Speaking on a panel focused on user acquisition at Casual Connect Europe in Hamburg, Applifier CEO Jussi Laakkonen branded in-game video as a vital tool for games discovery.

Laakkonen believes no form of promotion can top one user recommending a game to a friend off their own back, and Applifier's Everyplay – which records in-game video that the player can easily share with contacts over Facebook – is driving scores of downloads.

Indeed, according to the CEO's stats, 12 percent of all people who watch an Everyplay clip go on to download the game it's showcasing.

The ultimate

"The ultimate games promotion remains getting people to voluntarily talk about your games to friends," said Laakkonen.

"12 percent of everyone who views an Everyplay video on Facebook goes on to download the game at the moment, and that's a share we expect to rise further in the future.

Nonetheless, Laakkonen argued that the industry still has a long way to go when it comes to the social promotion of games, claiming that much of the current focus is on pushing games via Facebook with little personalisation.

"The one nut we haven't craked is the social level," offered Laakkonen. "I mean authentic viral, not spamming via Facebook."

Different by design

Whatever the medium they use to promote your game, the key to encouraging players to talk about your game is – surprise, surprise – making a good game.

That was the view of Erlend Christoffeersen - director of consumer acquisition at Supercell – who stressed the need for developers to focus on picking up engaged users, rather than just chasing download numbers.

"Engaged users are more likely to spend, and more likely to promote your game to friends," he offered.

"User data is important when it comes to optimsing game design to drive those engage users."

Eye on Apple

What can the platform holders do, however?

According to Laakkonen, there's one very obvious thing they can do: use your contacts list.

"Apple has all the information it needs from my phone," he said. "Why can't I just click on my contacts and see what they're all playing?"

Stefan Bielau, who is founder and CEO of his own consulting firm, went further, suggesting platform holders or OEMs can use the readily available location data to push apps or services in your direction.

"I just touched down in Hamburg. It would be great if there was just automatically an app there when I land telling what to do or where to go."

It remains to be seen, however, how much advantage there is for the likes of Apple or Google promoting apps and services in this way, and just what proportion of users would opt in to regularly share their location with platform holders.