Shamanth Rao (CEO at RocketShip HQ - Mobile Growth Consultancy) interviews Nadav Ashkenazy (GM at SuperSonic Studios - Mobile Games Developer and Publisher) about a blockbuster launch and the relative importance of getting to the top of the App Store.
The key to success is in 2 steps:
1. Picking the right title based on marketability and scalability
2. Being sophisticated in creative and CPI optimizations once the game is launched
More important than being at the top of the charts: today the organics' "K" factor is more defined by virality which means things like play time, retention, etc. It's more about quality.
There is still impact when climbing the ranks but the K factor purely from the charts is not more than 5%, when it used to be between 20-50%.
Evaluation process for marketability:
1. Intuition from publishing managers and game designers (experience, market trends)
2. Facebook test to feel both the CPI and quality metrics (retention, play time, etc,) to estimate potential LTV and scalability
3. Soft launch to convert assumptions into facts (including marketability per channel)
Optimize everything towards profit, regardless of rank. It's not about how much to reach top 10, it's about making sure not to spend money that is not needed. If you do make it to #1, could you have made it with better margins?
If going live uncapped when it comes to CPI, you don't want to get more thank 100k installs/day because this should already put you at the top. You could get these installs for a lower CPI.
You could get too many installs when reaching #1, in which case you're wasting money. You want to keep the momentum going. Being in the top 3 for 45 days is better than being the top 1 for much less days.
For paid start with the strongest channels (both social and SDK) and use the soft launch period to optimize creatives so you can start global launch with the right creative and right bid set up for all UA channel so you can hit your margin goal.
Once they are optimizing UA on a daily basis, they're looking at D0/D1/D3 but mostly D0 to be able to react very quickly to trends and changes.
They want to react in real-time so they are on almost 24/7. Use a system to have alerts that look carefully for changing trends and usually catch them the day it happens, sometimes the morning after and reacting then.
There is a "Title Growth Manager" (with a team) who is owning both supply and demand: user acquisition and ad monetization. Responsibility is to take from the lab a title with great KPIs to make it a multi-million dollar game. Can close the loop very quickly and be more efficient.
The key to success is in 2 steps:
1. Picking the right title based on marketability and scalability
2. Being sophisticated in creative and CPI optimizations once the game is launched
More important than being at the top of the charts: today the organics' "K" factor is more defined by virality which means things like play time, retention, etc. It's more about quality.
There is still impact when climbing the ranks but the K factor purely from the charts is not more than 5%, when it used to be between 20-50%.
Evaluation process for marketability:
1. Intuition from publishing managers and game designers (experience, market trends)
2. Facebook test to feel both the CPI and quality metrics (retention, play time, etc,) to estimate potential LTV and scalability
3. Soft launch to convert assumptions into facts (including marketability per channel)
Optimize everything towards profit, regardless of rank. It's not about how much to reach top 10, it's about making sure not to spend money that is not needed. If you do make it to #1, could you have made it with better margins?
If going live uncapped when it comes to CPI, you don't want to get more thank 100k installs/day because this should already put you at the top. You could get these installs for a lower CPI.
You could get too many installs when reaching #1, in which case you're wasting money. You want to keep the momentum going. Being in the top 3 for 45 days is better than being the top 1 for much less days.
For paid start with the strongest channels (both social and SDK) and use the soft launch period to optimize creatives so you can start global launch with the right creative and right bid set up for all UA channel so you can hit your margin goal.
Once they are optimizing UA on a daily basis, they're looking at D0/D1/D3 but mostly D0 to be able to react very quickly to trends and changes.
They want to react in real-time so they are on almost 24/7. Use a system to have alerts that look carefully for changing trends and usually catch them the day it happens, sometimes the morning after and reacting then.
There is a "Title Growth Manager" (with a team) who is owning both supply and demand: user acquisition and ad monetization. Responsibility is to take from the lab a title with great KPIs to make it a multi-million dollar game. Can close the loop very quickly and be more efficient.
The key to success is in 2 steps:
1. Picking the right title based on marketability and scalability
2. Being sophisticated in creative and CPI optimizations once the game is launched
More important than being at the top of the charts: today the organics' "K" factor is more defined by virality which means things like play time, retention, etc. It's more about quality.
There is still impact when climbing the ranks but the K factor purely from the charts is not more than 5%, when it used to be between 20-50%.
