Yael Yakomi, a mobile gaming expert, dives into the significance of personalization in mobile games. She emphasizes the enhanced gaming experience that personalization can offer and discusses the challenges and innovative solutions in implementing it. Yael also provides insights into future trends, including AI-driven personalization, and highlights how platforms like UserWise are revolutionizing the industry by empowering game creators to personalize content without developer support. 

Joakim Hoglund, Head of Studio at Fun Rock, shares insights on designing games for a target audience and the importance of understanding user needs. This episode doesn't disappoint. Tom and Joakim talk about: Designing games for a target audience and understanding player needs Challenges of creating games for a region you aren't familiar with Fun Rock's solution of hiring a team that understands the culture and audience Benefits and drawbacks of creating separate servers for different regions Role of player-driven decisions in game design Emphasis on the importance of localization and being immersed in the culture of the target audience when designing games

The Mastering Retention Podcast recently featured an episode discussing how Live Ops work in the context of Web 3 games. The guest speaker was Patrick Gorrell, the Chief Technology Officer of Splinterlands, which is a trading card game hosted on the blockchain. 

Tom Hammond interviews Meric Atesalp, Senior Product Manager at Pixelberry. They discuss game evaluation, ways to evaluate new games, and how to determine if a game will perform well. Meric also talks about his role as a product manager, the skills and competencies that are necessary to become a good game product manager, and what he learned from his experience in the gaming industry. They also discuss mechanics that he has found in other games that could solve problems in his own game, and how mini-games can help bring down user acquisition costs and provide daily engagement to the user. 

In the latest episode of the Mastering Retention Podcast, Neb Mitrikeski, a veteran game designer and product manager, talks about his journey into game design, from making super casual games to working on complex game economies. He also discusses the Ketchup mechanic problem in RPG and hero collector games and how games can address it. Plus, he shares insights on bucketing systems and bucketing user progression over time.

In the latest episode of the Mastering Retention Podcast, user experience expert Neil Edwards discusses the brilliant user experience design of Marvel Snap. Edwards is the co-founder and head of UX at a full-service design studio in the video game space.Marvel Snap’s core gameplay is described as phenomenal, not just as an engaging, emotional, and compelling experience as a player but also as a brilliant product. Edwards notes that the game’s core has the potential to make live ops easier or harder based on its design.

This week's guest is Alvaro Duarte, VP Casual Games at Voodoo. In this episode, Alvaro reveals Voodoo's business model, unique approach to game development, and the screening process for Voodoo's games. Voodoo has a unique approach to game development, releasing games that are in a "sooner state of product" and then iterating on them after they are live. The screening process for Voodoo's games is rigorous, and they look at gameplay, retention metrics, CPI, and ROAS targets, among other things.

In this episode of the Mastering Retention Podcast, host Tom Hammond speaks with Antanina Livingston, a product manager and liveops extraordinaire! Antanina shares her insights on how to approach feature and event planning, the importance of understanding player needs, and how to manage burnout in the liveops team. She also discusses the challenges of managing burnout and the importance of understanding different cultures and languages in the gaming industry. Highlights: Antanina Livingston shares insights on how to approach feature and event planning, the importance of understanding player needs, and how to manage burnout. (0:20) Livingston talks about her background in business and how she transitioned to the gaming industry. (3:44) The importance of understanding different cultures and languages in the gaming industry is discussed. (8:47) Livingston shares her thoughts on how to approach feature planning and event planning in a way that maintains player retention. (13:07) The challenges of managing burnout in the live ops team are addressed. (19:13) "Retention is one of those metrics that's really hard to influence...you need to create something that would be interesting to players to come back." (14:59)

In this podcast, Tom Hammond, CEO at UserWise, and Sam Abbott, Head of Monetization at Rec Room, discuss how player segmentation can lead to stronger monetization in mobile games. They delve into the importance of understanding individual segments and creating tailored games that appeal to those segments. They also explore how to break down player behavior and analyze actions within the game to better understand and serve different segments."You can't just look at the average. You really need to look at each individual segment and figure out where that segment is finding value in the game." - Sam Abbott (Timestamp: 6:17)"It's not enough just to appeal to a certain segment. You actually have to have a game that is tailored to that segment." - Sam Abbott (Timestamp: 11:03)"In terms of how we think about segmentation, it's really about breaking down player behavior by the actions that they're taking within the game." - Sam Abbott (Timestamp: 14:54)

In this episode of the Mastering Retention podcast, Dafna shares how LiveOps teams focus on events and promotions to engage players, drive retention, and monetize games. Successful LiveOps events are those that balance the core gameplay loop of a game while introducing new features, challenges, and rewards to keep players interested. She also highlights the importance of understanding player behavior, segmentation, and time zones in planning LiveOps events, and the need to balance creativity with return on investment.

On today’s episode we're gonna talk about the great world of LiveOps. Join Oscar Clark as we dive into the three must-haves for games as services: capturing data, configurations, and selling. The meaning of Games as a Service from his perspective. The difference between LiveOps and Games as a Service. The first step to starting a LiveOps campaign. Games as a Service and LiveOps as promises to players. Tips for capturing data. Tools for configuring oversight. Principles for selling free-to-play games. What does a LiveOps team look like?

On this week's episode of Mastering Retention, Tom is joined by Bakyt Aidaralieva (Head of Player Experience at Rovio) to discuss the many different types of tools and platforms used in the gaming industry, which tools are better than others, the importance of player feedback, and so much more! Here are your cheat codes:0:59 How did Bakyt Aidaralieva get into the video game industry?8:29 What tools and platforms are needed to run a game as a service?12:23 Lessons learned from seeking player feedback.16:03 Discord can be a useful tool.19:55 CRM’s in the gaming world & effective CRM tools.24:33 Player and customer support.26:52 The importance of player feedback & Identifying helpful player feedback.32:35 Server back end tools.35:05 LiveOps tools.41:21 Analytics tools.43:28 Best way to segment players.46:06 How to keep more players around longer.

Founders of game studios who have "been there and done that" share their top secrets and tricks on how to start your own game studio.

On this week's episode of Mastering Retention, Tom is joined by Jesse Kroon (Game Designer at Product Madness) and Stanislav Minasov (VP of Product at AppMagic) to talk about the process of creating a new game. The guys have a detailed discussion about where to look for inspiration, how to flesh out a game concept, what all goes into making certain decisions about your game, intellectual property, and so much more! Here are your cheat codes:0:46 How did Jesse Kroon and Stanislav Minasov get into the video game industry?4:12 How to conceptualize a new game idea.10:17 Deciding which genre your game should be.14:44 What you gain from talking to existing players.19:01 Repurposing an existing game concept.24:35 Finding inspiration in other types of games.32:45 Intellectual Property.44:21 How to keep more players around longer.

Creating a game is only half the battle - getting others to download and share your game is vital to the long term success of your game and/or studio. Acquiring users through marketing campaigns and engaging advertisements is no simple task. This week on Mastering Retention, Tom speaks with Janos Perei (Head of Growth at Voodoo) about many different forms of advertisements and marketing campaigns, their complexity, the importance of making marketing the foundation of your studio, and how UA should work hand-in-hand with LiveOps.Here are your cheat codes:0:42 How did Janos Perei get into the video game industry?2:25 How to think about ad performance.7:32 Ad efficiency.9:54 Integrated UA Funnel.12:38 Gameplay ads.16:04 Misleading ads.19:30 How not to waste ad impressions.25:43 Multi-touch attribution.27:54 UA and Marketing should be your foundation.31:58 Failing to engage users.33:47 How to get users to recommend your game to a friend.39:30 How to keep more players around longer.

