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PODCAST

two & a half gamers

This is a no BS gaming podcast. We share insights, knowledge and fun gossip relating to the topics of User Acquisition, Game Design and Ad monetisation. You will find here actionable insights in a fun and relaxed atmosphere. A safe space where we mimic the honesty of a 4am conference discussion. Enjoy & let us know your feedback!

leisure video games

All Episodes

00:37:39

FPS Strike Ops: Modern Arena gameplay breakdown - PvP...

two & a half gamers ·

2025/07/03

We dissect the phenomenon of FPS Strike, a low-poly, Counter-Strike-inspired mobile shooter racking up more than 4 million DAU, mostly across India, Pakistan, Brazil, Egypt, and Southeast Asia. Despite its massive scale, nearly everything about the game is stuck in the “admon nightmare” zone—zero iOS presence, almost no user acquisition, unoptimized ad stack, endless rewarded ads, and zero LiveOps. Yet, even with all those gaps, it is still a money-printing machine, generating $30,000 to $50,000 a

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00:20:22

How to 10x Your Revenue in a Tough Market by Paul West

two & a half gamers ·

2025/07/02

Paul West, founder of Fumb Games, joins Two and a Half Gamers to share the real growth story behind the studio’s breakout year. From Bitcoin Miner’s $10 million run to the launch of Idle Mine and a creative rebrand that hit $1 million in sixty days, Paul explains how ruthless UA strategy, creative expansion, and a “cut what doesn’t work” mindset allowed a lean team to scale tenfold—right in the middle of the industry’s hardest year.What’s inside:UA: Bigger Risks, Smarter FocusFumb Games ditched the

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01:02:08

Why Habby Dropped Hybrid Casual? Is Wittle Defender...

two & a half gamers ·

2025/06/30

We break down Wittle Defender, Habby’s latest departure from the mass market, blending deep meta, squad RPG mechanics, and a relentless gacha system. This is not another Survivor IO. It is a meta monster built for hardcore RPG fans, multi-layered progression, gear grind, rune systems, and dozens of monetization hooks. But is it too deep for global scale?What’s inside:Meta Gone WildGacha and ProgressionMore Modes, More MonetizationDeep automation and idle mechanics Ad Revenue ShrinksUA and Creative:

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00:47:42

Raid Rush Review: If you miss Battle.net tower...

two & a half gamers ·

2025/06/26

Today, we deep-dive into Raid Rush, the Turkish-made tower defense game that is bringing roguelike deck-building, build-your-own-path mechanics, and IP crossovers to the top of the mobile charts. The crew unpacks why this game feels so deep, why Korean and US players are eating it up, and how the game balances heavy progression, smart ad placements, and old-school strategy with real modern LiveOps.What’s inside:A Real Tower Defense for 2025: Raid Rush lets you build your own road, place towers with

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00:42:35

Inside In-App Ads: Past, Present, and What’s Next?

two & a half gamers ·

2025/06/25

In this episode, Two and a Half Gamers sit down with Shobeir Shobeiri, Director of Publisher Sales at Moloco, to give the industry’s most practical, no-BS crash course on the history, mechanics, and real money in mobile ad monetization. From the origins of banners to today’s machine-learning DSPs, the crew demystifies ad tech jargon, reveals the margins and secrets behind every middleman, and lays out what every publisher needs to know about maximizing revenue in 2025.What’s inside:The Evolution of

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00:48:54

Carnival Tycoon’s Playbook: From Idle to Social Casino

two & a half gamers ·

2025/06/23

Today, we break down Carnival Tycoon: the “idle” game that’s really a Trojan Horse for social casino and slot machine mechanics. We compare every feature, monetization trick, and creative strategy to Coin Master, Monopoly Go, and the social casino giants. Find out how Carnival Tycoon hit five million dollars a month, why rewarded ads are hidden everywhere, and what makes this copycat succeed where others flop.You will learn:Why Carnival Tycoon is more social casino than idle, and how it fakes the

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00:35:29

Puzzle & Dragons: Five Billion $$$ Made, Zero...