Evaluation process for marketability:
1. Intuition from publishing managers and game designers (experience, market trends)
2. Facebook test to feel both the CPI and quality metrics (retention, play time, etc,) to estimate potential LTV and scalability
3. Soft launch to convert assumptions into facts (including marketability per channel)
Optimize everything towards profit, regardless of rank. It's not about how much to reach top 10, it's about making sure not to spend money that is not needed. If you do make it to #1, could you have made it with better margins?
If going live uncapped when it comes to CPI, you don't want to get more thank 100k installs/day because this should already put you at the top. You could get these installs for a lower CPI.
You could get too many installs when reaching #1, in which case you're wasting money. You want to keep the momentum going. Being in the top 3 for 45 days is better than being the top 1 for much less days.
For paid start with the strongest channels (both social and SDK) and use the soft launch period to optimize creatives so you can start global launch with the right creative and right bid set up for all UA channel so you can hit your margin goal.
Once they are optimizing UA on a daily basis, they're looking at D0/D1/D3 but mostly D0 to be able to react very quickly to trends and changes.
They want to react in real-time so they are on almost 24/7. Use a system to have alerts that look carefully for changing trends and usually catch them the day it happens, sometimes the morning after and reacting then.
There is a "Title Growth Manager" (with a team) who is owning both supply and demand: user acquisition and ad monetization. Responsibility is to take from the lab a title with great KPIs to make it a multi-million dollar game. Can close the loop very quickly and be more efficient.
Notes for this resource are currently being transferred and will be available soon.
5 of Supersonic's games have hit #1 on iTunes in the US in just a few months of the studio's existence.
Hitting #1 is not a goal, but it does mean you managed to get a significant amount of installs in a short time window.
[💎@03:08] The key to success is in 2 steps:
You need to be careful with burning yourself by spending a lot of money on install bursts.
Top ranks used to be really important but now it requires more clicks for users to get there (top 3 in a much less visible place).
[💎@06:12] More important than being at the top of the charts: today the organics' "K" factor is more defined by virality which means things like play time, retention, etc. It's more about quality.
[💎@07:20] There is still impact when climbing the ranks but the K factor purely from the charts is not more than 5%, when it used to be between 20-50%.
[💎@09:15]
The goal is to always be right before moving to soft launch because any game you get there costs you money, focus, time. You want to be as accurate as possible as early as possible.
[💎@13:30] Optimize everything towards profit, regardless of rank. It's not about how much to reach top 10, it's about making sure not to spend money that is not needed. If you do make it to #1, could you have made it with better margins?
During soft launch, try to understand the K factor for organics and how much they should pay for paid installs.
Consider cross-promo as part of paid installs.
[💎@16:20] For paid start with the strongest channels (both social and SDK) and use the soft launch period to optimize creatives so you can start global launch with the right creative and right bid set up for all UA channel so you can hit your margin goal.
In the soft launch they accumulate at least D7 and sometimes D14 or more. These gives you a good indication to your LTV and understanding of your D30.
[💎@17:45] Once they are optimizing UA on a daily basis, they're looking at D0/D1/D3 but mostly D0 to be able to react very quickly to trends and changes.
[💎@18:40] They want to react in real-time so they are on almost 24/7. Use a system to have alerts that look carefully for changing trends and usually catch them the day it happens, sometimes the morning after and reacting then.
Always optimizing towards margins, not to the top of the charts.
Besides US, looking at: China, Japan, UK.
Tier 1: Australia, Germany, Korea
Then tier 2 and 3.
For each country they put the attention matching the potential revenue.
There are differences between platforms per games (depending on the fit with users) but they are treating the games the same way (→ margins).
[💎@23:20] There is a "Title Growth Manager" (with a team) who is owning both supply and demand: user acquisition and ad monetization. Responsibility is to take from the lab a title with great KPIs to make it a multi-million dollar game. Can close the loop very quickly and be more efficient.
Can discuss with networks to optimize LTV but on the other side can optimization the bids and creatives for each channel.
When launching a game, they are using all the channels.
Title owner gets support from operations for the different channels, but he is the owner and decides how to allocate the resources.
5 of Supersonic's games have hit #1 on iTunes in the US in just a few months of the studio's existence.
Hitting #1 is not a goal, but it does mean you managed to get a significant amount of installs in a short time window.
[💎@03:08] The key to success is in 2 steps:
You need to be careful with burning yourself by spending a lot of money on install bursts.
Top ranks used to be really important but now it requires more clicks for users to get there (top 3 in a much less visible place).
[💎@06:12] More important than being at the top of the charts: today the organics' "K" factor is more defined by virality which means things like play time, retention, etc. It's more about quality.
[💎@07:20] There is still impact when climbing the ranks but the K factor purely from the charts is not more than 5%, when it used to be between 20-50%.
