two & a half gamers

We scan Steam’s latest hits to predict which games could cross over to mobile success. 🔥 Topics: Peak ($53M climbing co-op) already cloned on Roblox Revenge on Gold Diggers -short drama goes interactive Rematch - 5v5 football sim, wild card for mobile The Alters - sci-fi survival with clones, Fallout Shelter-style Nine Kings - roguelite deck + mass battles = Balatro vibes The Tower - unfolding id...

We dive into Coin Sort, a surprising hybrid-casual puzzler that blends merge + sorting mechanics with clever ad monetization. Flow-state puzzler: players merge and sort coins, driving a satisfying loop. Unique twist: players call in new coins themselves, creating agency. Difficulty ramps as more coins = higher-value merges = more chaos. Shallow progression today (daily rewards, calendar, boosters)...

Today, we break down the latest Creative Trends in mobile game advertising, separating physics-based ad monsters from emerging AI hooks. Key insights: Golden Goblins & Physics Overload Still king: physics balls, crystals, pearls, gems. Production values keep climbing = now full 2-minute mini-films. Core loop: satisfying physics + resource overload + fail states. Iteration chains drive CPI drop...

Today, we fire up the Soft Launch Sonar - scanning the seas of upcoming mobile games to spot which soft launch titles might sink or scale. Key highlights: Monopoly Go & Moon Active’s spree – Multiple new soft launches (Monopoly Go, All in Hole, Match Dreams). The hosts argue it’s either IP hubris or a UA-driven funnel experiment. “Where’s the pig? Where’s the bacon?” Rovio + Sega’s Sonic Blitz...

In this Two and a Half Gamers special, Matej and Felix sit down with Lemon (柠檬游戏说) — WeChat Mini-Game blogger, founder of Hyperjoy, and consultant for Scopely — to unpack the Chinese mini-game gold rush. Key insights: 2024 market revenue: $7B+ (¥50B RMB). 500M+ MAU, 400K+ dev teams 183% YoY increase in advertisers; dev cycles: 4 weeks (hypercasual) to 3–6 months (hybrid/midcore). Balanced dem...

Today, we revisit 15+ mobile games we’ve covered in the past to see which ones are growing, peaking, or dying. From Vita Mahjong’s $200K/day AdMon empire to Century’s King Shot at $3M/day, here’s the brutally honest state of mobile gaming right now. Highlights: Vita Mahjong: 7M DAU, $200–300K/day Love & Deep Space: $7M/day gacha spikes Magic Villains: Backed by $60M raise, scaling fast King Sh...

Today, we dissect Little Farm Story Idle Tycoon — SayGames’ latest farming-idle hybrid that feels like a mashup of Dreamdale, My Perfect Hotel, and Idle Breaker. Key insights: Gameplay Loop: Clearing grass → unlocking fields → harvesting → selling resources. Heavy reliance on ads for progression (resources, boosts, even eggs). “Annoyance monetization”: progress gates force you to watch ads or buy...

In this special Two and a Half Gamers episode, Matej and Felix sit down with Zino Rost van Tonningen (TyrAds) to deep dive into the history, present, and future of rewarded monetization & offerwalls. Key insights: History of rewarded ads: Early “incent installs” → rank-boosting campaigns (TapJoy, FreeMyApps). Multi-reward systems (TapJoy, IronSource, Fyber). Misplay breakthrough: timer-based p...

Today, we break down Galaxy Defense, a sci-fi-themed tower defense/survival clone that’s generating $100K/day in IAP with only around 135K DAU. 🎯 Topics covered: Gameplay breakdown: lasers, turrets, force fields & randomizer Monetization: IAP heavy, ~12% ads, “Remove Ads” pack as a top purchase Why CPIs are likely $50–100+ in Tier 1 markets Revenue: ~$220K/day combined, with Android more than...

We dive into AceCraft, Moonton’s new Tom & Jerry–themed midcore gacha shooter that mixes Cuphead-style 1930s cartoon art with Habi-inspired systems and miHoYo-style monetization depth. Key insights: Gameplay & Core Loop: Systems & Meta Dual banners (Tom & Jerry separately) with pity timers, skewed rates, and duplicate scaling. Each major character has a signature weapon requiring r...

In this special Two and a Half Gamers duet episode, Matej and Felix walk through how to set up Ad Monetization (AdMon) from scratch using Matej’s own test app as a live case study. This episode is part tutorial, part comedy of errors, and part step-by-step guide for anyone new to AdMon. Key insights: App-ads.txt basics: Required by IAB for fraud prevention. Must be hosted on the developer’s listed...

We break down Epic Plane Evolution – Voodoo’s hypercasual throwback hit that’s pulling in ~$150K/day in ad revenue with over 100K daily downloads. Key insights: Gameplay: Players start with a broken cardboard plane and unlock wings, tails, and rockets through upgrades. Controls are intentionally clunky — planes crash often, driving engagement and retries. Monetization: Heavy use of rewarded ads (“...