The group discusses what a game economy is, and how it can be used to drive player engagement and content discovery in a game. They use a midcourt RPG game as an example to illustrate their points.The conversation is about designing a game economy. The different aspects that should be considered include the currencies, the transaction systems, and the overall strategy. Scarcity can also be a factor in the economy.▬ Contents of this video ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬0:00:00​ Introductions0:05:25​ What is a game economy? 0:17:39​ What makes an economy fun? 0:28:04​ Pre-Production Boosts1:01:50​ Player’s viewpoints1:10:38​ Broken game economy1:41:10​ Scaling currency▬ Quotes ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬10:35​ “Essentially, the game economy it’s the entire management of value of the game. That includes scarcity, desire, time required to obtained things.” – Javier Barnes 13:30​ “The holy grail of monetization design is you want your player to spend money on your game and be so stoked by they who experience that they feel great about it and they want to tell their friends.” – Kaitlin Kincaid 1:02:50​ “It’s important to contrast the survey, which is the player’s perceptions, with in game activities, which is more of a hard data.” – Kaitlin Kincaid1:32:04​ “Never underestimate the value of using LiveOps to test economy in general” – Hadrian Semroud▬ Highlights ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬What I would advise is trying to keep the range of prices kind of relatively stable through the course of the game and make that even in the late game, a purchase of $10 can still make sense because you're following another strategy or something in order not to kill or to move away those players.At the end of the game, higher ranges of prices are going to be more valuable for the monetization. But if you have a dolphin that can only spend $10 per month, and then once you are three months in the game, what you're asking is not $10.And one of those things that we're using is having the player unlock better bundles as they progress through the game. So if you want if you want the $5 bundle for 2 million resources, you can get that at level five.Is there a way to appropriately do that? Such that as players progress and things are more expensive in the game the price of currency kind of keeps on par with that.So being able to change the price of things again, usually through live events, through some sort of special offer, can allow you to monetize the entire price demand curve and really optimize the amount of money you can get out of the same amount of work producing that hero, that asset in the first place.

This week on Mastering Retention, Tom speaks with Erez Baron (CEO & Co-Founder at Muuula Games) in detail about all that went into launching Muuula Games. The guys also discuss segmented pricing within your game, dive deep into the world of Brain Games, and so much more.Here are your cheat codes:0:40 How Erez Baron got into the video game industry.4:45 Segmented Pricing.18:28 The origins and future of Muuula Games21:01 Brain Games31:28 The process of starting a game studio.34:30 What to look for in a Co-Founder.42:01 Differentiating Product and Dev.46:36 Building a great team.51:26 How to keep more players around longer.

You do not have to reinvent the wheel in order to create a beloved and successful game. Sometimes tweaking an existing formula or feature can be enough to make your game stand out. This week on Mastering Retention, Tom speaks with Patrick McGrath (Founder at Stealth Mode) about innovating within a genre, making slight changes to your game, launching a game from scratch, and so much more! Here are your cheat codes:0:45 How did Patrick McGrath get into the video game industry?8:09 Launching a new product from scratch.10:28 How to figure out what to build.16:55 Player immersion.29:02 Innovating within an existing genre.34:24 Iterating within an existing game.40:21 Solving issue within your game with research.44:28 Userwise53:45 How to keep more players around longer.

In-app purchases are the main way most games make their money, so getting players to not only continue playing your game, but continue purchasing items within your game is hugely important. This week on Mastering Retention, Tom speaks with Haider CW (Director of Economy at Scopely) about how to fine tune your game economy to fit your game and audience, the importance of proper economy maintenance, and so much more!Here are your cheat codes:0:35 How did Haider CW get into the video game industry?1:37 What does a Director of Economy technically do?2:38 Economy maintenance for an existing game.7:07 Building relationships between rewards.13:27 The best way to segment players.19:03 Session motivation22:02 Progression curve in collection RPG23:52 Mitigating mistakes in economy design31:40 Fine tuning game economies33:22 Different economies for different types of players35:14 Looter-Shooter Economies39:59 Maintaining player spending.43:43 Economy for City Builders49:14 How to keep more players around longer.

This week on Mastering Retention, Tom is joined by former recruiter, Matt Hood (Game Lead at Carry1st) to talk about what tips and tricks he has learned about the video game industry from his time as a recruiter. Tom and Matt also speak in great detail on the state of live operations and the future of feature development. All of that and so much more packed into this week's episode of Mastering Retention. Here are your cheat codes:0:30 How did Matt Hood get into the video game industry?2:50 Lessons from being a recruiter.5:16 Having a vision.7:45 Talent Pooling.10:37 Connecting with people.12:37 Defining Live Operations.13:51 The importance of live operations.15:25 When should you start thinking about live operations?18:04 Feature Development.19:50 What is a Config?27:20 What are indicators your game is a success or a failure?30:30 Building a better version of an existing game.36:11 Replicating big moments in your game.42:28 Collection based feature.46:45 How to keep more players around longer.

Whether you are promoting your game or advertising in your game, optimal ads and ad placement is key. This week on Mastering Retention, Tom speaks with Mobile Ad Monetization Expert, Yael Takomi (Mobile Gaming at Facebook) about setting realistic expectations for new users, segmented ad placement, the use of analytics in ad placement, and so much more!Here are your cheat codes:0:45 How did Yael Takomi get into the video game industry?4:06 How does a player become a user?5:45 How to tell the story of your game.9:55 Setting honest expectations for new users.15:56 Marketing with monetization - with product.20:31 Where to start with ad monetization. 26:15 Segmented ad placement.28:31 Ad placement gone wrong.30:30 Ad placement done correctly.34:08 You never want to lose a paying customer39:33 Ad placements based on player sessions.45:22 Using analytics to decide ad placements.51:17 How to keep more players around longer.

This week’s installment of Mastering Retention is a special one, as Tom celebrates the 100th episode with the help of Yosi Tal (Senior Product Manager at Papaya Gaming). The two of them commit the entire episode to the topic of retention. They discuss features and emotions that drive retention, segmentation, player progression goals, maximizing the first time player experience and so much more! Here are your cheat codes:1:19 How did Yosi Tal get into the video game industry?5:37 The pillars of retention strategy7:45 Player progression goals10:47 Playing for status 12:15 Long term retention through social features14:42 Social obligation20:10 Personalization24:14 No-brainer features26:31 Feelings drive retention28:31 First time player experience32:17 Reward calendars34:47 Personalized player experience37:45 When to change things for a player39:36 Is segmentation a full-time job?41:14 Segmentation mistakes44:00 How to keep more players around longer.

Almost everyone in the video game industry dreams of launching their own game studio, but not everyone realizes what all that encompasses. This week on “Mastering Retention”, Tom speaks with Andrey Korotkov (CEO at Zillion Whales) about how to come up with creative ideas, how to launch a game studio, what to look for in potential co-founders, and the process of having your company acquired. Here are your cheat codes:0:45 How did Andrey Korotkov get into the video game industry?11:34 Mushroom Wars.16:42 How to start a game studio from scratch.24:21 Building your own game engine30:46 What to look for in co-founders.33:20 The acquisition process39:36 How to come up with a new game idea.46:13 How to keep more players around longer.

As the video game industry continues to emphasize additional content and liveOps, it is time to stop thinking of video games as products and more like services. This week on the Mastering Retention Podcast, Tom is joined by Fred Lepont (Head of Product at Ultracine Studios) to discuss player motivations, segmentation, and LiveOps. Here are your cheat codes:0:46 How did Fred Lepont get into the video game industry?9:44 Defining LiveOps.12:16 The importance of developer input.15:10 Games as a service.21:14 Discovering player motivations.27:12 How to think about segmentation.40:02 Prioritizing LiveOps51:05 How to keep more players around longer.

