:30 How to read Ad mon data for beginners?
How to look at the data?

Applovin and iS don’t really have a good guide for how to use their platform as it’s not in their interests. So it’s not your fault you don’t know this, it's by design!

They’re both great companies but the perfect client for MAX and iS is a dev who signs up and does nothing.

This is a short guide for beginners on how to look at admon data. This presentation is for Applovin and I’ll do Ironsource another time.

I actually have slides so for you listening I’ll try to narrate as best as I can.

There’s 2 topics that I’d like to cover are “Advanced reporting” and “AB tests” with an extra bonus CYA topic on “Network Comparison” if we have time.
Slides: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1KdQeSzYzi4Ty6yicYT1hh7HIcbQ8uqSOZwUT3MUWLOI/edit#slide=id.g11b4a57a28b_0_18

Please share feedback and comments - [email protected] / lancaric.me
58 min
April 22, 2022two & a half gamers session #13 - Rovio making $2.6M/year more from ads & more efficient UA? Full analysis!
This is no BS gaming podcast 2.5 gamers session #13. This week we’re starting a brand new segment! The Mobile Gaming Company Happy Hour where we do a deep dive on a mobile gaming company from the perspective of Game Design, UA and Ad Mon. Don't forget, this is a 4am conference discussion vibe so let's not take it too seriously! Let’s dive in and enjoy it.
Panelists: Jakub Remiar, Felix Braberg, Matej Lančarič
Youtube: https://youtu.be/p-9ls_UOFPM

Agenda
2:00 Intro
3:10 Topline information about Rovio
8:20 Game Design
16:00 Same game different IP
28:30 User Acquisition
31:00 Diversifying UA channels
43:00 AdROAS UA campaigns
44:25 Ad monetisation
45:00 LAT traffic
52:20 Brand lift studies
52:50 Best practices for pre-prompt ATT window
56:00 Takeaways & Summary

Topline information about Rovio:
2021 Revenue Eur286.2 million that’s 5% up from 2020 but down 1% from 2019
Pretty flat revenue growth

2017 revenue (year went public) EUR297m

66% Revenue from USA, 21% from EMEA and 12% from Asia

80% IAP, 15% Ads, 3% Licensing deals, 2% other deals

5m Daily Active Users in 2021

Claiming a 93% global awareness of Angry birds “Put 10 people in a room and only 1 hasn’t heard of me. That’s probably the baby who doesn’t have the internet yet.”

Rovio went public at around EUR11.80/share and is currently trading around EUR7.20/share which is up from about EUR5 in late 2021.

MarCap is around EUR603 meaning that Rovio trades at about a 2.1x rev multiple.

New Rovio CEO commits to making more acquisitions
Please share feedback and comments - [email protected] / lancaric.me
1 hr 1 min
April 15, 2022two & a half gamers session #12 - Metacore 65M loss, Niantic 1 hit wonder, Industry conference guide
This is no BS gaming podcast 2.5 gamers session #12. Discussing the latest news, fun stuff and dropping knowledge. Don't forget, this is a 4am conference discussion vibe so let's not take it too seriously! Let’s dive in and enjoy it.
Panelists: Jakub Remiar, Felix Braberg, Matej Lančarič
Youtube: https://youtu.be/5eHUepqV_zE

Agenda
2:50 Metacore 20 million TV ads & 65 millions loss in last year
11:30 Meta will charge creators fees of up to 47.5% (Animated Avarat cirkus)
16:00 US government says $600M Axie Infinity crypto-heist was pulled by North Korea
19:00 Peridot is an upcoming AR game from Niantic about breeding unique creatures
23:00 Sonic the Hedgehog is coming to a new platform: Roblox
27:20 CD Projekt Red's 2021 sales generated $207m in revenue
33:20 Industry Conference Guide
Conferences went offline or no conference at all status during corona.
What was the value of offline conferences?

Did you attend any?

Did you get any value?
Now that matters are returning back to their original state, how do you plan conferences?
Going on Lectures?

Roaming through Expo?

Scheduling meetings?
Where to meet/ mingle with folks?

3rd party vendor section?
Which were the conferences you get the biggest value out of?
What are your favorite industry events?
Any stories?

Where to spend most of your time?

Which parties to attend?

Please share feedback and comments - [email protected] / lancaric.me
53 min
April 10, 2022 two & a half gamers session #11 - How to increase game revenue by 35% with Narrative design
This is no BS gaming podcast 2.5 gamers session #11. Discussing the latest news, fun stuff and dropping knowledge. Don't forget, this is a 4am conference discussion vibe so let's not take it too seriously! Let’s dive in and enjoy it.
Panelists: Jakub Remiar, Felix Braberg, Matej Lančarič & Steven-Elliot Altman
Youtube: https://youtu.be/BjKFpDtcYzA

Agenda
18:30 How to increase game revenue by 35% as a Loremaster?
22:00 What genres are more suitable for narrative design?
24:00 How story influences game KPIs?
26:40 Story as a retention driver
27:00 Wooga tracking if players are reading the story
28:10 What kind of data influence the story?
30:00 Different modes of writting
33:00 How do you prepare for writing a story for a mobile game?
47:00 How can movies inspire a storyteller?
51:00 Live ops & story telling
and much more ...

