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 and relaxed atmosphere. A safe space where we mimic the honesty of a 4am conference discussion. Enjoy & let us know your feedback!

  1. The Attention Budget Rule: why tutorials should teach maximum 3 things at a time

    14 HR AGO

    The Attention Budget Rule: why tutorials should teach maximum 3 things at a time

    We sit down with Katie Madding (CEO, emhanceAI, ex-Adjust CPO) and John Hobson (founded user research at Bungie and Blizzard, 20+ years on Halo, Destiny, WoW). The conversation walks through two real case studies — a Skullgirls Mobile playtest and a creative comparison — using emhance AI's facial-emotion analysis (0.89 ROC AUC, basically "lie detector" precision). The findings are uncomfortable. Skullgirls' tutorial pauses combat to teach mechanics players don't need yet. Every level ends with 5 passive screens stacked back-to-back. And the creatives with "near-death experience" hooks within the first 4 seconds genuinely outperform — not because Chinese UA teams said so, but because the emotion data shows it. If you build games or ads for mobile, this is required viewing. The link to the report is here: https://eu1.hubs.ly/H0v1sLM0 Peaksel case study: https://www.emhance.ai/success-stories/peaksel-emhance-case-study ⏱️ TIMESTAMPS 00:00 Cold open — designing the engagement curve 01:30 Welcome + Katie and John intros 03:48 How AI facial-emotion playtesting actually works 07:57 Skullgirls case study: the first 15 minutes broken 11:25 The attention budget — what it is, why it caps at 3 17:14 High vs low engagement moments in Skullgirls 24:13 Creative case study: Cat Match Two vs Sheep Swipe One 29:52 Why "near-death experience" creatives win — confirmed ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 📌 KEY TAKEAWAYS — emhance AI uses facial-emotion analysis (0.89 ROC AUC, "lie detector" precision) to identify exact moments of high and low engagement during playtest sessions. Engagement = emotion + attention combined. — Skullgirls Mobile tutorial findings: pausing combat to teach optional mechanics players don't need creates frustration. Players come away thinking the game is shallow because the tutorial fights are too easy and the text walls killed momentum. — John's "attention budget" rule: teach maximum 3 things at a time, then give players space to digest. From his Halo days: pop up a tooltip → if used, snooze 5 minutes → if not, repeat. Snooze 15 minutes after second use. — The "5-stack of boring screens" problem is universal. Win → victory animation → reward screen → loading screen → cut scene → talking head → finally back to gameplay. Nobody designed this stack on purpose. Real playtesting reveals it. — Why 6 out of 7 AI ads still suck: the concept is right ("save the character") but the small execution details matter enormously. Emotion data lets you identify which 4 of 15 things in a creative actually worked rather than throwing out the whole concept. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 🎙️ HOSTS Matej Lančarič — User Acquisition consultant Jakub Remiar — Game Design consultant Felix Braberg — Ad Monetization consultant 🎤 GUESTS Katie Madding — CEO, emhance AI (ex-CPO, Adjust) John Hobson — Game user researcher, ex-Bungie/Blizzard, 20+ years on Halo, Destiny, WoW This is no BS gaming podcast 2.5 gamers session. 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 a.m. conference discussion vibe, so let's not take it too seriously. Panelists: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Jakub Remia⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠r,⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Felix Braberg, Matej Lancaric⁠ Join our slack channel here: https://join.slack.com/t/two-and-half-gamers/shared_invite/zt-3bckldvr8-8PXvzciMWdheOzED9hq0SA --------------------------------------- Matej Lancaric User Acquisition & Creatives Consultant ⁠https://lancaric.me Felix Braberg Ad monetization consultant ⁠https://www.felixbraberg.com Jakub Remiar Game design consultant ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/jakubremiar

    37 min
  2. Soft Launch Sonar: 15 New Games, 14 Are Iterations, 1 Is Probably Doomed?!

    1 DAY AGO

    Soft Launch Sonar: 15 New Games, 14 Are Iterations, 1 Is Probably Doomed?!

