AI vs art and the evolution of creative campaigns

• Pocket Gamer Connects Barcelona 2025 saw conversation around user acquisition and AI.
• Speakers included Pixel Federation CMO Michal Prokop Grno, Rzain CEO and UA consultant Claire Rozain, Gamigion founder Ömer Yakabagi and ByteBrew CSO Christopher Lefebvre.

“AI allows us to iterate more quickly, to have more concepts, and to find the right angles that you wouldn’t think of in the past because it would be too costly," says Pixel Federation CMO Michal Prokop Grno.

"I’m really looking forward to the future even though AI can put pressure on the artists’ side. They need to adapt, otherwise they will be replaced."

Grno spoke at Pocket Gamer Connects Barcelona 2025 about the rise of AI, the risks associated, as well as the benefits to exploring new ideas more cost-effectively.

In the context of creative campaigns using AI to acquire new users, he warned that an overreliance on the tech will lead to "average" results where no one stands out.

"It’s so much easier to get inspired or outright copy other creatives now with AI, so I’m wondering where this will lead us as an industry if everybody is doing the same thing. It should ultimately lead us to lower IPMs and worse results. What will be important will be to stand out from the average competition."

Grno was joined on a panel by Rzain CEO and UA consultant Claire Rozain, Gamigion founder Ömer Yakabagi and ByteBrew CSO Christopher Lefebvre.

"Two years ago we were not talking about AI anyhow, and now it’s everywhere," said Yakabagi.

Rozain noted: "Creatives nowadays are empowered by AI, but we’ve lost the creative aspect. There are massive things people can do with creatives nowadays, but people need to keep in mind that you need to have a process, you need to know your user, you need to have creative thinking."

A changing landscape

Lefebvre reflected. "If you think back to the launch of the smartphone, paid games were the first thing, and it was really up to the distribution partners - Google and Apple - that drove UA. Free-to-play games hit, but a lot of UA was still being driven by press and PR,"

"We started to see the ramp-up of paid UA with hypercasual and cheap targeting on social media - obviously that goes away with the IDFA - and alongside that, the networks that are winning in this space are becoming increasingly algorithmic, increasingly black-box."

He suggested that today, game makers have "a few levers" like creatives that can be used, and he advised focusing on the mechanics of a game in those creatives: "You have a split second to make it clear and you have about three seconds to make it compelling."

Rozain added that a successful campaign doesn’t mean just "doing the same ad as Royal Match".

Pocket Gamer Connects will return to Helsinki, Finland on October 7th to 8th.