Guest Post by Ken Landen, an experienced figure in the gaming industry, currently serves as the CEO and Co-Founder of a startup that's currently in stealth mode. With a career dating back to 2012, Ken has contributed to renowned gaming companies such as Blizzard, Scopely, and Kongregate. Now, he's embarking on a new venture, eager to bring fresh ideas and innovation to the gaming world. Legend Of Mushroom has rapidly climbed the top grossing charts, notably in Tier 1 Asian markets like Japan and South Korea, primarily driven by revenue growth. The game features an ultra-simplistic idle gear c ..read more

Guest post by Julian Runge, Assistant Professor at Northeastern University and Principal Scientist at Game Data Pros I went out and asked game and app developers how they price their starter packs, and to find out why they do so. Read on to learn about the results. Good starter packs are indispensable for effective freemium monetization. But, in the heat of marketing and live operations, too strong a focus on conversion can lead you to price your starter packs too low. Carefully designed experiments and personalization strategies can be a solution! Starter packs are an essential component of ..read more

As a non-technical person at a studio, backends never really entered my sphere of interest. It was something I comfortably left for the CTOs and Tech Leads to worry about.  Yet as my level of seniority increased, I quickly found myself in a position where I had to approve budgets for backend investments. In practice, this meant putting my name on a dotted line without understanding the details nor the different options our studio had. Not to mention that backend costs of a successful live game were very high. Right up there with personnel and marketing expenditures.  In the realm of ..read more

Remember when MyGames first introduced War Robots over a decade ago? Back then, things weren’t so rosy. But fast forward to today, and the game has turned into a franchise available on multiple platforms and is extremely successful with over 250 million registered users and continuous growth in certain markets. Now, Pixonic – the team driving the game forward – has launched not one, but two new games with the War Robots IP. This means more robot time, on more platforms. Sola Saulenko, CMO at Pixonic, delves into the path to continued franchise growth, discussing preconditions, challenges, and ..read more

For the third year in a row, we at Deconstructor of Fun had the pleasure of hosting an incredible event in partnership with Google: Think Games Istanbul. The talks were filled with valuable insights into the current state and future prospects of the gaming industry, some of which you can explore below. A huge shoutout to Med Qaderi from Funtory for putting together this fantastic recap! Now, let's dive right in. A Reality Check with a Dose of Optimism with Michail Katkoff and Eric Kress The keynote kicked off with a dose of reality from Eric Kress and Michail Katkoff. They acknowledged the cur ..read more

Despite the release of numerous highly anticipated games last year, the game industry as a whole struggled to achieve significant growth. In this blog post, we'll delve into the underlying factors contributing to this stagnation, examining issues ranging from market saturation and competition to changing consumer behaviors and industry practices. By understanding these complexities, we can gain valuable insights into the dynamics shaping the contemporary gaming landscape and explore potential pathways for future growth and development. Big thanks go to Newzoo for their reports and eagerness t ..read more

Imagine leading a group of developers, artists, and designers piecing together the next epic game … Now imagine doing it without a physical office. Scary? It doesn't have to be, and Andy Duthie of MY.GAMES is here to show us the ropes. In the most recent episode of the DoF podcast, Mishka and Andy Duthie, Executive Producer at HAWKED, peel back the curtain on remote team management.  Andy's successful track record in leading agile teams, from industry titans like Rockstar where he played a significant role in crafting GTA Online, to cutting-edge startups, offers a unique insight into exce ..read more

Some of you remember 2010 when games on Facebook were booming! That’s when many of us started our careers in free-to-play games. Me included. And if you were in the heydays of Facebook games, you will also remember how the party ended abruptly in 2012. Facebook used games for growth and discarded them quickly as it didn’t need them anymore. The platform killed the booming gaming business by handicapping the distribution channels used to grow our games. I believe that mobile games could be facing the same deliberate death-by-a-platform as games Facebook suffered a decade ago. We’re like frogs b ..read more

Supercell CEO’s annual blog post is a personal, inspirational, and sincere communication method from the top brass of a major mobile games company. But readers of this analysis should also understand that it is more than that: the annual blog post serves as the CEO’s shareholder letter that Supercell publishes together with their financials. In other words, despite the casual form, it is still very much a piece of public relations (PR) crafted together with the CEO and a team of internal and external communication professionals.   Similar messages from CEOs of a public company would immed ..read more

Guest post by Kenneth Landen, Director of Product at Hit Factor Executive Summary In the ever-evolving landscape of mobile gaming, Supercell's Brawl Stars has undergone a remarkable resurgence, transforming challenges into triumphs. Ilkka Paananen's acknowledgment of their need to "Serve Players in a Live Game They Love, So It’s Played and Remembered Forever" has fueled a series of strategic moves. From a revenue dip in the post-COVID era to the removal of paid loot boxes, Brawl Stars has faced obstacles. However, the game's recent success is evident in its January 2024 performance, marking a ..read more