    Every new mobile game is now a copy of a copy. And that's not a complaint — it's the strategy. We dig through the soft launch charts to surface 15+ new games released in the last three months. Voodoo's Block Pals (which is literally just Block Jam 3D again). Moon Active's two new merge games are chasing Gossip Harbor. Spike's Hexa Out, Quick Send, and Solitaire Sort. Grand Games hiding its new Aerogem on the Zimbabwe App Store to dodge takedowns. SuperSend's template-driven creative-first approach with FROZIA and Daily Farm Harvest Empire. Plus the bigger structural question: is Overwatch Rush actually going to make it? The pattern is clear - 80% works, 20% iteration. Every serious studio is following the same playbook. The question is who executes it best. ⏱️ TIMESTAMPS 00:00 Cold open — merge is the new match-3 04:04 Field Day by Bitod — ex-Supercell startup goes GTA 06:15 Overwatch Rush — Blizzard's mobile play (high CPI face) 09:53 Moon Active's merge wave — Reality Bay + Family Bay 12:43 Voodoo's Block Pals + Century's DakiMage Color Puzzle 15:35 Turkish section — Rolik, Spike, Grand Games dominance 25:16 Aerogem hidden on the Zimbabwe App Store 27:00 Arrows hits 6.5M DAU — the new template everyone copies 28:38 SuperSend's creative-first templates: FROZIA, Daily Farm — "80% works, 20% iteration" is now the default soft launch strategy. Every game in this episode is an iteration on a proven winner — Block Jam, Gossip Harbor, Pixel Flow, Lesmore's Arrows, Township, Last War Creative. — Merge is officially being treated as the new match-3. Moon Active alone has two new merge games in soft launch. Caveat: merge is much harder to balance and live-ops than match-3, so most of these will fail. — Grand Games is hiding its new game Aerogem on the Zimbabwe App Store specifically because legal teams from incumbents (likely MiniClip / Lesmore) don't operate there. This is apparently a real soft launch tactic now. — Spike has abandoned its main App Store account and is publishing everything from a new "testing" account, releasing Hexa Out, Quick Send, and Solitaire Sort in rapid succession with the same template strategy. -------------------------------------- PVX Partners offers non-dilutive funding for game developers. Go to: https://pvxpartners.com/ They can help you access the most effective form of growth capital once you have the metrics to back it. - Scale fast - Keep your shares - Drawdown only as needed - Have PvX take downside risk alongside you + Work with a team entirely made up of ex-gaming operators and investors --------------------------------------- For an ever-growing number of game developers, this means that now is the perfect time to invest in monetizing direct-to-consumer at scale. Our sponsor FastSpring: Has delivered D2C at scale for over 20 years They power top mobile publishers around the world Launch a new webstore, replace an existing D2C vendor, or add a redundant D2C vendor at fastspring.gg. This is no BS gaming podcast 2.5 gamers session. 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 a.m. conference discussion vibe, so let's not take it too seriously. Panelists: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Jakub Remia⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠r,⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Felix Braberg, Matej Lancaric⁠ Matej Lancaric User Acquisition & Creatives Consultant ⁠https://lancaric.me Felix Braberg Ad monetization consultant ⁠https://www.felixbraberg.com Jakub Remiar Game design consultant ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/jakubremiar Please share the podcast with your industry friends, dogs & cats. Especially cats! They love it! Hit the Subscribe button on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple! Please share feedback and comments - matej@lancaric.me

    34 min
  3. 🎲​ Will Coin Master Board Adventure eat Monopoly Go? (Our year-end predictions)

    3 DAYS AGO

    🎲​ Will Coin Master Board Adventure eat Monopoly Go? (Our year-end predictions)