There has been lots of speculation that blockchain games are the future of gaming, but what does that future look like? And more specifically, what does the future of blockchain gaming look like? This week on the Mastering Retention Podcast, Daniel Paez (Director of Monetization and Game Economy at Worldspark Studios) joins Tom to try and get to the bottom of these questions. The two of them dive deep into the world of blockchain gaming and all the things that it encompasses. Here are your cheat codes:0:35 How did Daniel Paez get into the video game industry?5:57 Are blockchain games the future of gaming?11:23 Monetization and game economy within blockchain games.14:28 1st Generation blockchain games and why they failed.16:48 Traditional game economies vs blockchain game economies.21:28 The future of blockchain LiveOps and monetization.35:20 The flow of money within blockchain gaming.44:51 Building games with the community.48:01 How to keep more players around longer.

Pixion, a new video game company, is on a mission to build a new category of competitive games called Lunchtime ESports. The genre aims to allow everyone to be competitive and play at their own pace. This week on Mastering Retention, Tom speaks with Kam Punia (Founder and CEO at Pixion Games) about his team's ambitious goals, high standards and vision for the future. Here are your cheat codes: 0:43 How did Kam Punia get into the video game industry?7:54 The founding of Pixion Games.12:15 Lunchtime ESports16:33 The Pixion Standard.19:30 Pixion’s game creation process.22:44 Boosting an underperforming game’s metrics.28:11 Escaping Soft Launch Hell.33:32 Playtest Cloud.35:08 Your Business Vision should Adapt.38:16 Web343:32 “Fableborne.”48:30 The Game Loop.52:24 How to keep more players around longer.

Creating a successful and beloved video game is a tall task. It is even more of a challenge to create a successful and beloved children's video game. This week on the Mastering Retention Podcast, Tom speaks with Luis Cascante (Former Franchise Director at Star Stable) about designing video games for younger audiences and all the challenges that come with it.Here are your cheat codes:0:50 How did Luis Cascante get into the video game industry?7:32 Creating Games for Children.23:13 In-app-purchasing in children's games.30:08 Designing a new game for children.37:24 Experimenting with new video game ideas for a younger audience.39:08 User Acquisition in children’s games.42:48 Subscriptions 50:12 How to keep more players around longer.

Most games require compelling live ops and multiple ways in which to make money - casino games are no different. This week on Mastering Retention, Tom speaks with Dafna Ben Onn (Director of Monetization at SciPlay) about the different challenges that face casino games, managing a live ops calendar, player segmentation, monetizing casino games, and much more!Here are your cheat codes:1:10 How did Dafna Ben Onn get into the video game industry?5:12 What is it like to work at SciPlay?7:42 Defining Player Ops.9:57 Scheduling Content.13:47 Who helps to plan a content calendar?16:06 Scheduling content based on user habits & behaviors.21:29 How Casino games make money.28:23 Improving Segmentation36:08 A good first step for introducing Live Ops.36:42 Truly understand what you need to solve, before trying to solve it.39:44 Figuring out what players value.42:36 Rewards and currency within casino games.45:18 How to keep more players around longer.

A game is only successful if you attract users and continually provide them with reasons to keep playing. In order to keep your fanbase happy and eager to play, you must be able to understand their wants and goals, and you need to know their behaviors and habits. While players will often be very eager to share their critiques, you can learn more about what a player wants through data and proper segmentation. This week on the Mastering Retention Podcast, Tom speaks with Max Mozgovoy (Director of CRM & Analytics at SegmentValue) about customer relationship management and proper user segmentation. Here are your cheat codes:1:32 How did Max Mozgovoy get into the video game industry?4:49 The importance of Customer Relationship Management.7:01 CRM within the gaming industry.10:33 How to build and maintain a good relationship with your players.12:48 Tracking User Interactions to understand them better.14:37 Segmentation23:18 Using segmentation to group users based on their ad tolerance. 28:15 Segmentation based on potential30:24 Customer Lifecycle Management 38:02 Identifying User Goals44:45 CRM Systems48:03 Increasing engagement through understanding players behaviors.55:03 How to keep more players around longer.

Creating and sustaining a great user experience is a surefire way to lengthen your game’s shelf life. There are many different ways to go about creating or improving a game’s user experience. It can be as simple as choosing an art style, or it can be as complex as using data to identify weaknesses in your game. This week on Mastering Retention, Tom speaks with Abhay Ramakrishnan (Product Manager at DECA) about all the different ways to go about creating a user experience that retains players and drives revenue. Here are your cheat codes: 1:25 How did Abhay Ramakrishnan get into the video game industry?3:05 The DECA Difference5:47 Sustainable LiveOps events.8:35 Art style can impact your game’s sustainability.10:27 Ways to activate your game’s community.14:57 Weighing new features against quality-of-life features.18:19 When done correctly, can segmentation create a better player experience?27:04 How to use Data to create a better player experience?32:45 Will users pay more if the user experience is great?39:49 LiveOps systems and tech.41:16 Selecting A Community Managers 45:02 Design Pillars51:10 How to keep more players around longer.

Whether you are building a team from scratch or adding on to an existing team, having common goals and values can have a massive positive effect on your company and its products. This week on Mastering Retention, Martina Gianfreda (Co-CEO at Whatwapp) walks Tom through the process of building a co-founding team and sustaining your company's success through shared core values.Here are your cheat codes:1:01 How did Martina Gianfreda get into the video game industry?4:40 What to look for in a co-founding team?11:48 Process for coming up with a new game idea.16:50 How can your game transcend international boundaries?27:25 How has marketing changed over the last few years?30:33 Ideal Head of Growth candidate.33:44 Pay Performance Marketing38:50 Building a games team.43:24 Hiring based on shared core values.45:32 Pre-employment skill-based testing.47:21 Programmers50:48 How to keep more players around longer.

The role of a product manager can vary widely depending on what industry he/she is in, and even then, companies within the same industry often define that role differently. Regardless of how a product manager role is defined, it requires someone that can balance the “Big Picture” and the small details. This week on Mastering Retention, Tom speaks with Stav Klauzner (Head of Product at SciPlay) about the balancing act of being a product manager and loosely defines what the ideal video game product manager should look like. Here are your cheat codes:0:52 How did Stav Klauzner get into the video game industry?2:43 Segmentation over Personalization.5:45 Defining your segments.9:21 First-Time-Player Experience.12:12 How to be a better product manager.15:20 Balancing the big picture and the small details as a product manager.18:14 Feature Prioritization.23:38 How do you measure the success of a games campaign?26:16 Turning a game into a gaming business.28:45 How often should a product manager listen to player feedback?32:17 Social Obligation Mechanics36:23 Monetization Tools.47:59 The ideal product manager.50:58 How to keep more players around longer.

There are many different ways to go about creating a video game, but two of the main methodologies are Lean and Agile. The lean methodology puts an emphasis on reducing waste by recycling content, and managing workflow, whereas in Agile, teams emphasize small batch sizes to deliver results quickly. This week on “Mastering Retention” Ruby Urlings (Director, Production at GSN Games) speaks with Tom about these methods, their respective benefits, and so much more!Here are your cheat codes:1:20 How did Ruby Urlings get into the video game industry?5:30 In-office vs remote game companies.7:27 Game Production Methodologies.10:38 Defining the Agile methodology.13:24 Defining the Lean methodology.15:42 The perfect Match-3 levels.21:10 Sprint Completion Rate vs Velocity.26:46 Using Agile and Lean together.27:42 Content Reusability.30:05 Using Agile in the early stages of development.33:56 Biggest mistakes Ruby has made with Agile or Lean.35:30 Ways to make your team more efficient.37:03 Learning every side of the business can be very helpful.40:07 Processes for juggling many different tasks.49:32 What roles are most important to creating a game?51:01 How to keep more players around longer.

