two & a half gamers

Habby's Capybara GO has already scaled to $800K a day without even being available in the US yet. This will definitely be one of the top games of this year. Why? The core gameplay is really unique, as this is much closer to social casinos like Monopoly GO than Habby's skill-based cores such as Archero or Survivor io. You go through multiple days of adventure with your Capybara, clicking on the next day, with things happening automatically. You encounter different random choices, events, battles, minigames + Skill Randomizer with the three skill choices as per rogue-lite RPG. There is no player movement, no input during battle, just metagame and auto-play. Because HP and DMG are still important, this creates a new genre - A Social Casino RGP. Throughout the game, you can clearly see that Habby improved the signature metagame template that they have been using since 2019 (Which everyone will copy again). They also implemented a lot great game mechanics that have been proven for them by other big games such as Monopoly GO, Legend of Mushroom, Brawl Stars & Lucky Defense. The big kicker is that by doing this, Capybara GO already has more than seven progression vectors in soft-launch! Survivor io had one during its Global Launch. How can you compete with someone who has been perfecting and reusing this same template for the last 5 years? And the hits don't end here, as the Capybara theme itself is not an accident but a plan based on the current viral trend of this giant rodent, which supercharges its marketability. (Hello, low CPIs!) The US release is planned for around November 22nd, and we can't wait to see the full force of this game once it hits the market. We will do a 2nd look on this by then. Join us as we talk about all of this with Matej & Felix! Data based on Sensor Tower; thanks for the support Watch on YouTube: https://lnkd.in/d-EnuMkr Listen on Spotify: https://lnkd.in/eti86Skb Join the discussion on our slack channel: https://lnkd.in/eZXJ2Une

All in Hole by Homa is hitting $70K a day in daily revenue with only 20% of Ads, even though it is still technically in the soft-launch stage. Not bad, right? This is not our typical hybrid casual game with 50% ads vs 50% IAP revenue. All in Hole borrows the hypercasual "hole" mechanic that was already used in the Attack Hole (wink wink, Voodoo) to double down on the marketability but shows strong IAP revenue instead of the even split. I still don't really understand multiple things on the UA side. UA channel mix and creative depth are big mysteries here. Using creatives from the old build is fine, but do not add anything new when you run the campaigns in your core markets. What's happening? Why do we only see 3-4 creatives here? What am I missing? Does poor UA destroy the huge product potential? Jakub x Felix x two & a half gamers 📺 Watch on YouTube: https://lnkd.in/e5hDFagF 🎧 Listen on Spotify: https://lnkd.in/eWDRkSxf 🗣 Join the discussion on our Slack channel: https://lnkd.in/eZXJ2Une Data based on Sensor Tower. Thanks for the continuous support!

Hexasort making $500k/day in revenue and has set a new standard for hybrid-casual games on multiple levels. Hexasort by Lion Studios (a.k.a AppLovin) has become a significant player in mobile gaming and has grown steadily since its global launch. There are multiple layers of a masterpiece. Great innovation on the ad placements. Felix already awarded the whole team a Nobel prize in recognition of their genius. With Jakub defending the game designers behind the highly addictive game. Gameplay mechanics are designed for long sessions and strategic thinking. Surprisingly, their main UA channel is Applovin. Hah, that is no surprise. Sorry. The whole creative approach is from a perfect UA playbook where you scale on Ad networks with a shit ton of playables. Yes, 70-80% of creatives are playables! Kudos to the team. 📺 Watch on YouTube: https://lnkd.in/dGFRxVzH 🎧 Listen on Spotify: https://lnkd.in/dRNd4tJE 🦄 Subscribe to the Brutally Honest newsletter: lancaric.substack.com 🗣 Join the discussion in our Slack channel: https://lnkd.in/dbrDdGiJ Thanks a lot, Sensor Tower, for all the data!

Cup Heroes: Voodoo's new hybrid casual hit, making $160k/day! Steady growth with ad placement excellence. What about their UA? uff! Cup Heroes makes around 50% of its revenue from ads, making it a true hybrid casual game. There are 29 ad placements in 1 run = 15 waves that the player encounters. With 45-50 minutes played daily, averaging five sessions per day and around 7.5min per session, that’s almost ad juggernaut. (wink wink, Felix!) This is a detailed review of Cup Heroes by Voodoo, discussing its hybrid casual gameplay, performance metrics, monetization strategies, and user experience. We explore the game's growth trajectory, retention rates, and how it compares to Mob Control other titles in the market. Discussing the effectiveness of decoys and rewards in gameplay, the impact of skill randomizers on player experience, and the creative approaches used in-game advertising. But that is only half of the CPI vs. LTV equation. What about the UA resp. CPI side? Honestly, I am very disappointed. UA diversification is on point, I have to give them that. The creative part is very worrying. Scaling a game requires many different creative concepts. Cup Heroes only have 2-3 playable ads and perhaps 4-5 different video concepts. These numbers should be per week! NET new concepts. Watch on YouTube: https://lnkd.in/dUmJTia3 Listen on Spotify: https://lnkd.in/dceD_SxQ Subscribe to the Brutally Honest newsletter: lancaric.substack.com Join the discussion in our Slack channel: https://lnkd.in/dbrDdGiJ Thanks a lot, Sensor Tower, for all the data!