Our Creative Trends episode dives into the wildest UA creative trends of July 2025. We dissect the latest ad formats, AI breakthroughs, and genre crossovers reshaping mobile game marketing. Key highlights: Golden Goblins still dominating: Physics + slicing + gem/gold mechanics continue to scale across genres. AI everywhere: From fully AI-generated creatives to lip-synced fake influencers and medie...

In this solo episode of Two and a Half Gamers, Felix dives into the Sensor Tower data that proves Vietnam is becoming one of the biggest forces in global mobile gaming. 📊 Key highlights: OneSoft at #3 worldwide with ~89M downloads in 30 days. iCame skyrocketing from $2.9M → $15M/month in IAP thanks to Screwdom. 72 studios now hitting 1M+ downloads monthly, up from 44 earlier this year. 58 new stu...

In this episode, we suffer (literally) through Wool Craze, a yarn-peeling 3D puzzler that’s taking the charts by storm. The crew dissects why this painful yet brilliant game is generating ~$100-120K daily on a DAU of just ~140K — all while flooding the market with AI-generated creatives. Key highlights: Gameplay & Pain: Long, punishing levels (20–30 minutes each), fat-finger frustration, endle...

Grand Games is back with another puzzler and it’s a monster. Car Match has hit $120K/day, combining bench mechanics, Pixar-style cars, and a polished Royal Match meta. On paper, it’s a textbook case of how to scale a puzzle game. Product, amazing. UA? Not so much. Here’s why: The product is a 9/10. Meta depth, endless events, and a proven template. Monetization is efficient. ~30% of revenue comes...

This solo Two & a Half Gamers episode dives deep into Clash Royale’s shocking revenue revival in 2025. Once seen as a declining nine-year-old title, Supercell’s classic has quadrupled revenue, hitting its best month since 2017 with ~$57M in July 2025. Jakub unpacks the timeline of monetization and economy tweaks that fueled this comeback: 2018–2022: Decline after failed battle pass integration...

This episode of Two and a Half Gamers dives deep into UA financing with Jeff Cohen from PVX Partners, unpacking how mobile game studios can scale without giving up equity. Jeff breaks down the mechanics of non-dilutive funding, explains why not all financing partners are created equal, and reveals the traps founders fall into when choosing a lender. Founders' guide: How to choose the right UA...

Chip Thurston, Head of Gaming at FastSpring, returns to Two and a Half Gamers with explosive updates on the Apple and Google rulings that are blowing open the direct-to-consumer (D2C) floodgates. Since Apple’s April ruling unlocked steering — legally directing players from your game to an off-platform payment page — publishers have shifted millions in revenue from Apple and Google to their own web...

In this solo episode of Two and a Half Gamers, Matej Lancaric reveals his full Soft Launch Framework: the exact 40-page playbook he uses to validate retention, monetize effectively, and decide whether to scale or shut down a game before global launch. From three critical stages — Tech Test, Retention, Monetization — to precise KPIs, country targeting, creative iteration, and UA channel sequencing,...

How a Chinese Survivor.io Clone Is Printing $170K/Day in a Brutal Category? We tear into Mech Assemble: Zombie Swarm, a high-performing “shoot ‘em up” that’s managing to out-earn Survivor.io in a red-ocean market. With nearly $4M monthly revenue, $170K/day at peak, and only ~12K daily downloads, the game is proof you can win with ruthless monetization, creative overload, and a mix of East + West a...

We dissect Miniclip’s War Drone 3D, a surprise hit blending realistic drone fantasy, hypercasual onboarding, and ruthless gacha with relentless ad monetization. With over 50 percent organic downloads, scaling past 300,000 installs per day at peak, and daily revenues topping $65,000, War Drone 3D proves you can go viral with core gameplay, slick visuals, and a smart (but sometimes broken) upgrade l...

In this solo episode, Felix Braberg cuts through the hype and breaks down what’s actually happening in mobile ad monetization networks in 2025. The real mediation market is cornered by AppLovin MAX, Unity LevelPlay, and Google AdMob—with upstarts like Amazon Publisher Services and Moloco making surprise moves. But even the biggest ad-revenue studios (Rollic, Habi) are running from ads to IAP-first...

In this episode, we break down Tile Survive! FunPlus’s biggest 4X pivot yet and their boldest copy of Century Games’ “Dark War” playbook. From idle meta and scripted roads to resource overload creatives and meme awards, Tile Survive is showing that copying the leaders is now the fastest path to $50,000 a day. Find out what’s new, what’s missing, and why FunPlus may finally scale back into the 4X t...

This episode, Two and a Half Gamers sit down with analytics legend Russell Ovans—the mind behind Professor ARPDAU and the author of game analytics’ “bible.” Learn the brutal truth about retention, ARPDAU, LTV, and the “golden cohort” trap. If you want to scale your game profitably in 2025, you need these formulas, tools, and lessons - no hype, no BS, just results. You’ll learn: Why retention is th...