Thousands of games are made each year, and very few go on to have great success. Despite their success, these games are rarely sitting atop the charts years down the road. Creating a successful game is hard, but maintaining that game’s success and daily active users is beyond difficult. This week on Mastering Retention, Tom speaks with Jonathan Durr (Studio Director & Co-Founder at Foxbear Games) about long term content treadmills, what metrics are useful when trying to maintain a game for years, consulting with your game’s most fanatical users, and feature development. Here are your cheat codes:1:17 How did Jonathan Durr get into the video game industry?3:57 How to approach new game ideas5:31 Deciding what features to implement in Marvel Strike Force 8:06 Tracking Regularity Data*10:05 Catering to different groups of “regulars”13:58 Time or money15:44 Increasing your games longevity20:09 Long term content treadmill24:33 How to maintain your game’s LiveOps for years28:50 Limiting burnout31:13 Consulting with die hard fans about new content and features.38:19 Balancing content for experienced users and new users.45:22 Feature Development 50:03 How to keep more players around longer.

Creating a new video game is a long and strenuous process, but that process is nothing compared to launching your very own game studio. This week on Mastering Retention, Tom speaks with Lior Hadashian (CTO & Co-Founder at Gavra Games) about the importance of being a data-driven game studio, when to double down on a good idea, keeping your games fresh, and what all needs to be considered when selecting your co-founder.Here are your cheat codes:1:10 How did Lior Hadashian get into the video game industry?4:23 Angel Investing9:34 Coming up with new game ideas.16:49 Creating Cross Platform Games18:44 Live Ops20:32 Double down on an existing hit game or create a new game all together?22:19 The process of developing your next game.24:04 Finding your niche.26:39 Timeline for creating a fully finished game.29:34 Early Access Games31:34 Data Driven Games35:20 Useful Analytics39:59 Improving your game with accurate data.41:43 Keeping your game fresh with new content.44:35 What all goes into selecting your co-founder49:59 How to keep more players around longer.

Creating an awesome game is meaningless if it does not attract enough users. Acquiring new users can oftentimes require a bigger marketing budget and a great deal of patience. Not every game studio or game company sees the value in spending money on marketing their game, but it is one of the most successful and efficient ways to increase your daily active users and your games longevity. This week on Mastering Retention, Tom speaks with Angus Lovitt (CEO at Ramp), about optimizing your marketing budget, moving your game through the soft launch phase, and all the “homework” that should be done before making your marketing plans. Here are your cheat codes:1:00 How did Angus Lovitt get into the video game industry?9:42 The Origins of Ramp and what services they provide.20:11 What was the UA environment like when King Launched Candy Crush?25:09 Finding the optimal marketing budget. 30:31 Studio leaders need to do their homework.35:10 Getting out of “Soft Launch Hell”41:01 Validating your game ideas.45:21 The challenges facing UA and how to overcome them.1:02:16 When a creative has reached its end.

Online streaming has completely changed video games. Game designers and marketers alike have had to adapt to this tectonic shift in the video game landscape. Streaming has become a very effective way to market and sell games. Studios are now implementing streaming into the very design of their game to drive user acquisition. This week on Mastering Retention, Tom speaks with Joanna Haslam (Design Director at Snap Finger Click) about how to properly utilize streaming within your game, influencer marketing, and so much more!Here are your cheat codes:0:59 How did Joanna Haslam get into the video game industry?2:38 Designing games with a background as a developer.8:03 Limitations within your game can lead to better creative outlets.15:25 The origins of Snap Finger Click19:25 How to use Twitch effectively.23:59 Streaming single player games on Twitch.27:37 Incentivizing streaming.33:18 Designing your game for streaming.37:40 Twitch Interactivity.41:25 Influencer Marketing. 44:13 Helping streamers find your game.52:09 How to keep more players around longer.

Each user will engage differently with your game. How they play the game and/or how much they spend on the game will vary widely from player to player. In the same way a company would market their game differently for different target audiences, companies should segment their analytics to find the best possible ways to monetize their game. This week on Mastering Retention, Tom speaks with Sam Abbott (Head of Monetization at Rec Room) about how to use player segmented data to help increase in-game purchasing, and overall user engagement. Here are your cheat codes: 0:46 How did Sam Abbott get into the video game industry?2:38 What is “Rec Room”?3:34 How does Rec Room differ from Roblox?4:40 System Design5:56 Play-to-win game mechanics.12:43 Accounting for the different player budgets.16:26 How to find a user's budget.23:02 Balancing monetization and player experience.27:23 Role of analytics in identifying in-game activity.31:57 How to know if your game economy is flawed.35:17 Player Segmentation.47:00 Best ways to segment players.49:12 The future of monetization.55:20 How to keep more players around longer.

You are not supposed to judge a book - or a video game - by its cover, but that is easier said than done - especially when covers can be very misleading. People often make snap judgments about things based on how it was first presented to them. These judgments can last a long time and negatively impact your product. When creating or marketing your game, one must ensure that the copy for and design of your game entices potential users and properly sets the user’s expectations. This week on Mastering Retention, Tom speaks with Itamar Cohen (CEO at Game Boost) about how to provide your game’s target audience a reason to play your game and a reason to pay for additional features and content.Here are your cheat codes:1:09 How did Itamar Cohen get started in the video game industry?10:10 The importance of copywriting.13:32 Enhancing your games advertisements and offers with good copywriting.17:01 Test your copy.19:38 It is always a good idea to incorporate live ops into your game.21:53 Best way to create new events and new content.24:10 Designing content and events for specific groups of players.26:26 Segmentation.31:03 Live Ops difficulty design.35:50 Push Notifications

Web browser games are often an afterthought when thinking about the video game landscape, but with the internet being more accessible than ever, the odds of having some degree of familiarity with web games are high. Despite the perception that web games maintain a relatively low profile, there is a large market for these types of games and lots of money to be made. This week on Mastering Retention, Tom speaks with Valentin Simion (Senior Game Producer & Product Owner at SOFTGAMES) about catering to specific audiences, integrating social features into a game, and the profitability of modern day web gaming.Here are your cheat codes:1:34 How did Valentin Simion get started in the videogame industry?6:42 What is the typical target audience for web games?9:07 Where are web games predominantly found and/or played?10:58 Starting a modern day web gaming company.17:11 A good process for coming up with a new web game.22:13 Surveying target audience before creating a game.23:59 Good survey questions and processes to avoid biased results.27:36 Is there value in open-ended survey questions?30:39 Live ops within web games.32:39 Content expectations for web games.34:06 A live ops event that flopped.36:30 Driving a game’s community with a facebook group.37:46 User generated content.40:47 How to make a game like “Solitaire” social?47:17 There are many different ways to monetize web games.50:46 How to keep more players around longer.

Today’s video game market is completely saturated with games seemingly offering the same experience. Ironing out and perfecting the small details of your game design can go a long way in helping it stand out from the competition. This week on Mastering Retention, Tom speaks with Amir Dori (Lecturer for Game Design at Mentor College & Head of Game Design at SciPlay) about building and managing casual game studios, using game design as a way to attract a larger audience, and his unique journey through the world of education and game design.Here are your cheat codes:1:34 How did Amir Dori get started in the videogame industry?20:56 Building and managing casual game studios at SciPlay.26:43 The differences in game design between casual games and educational games. 33:07 Live Ops in educational games.36:34 Creating a new game that stands out in today’s saturated market.40:32 Marketing analysis.46:18 Expanding your games audience.54:24 Getting to the core of match 3 games.56:36 The functionality of a match 3 board. 59:38 How to keep more players around longer.

