Brutally Honest #62 by Matej Lancaric

Hey, FAM!

?? Drink talk

MAU 2023 was above expectations - Again! Not sure how Adam does it every year. Awesome people, quality content, dinners & parties.

Thank you for all the positive feedback for?two & a half gamers?&?Brutally Honest newsletter!

??Tip of the week

How to pick countries in a Soft launch for your game?

In order to discover what country could be the best fit for your mobile game, what are the criteria to look for??English proficiency, device penetration & payment behaviour!

There is a wide range of different countries that seem quite suitable for a soft launch. It is always important to think about your game target audience when picking the most suitable GEOs.

My favorite country for mid-core games (male-oriented) is Poland because it has really big Android penetration, high English proficiency and a big male audience. But if I soft-launched a female-oriented game, I would most probably skip Poland as a GEO.

Looking at multiple things like Facebook audience, potential CPI, english proficiency and, we did some calculations on the genre popularity. This was all manual work, but I’ve done it for you in some countries here:

Most frequent question in soft launching:?Is my CPI good? How does it compare to other games? While there was a Chartboost CPI benchmarks website, that is really obsolete and far from the truth. Here are again some examples I can share to get an idea about how CPIs vary in between GEOs and different optimizations as well:

The last tip regarding countries, look at the competitor games and their top 20 countries regarding downloads & revenue.

?? Dr. Doom is not amused

One of my industry friends amused me with his direct and honest TL;DRs, so we agreed to share it here too! My friend remains anonymous as Dr.Doom!

"It seems this is the end for gacha and lootbox mechanics. Alas, Blizzard was fined by the European PEGI for not disclosing the presence of loot boxes in Diablo Immortal (which already grossed around $360 Mil. btw) during it's release build of 2022. How much do you ask? A draconic €5,000. For a company that did $7.53 billion in revenue in 2022, the horror. Next time, somebody starts preaching to you about how gacha will be regulated soon just show them this."?- Sincerely, Doom (https://www.pcgamer.com/activision-blizzard-fined-000007-of-one-years-earnings-for-not-disclosing-loot-boxes-to-europes-game-ratings-board/)

?? “Ha-ha” moment

Because life is too short to be serious.

?? two & a half gamers #66

This super special episode is about the new Supercell game - Squad Busters! I play Jakub talks. More-less.

We talk about What’s new, battle mechanics, nice upgrades, iterations, and the PVP vs. PVE aspect of the game.

Well, tune in for the actual gameplay and a bit of a game design talk:

?? Listen on?Spotify

?? Watch on?Youtube

?? Mistplay is the #1 loyalty app for mobile gamers

Tap into loyalty-powered user acquisition to reach high-value users that drive retention and LTV.?Learn more!

?? Diary of a Dancing Unicorn

Today was a good day.

Hey! We have this event coming up, happy to offer you different options of participation.

Sure! Could you tell me more about the different options of participation?

It’s a 1-day event full of C-level people (200-300). Invite only execs. Here is a pdf.

Thanks a lot. Just to clarify. Are you trying to sell me one of the packages or actually inviting me to have a talk?

The point is that all talks are parts of sponsorship packages ;)

I find this really confusing, I was a speaker at your event before and I didnt pay anything. Simply because I was inviteed as a speaker. Nevertheless, I am not interested in paying and will avoid your conferences from now on. Thanks

It’s your right of course as I suggested you to review sponsorship options as speakership is paid in summits.

Today was a good day.

?? Quote of the week

“I love the podcast, I listen to every single episode, but you were soooooo wrooong,”?Mark, MAU party

Squad busters: First look!

?? Level up yourself

I launched?a YouTube Channel. I'm putting a ton of energy into creating valuable content I think you'll like. Check out the?latest stuff, and give me a?like and subscribe.

?? Nostalgia games

Do you remember this game? What did you play when you were young?

Virtua cop!

Such a great game from my childhood!

?? ?Before you go

Tips for killer UA operations Q2 2023 -?read more here!

Thanks for reading this week’s newsletter!

Please do me a favor and share this with someone in your network who you think would benefit from the insights and brutal honesty. It would mean a lot to me!

Take care, everyone! See you next Thursday!

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