No Bs Fridays
The celebrity effect in mobile game advertising: When stars collide with games
In this regular column UA and marketing expert Matej Lančarič shares his thoughts on some of the biggest topics in games
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Guest Author
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About PocketGamer.biz regularly posts content from a variety of guest writers across the games industry. These encompass a wide range of topics and people from different backgrounds and diversities, sharing their opinion on the hottest trending topics, undiscovered gems and what the future of the business holds.
Articles by Guest Author
Critical Hit
Game Analysis: The winning formula behind Pokémon Trading Card Game Pocket
Jakub Remiar takes a deeper look at how the latest Pokémon game is securing more than $4 million a day
Trends And Predictions
Kwalee VP John Wright's 2025 predictions: HTML5 is a trailblazer and walled gardens continue to win big
From HTML5 games and alternative stores we hear some of 2025’s potential big trends
Live Ops Tips
A decade of live ops: Keeping creativity, player communities and gameplay alive
Exient’s Tommy Prentice and Steve Cassar Laudi offer insight on long term live ops
Mena
Playable Factory on making mobile ads that work
MENA games industry insider Stephen Sandmann speaks with Playable Factory COO Orkuncan Aydın on developing mobile ads and growth in the MENA region
Fine Tuning
Behind the scenes: How the little details in game development can make the biggest impact
Rockbite Games’ founders Avetis Zakharyan and Gevorg Kopalyan share why the team obsess over little things and easter eggs in their mobile games
Ad Advice
Creative fatigue in mobile games marketing: How to identify and combat it
AdQuantum’s Anton Kuzmin shares how you can avoid creative fatigue and keep your audience engaged
Legal Battle
Nintendo and The Pokémon Company vs. Pocket Pair: Understanding the details
Futura Digital’s Alexandra Kurdyumova and Evgenia Shikholeva explain why Nintendo is filing a patent rights lawsuit over a copyright infringement
Legal Advice
Telegram Mini Apps: What’s inside?
Futura Digital’s Alexandra Kurdyumova and Christina Sirozh share on what Telegram Mini Apps are and how to be compliant with its rules and regulations
Top Tips
Live ops should not be killing your team: Here's how to create a successful live event
Fundamentally Games’ live publishing manager Stephanie Field explores creating live events and ensuring long-term success for your game
Ua Advice
2024 UA Playbook: Diversifying beyond traditional channels and the rise of rewarded play
UA and marketing expert Matej Lančarič shares some best practices and top tips
Inside Look
Behind the scenes: Improving monetisation in the midcore battler Kingdom Clash
Azur games’ Nikolay Alekseev shares a deeper look at the continued evolution of the game
Growth Strategy
Five lessons from Dice Dreams' successful growth strategy
Gradient Universe founder Oxana Fomina explores how SuperPlay is successfully scaling the game five years later
App Income
Unlocking the success of alternative app stores
Mintegral’s Jeff Sue explains why developers looking for supplementary revenue streams should be looking toward alternative app stores
Mini Games Big Numbers
Behind the scenes of WeChat Minigames and how it has generated $2.3 billion in the first half of 2024
Jakub Remiar shares insight into the current state of WeChat Minigames and its prominence in the Chinese mobile market
Production Plan
Enhanced burn-down chart: How to estimate game production timelines more accurately and reliably
Cubic Games project manager Gennady Khmyznikov discusses the team's experiment with the enhanced burn-down chart
Case Study
How The Experimentation Group and Shallot Games increased Coffee Golf’s RPI by 75%
Tom Storr shares how consultancy group The Experimentation Group and Shallot Games successfully turned Coffee Golf around
Going Mobile
Behind the scenes: Bringing one of Africa’s oldest board games to life on mobile
MENA industry insider Stephen Sandmann discusses the development of Mancala Adventures with the Carry1st team
Game Development
Behind the scenes: How pre-production allowed us to occupy a mid-core niche with a loyal audience
Azur Games producer Tatiana Vinogradova on choosing a niche and creating an audience profile for your mid-core game
Ad Insights
Monopoly GO! A game that was(n’t) created for ads
GameBiz Consulting’s Božo Janković shows how ads could be implemented in Scopley’s hit game and how they’re missing out on millions
Major Changes
Game analysis: Squad Busters update makes radical changes on a quest for lasting success
Jakub Remiar takes us through Supercell’s latest changes to Squad Busters and what to expect next from the game
Legal Advice
The EU’s AI Act: What does it mean for game developers?