two & a half gamers ·

2025/06/19

We tackle the legacy and latest iteration of Puzzle & Dragons, the game that defined Japanese mobile gaming and reached a mind-blowing five billion dollars in lifetime revenue. From wild metagame depth and monster collection to why Western players just never clicked with the formula, the crew unpacks the hits, misses, and museum-piece vibes of a true industry legend.What’s inside:No Gacha in the Gacha Game? Cultural Roots Run DeepMuseum Piece, Not Modern HitGame Design DNAAds, UA, and ProfitKey

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00:47:26

One bad integration, $20,000 gone in minutes. Fraud...

two & a half gamers ·

2025/06/18

In this brutally honest episode, Matej interviews Zino Rost Van Tonningen, CEO of Tyr Ads, live from MAU (with zero construction noise this time). The focus is on running rewarded UA without getting burned by fraud, bad partners, or weak setups. Zino shares knowledge from his journey through agency work, the wild world of offer walls, and leading Tyr Ads from rewards app to global SDK powerhouse.What’s inside:The Fraud Playbook: How faked events, cheat engines, and emulator hackers can drain $20,000

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00:46:22

The BitLife Blueprint: 7 Years Old & Still Crushing it

two & a half gamers ·

2025/06/16

We break down BitLife, a simulation game that proves you do not need flashy graphics or complex meta to print money. With an aggressive monetization model, evergreen retention, and a loyal fanbase, BitLife has been going strong for over seven years, now pulling in more than $110,000 a day, with ad revenue making up half of its total income.What’s inside:Ad Monetization on Steroids: Interstitial ads hit you right from the tutorial, with a cooldown of 70 seconds, banners refresh every five seconds,

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00:58:25

🎬 Creative Trends May 2025: AI Madness, Celebrity...

two & a half gamers ·

2025/06/12

We just dropped our latest episode, and it is a must-watch for anyone building or buying mobile game ads. We break down the biggest trends ripping through the creative market:AI hooks and seamless transitions: five art styles in five minutes, and the line between real and fake is now a blur.Celebrities everywhere: Monica, Phoebe, LeBron, Christina Aguilera, even C-tier cameos nobody asked forSatisfying gold bars, drowning waifus, and cruelty hooks: Virality still rules the creative

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01:03:05

The Real OG Jane Whittaker Unfiltered: 44 years in...

two & a half gamers ·

2025/06/11

Legend alert. In this episode, we sit down with Jane Whittaker, a developer, executive, and innovator whose career spans from coding 8-bit chart toppers and Atari’s biggest hits to shaping the DNA of open-world, survival, and RPGs. Jane shares candid stories from the 1980s video game crash, building Alien vs. Predator with just two programmers, working with Sid Meier and Mike Singleton, and steering giants like EA and MGM.What’s inside:Real Video Game HistoryIndie Roots and All-In Dev: From writing

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01:19:47

Screw Master 3D Live Review: 15% D30 retention & 80k+...

two & a half gamers ·

2025/06/09

Today, we sit down with Supersonic’s Samantha Benjamin and Guy Agiv to discuss the hit game Screw Master 3D. From adapting trends out of China to hybrid monetization tricks and creative secrets, this episode is packed with actionable insights for anyone in mobile gaming.What you’ll learn:How Screwmaster 3D’s physics-puzzle and meta layers drive insane engagementThe models and tactics behind maximizing eCPMs and LTV in ad-heavy gamesThe secret to rapid adaptation, culturalization, and scaling trends

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00:47:50

Review radar #8: From Stable Dinosaur to Revenue...

two & a half gamers ·

2025/06/05

We just dropped a new Review Radar episode in which we examined every major mobile game from the last three months. Some are breaking the ‘podcast curse’ and scaling up, others are stuck in stable dinosaur mode, and a few are just… lost.Highlights:Triple Match City and Color Block Jam are stacking revenue with surprising ARPU and ad mixesRoyal Kingdom and Pokémon Sleep show that audience and IP still trump any new featureCloning is the new normal, but most ‘copy-paste’ games never hit the KPIs of

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00:45:17

MAU'25 Live Special: The Bold New Era of Rewarded...