Creating a video game from scratch requires a lot of manpower and specialized talent. Being able to work effectively and efficiently as a team is key to creating a game that is both enjoyable for users and financially beneficial for your studio/company. In addition to helping teams work together seamlessly to coordinate and execute tasks, product managers serve many different roles depending on the industry or company. Since there are so many differing opinions on what exactly a product manager’s role looks like, oftentimes they do not receive the recognition they deserve. This week on Mastering Retention, Tom speaks with Maria Gilles (Product Manager at Hutch) about the importance of product managers, finding the right product manager for your company, what their role should look like, and so much more.Here are your cheat codes: 1:38 How did Maria Gilles get started in the videogame industry?4:04 Defining Product Managers*6:09 How many product managers should be working on a game?8:18 How can a game director and product manager work together most efficiently?10:40 Traits to look for in product managers.12:37 Balancing the big picture and the small details as a product manager.*16:01 Passion is key for a product manager.*20:17 When to hire a product manager.*22:16 Hiring a product manager.24:50 Mapping out live content.30:11 Making a game enjoyable and financially beneficial.34:22 A game's difficulty can have an impact on retention.38:27 Features and content drives monetization.42:44 Finding the right product manager.44:58 Setting the live ops cadence.48:48 Be thoughtful when running tests.53:22 How to keep more players around longer.

When you think about video games, your first thought is likely not about the business and financial side of things, but the video game business, like all other major industries, puts a large emphasis on money. No matter what the status of your game company is, money is at the center of all your current needs and future goals. During the infancy of starting and growing a game studio, you are constantly looking for funding to help take you to the next level. Then once your financial needs are met, your focus shifts to generating revenue. This week on Mastering Retention, Annina Salven (CFO at Next Games) joins Tom to talk about creative ways to draw in investors, increasing revenue, and tips for meeting and exceeding your studio’s goals.Here are your cheat codes:- 1:45 How did Annina Salven get into the video game industry?- 7:03 Setting your game studio up for future financial success.- 12:09 Visualizing your goals helps you achieve them.- 18:17 Next Games process for vetting concepts and ideas.- 21:01 Bootstrapping a mobile games company.- 24:50 What drives financial investment for game companies?- 29:38 User acquisition funding in mobile gaming.- 37:34 How to ensure liquidity.- 41:25 Alternative ways to acquire users.- 49:39 How to keep more players around for longer.

Staying ahead of the curve and budding trends is of paramount importance in the modern landscape of the video game industry. Smart companies and CEO’s identify these trends in their early stages and experiment with them, which oftentimes leads to adopting them. This week on Mastering Retention, one of those CEO’s, Oliver Jones (Co-Founder & CEO at Bombay Play), speaks with Tom about a budding new trend that his company has recently adopted, and the intricacies of building and running a game studio. 0:38 How did Oliver Jones get into the video game business?12:08 The founding of Bombay Play and the types of games they make.20:51 How big is Bombay Play and how is the work force distributed?22:39 Live Ops at Bombay Play.26:01 Does Bombay Play have any plans to go international?27:22 A radical way to develop and launch a new game idea.32:56 Where did “The Brain Trust” originate from?35:01 Do instant games allow for deeper concept testing?36:40 Art can enhance your game, but it cannot make your game a great one on its own.39:24 Gathering and using player feedback.43:34 How to hire talented and like-minded people.47:32 How to keep more people around for longer.

What makes a game special is not the graphics, the gameplay, or the plot … it's the people that work tirelessly behind the scenes. Having the right people in place at your studio is the difference between a smash-hit game and a forgotten one. This week on Mastering Retention, Tom speaks with Kunal Mordekar (COO at YOOZOO Games) about finding the right people, the hiring process, and how important good workplace relationships are for sustained success in the video game industry. Here are your cheat codes:- 0:57 How did Kunal Mordekar get into the video game industry?- 4:19 The difficulties of finding and vetting potential employees.- 9:42 When and how to test potential hires during the interview process.- 14:08 What tests have been successful in identifying game programmers?- 17:01 How to properly test candidates for a more artistic or creative role.- 19:06 How to set expectations for new hires if you anticipate your new start-up changing its mission and/or goals.- 22:00 What is a producer and what does a producer do?- 28:13 A successful producer knows their team members.- 31:22 How to mitigate production delays.- 33:42 Properly rolling out your game.- 41:48 Testing a new feature before rolling it out to everyone.- 47:05 How to keep more people around for longer.

Some games are intended to be played over the course of several months, sometimes even years. These games demand new and exciting content - such as new quests - in order to keep players coming back. Designing, testing, and implementing these new quests into your game requires lots of creativity and brain power that often goes unnoticed. This week on Mastering Retention, Tom speaks with former World of Warcraft game designer, Kurt Sparkuhl (Lead Mobile Game Designer at Amazon Games), about the quest design process and making the switch from working on massive MMO’s to working on mobile gaming.0:41 How did Kurt Sparkuhl get into the video game industry?4:44 Does being a Quality Assurance Analyst make you a better game designer?9:08 How to figure out what your next expansion will be.12:54 Designing a game to be fun for all types of players.16:13 Is there a certain moment players become hooked on your game?22:05 Quest Design.28:03 Deciding what is interesting and creative.31:04 Catering to specific types of players.33:13 Daily Quests.39:22 How To Test Quests.426 The differences and similarities between mobile game design and MMO design.47:35 Does session length play a role in game design?51:04 How to keep more players around longer.

So, your new game has taken the world by storm? What do you do next? How do you maintain momentum and how do you replicate your previous success? This week on “Mastering Retention,” Miikka Ahonen Co-founder of Lightheart Entertainment, creator of Mr. Autofire, joins Tom to discuss building and running a company, building successful games, as well as strategies for release and, of course, retention.Here are your cheat codes:- 0:45 How Miikka Ahonen got into the video game industry- 3:07 What it was like starting Lightheart Entertainment- 5:40 Advice for people starting their own studio- 8:58 The original vision for Lightheart and where it is today- 16:40 The process of creating prototypes and where they draw inspiration from at Lightheart- 18:33 What comes after gray box testing?- 20:40 What are realistic build and release timelines?- 23:34 Is there an ideal revenue breakdown for ads and IAP?- 24:53 What mistakes do you feel like you made and what would you do differently?- 26:55 How the company has changed after a successful game and their outlook and strategy moving forward- 31:53 What is your approach to hiring and some lessons you’ve learned?- 40:25 Live ops in hybrid-casual- 53:58 Game economy design within hybrid-casual genre- 56:19 Tips to increase player retention

If you use social media, odds are you have seen many ads for hyper-casual games. On the surface, these free-to-play games may appear simple and minimalistic, but in reality are intricate, detailed, and have the potential to generate lots of revenue. This week on “Mastering Retention”, Christoph Sachsenhausen (Managing Director at Sunday) joins Tom to discuss the level of detail that goes into creating and marketing these games and outlines the reasons behind why they are quickly becoming one of the most popular genres in the mobile gaming space.Here are your cheat codes:- 1:10 How did Christoph Sachsenhausen get into the video game industry? - 7:02 Is there a mass exodus towards Casual Games? - 11:33 Defining the Hyper-Casual business model. - 16:58 What makes “Sunday” stand out from other publishers? - 21:36 How to find success as a new hyper-casual game studio? - 27:14 What emotions should hyper-casual games be aiming to elicit from users?- 30:35 How to come up with a new idea for a game? - 37:54 What metrics does “Sunday” focus on? - 41:42 Live Ops in Hyper-Casual games. - 43:52 Multiplayer in hyper-casual games. - 46:42 How to find a partner studio. - 48:09 What can be learned from hyper-casual games? - 49:59 Advertising and marketing your hyper-casual game. - 55:12 How to keep more players around longer.

Creating a fun and engaging game is only half the battle. In order to establish your game as one of the most downloaded apps, you must create and properly utilize the many different types of advertisements. This week on “Mastering Retention”, Claire Rozain (UA Team Lead at Rovio) walks Tom through the process of implementing immersive and thoughtful ads/creatives in order to have a positive effect on user acquisition.Here are your cheat codes:- 2:37 How did Claire Rozain get into the video game industry? - 4:42 Some problems Claire is currently looking to solve in the coming months. - 6:30 Is tracking a solvable problem? - 9:00 Time Management and work/life balance. - 12:55 User Acquisition Creatives. - 18:42 How to test your game in the early stages?- 22:40 Can user acquisition control the player experience? *- 27:20 Ads/Creatives. - 31:58 Claire shares her “North Star” metric. - 40:14 Ad lengths. - 41:14 What to show in your ad. *- 42:34 How many ad views does it take for a download? - 44:20 Using different ads VS using the same ad over and over. - 46:00 User Acquisition across different genres. - 47:55 How to keep more players around longer.