    MoonActive just launched the obvious counter-punch to Monopoly Go — and it's already pulling 2.2M monthly downloads against Monopoly Go's 1.8M, with 10x fewer creatives. We break down Coin Master Board Adventure end-to-end: the stacked core loops (board + merge + Klondike + bombs + idle tree pets), the static-vs-seasonal album split, the 5-pop-up energy trap, the UA creative library, the launch trajectory, and why social casino monetization is still a money printer that the rest of the industry can't crack. Plus the question that opens the episode and pretty much defines the genre: what is the D365 retention of users spending $5,000+ a month? (Spoiler: basically 100%.) If you work on UA, live-ops, or social casino product, this one's required viewing. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ ⏱️ TIMESTAMPS 00:00 Cold open — D365 retention of $5K/month whales 02:55 The setup: MoonActive's counter-launch to Monopoly Go 04:13 Coin Master is a $70M/month plow horse — for years 08:50 Walking the actual game: pop-ups, energy, board core 13:12 Five stacked cores: merge, Klondike, bombs, idle tree 20:00 Launch trajectory — $300K/day, 80K downloads/day 21:27 UA creatives: 1.5K running, why CPIs stay at $90+ 31:21 Year-end predictions and the Las Vegas granny -------------------------------------- PVX Partners offers non-dilutive funding for game developers. Go to: https://pvxpartners.com/ They can help you access the most effective form of growth capital once you have the metrics to back it. - Scale fast - Keep your shares - Drawdown only as needed - Have PvX take downside risk alongside you + Work with a team entirely made up of ex-gaming operators and investors --------------------------------------- For an ever-growing number of game developers, this means that now is the perfect time to invest in monetizing direct-to-consumer at scale. Our sponsor FastSpring: Has delivered D2C at scale for over 20 years They power top mobile publishers around the world Launch a new webstore, replace an existing D2C vendor, or add a redundant D2C vendor at fastspring.gg. --------------------------------------- This is no BS gaming podcast 2.5 gamers session. 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 a.m. conference discussion vibe, so let's not take it too seriously. Panelists: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Jakub Remia⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠r,⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Felix Braberg, Matej Lancaric⁠ Podcast: Join our slack channel here: https://join.slack.com/t/two-and-half-gamers/shared_invite/zt-3bckldvr8-8PXvzciMWdheOzED9hq0SA --------------------------------------- Matej Lancaric User Acquisition & Creatives Consultant ⁠https://lancaric.me Felix Braberg Ad monetization consultant ⁠https://www.felixbraberg.com Jakub Remiar Game design consultant ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/jakubremiar --------------------------------------- Please share the podcast with your industry friends, dogs & cats. Especially cats! They love it! Hit the Subscribe button on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple! Please share feedback and comments - matej@lancaric.me --------------------------------------- If you are interested in getting UA tips every week on Monday, visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠lancaric.substack.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ & sign up for the Brutally Honest newsletter by Matej Lancaric Do you have UA questions nobody can answer? Ask ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Matej AI⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ - the First UA AI in the gaming industry! https://lancaric.me/matej-ai

    33 min
  4. 🚨📢 BREAKING NEWS: Record Revenue, Record Layoffs, Why Only 2 Genres Are Actually Winning in 2026

    5 DAYS AGO

    🚨📢 BREAKING NEWS: Record Revenue, Record Layoffs, Why Only 2 Genres Are Actually Winning in 2026

    The mobile gaming industry just posted record revenue ($195.6B) while simultaneously firing 44,000 developers. Here's what's actually going on. Matej Lančarič flies solo this week to break down the five stories that matter most: NTE's massive global launch, IronSource's official shutdown after one of the worst acquisitions in mobile gaming history, the State of Mobile Gaming 2026 report and what its genre data really tells us, Adam Foroughi's spicy 20VC interview, and Google's ad tech antitrust ruling that's about to reshape programmatic advertising. Five stories, one signal: the market growth is real but extremely concentrated. If you're not in the right two genres or one of the live-service giants, you're competing for table scraps. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ ⏱️ TIMESTAMPS 00:00 Record revenue, record layoffs paradox 00:50 NTE / Neverness to Everness global launch 02:30 IronSource is officially dead — RIP $4.4B acquisition 03:45 $195.6B revenue + 44K layoffs — the concentration story 05:15 Adam Foroughi on 20VC — $83M payday, AI, layoffs 05:45 Google ad tech antitrust ruling — what comes next 06:30 Closing — the week ahead ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 📌 KEY TAKEAWAYS — Global gaming hit $195.6B in revenue in 2025, the highest annual total on record. Meanwhile 44,000+ dev jobs have been cut since 2022, with another 2-3K already gone in 2026. One in three US developers laid off, 48% still jobless. — IronSource is dead. The $4.4B Unity acquisition is one of the most controversial deals in mobile gaming history — Supersonic is being sold off, and three and a half years later there's almost nothing left of IronSource inside Unity. Unity Vector grew 48% YoY though, so the ad business itself isn't dying. — NTE (Neverness to Everness) launched globally April 29 on PC, Android, iOS, PS5, and Mac with cross-platform progression. Same team behind Tower of Fantasy. Massive IP, production values, and gacha — benchmark is Genshin and Zenless Zone Zero. — Adam Foroughi's 20VC interview is required listening. $83M CEO payday after a 92% stock drop, AI vs layoffs, AppLovin's run as one of the best-performing tech businesses right now. --------------------------------------- This is no BS gaming podcast 2.5 gamers session. 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 a.m. conference discussion vibe, so let's not take it too seriously. Panelists: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Jakub Remia⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠r,⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Felix Braberg, Matej Lancaric⁠ Podcast: Join our slack channel here: https://join.slack.com/t/two-and-half-gamers/shared_invite/zt-3bckldvr8-8PXvzciMWdheOzED9hq0SA --------------------------------------- Matej Lancaric User Acquisition & Creatives Consultant ⁠https://lancaric.me Felix Braberg Ad monetization consultant ⁠https://www.felixbraberg.com Jakub Remiar Game design consultant ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/jakubremiar --------------------------------------- Please share the podcast with your industry friends, dogs & cats. Especially cats! They love it! Hit the Subscribe button on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple! Please share feedback and comments - matej@lancaric.me --------------------------------------- If you are interested in getting UA tips every week on Monday, visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠lancaric.substack.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ & sign up for the Brutally Honest newsletter by Matej Lancaric Do you have UA questions nobody can answer? Ask ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Matej AI⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ - the First UA AI in the gaming industry! https://lancaric.me/matej-ai

