Games & Names #4 - Creating The Next Mobile Hit!
Stan’s Dispatch ??
Hello there, Digital Quirites! Stan is here, with yet another issue of our cozy-and-cool newsletter. While the whole mobile world is still buzzing about Unity – and the waves will continue spreading out for some time, I’m sure – we decided to step back and talk about something else. Big studios vs. indie developers. The eternal confrontation: different sizes, budgets, opportunities, and philosophies, how loud it may sound.
How do these two worlds create new games, and why is it so difficult for big companies to create ‘the next hit’? That is what we were discussing in the last ‘Games & Names’ episode with Nikita Tolokonnikov from Tripledot Studios and Vicent Boned Riera from Supercell. You shouldn't miss it, the links are below!
Nikita also shared his thoughts on how to approach advertising for newly launched games in our Author’s Vertical. And as usual, there are useful reading recommendations. So grab your favorite brew, settle in, and enjoy! ??
Mobile Apps Market Tidbits ??
When it comes to game development, from indie studios to global corporations, the end goal is often the same: success. But what defines a successful game? While perspectives differ, three pivotal components stay the same:
One might assume that large corporations, with their vast resources, have the edge in producing hit games. However, success isn't always tied to size. Every game, irrespective of its developer's size, has an equal shot at success.
The gaming industry's unpredictable nature, where luck is a factor, creates a dynamic environment. It gives hope to all, regardless of their means. Resources are important, but innovative ideas and a cohesive team often make a difference.
When developing a new game, both indie and major developers come across similar challenges:
Moreover, developers, regardless of their group size, encounter unique challenges. Large studios constantly grapple with the expectation of producing not just profitable, but groundbreaking games. This often results in a cautious approach, as they prefer established, safe choices over experimenting with novel concepts. Additionally, the environment of high-risk, high-reward that's prevalent in indie studios is absent, given the security offered by big corporations.
Conversely, small studios confront the challenge of continuously updating content, which demands significant resources and a dedicated team to ensure the quality of these updates.
However, there's potential for a balanced approach. Consider Supercell's method. By fostering small internal teams, they merge the dynamism and enthusiasm of indie developers with the stability of a corporate framework. This combination might be the key to navigating the complex terrain of game development, bridging the divide between the two extremes.
Author's Vertical ???
Once again our good friend Nikita Tolokonnikov , Product Director at Tripledot Studios, shares his knowledge — this time on how to approach marketing for freshly released games. Nikita, the mic is yours!
Glad to be here, Stan! I dedicate this to all the people out there who are trying to make the next mobile game hit. You know it’s hard if you have tried. Releasing a new mobile game that is profitable and that can grow year over year has become such a rare occurrence that we discuss each new game and try to understand why it succeeded. Everybody looks at it, and all its features become the “flavor of the month.”
One of the most recent examples of such a game is “Tile Busters ,” one of the fastest-growing puzzle games in the Western market. However, I would like to talk about how we always look at the product, but the product is only half of the total package. As much as you need to build a good experience, monetize it well, and retain players for months and years, you must have a strong user acquisition strategy to get your users to begin with.
And when it comes to advertising your game, experience very rarely helps. What works is a shotgun approach to testing every possible scenario you could imagine.
When you launch a new game, your budget is quite limited, so you must choose wisely what you want to test and where.
You have to choose:
领英推荐
While choosing providers and countries is not as hard, as all companies usually follow a similar strategy, I often saw when some sources of traffic just bring completely wrong users for your game and require much bigger volumes to optimize their algorithms, that you can’t afford at the early stages of product development.
When choosing creatives, there’s no right or wrong way to do it. You have to study all competitors’ ads and think of everything possible to advertise your game, be it representing the actual gameplay or something misleading, showcasing exciting concepts that are only partially related to your game.
However, the most challenging part is that people brought by misleading ads will be cheaper and retained much worse. And while this doesn’t matter when you optimize your game for ROAS (Return on ad spend), if you’re building an IAP game, you probably don’t have enough content or monetization features to measure it reliably. So you move forward with your best guesses.
So, what can you do?
My advice is to release your game on Android for cheaper CPIs (thus higher optimization potential) and go for reliable countries that are good proxies of the US. I'm talking about the UK, Australia, and Canada, if you don’t have resources to localize your game, or T1 European countries such as Germany and France if you can afford localization.
Regarding your creatives, aim for enticing concepts that might be slightly misleading. However, always mix them with parts of your actual gameplay.
This way, you can interest players by showing them something unique and your actual gameplay at the same time, which they will see immediately once they install the game. It could help to keep CPIs lower while seeing better retention numbers.
This is just a glimpse of how complicated it is to understand if you have a promising product in your hands. Hopefully, through constant iteration, testing, and hard work, you can grow it, and that’s really what matters.
If you're looking for more articles like that, don't forget to visit Nikita's blog where he shares useful insights and thoughtful analysis!
Reading recommendations ??
Smarter every day ??
Don't forget to catch up with 'Games & Names' newest episodes:
In an informal 'friday-dinner-with-friends' atmosphere, we chat with industry experts and share actionable insights. Game design, UA marketing, narrative, production, running a company, or creating one – our topics are wide and broad, just as our smiles. So grab a cup of tea or coffee, tune in, and spend an hour with us!
Acknowledgments and farewells ??
Many thanks to you, dear reader, for staying with me until this part - I hope it was worth your time! :)
Also, grand merci to everyone who participated in the creation of the content:
One more thing! ??
We’re really curious about your feedback. So don’t forget to like, share, and tell us what you think in the comments! Good luck and have fun ??
Creative & Marketing Expert | Change Management Facilitator
1 年thank you for the article, keep posting! since the topic of launching new games is broad and contraversive, I'd like to highlight few interesting statements. ??Innovative features & approaches — in my eyes this term now regards both gameplay and monetization decisions. for instance we can take a look at My Perfect Hotel, with their simple yet incredibly engaging gameplay and elaborated ad placements and triggers. in the other hand we have Chrome Valley Customs, where innovation lies in rather precarious genre mix of match-3 and car customization. so defining 'innovative' highly depends on particular team's experience and focus. the other idea I loved from Nikita Tolokonnikov's part is that you have to search for performing creatives carefully. balancing on the brink of misleading approach, there is always a seduction to play it hard from the start. but it seems that if you don't master how to convert your core audience with profitable retention stats it's highly unlikely that low CPI will fix everything.
VP of Product at AppMagic
1 年Big shoutout to everyone who participated in the creation of the content, and special thanks to Nikita Tolokonnikov and Vicent Boned Riera for a great discussion on the podcast. We definitely should do it more often ??