two & a half gamers session #93 – Hybrid casual Tower War: The evolution of core gameplay, growth & creatives, admon excellense

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This is no BS gaming podcast 2.5 gamers session #93. 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 am conference discussion vibe, so let’s not take it too seriously.

The Team:

Jakub Remia⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠r- Game design consultant

Felix Braberg⁠ – Ad monetization consultant

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Matej Lančarič – User Acquisition & Creatives consultant

Join our slack channel here: SLACK CHANNEL

Takeaways
Saygames has seen significant revenue growth, with the top month reaching over $5 million in IAP revenue.
My Perfect Hotel and Tower of War are the top games in terms of revenue and downloads.
User acquisition is primarily driven by Applovin, Google, and Facebook, with Mintegral and TikTok also playing a role.
Advertising spend on Facebook is relatively low in the US, indicating a focus on the EU markets.
The game’s core gameplay and progression mechanics are strong, but there is room for improvement in adding more mechanics and progression layers.
Retention rates are relatively good, with around 40% on day one and 3% on day 60/90.

Agenda:
00:00 Epic intro
01:25 Introduction and Game Overview
04:02 Tower War’s Rapid Growth
05:29 Similarities with Other Games in the Genre
14:56 The Evolution of Tower War’s Core Gameplay
19:48 Monetization and Hidden Features
25:13 Improvements and Missed Opportunities
26:51 Interstitial Ads and Gameplay
32:13 Different Approaches to Ad Placements
35:20 Ad Revenue Breakdown
38:31 Overall Evaluation and Rating
42:45 Creatives
46:13 Experimentation with Visual Styles
50:38 PvP and Hyper-Casual Headlines
53:48 Confusing Creatives and Inconsistent Visuals
54:24 Evolution of Games and Revenue
55:07 Game Revenue and Downloads
56:02 Top Games and Revenue
58:20 User Acquisition Channels
59:50 Advertising Spend on Facebook
01:01:25 UA Summary and Recommendations
01:02:45 Game Design and Progression
01:03:29 Retention and Long-Term Potential

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