    9 min
  5. 💡 How to create new mobile games 101, 2026 edition 😎

    29 APR

    💡 How to create new mobile games 101, 2026 edition 😎

    How do you pick the right core for your next puzzle hit? Jakub Remiar breaks down the methodology behind some of the most successful puzzle launches of the last two years — Domino Dreams, Magic Sword, Block Out, Hexa Out, Arrow Gem — and explains the pattern that connects all of them. The short version: stop trying to invent new cores. Find a puzzle sub-genre that already has massive download volume but is monetized almost entirely through ads. Take that core, wrap it in level-based design, blockers, and live-ops polish, and convert the ad-revenue audience into IAP players. Domino Dreams did it with Domino. Magic Sword did it with Water Sort. Block Out did it with Color Block Jam. Same playbook every time. This is the video to send to anyone who asks "what genre should I build in next." Potensus is a premium ad network built by people who've actually been on both sides of this industry - game publishers, agencies, and successful exits. They get it. Here's the thing - Potensus has direct deals with Amazon, Apple, Coca-Cola, Vodafone. Not programmatic. Direct. Those budgets land in your game at premium CPMs, no middleman tax. And they handle everything with their in-house team. PLUS they're partnered with PlayableMaker WINK WINK - so they'll take a brand's YouTube video or a static banner and actually turn it into a playable ad or rewarded video. Proper interactive format, built for gaming inventory. Brands getting a gaming-native creative, publishers getting higher CPMs. Everyone wins. Head to potensus.com to get started or check their creative portfolio here https://vimeo.com/showcase/12093300?fl=so&fe=fs ⏱️ TIMESTAMPS 00:00 Intro — how to pick a core for a new puzzle game 02:21 Domino Dreams: capturing the Domino category 05:20 Magic Sword: turning Water Sort into IAP gold 07:50 Spyke Games / Combo Games portfolio strategy 10:50 Hexa Out — when iteration becomes innovation 13:00 Grand Games portfolio: the templatization machine 15:55 Arrow Gem: the obvious next move after Lesmore's Arrows 17:30 Why this is a lottery — and consistency wins it 18:30 Closing methodology: pick your strengths, know your shot 📌 KEY TAKEAWAYS — The opportunity isn't in inventing new puzzle cores. It's in finding ad-driven puzzle categories with high download volume and converting them to IAP via level design, blockers, and live-ops. — Domino Dreams isn't a Domino game. Magic Sword isn't a Water Sort game. They're level-based puzzlers with a familiar core wrapped around them — that's the trick. — Category ceiling matters: Domino Dreams will likely cap around $7–8M/month because the niche is finite. That's still a profitable, sustainable hit. — Studios like Grand Games and Spyke have built a consistent template: 80% finished metagame engine + swap in the new trending core + 20% iteration. — Lesmore's Arrows is the current source code — everyone is iterating on it (Hexa Out, Arrow Gem, countless clones). #mobilegaming #gamedesign #puzzlegames #liveops #f2p This is no BS gaming podcast 2.5 gamers session. 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 a.m. conference discussion vibe, so let's not take it too seriously. Panelists: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Jakub Remia⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠r Join our slack channel here: https://join.slack.com/t/two-and-half-gamers/shared_invite/zt-3bckldvr8-8PXvzciMWdheOzED9hq0SA Jakub Remiar Game design consultant ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/jakubremiar Please share the podcast with your industry friends, dogs & cats. Especially cats! They love it! Hit the Subscribe button on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple! Please share feedback and comments - matej@lancaric.me