Offline Games - No Wifi Games: the most profitable game in the world, making $550K/day in ads, no UA! The game really delivers on its promises. You can play all of the games offline. It has already crossed 100 Million downloads with no UA! We couldn't even find any creatives or UA channels. This is a brilliant masterpiece of ASO and SEO strategy with proper link building that connects the Jindoblu website and the YouTube channel—well, actually two YouTube channels with millions of views. The game also cross-promotes the other similar portfolio games—two-player games and Antistress. Let's not forget ASO here since this game is ranking in the No.1 position for many "offline games" related keywords in the US and other countries. It is truly a great case study of one person, Moreno from Italy! Hats off! Tune in for the whole review. The numbers will blow you away! Watch on YouTube: https://lnkd.in/dG5fhHnA Listen on Spotify: https://lnkd.in/ev4te4vK Subscribe to the Brutally Honest newsletter: lancaric.substack.com Join the discussion in our Slack channel: https://lnkd.in/dbrDdGiJ Thanks a lot, Sensor Tower, for all the data!

WeChat minigames are killing it in China. 60-80% D1 retention rate for a Payer! Average payback period 3-5 months... The expected MAU of the minigame market will exceed 500 Million users in China this year, with an average daily play session of 60 minutes per day per user. These minigames are produced very fast (2-3 months) by small teams of 5-30 people, with a development cost of around $140K per 1 minigame. Minigame, in this case, means accessibility by one tap. WeChat minigames are fully-fledged games like Whiteout Survival by Century Games. Btw Whiteout Survival is sitting on the top of the Revenue rankings for a long time with expected payback of 8-10 months. Well tune in for more data with Lemon Choi! Watch on YouTube: https://lnkd.in/d5Nj_gUU Listen on Spotify: https://lnkd.in/dz4UM8SW Subscribe to the Brutally Honest newsletter: lancaric.substack.com Join the discussion in our Slack channel: https://lnkd.in/dbrDdGiJ Thanks a lot, Sensor Tower, for all the data!

Office Cat makes $50k/day profit! Seok was kind enough to come on the pod and tell us all the real numbers. Game makes $125k+/day total revenue Spending $80k/day with a small UA team and various creative concepts. I see a lot of inspiration from the “other games” like My Perfect Hotel, Township, Idle Bank Tycoon, and Cash Masters/Idle Millionaire) We can see a lot of playables, “BusJam” concepts, toilet theme, Hooks, altered gameplay, funny moments, and great stuff. I love the creative approach! The ad revenue from Office Cat is estimated to be around 30% of the total revenue. Office Cats generates the majority of its revenue from in-app purchases (IAP) rather than ads. Kudos to Seok Kang for accepting the invite and representing the amazing South Korean developer scene! This is the first time we have done a multi-lingual podcast, and I must say, it turned out really well. Watch on YouTube: https://lnkd.in/dYq4KRmN Listen on Spotify: https://lnkd.in/dAjENi8q Subscribe to the Brutally Honest newsletter: lancaric.substack.com Join the discussion in our Slack channel: https://lnkd.in/dbrDdGiJ Thanks a lot, Sensor Tower, for all the data!

Join us today for another live ASK ME ANYTHING!

Creative trends in Mobile gaming July 2024! Fear, tension, and near-death experiences are effective creative strategies in mobile gaming. Thats it! Tune in for all the trends. Watch on YouTube: https://lnkd.in/d_Hrijgr Listen on Spotify: https://lnkd.in/dtVd7rqJ Subscribe to the Brutally Honest newsletter: lancaric.substack.com Join the discussion in our Slack channel: https://lnkd.in/dbrDdGiJ Thanks a lot, Sensor Tower, for all the data!

Idle Outpost by Rockbite Games Armenia, published by AppQuantum, already scaled to $150K a day in July. With more than 10 Million downloads and $6 Mil. IAP revenue behind it. We couldn't miss this very interesting iteration of 2 of our favorite games. Idle Outpost is a clever combination of Lessmore's Eatventure and JoyNet Games's Legend of Mushroom. Instead of food, you are selling supplies to other Zombie Apocalypse "customers," and you keep finding survivor gear with your trusty dog on the way through Zombie Wasteland. We keep saying this all the time, but Zombie theme works with everything and makes your CPI low "change my mind." There are also some very interesting iterations that fix some of the issues of the previous games, such as the turn-based auto-combat system, which is also PvP, the level design of the "restaurants," gear recipes, profit stacking, etc. Join us as Matej and Felix talk about all of this. Great job, Rockbite Games Armenia, for creating this interesting combo! Data based on Sensor Tower; thanks for the support Watch on YouTube: https://lnkd.in/dVXAwi6N Listen on Spotify: https://lnkd.in/g4qv8V_j Join the discussion in our Slack channel: https://lnkd.in/eZXJ2Une