One of the fastest-growing genres in the mobile gaming market is idle.

Game Analytics found that idle games are rapidly evolving into a stickier genre, with longer sessions and higher average revenue per daily average user (ARPDAU) possibilities.

Independent developers have taken note of this evolving trend and are becoming increasingly strategic in their approach to compete in the former white space.

One progressive mobile developer saw a huge opportunity in this space. OUTLOU:D Games, a Cyprus-based games company, recently soft-launched their simple pick-up-and-play idle-clicker paired with addictive AI-driven simulation gameplay popular amongst the tycoon genre.

These attributes mixed with a medieval theme led to the creation of Idle Inn Tycoon.

As game makers and accomplished publishers, N3TWORK is always on the lookout for growth partners that could benefit from their monetisation technology and expertise.

All early indications of terrific engagement and retention through their soft launch was more than enough for N3TWORK to quickly approach OUTLOU:D to see if there was an opportunity for partnership.

Hitting a Glass Ceiling

Independently Idle Inn Tycoon was doing well financially, but OUTLOU:D recognized the importance of accelerating their revenue goals and collaboration.

They recognised a publisher with real games expertise, resources to scale, and a depth of understanding of user acquisition, retention and long-term monetisation that could elevate their business to new heights.

Both teams were confident that together they could grow Idle Inn Tycoon into a massive revenue generator. N3TWORK quickly worked with OUTLOU:D to collaborate and deploy their entire suite of publishing tools to implement these key strategies:

• Identified trends and utilized in-game expertise and strategies used to grow N3TWORK’s multi-million dollar Legendary and Tetris games.
• Establishing hyper-targeted ad inventories and audiences that were the best fit for the game’s subject matter and demographic.
• Through the use of N3TWORK’s creative technology, optimised hundreds of iterations of ad creative, quickly iterating on winning concepts and localizing ads for global expansion
• Broadened mediation channels and scaled Google UAC, DSPs, and Rewarded Video Networks.

N3TWORK was dedicated to their partnership with OUTLOU:D, even through some initial user acquisition growing pains. At one stage, user acquisition (UA) spend outpaced the discernable return on investment (ROI) however, N3TWORK was confident in their forecasting technology, Idle Inn Tycoon as a product, and the payback window.

Idle Inn Revenue was anything but idle

These strategies paid off for both teams in a short period of time. Some of the milestones hit were:

• $2 million in total revenue in just three months.
• A 300% increase in daily installs, and 10 times DAU increases.
•  x10 increase for in-app monetization.
• 45% increase in ad ARPDAU.
• A 25% decrease in cost per install, with x12 higher daily spend

Idle Inn Tycoon has found incredible success since partnering with N3TWORK and continues to use their publishing technology and expertise to grow Idle Inn Tycoon.

Interested in learning more about how N3TWORK can help your mobile game grow or to read the full case study on Idle Inn Tycoon?

Ready to scale your game? Apply for a free UA trial, wherein N3TWORK runs a user acquisition test up to $10,000 – developers keep the users, growth results, and revenue generated.