    22 min
  6. 🚨📢 BREAKING NEWS: Chinese domination, M&A boom, Freecash controversy

    17 APR

    🚨📢 BREAKING NEWS: Chinese domination, M&A boom, Freecash controversy

    Major shifts in mobile gaming, UA, and investments This week’s Two and a Half Gamers Breaking News covers three massive trends shaping the industry right now: 📊 Chinese games dominating global top-grossing charts 💰 $7.7B in gaming M&A activity in Q1 2026 ⚖️ Freecash controversy and removal from app stores From Gossip Harbor climbing into the top revenue charts to massive acquisitions fueling new investments, the industry is showing clear signs of consolidation and power shifts. At the same time, the rewarded UA ecosystem is under pressure, as Freecash faces scrutiny and potential platform restrictions — something that could impact UA budgets across the entire industry. --------------------------------------- This is no BS gaming podcast 2.5 gamers session. 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 a.m. conference discussion vibe, so let's not take it too seriously. Panelists: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Jakub Remia⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠r,⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Felix Braberg, Matej Lancaric⁠ Podcast: Join our slack channel here: https://join.slack.com/t/two-and-half-gamers/shared_invite/zt-3bckldvr8-8PXvzciMWdheOzED9hq0SA Chapters 00:00 Intro + why this week matters 00:40 US top charts breakdown 01:40 Global revenue leaders (Last War, Royal Match, etc.) 02:40 Gossip Harbor growth explained 03:30 Chinese dominance in top charts 04:30 M&A boom ($7.7B in Q1) 05:40 Why acquisitions drive new funding 06:30 Freecash controversy explained 07:30 What this means for UA --------------------------------------- Matej Lancaric User Acquisition & Creatives Consultant ⁠https://lancaric.me Felix Braberg Ad monetization consultant ⁠https://www.felixbraberg.com Jakub Remiar Game design consultant ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/jakubremiar --------------------------------------- Please share the podcast with your industry friends, dogs & cats. Especially cats! They love it! Hit the Subscribe button on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple! Please share feedback and comments - matej@lancaric.me --------------------------------------- If you are interested in getting UA tips every week on Monday, visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠lancaric.substack.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ & sign up for the Brutally Honest newsletter by Matej Lancaric Do you have UA questions nobody can answer? Ask ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Matej AI⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ - the First UA AI in the gaming industry! https://lancaric.me/matej-ai

    8 min
  7. How to maximize ad revenue in Tier 4 geos (+Japan bonus) by Felix Braberg