The act - in place since 1st August 2024 - is designed to ensure safety and transparency, but with that responsibility comes the necessity for careful compliance
Industry Insights
Why Lifetime IRR is better than ROAS for measuring marketing performance
Mobile Finance Collective's Martin Macmillan on why marketeers should swap ROAS for an IRR-based approach when UA spending at scale
Performance Boost
Using a Multiple Paid Pass to boost player choice, rewards, playtimes and revenue
Gradient Universe founder Oxana Fomina explains how the next step from the familiar Battle Pass could be your next step to improved monetization
In-game Events
Maximising success through in-game events mastery
AppQuantum’s Oleg Nalimov shares tips on timing, duration and pauses to get the very best out of your in-game events
Industry Insight
Seven psychology-inspired tips for perfect video game design
Sensemitter’s analyst Bogdan Baranovskiy offers insight and advice on game design principles by relating them to real world situations
Industry Insights
How to survive 10 years in the games industry while failing
Bigfoot Gaming co-founder and CEO Joao Batista on how his team spent a decade to make its first successful game and offers advice on how you can do the same
Mena Trends
The trends and opportunities that are shaping Turkey's app market
Adjust’s Ender Özcan discusses what's new and what's driving growth in the MENA region
Industry Insights
Why market benchmarks matter: How to work with analytics at launch
Rockbite Games founders Avetis Zakharyan and Gevorg Kopalyan share how to get the best out of your analytics
Monetisation
Best practices for in-game shops: How to convert players into spending
An excerpt from Balancy's new digital book 'Best practices for in-game shops'
Mobile Marketing
Why attribution and marketing mix modelling aren't delivering results for games marketers
Incrmntal CEO and co-founder Maor Sadra delves into the mobile marketing landscape and analyses privacy challenges and solutions for campaigns
Marketing Matters
Nurturing your audience: Mastering organic marketing strategies
Fundamentally Games publishing content manager Stephanie Field offers in-depth advice on making the most of your marketing strategies
Genre Mastery
Game Analysis: What does Project R.I.S.E mean for Supercell’s action RPG strategy?
Jakub Remiar shares all the details from the pre-alpha test of Project R.I.S.E and how it compares to mo.co and Riftbusters
Web3 Wins
What mobile game makers can learn from web3 and blockchain
Isn't it time that mobile gave web3 a break? Andy Adams, head of business development at Stardust spells out where web3 is winning and where mobile can learn, unite and prosper
Studio Journey
How Rockbite Games escaped closure, found a publisher, and earned a hit
Rockbite Games founders Avetis Zakharyan and Gevorg Kopalyan share the candid story of how they went from near closure to finding success in the mobile market
Developer Stories
“Apple blocked my account and deleted all my other apps. Instantly $3,000 in daily revenue was gone”
Apple is 'famous' for the opaque nature of its App Store regulations. Here developer Viktor Seraleev shares his nightmare app launch story and why he intends to sue Apple
Revenue Boost
What are 'skip-its' and how will they affect ad monetisation in 2024?
Božo Janković discusses the rise of a new monetisation option and how it's offering a new avenue for revenue generation in mobile gaming
Industry Insights
How to grow your game through experimentation
Tom Storr of The Experimentation Group on how to take your game to the next level by boosting its growth potential
Rising Revenue
In-game ads in hypercausal runners: Increasing revenue without sacrificing other metrics
Azur Games producer Milana Gelmanova shares how in-game ads helped to create a 5% to 20% revenue boost in a year
Fragmentation
The great divides of the global games industry
Raptor’s Rana Rahman explores the increasing sense of fragmentation in the video games industry and what impact resisting that reality could have
Legal Advice
Epic's Fortnite fine: The precedent and potential consequences of in-game purchases in the Netherlands
Epic Games were hit with a €1m+ bill for "deceiving children", but what can devs and publishers do to avoid being hit with similar legal action?
Industry Insight
How to start marketing games as a developer: choosing sources and budget
AppQuantum’s Artem Sprygin shares valuable marketing advice and how you can apply it to your own project
Call To Action
It's time to stop sexist creatives in user acquisition - here's how
UA and marketing expert Matej Lančarič calls out the issue of sexist ads in the mobile games market and how this has got to stop
Hypercasual Market
The state of the hypercasual genre in 2024
Sergey Martinkevich takes a closer look at how the hypercasual genre has performed over the first half of the year
Industry Insights
The experts' guide to mobile games monetisation: Part two
Kwalee’s John Wright continues his insight into mobile games monetisation from live ops to events
Industry Insights
The experts' guide to mobile games monetisation: Part one
Kwalee’s John Wright begins with ideas for mobile games monetisation and tips on game economies and in-app purchases
Preparing For Success
Suffering from success: How to stop your game's popularity from becoming your biggest headache
Metaplay CPO and co-founder Teemu Haila on the importance of building foundations for success before, not after the fact
Growth Strategy
Game analysis: How Brawl Stars achieved its incredible comeback
Claire Rozain of RZAIN Consulting explains how Supercell’s Brawl Stars turnaround is the perfect case study for a data-driven growth strategy
Missing Millions
Supercell's big Squad Busters mistake and how they're missing out on millions
Božo Janković explains how Squad Busters lack of ads could add up to a mountain of lost revenue
Deconstruction
Game Analysis: The evolution of idle RPG systems
Jakub Remiar goes under the hood of Lilith Games AFK journey to share the improvements it makes in the idle RPG genre