Free-to-play is here to stay. For years the video game market has been saturated by free-to-play games. All facets of the gaming industry have had to adapt to this shift in the gaming landscape - as well as many other changes in the way a game economy is designed. This week on “Mastering Retention”, Rudy Saldivar (Lead Product Manager at Robin Games) joins Tom to discuss how game economists and economies have adapted to these many different shifts.Here are your cheat codes:- 0:49 How did Rudy Saldivar get started in the video game industry?- 6:47 Robin Games - 9:37 Game Economy within free-to-play games.- 17:38 Solving Broken Economies - 21:46 Balancing Economy Design - 24:06 Navigating the massive variety in user’s playtime- 28:21 Feature development based upon players habits and behavior. - 31:35 How game economies affect player engagement. - 33:05 Identifying deficiencies in your game economy. - 36:38 Feature prioritization. - 43:20 Properly addressing issues within your game economy. - 44:56 Understanding your players. - 47:19 How to keep more players around longer.

User acquisition can be achieved in many different ways. Finding the right UA method depends heavily on the goals of both your game and company. On this week’s episode of “Mastering Retention”, Matej Lancaric (User Acquisition & Marketing Consultant) joins Tom to break down some of the ways he has helped companies meet their UA goals and discuss how important brand awareness is when it comes to acquiring new users. Here are your cheat codes:- 1:44 How did Matej Lancaric get into the video game industry? - 4:02 When should a studio work with a consultant like Matej?- 5:21 The competitive nature of mobile game development. - 11:17 How to successfully launch a mobile game in a hyper competitive marketplace. - 16:52 Innovation in mobile game ads. - 21:52 How large of a role does brand awareness play in players downloading your game? - 25:50 It would be nice to see your competitors' metrics. - 28:35 Are browser games dying?- 30:39 What is User Acquisition? - 34:36 Best practices for tracking your metrics. - 36:54 Return On Ad Spend- 42:51 When to properly use all the different types of ads. - 45:25 The shifting landscape of mobile game marketing. - 48:36 How to keep more players around longer.

Blockchain technology is all the buzz right now. Could that technology lead to the beginning of the next era of mobile gaming? Anil Das-Gupta (CPO, Co-Founder at First Light Games) joins Tom to discuss how despite the complexity of the integration, there are many exciting possibilities that blockchain technology could usher in.Here are your cheat codes:- 0:47 How did Anil Das-Gupta get into the video game industry? - 7:08 Finding the right co-founders. - 11:53 The origins of First Light Games. - 18:16 How did First Light Games do their testing? - 21:00 Blockchain/play-to-earn gaming. - 27:44 The complexities of integrating NFTs into video games. - 32:07 Long term goals for blockchain gaming. - 38:07 User generated content - 40:15 Launching a blockchain game- 48:41 How to keep more players around longer.

The modern landscape of mobile gaming demands ad monetization to generate revenue for your game studio. A lot of hard work goes into not only creating ads, but every behind-closed-doors decision in regards to the very same ads. This week on the Mastering Retention Podcast, Diego Diaz Perez (Monetization Manager at WEEWOO) takes Tom behind the scenes of ad monetization.Here are your cheat codes:- 0:43 How did Diego Diaz Perez get involved in the video game industry?- 5:41 How does ad monetization work?- 10:53 What does the cash flow look like in mobile game advertising? - 14:00 CPN vs CPI- 15:47 Mediation Companies - 21:37 Header Bidding.- 27:26 How many ads can be shown to a player before the CPn starts to decline? - 31:12 Rewarded video monetization. - 35:28 How to get more ad views from your players? - 37:11 Segmenting players based on motivations in order to increase ad viewing. - 39:20 How to grow your ad revenue? - 42:10 The different types of advertisements. - 47:06 Things Diego Diaz Perez wish he knew when he got into ad monetization. - 49:08 Ad Placement Accessibility- 52:21 How to keep more players around longer.

Creating a company from scratch requires a ton of hard work and sacrifice. Maintaining a healthy work/life balance makes it all that more difficult, but it is doable. This week on the Mastering Retention Podcast, Tom speaks with fellow entrepreneur and business owner, Brett Nowak (CEO & Founder of Liquid and Grit), about how they have managed to find a healthy work/life balance in the midst of creating and maintaining their businesses.Here are your cheat codes: - 0:48 How did Brett Nowak get into the video game industry? - 2:53 Nowak details the origins and purpose of his company, Liquid and Grit. - 4:30 What does Liquid and Grit’s ideal customer look like? - 6:36 How does “Game Refinery” differ from “Liquid and Grit”? - 8:21 Modeling game economies. - 9:43 Acquiring live Ops data. - 17:02 Collecting data from surveys- 23:34 Physiologically satisfying in-game offers. - 28:33 A detailed conversation about starting a company, potentially selling that company, and achieving work-life balance. - 52:47 An ideal approach to team building within a company. - 57:47 The gap between a good developer and a great developer. - 1:08:02 How to keep more players around longer.

The mobile gaming industry has long been a way for companies to make money off of its users. The emergence of real money gaming allows the players the opportunity to get in on the money making through skilled and/or chance based games. This week on Mastering Retention, Tom speaks with Priyank Badkul (VP of Products and Monetization at Tripledot Studios) about the emerging trends and technology behind real money gaming.Here are your cheat codes: - 0:33 How did Priyank get into the video game industry?- 4:35 What is the Real Money Gaming?- 7:32 Skill based vs chance based within the RMG genre. - 9:48 Any correlation between Real Money Gaming and Block Chain Gaming ?- 11:58 What does the current market look like for Real Money Gaming?- 16:16 What sort of data and tools are available in the RMG industry? - 17:49 First time user experience with real money gaming. - 21:19 Are “boosters” allowed within Real Money Games?- 23:36 How to successfully create new games?- 31:25 Soft Launch Hell.- 34:28 Building for a specific audience.- 37:25 How to keep more players around longer.

Well designed features within your game can be the difference between an audience rejecting your game and an audience falling in love with your game. Saravanan Sankar (Game Designer at EA) has spent years working on game features and he joins Tom on this week's episode of "Mastering Retention" to share some deep insights on what works and what falls short of being a good feature for your game.Here are your cheat codes:- 00:27 How did Saravanan Sankar get into the video game industry?- 4:45 Learning from a flawed feature/feature design. - 13:47 Creating a feature with your players motivations in mind. - 19:04 Successful alternative ways to build on a game feature. - 22:00 Launching features as live Ops events - 29:01 How to decide what features you should be making.- 33:58 Retro-fitting features for your game - 40:16 A feature that performed better than Saravanan originally thought it would. - 41:57 Dealing with negative player feedback on features that perform well. - 44:15 How to keep more players around longer

Coming up with a game concept is hard, but creating that game from scratch and seeing it through all the way to global launch is incredibly difficult. Annelie Biernat (Game Director at Wooga)has done exactly that. She and her team have taken their game "Switchcraft" all the way to the global launch finish line, and she sits down with Tom to share the wealth of knowledge she has gained from doing it.Here are your cheat codes:- 0:20 How long have they been working on “Switchcraft”- 1:41 How did Annelie Biernat get into the video game industry? - 4:50 Coming up with a game concept and making it to global launch. - 9:40 Designing a game for a specific audience. - 13:39 The soft launch process - 19:51 How to properly identify and address the problems with your game. - 28:07 Eliciting emotions from your players. - 30:06 Team size for building “Switchcraft” - 33:43 What is “Switchcraft”? - 45:55 Why should you launch a Match 3 game? - 47:52 Biggest challenges they faced making “Switchcraft”- 52:50 Player Feedback - 59:58 The importance of diversity in your game. - 1:05:01 How to keep more playing around longer