    15 APR

    How to maximize ad revenue in Tier 4 geos (+Japan bonus) by Felix Braberg

    In this solo episode of Two and a Half Gamers, Felix breaks down one of the most underrated growth levers in mobile gaming — your mediation setup. The reality is that ad monetization performance varies massively by geo — especially in Tier 4 markets like India and Indonesia. Low-end devices, low LTV, and poor fill rates create a completely different optimization problem compared to Tier 1 markets. The biggest unlock is not adding more networks. It’s designing your mediation stack around constraints. Device filtering, delayed ad loading, language segmentation, and local demand sources can significantly increase revenue without increasing DAU. The takeaway is simple. If your mediation setup is the same globally… you are leaving money on the table. This episode is brought to you by Potensus. If you're a mobile game publisher tired of leaving money on the table - listen up. Potensus is a premium ad network built by people who've actually been on both sides of this industry - game publishers, agencies, and successful exits. They get it. Here's the thing - Potensus has direct deals with Amazon, Apple, Coca-Cola, Vodafone. Not programmatic. Direct. Those budgets land in your game at premium CPMs, no middleman tax. And they handle everything with their in-house team. PLUS they're partnered with PlayableMaker WINK WINK - so they'll take a brand's YouTube video or a static banner and actually turn it into a playable ad or rewarded video. Proper interactive format, built for gaming inventory. Brands getting a gaming-native creative, publishers getting higher CPMs. Everyone wins. Head to potensus.com to get started or check their creative portfolio here https://vimeo.com/showcase/12093300?fl=so&fe=fs --------------------------------------- This is no BS gaming podcast 2.5 gamers session. 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 a.m. conference discussion vibe, so let's not take it too seriously. Panelists: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Jakub Remia⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠r,⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Felix Braberg, Matej Lancaric⁠ Podcast: Join our slack channel here: https://join.slack.com/t/two-and-half-gamers/shared_invite/zt-3bckldvr8-8PXvzciMWdheOzED9hq0SA Chapters 00:00 Intro + why mediation matters 01:20 What are Tier 4 geos 02:30 Ad loading strategy (critical!) 05:30 Avoiding ANRs on low-end devices 08:00 Mediation setup for India 11:30 Fill rate problems and solutions 13:30 Indonesia best practices 15:30 Banner optimization tricks 16:50 Japan bonus strategy 18:00 Final thoughts --------------------------------------- Matej Lancaric User Acquisition & Creatives Consultant ⁠https://lancaric.me Felix Braberg Ad monetization consultant ⁠https://www.felixbraberg.com Jakub Remiar Game design consultant ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/jakubremiar --------------------------------------- Please share the podcast with your industry friends, dogs & cats. Especially cats! They love it! Hit the Subscribe button on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple! Please share feedback and comments - matej@lancaric.me --------------------------------------- If you are interested in getting UA tips every week on Monday, visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠lancaric.substack.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ & sign up for the Brutally Honest newsletter by Matej Lancaric Do you have UA questions nobody can answer? Ask ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Matej AI⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ - the First UA AI in the gaming industry! https://lancaric.me/matej-ai

    22 min
  8. 🚨📢 BREAKING NEWS: Unity kills ironSource, Meta lawsuits, AppLovin moves

    10 APR

    🚨📢 BREAKING NEWS: Unity kills ironSource, Meta lawsuits, AppLovin moves

    This week’s Breaking News covers one of the most important shifts happening right now across mobile gaming and ad tech. Here’s what’s happening: 📉 Mobile gaming is stabilizing but growth is slowing 💰 Investment is dropping, consolidation is rising 📊 AppLovin is reshuffling leadership while expanding beyond gaming 🧹 Unity is officially killing IronSource and doubling down on its new ad stack 🤖 Meta is pushing toward fully automated AI-driven ads ⚖️ Meta and Google are hit with major legal verdicts around platform design The industry is not shrinking. It’s evolving into a more efficient, more competitive system. KEY TAKEAWAY The easy growth phase is over. Now it’s about efficiency, automation, and execution. --------------------------------------- This is no BS gaming podcast 2.5 gamers session. 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 a.m. conference discussion vibe, so let's not take it too seriously. Panelists: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Jakub Remia⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠r,⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Felix Braberg, Matej Lancaric⁠ Podcast: Join our slack channel here: https://join.slack.com/t/two-and-half-gamers/shared_invite/zt-3bckldvr8-8PXvzciMWdheOzED9hq0SA Chapters 00:00 Intro: why this week matters 00:40 Mobile gaming Q1 reality check 02:00 AppLovin leadership changes 03:30 AppLovin expansion beyond gaming 04:40 Unity kills IronSource 06:00 Unity Vector strategy explained 07:10 Meta AI ad automation push 08:20 CPI spikes and algorithm update 09:00 Meta lawsuits and verdicts 09:50 Final takeaway --------------------------------------- Matej Lancaric User Acquisition & Creatives Consultant ⁠https://lancaric.me Felix Braberg Ad monetization consultant ⁠https://www.felixbraberg.com Jakub Remiar Game design consultant ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/jakubremiar --------------------------------------- Please share the podcast with your industry friends, dogs & cats. Especially cats! They love it! Hit the Subscribe button on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple! Please share feedback and comments - matej@lancaric.me --------------------------------------- If you are interested in getting UA tips every week on Monday, visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠lancaric.substack.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ & sign up for the Brutally Honest newsletter by Matej Lancaric Do you have UA questions nobody can answer? Ask ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Matej AI⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ - the First UA AI in the gaming industry! https://lancaric.me/matej-ai

    10 min
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About

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 and relaxed atmosphere. A safe space where we mimic the honesty of a 4am conference discussion. Enjoy & let us know your feedback!

Information

  • Creator
    Lancaric.me
  • Years Active
    2022 - 2026
  • Episodes
    434
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Lancaric.me
  • Show Website
    two & a half gamers

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