[💎@09:15]
The goal is to always be right before moving to soft launch because any game you get there costs you money, focus, time. You want to be as accurate as possible as early as possible.
[💎@13:30] Optimize everything towards profit, regardless of rank. It's not about how much to reach top 10, it's about making sure not to spend money that is not needed. If you do make it to #1, could you have made it with better margins?
During soft launch, try to understand the K factor for organics and how much they should pay for paid installs.
Consider cross-promo as part of paid installs.
[💎@16:20] For paid start with the strongest channels (both social and SDK) and use the soft launch period to optimize creatives so you can start global launch with the right creative and right bid set up for all UA channel so you can hit your margin goal.
In the soft launch they accumulate at least D7 and sometimes D14 or more. These gives you a good indication to your LTV and understanding of your D30.
[💎@17:45] Once they are optimizing UA on a daily basis, they're looking at D0/D1/D3 but mostly D0 to be able to react very quickly to trends and changes.
[💎@18:40] They want to react in real-time so they are on almost 24/7. Use a system to have alerts that look carefully for changing trends and usually catch them the day it happens, sometimes the morning after and reacting then.
Always optimizing towards margins, not to the top of the charts.
Besides US, looking at: China, Japan, UK.
Tier 1: Australia, Germany, Korea
Then tier 2 and 3.
For each country they put the attention matching the potential revenue.
There are differences between platforms per games (depending on the fit with users) but they are treating the games the same way (→ margins).
[💎@23:20] There is a "Title Growth Manager" (with a team) who is owning both supply and demand: user acquisition and ad monetization. Responsibility is to take from the lab a title with great KPIs to make it a multi-million dollar game. Can close the loop very quickly and be more efficient.
Can discuss with networks to optimize LTV but on the other side can optimization the bids and creatives for each channel.
When launching a game, they are using all the channels.
Title owner gets support from operations for the different channels, but he is the owner and decides how to allocate the resources.
5 of Supersonic's games have hit #1 on iTunes in the US in just a few months of the studio's existence.
Hitting #1 is not a goal, but it does mean you managed to get a significant amount of installs in a short time window.
[💎@03:08] The key to success is in 2 steps:
You need to be careful with burning yourself by spending a lot of money on install bursts.
Top ranks used to be really important but now it requires more clicks for users to get there (top 3 in a much less visible place).
[💎@06:12] More important than being at the top of the charts: today the organics' "K" factor is more defined by virality which means things like play time, retention, etc. It's more about quality.
[💎@07:20] There is still impact when climbing the ranks but the K factor purely from the charts is not more than 5%, when it used to be between 20-50%.
[💎@09:15]
The goal is to always be right before moving to soft launch because any game you get there costs you money, focus, time. You want to be as accurate as possible as early as possible.
[💎@13:30] Optimize everything towards profit, regardless of rank. It's not about how much to reach top 10, it's about making sure not to spend money that is not needed. If you do make it to #1, could you have made it with better margins?
During soft launch, try to understand the K factor for organics and how much they should pay for paid installs.
Consider cross-promo as part of paid installs.
[💎@16:20] For paid start with the strongest channels (both social and SDK) and use the soft launch period to optimize creatives so you can start global launch with the right creative and right bid set up for all UA channel so you can hit your margin goal.
In the soft launch they accumulate at least D7 and sometimes D14 or more. These gives you a good indication to your LTV and understanding of your D30.
[💎@17:45] Once they are optimizing UA on a daily basis, they're looking at D0/D1/D3 but mostly D0 to be able to react very quickly to trends and changes.
[💎@18:40] They want to react in real-time so they are on almost 24/7. Use a system to have alerts that look carefully for changing trends and usually catch them the day it happens, sometimes the morning after and reacting then.
Always optimizing towards margins, not to the top of the charts.
Besides US, looking at: China, Japan, UK.
Tier 1: Australia, Germany, Korea
Then tier 2 and 3.
For each country they put the attention matching the potential revenue.
There are differences between platforms per games (depending on the fit with users) but they are treating the games the same way (→ margins).
[💎@23:20] There is a "Title Growth Manager" (with a team) who is owning both supply and demand: user acquisition and ad monetization. Responsibility is to take from the lab a title with great KPIs to make it a multi-million dollar game. Can close the loop very quickly and be more efficient.
Can discuss with networks to optimize LTV but on the other side can optimization the bids and creatives for each channel.
When launching a game, they are using all the channels.
Title owner gets support from operations for the different channels, but he is the owner and decides how to allocate the resources.