Please share feedback and comments - [email protected] / lancaric.me

55 min
March 31, 2022 two & a half gamers honest interviews #1 - Joakim Achren
Welcome dear listener! This is a 2.5 gamers podcast with an honest interviews segment #1. Asking tough questions, having fun and dropping some knowledge with gaming industry peeps.
Youtube: https://youtu.be/wkEcGZ1-3So
Matej Lančarič & Joakim Achren
Questions:
Why did you start elite game developers and not a new gaming studio?
How can someone become a partner at Play Ventures? What are the requirements/skills you need to do your job?
What is your due dilligence process? How do you do your homework?
-How do you apply that diligence process to crypto games? Is that done more by feel than data as there is no data yet?
-When investing in crypto games is token/coin allocation pre drop more important than stock? (Justified that owning stock can take 10 years + to get payback and multiple and having token/coins you can sell as soon as the drop takes place)
-If token is important / does that not create the incentive to finance hype pump and dumps?
Could you explain what pre-seed, seed or Series A mean? How do you define those stages?
What are you looking for when investing in companies in different stages? Pre-seed, seed, series A?
How do you really decide where to invest? What is THE KPI?
Why are you as an investor so keen for companies to have internal UA manager?
Could you tell me a bit more about the syndicate?
Why having only one line on the cap table is better than 20 names.
Why do you think a lot of gaming companies with mediocre/decent results pivoted super quickly to web3? Free money?
Why There's Never been a better time to start a games company?
Let’s discuss your anti portfolio - what’s the biggest regret so far of a company that you passed on?

Model situation:
I want to start a gaming studio. I have around 500k from my previous jobs. Should I use this money and bootstrap or should I try to get an investor (just in case)? Why boostrap? Why investor?

What is Joakim's favourite book?
https://www.amazon.com/Stillness-Key-Ryan-Holiday/dp/0525538585

Please share feedback and comments - [email protected] / lancaric.me
1 hr 3 min
March 25, 2022two & a half gamers session #10 - How to save millions with marketability tests? Fake ads going nowhere rant!
This is no BS gaming podcast 2.5 gamers session #10. Discussing the latest news, fun stuff and dropping knowledge. Don't forget, this is a 4am conference discussion vibe so let's not take it too seriously! Let’s dive in and enjoy it.
Panelists: Jakub Remiar, Felix Braberg, Matej Lančarič
Youtube: https://youtu.be/SjtrJ1wG0I8
Agenda
News
3:00 Netflix boosts mobile games approach with acquisition of Boss Fight Entertainment
10:20 KRAFTON, INC. SIGNS LONG-TERM COOPERATION AGREEMENT WITH SOLANA LABS FOR BLOCKCHAIN-BASED GAMES AND SERVICES
12:25 Crypto investor Katie Haun raises $1.5 billion, the largest debut fund ever by a female VC
18:40 In-game ads are getting more misleading, sexist and misogynistic, says Meretzky
27:00 Pre softlaunch activities
https://lancaric.me/how-to-save-millions-with-marketability-testing/
What can we do pre-soft launch of our game?

What to do before we decide to develop a game?

Which questions to ask?
Market research
Target audience
USP
Game genre
Marketing team capabilities
Company strategy
How to do market research?
Tools? Competitor ads?
How to define target audience?
Demo, motivations, profiles, persona
Playtesting
What? How? Why?
When do we start with UA/marketing?
Marketability tests

campaign optimisation

Fake store pages (tools or DIY)

Which channels?

What to test?

Player survey at the end (what questions to ask?) no suggestive questions!
Please share feedback and comments - [email protected] / lancaric.me
55 min
March 16, 2022two & a half gamers session #9 - How to increase AdARPDAU? How Adnetworks make money? Admonetisation fundamentals Q&A
Hello & welcome everyone. This is no BS gaming podcast 2.5 gamers session #9. Let’s dive in.
Youtube: https://youtu.be/0swB8x-YB5U
Panelists: Jakub Remiar, Felix Braberg, Matej Lančarič
Agenda:
News

Ad monetization fundamentals

AMA
Ad Monetization fundamentals discussion:
What’s the most important ad revenue metric?
How’s eCPM calculated by ad networks?
Which ad network is the most trustworthy?
Which ad network is the least trustworthy?
How do ad networks make money?
What is the cutoff point of eCPM degradation?
How players become Ad Whales?

Ask Me Anything section
I have ads in my game, using unity ads only because I have a good deal with them. Should I earn more?

Why is admon and UA super connected in hypercasual games? Its usually one person. Why?

When do you hire an internal admon person? What scale? Or is there a KPI to look for? (Daily revenue, impressions, number of ad networks in the waterfall)

Do you ban competitor ads in your game? If yes why, if no why?
Please share feedback and comments - [email protected] / lancaric.me
Latest News:
$2 billion invested into blockchain game sector during 2022
https://gamestx.substack.com/p/2-billion-invested-into-blockchain?s=r
Idle Miner Tycoon Launches on Facebook Gaming
https://www.kolibrigames.com/press/idle-miner-tycoon-launches-on-facebook-gaming/
Google launches Google Play Partner Program for large game devs
https://venturebeat.com/2022/03/15/google-launches-google-play-partner-program-for-large-game-devs/
Mark Zuckerberg confirms NFTs are coming to Instagram
https://www.engadget.com/mark-zuckerberg-confirms-nf-ts-are-coming-to-instagram-204435805.html
Interest In NFTs And The Metaverse Is Falling Fast
https://www-forbes-com.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/www.forbes.com/sites/paultassi/2022/03/10/interest-in-nfts-and-the-metaverse-is-falling-fast/amp/
59 min

About two & a half gamers

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This is a no BS gaming podcast. We share insights, knowledge and fun gossip relating to the topics of User Acquisition, Game Design and Ad monetisation. You will find here actionable insights in a fun…