Data and analytics are incredibly important for the game industry, but understanding and accurately interpreting the data is key to creating and sustaining your game's success. Joni Ruotsalainen (Data Scientist at Metacore) speaks with Tom about his day-to-day role as a data scientist and illustrates how valuable a data scientist can be to any game studio.Here are your cheat codes:- 0:59 How did Joni Ruotsalainen get into the video game industry? - 3:41 How important is it to have a data scientist at your game studio? - 5:34 What problems should and should not be solved with data?- 7:57 Using Data effectively. - 14:52 Data Anomalies- 18:00 How to utilize a data scientist effectively?- 21:56 Good third party tools for data collection. - 25:19 Segmentation. - 26:53 What is a clustering algorithm?- 29:40 Grouping players via session data. - 36:04 Deciding what segments and how many segments you should have. - 42:30 Segment Design. - 46:47 Designing your Live Ops events around players schedules.- 50:11 How to keep more playing around longer.

Video games are meant to entertain us, but they also have the incredible power to connect people from all over the world. Wouter Schrijvershof (Live Ops Manager at GamePoint) and his team at GamePoint pride themselves on creating meaningful communities within their games. Schrijvershof tells Tom that GamePoint's bingo has developed such a strong sense of community, that players are hosting games/events specifically to honor online friends that have tragically passed away. Creating that type of community isn't easy, but in this episode, Schrijvershof paints a picture of how to do exactly that. Here are your cheat codes:- 0:48 How did Wouter Schrijvershof get into the video game industry? - 4:10 The history and background of “Game Point”- 7:23 Many friendships were made through “Game Points” bingo. - 10:28 Filtering out the in-game language barriers. - 12:31 Developing strong social features to build a stronger and deeper community amongst players. - 22:41 Understanding your audience on a deep level. - 25:25 Surveying players. - 29:44 A Live Op event that created angst amongst players. - 31:44 Coming up with new ideas for LiveOps events - 34:57 Super Fan Groups - 36:29 How important is a smooth players experience? - 41:42 Welcoming new players - 43:25 User acquisition by churned players - 44:47 How to keep more playing around longer.

Creating a successful game requires a lot more than a good idea and decent gameplay. It takes a true artist to perfect all the intricacies throughout the menus, marketing materials, and virtual stores. Kristina Miles (Lead UX Designer at Electric Square) is one of those artists. This week on the Mastering Retention Podcast, she sits down with Tom to discuss what all goes into creating a game's design that maximizes player satisfaction. Here are your cheat codes:- 0:51 How did Kristina Miles get into the video game industry? - 2:50 Defining User Experience Design- 6:44 Figuring out how and what about your UX Design needs to change. - 8:56 Grouping your players through player behaviors. - 11:54 Best way to work with a UX Designer - 15:32 At what point in the player flow should a UX Designer be involved?- 19:31 Why is it important to have flow screens? - 23:40 Designing with localization in mind. - 28:30 Buttons or Icons? - 32:20 Planning for future features and screens.- 35:59 How involved should a UX Designer be in LiveOps? - 42:41 Designing for trigger points. - 46:08 How to keep more playing around longer.

In order to effectively advertise your game, you must know your players like the back of your hand. Srikanth Peru (Director of Production & Operations at Bingo Bash) takes Tom inside the world of game operations and illustrates its ever changing nature. Learn some tricks on how to properly identify your target audience!Here are your cheat codes:1:30 How did Srikanth Peru get into the video game industry? 5:49 Defining LiveOps from a game operations perspective.7:10 Understanding what a player wants? 12:18 Grouping players through metrics and data.15:35 Segmented Player Experience.19:50 Finding the right price point for your players. 26:00 How often should you optimize personalized offers? 33:31 Build Your Own Offer.40:42 Stacking The Deck. 46:45 How to keep more playing around longer.

Is Blockchain Gaming the next big thing? Khaled Alroumi (Game designer at Illuvium) thinks so! Adopting the Play-To-Earn format, Alroumi and his team are on the verge of creating an open world RPG that exists on Ethereum blockchain. Alroumi joins Tom this week to answer some perplexing questions on blockchain gaming and play-to-earn game economies.Here are your cheat codes:1:19 How did Khaled Alroumi get into the video game industry?3:43 How do you make money from “Play-To-Earn”?9:25 Do Block Chain Transactions make a game “Play-To-Earn”?14:32 Economy Design for Play-To-Earn games.18:41 Reselling items within Play-To-Earn Games.21:47 Paying Your Studio Employees through the Marketplace approach in Play-To-Earn games.27:50 Accidentally Tanking Your Game’s Economy.30:26 What will LiveOps look like moving forward in the Play-To-Earn genre?32:34 Is Block Chain necessary, trendy, or both?37:05 Can Play-To-Earn exist across all Genres of gaming?38:37 What are the most important things to consider when starting a gaming studio?39:41 How to keep more playing around longer.

On today's episode of Mastering Retention, Joakim Hoglund (Head of Studio at FunRock) joins Tom to discuss to art of understanding your target audience, localization across cultural boundaries, and so much more!Podcast Highlights Include:1:29 How did Joakim Hoglund get into the video game industry?3:54 What titles have you been working on at FunRock studios? 5:38 Catering your game to a specific population 13:04 One Server VS Segmented Servers 15:41 Localization across different cultures, languages, and demographics 20:55 How to give your target audience what they want. 33:13 What dialogue should exists between you and your target audience after a global launch?38:35 Addressing complaints about A game through YOUR game. 43:03 Do surveys work? 46:20 How to keep more playing around longer.

On today's episode of Mastering Retention, Mat Baker (Game Design Lead at Trailmix) joins Tom to discuss when to know when to pivot your game's approach, how to do so effectively, and so much more!Here are your cheat codes:1:18 How did Mat Baker get into the video game industry?6:38 How did Mat start working for Trailmix and what sort of projects have they been working on? 18:47 How to identify problems in your game? 23:25 What are some indicators that appear when your game isn’t working? 27:42 What conversations led to pivoting “Love & Pies” ? 34:14 Solving the problems with their game. 37:27 What does Live Ops look like in “Love & Pies”? 40:45 What does monetization look like within the merge game genre? 43:09 Excited about the future of Trailmix. 48:05 How to keep more playing around longer.

On today's episode of Mastering Retention, Varia Vakhreeva (User Acquisitions Manager at Sheepyard) joins Tom to discuss user acquisition at every step of the game creation process and navigates listeners through the complicated world of ads and "creatives".Podcast Highlights Include:- 1:04 How did Varia Vakhreeva get into the video game industry? - 4:53 User Acquisition - 9:27 Finding Your Audience- 12:05 What should UA look like at launch?- 14:56 Promoting your game at soft launch. - 21:31 Orienting Your Game To Your Audience. - 25:16 Ad Click-Through Rate/Download Rate. - 26:49 What does UA look like at Global Launch?- 29:00 How to manage creatives. - 31:39 Ad Design- 37:41 What resources are helpful when Creating Creatives? - 42:13 Is effective to blend Live Ops into your ads/Creatives? - 47:22 How to keep more playing around longer.

On today's episode of Mastering Retention, Mladen Dulanovic(Game Lead at Nordeus) joins Tom to discuss problem solving at all levels of production, the value of being prepared, and so much more!Here are your cheat codes:- 0:55 How did Mladen Dulanovic get into the video game industry? - 7:03 How to make a successful game? - 11:44 Solving Problems In Your Game. - 20:45 The Practical Phase - 27:01 Pivoting Your Approach - 31:30 The Value of Surveys - 34:27 Preparing For Global Launch - 38:51 Testing Your Content Treadmill - 40:20 Live Ops Phase - 44:34 What tools help a studio rapidly generate content? - 46:50 How to keep more playing around longer.