two & a half gamers ·

2025/06/04

In this special episode recorded LIVE at MAU, Matej Lančarič sits down with Noah Gutterman (VP UA, Misplay) and Brett (Senior UA Manager, Misplay) for a no-BS deep dive into the business and creative secrets powering Misplay’s explosive growth, and their high-stakes launch on iOS.Brutally honest breakdown:How Misplay overcame App Store hurdles to launch on iOSIncrementality testing, the “always-on” strategy that’s blowing up the myth of last-touch attributionBuilding a predictive PLTV signal stack

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01:03:04

🧩 Can Century Games Crack the Match-3 Puzzle Genre?...

two & a half gamers ·

2025/06/02

In this brutally honest episode, the 2.5 Gamers crew and puzzle expert Laura Taranto dive into Century Games’ match-3 ambitions, dissecting new titles like Family Farm Match, Party Match, and Truckstar. Once a 4X and farming powerhouse, Century is now flooding the puzzle genre with games and wild creative tests, but is there any real strategy?We break down:The copy-paste engine and meta behind Party Match and Family Farm MatchTruckstar’s unique angle and why it’s struggling to scaleUA and creative

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00:59:34

🔥 The Art of Scaling Applovin UA & Admon: A Deep dive

two & a half gamers ·

2025/05/29

Running UA on AppLovin in 2025? Don’t waste another dollar until you hear this.In this episode, we sit down with Alexis Lejeune (ex-AppLovin, now UA advisor) to dive deep into how AppLovin’s UA stack really works — including how to scale, when to use D28 ROAS, how to test creatives, and how Axon 2 finds your payers before you do.What we cover:Axon 2: How AppLovin’s black box blends mediation + advertiser dataD0 vs. D7 vs. D28: Which ROAS model works best and whenWhy $500 budgets won’t calibrate for

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00:37:13

MAU'25 Live Special: The App Store Monopoly Is...

two & a half gamers ·

2025/05/28

In this live-recorded episode from MAU Vegas, Matej sits down with Damon Marshall and Berkley Egenes of Xsolla's mobile leadership team to discuss how the April 30 court ruling opened the floodgates for direct-to-consumer monetization.We unpack:How mobile devs can now promote web shops directly inside iOS appsWhy this moment is the “William Wallace freedom moment” for game publishersHow Xsolla is helping everyone from indie devs to AAA publishers go directKey monetization tactics: segmented

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00:40:06

🚨Lands Of Jail: Prison SIM meets 4X strategy. It's...

two & a half gamers ·

2025/05/26

Today, we take on Lands of Jail, a Chinese-built 4X survival-sim mashup that combines Frozen City onboarding, Whiteout Survival progression, and King Shot-style map layering, all dressed in prison jumpsuits, toy factories, and riot suppression mechanics.Lands of Jail is one of the weirdest, deepest, and most well-executed SLG hybrids we’ve seen in 2025. Built by Chinese studio eWorld, it mixes:Frozen City-style idle onboardingHardcore 4X warfareSaga events, riots, gacha, and Discord-forced alliance

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01:03:06

Full Steam Ahead: How Steam trends influence Mobile...

two & a half gamers ·

2025/05/22

We go “Full Steam Ahead” with a special guest, Adam Telfer, unpacking how Steam hits influence mobile game development in 2025: from Dreamdale-ified Palworld clones to digging simulators, idle RPG mashups, and more.The crew explores:Why some Steam-inspired mobile games (like Repo Online) hit 10M+ downloads and $1.3M in adsWhy others (like Lilith's Palworld clone) flop despite a powerful IP remixWhich genres (like Plinko roguelites and digging sims) are best suited for mobileThe risks of literal

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00:25:22

Applovin MAX mediation: Step-by-Step Walkthrough for...

two & a half gamers ·

2025/05/21

In this solo 2.5 Gamers Monologue, Felix walks you through a full setup and strategy guide for AppLovin MAX mediation, from the basics to advanced performance optimization.Whether you're new to MAX or want to stop leaving revenue on the table, this video covers:How to set up ad units correctlyWhich networks to start with in 2025How to manage fill rates, waterfall placements, and API syncingWhat to monitor daily (like ad ARPDAU, viewer rates, and impressions per DAU)Real-world benchmarks for

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341 results

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