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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

00:42:35

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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00:44:33

🧩 Word Search Explorer Review: $168K/Day From Ads...

two & a half gamers ·

2025/05/19

How do you build a mobile game that does $168K/day in ad revenue… with no fail states, no IAP pressure, and a monetization wall that doesn’t even kick in until level 24?You study Word Search Explorer, the latest word game from the Lands of Jail studio (PlaySimple/MTG), and a masterclass in calm, deliberate ad monetization.In this episode, we break down the ad placement strategy, retention metrics, and soft pacing systems that power one of the most deceptively profitable games on the App Store in

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00:47:45

⚠️ The Industry’s Dirty Little Secrets: Confessions...

two & a half gamers ·

2025/05/15

🎙️ This might be the most dangerous podcast episode we’ve ever released.An anonymous insider, voice-modulated for protection, joins us to expose the truth about mobile UA, ad network manipulation, and how millions are spent with zero payback logic. With voice modulation in place, our guest “Dr. Doom” reveals what happens behind the dashboards, network sales decks, and investor slides.You’ll hear :Dream Games' $50M brand campaign: brilliant market takeover or the dumbest ROI play of 2025?Why are

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00:43:27

📊 Is 24-Month Payback the New Normal? Real ROAS...

two & a half gamers ·

2025/05/14

Want real ROAS benchmarks from 300+ games and $200 M+ in spend?This episode of 2.5 Gamers goes deep with ZJ from PVX Partners, who brings an insane dataset from UA financing across puzzle, casual, strategy, and 4X games.We cover what’s really happening in 2025:📉 Payback windows stretching to 12–24 months📈 Ad revenue up 15%, but not fast enough to catch CAC inflation🧠 M1 ROAS is the best early predictor of long-term success🔥 Payer retention is dropping, and revenue is clustering around whales🧠

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01:02:13

🎭 Drama Pops Review: Why short drama could be the...

two & a half gamers ·

2025/05/12

We talk with the Drama Pops team from Codeway — one of Turkey’s top mobile app publishers — about how they scaled a short drama app from scratch into one of the most promising products in the entertainment app space.www.codeway.cohttps://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.deepvision.shortdrama&hl=en🧠 What You’ll Learn:Why they chose to avoid ad breaks during cliffhangers (and how it helps retention)The economics of short-form drama production (yes, it's cheaper in Turkey than LA)The

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