On today's episode of Mastering Retention, Chris Hong (Tech Lead at Metacore) joins Tom to discuss the exciting world of LiveOps and the technology and services used in the process.Podcast Highlights Include:- 0:43 How did Chris Hong get into the video game industry?- 9:24 Defining LiveOps- 11:29 Automated LiveOps- 13:35 What efforts go into executing LiveOps- 14:47 Potential LiveOps Errors - 19:36 LiveOps Technology, Features, and Services- 28:54 How should data be used for LiveOps?- 32:27 Multiplayer Technology- 39:57 How to keep more players around longer

On today's episode of Mastering Retention, Francesco Fontana (Senior Game Designer at Savage Game Studios) joins Tom to discuss designing a game economy, limited currency, and so much more!Cheat codes:- 1:04 How did Francesco Fontana get started in the gaming industry?- 3:11 Game Economy Design - 6:13 Early Stage Prototype/Soft Launch - 9:15 When should you give up on your game? - 12:24 User Research and Analytic Tools - 17:10 Creating a Shooter Game - 19:51 Building a Game Economy for the Long Term- 24:00 Limited Currency and Live Ops - 35:10 The Tower Of Once - 39:09 Advice For People Wishing To Make A Shooter Game- 41:59 How Can Shooter Games Appeal to More Players? - 50:56 How to keep more players around longer.

On today's episode of Mastering Retention, Rimmy Spanjer (Managing Director of Games Division at Hyper Hippo Entertainment) joins Tom to continue their dive deep into the world of videogame monetization and first time player conversion.- 1:29 Defining First time conversion- 4:50 Differences between first time conversion and subsequent conversion events - 8:06 Optimizing First time conversion for all players. - 13:16 Is is worth while to segment your conversion offers? - 15:33 What percent of players should convert ever? - 18:07 Why is conversion so difficult? - 20:02 Designing your monetization strategy. - 24:12 Using psychology to help conversion. - 29:05 Yield time for players to convert. - 32:19 How should your players feel after spending money on your game? - 34:34 Validating your players purchase. - 37:09 Reconversion- 39:28 How often should players be reconverting?- 42:07 What presentation is best for first time conversion? - 47:42 How does Ad monetization impact your player conversion? - 51:01 Should purchases increase player sessions?- 53:14 Battle Pass

On today's episode of Mastering Retention, Rimmy Spanjer (Managing Director of Games Division at Hyper Hippo Entertainment) joins Tom to dive deep into the world of videogame monetization.- 1:03 How did Rimmy Spanjer get started in the gaming industry? - 4:06 How did Rimmy Spanjer become interested in game economy design? - 6:17 What does “creative director” actually mean? - 8:30 Why is monetization important? - 12:29 The fundamental importance of monetization. - 17:49 Monetization Design - 20:49 Creating a monetization design that fits your target audience. - 23:58 Where to start when designing the monetization. - 25:45 Impacting retention with monetization. - 28:29 Ad Capacity. - 30:44 Why are time-limited events so successful? - 42:33 Event Design- 44:35 Balancing your economy. - 46:31 Ad Monetization - 49:17 Ad Placement - 52:45 How to keep more players around longer.

- 1:27 What has Natalie Sieradzki career journey been like?- 4:50 How a UX consultant would go about fixing a game. - 10:08 How to find your peer group. - 13:00 How to figure out what different things different players want. - 16:45 “Magic Moment”- 18:25 How does fantasy play into “scratching” a players “itch”- 22:27 Is there more value in talking with the players who churned apposed to the ones that keep playing? - 28:25 The importance of getting used emails. - 33:34 Push Notifications - 37:02 Market Research - 41:20 Segmented Surveys - 45:22 Survey Questions- 49:45 How to keep more players around longer.

Founders of game studios who have "been there and done that" share their top secrets and tricks on how to start your own game studio.▬ Contents of this video ▬▬▬▬▬00:00 Introductions 12:22 How you became a studio founder? 21:54 Thing that most people don’t realize about starting a studio29:51 Crucial roles to start a studio 35:37 First hires 39:25 Raising money 46:58 Setting up a studio for a large corporation vs starting as an owner 51:15 How to convince people to join you 53:54 What is good leadership? 57:29 Prioritizing projects and tasks 59:35 A big mistake 1:02:46 Company culture▬ Quotes ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬28:41 “Very quickly, within the first week, I realized I’m not doing game design anymore because there’s so much to do when you start a company.” – Mike Allender 38:09 “Giving away lots of equity actually can come back to you in the success of the company.” – Mike Allender 52:51 “Part of the reason that you should start with your core values and your vision and extrapolate on what that is, that you can really share that with people and get them excited about where you're going and why you're going there.” – Tom Hammond1:02:07 “You can share the hard times as well and talk about the hard things and do your best. And if you don't manage, at least you did your best as a group.” – Sophie Vo 1:07:13 “Culture is not a list of rules, it's definitely not pages and pages of philosophy. Culture is only real when it manifests in our actions.” – Peter Pawan

On today's episode of Mastering Retention, David Molnar (Live Ops Manager at Square Enix Montreal) joins Tom to dive deep into the world of Battle Passes and In-App Purchasing, as well as a lengthy discussion on League of Legends.- 1:01 How did David Molnar get into the gaming industry? - 2:15 Did he play League of Legends before working on it? - 6:25 Thoughts on League of Legends coming to Mobile- 8:07 What was his first reaction to playing League for the first time.- 10:52 League of Legends auto targeting - 14:29 League of Legends matchmaking- 20:52 Thoughts on the League of Legends Live Ops. - 25:52 Action-Based first time user campaign - 33:05 A lengthy and in-depth conversation about battle passes rewards and in app purchases. - 50:38 How to keep more players around longer.

On today's episode of Mastering Retention, Pradeep Gupta (Product & Growth at Gameberry Labs) speaks with Tom about integrating social features into a mobile game and the importance of socializing in videogames.- 1:36 How did Pradeep Gupta get into video games?- 3:38 Why did “Ludo Star” take off?- 10:09 Did “Ludo Star” grow organically?- 13:54 How to balance Monetization and social. - 16:52 Balancing Social and Monetization. - 22:34 What does social LiveOps look like?- 26:37 How to manage and monitor voice chat.- 32:33 How does voice chat change the game?- 35:19 Have people abused the voice chat feature?- 41:42 When to know when to add social features. - 44:18 How to keep more players around longer.

- 0:31 How did Ido get into the video game industry? - 4:03 Going from a data-driven company to a fast-paced company? - 6:40 What did Ido’s VP of GameOps role look like at Voodoo?- 10:50 Can liveops can be done in hyper-casual games? - 17:40 How does liveops translate into an ad-based game?- 22:34 Learning from failures - 30:36 How to brainstorm solutions to problems? - 32:59 How to learn from churned players. - 40:35 When to consider killing your game. - 49:56 How to keep more players around longer.

- 1:34 How did Luiz get into the video game industry - 5:38 What is the secret to launching great games?- 8:25 How to know when your game isn’t working?- 14:51 Validating your game’s concept.- 21:02 What to look for during a playtest.- 24:16 Best way to approach a soft launch - 35:42 How to gather realistic data- 39:00 Rules for soft launch.- 41:30 Should you seek advice from people that stopped playing your game?- 47:33 Monetization within a soft launch.- 50:54 How to keep more players around longer.

(1:25) How did Aaron Morley get into the gaming industry?(8:01) What does a product manager even do? (12:04) How to intermediate for your monetization team and product team. (17:34) Yearly planning. (21:54) Changing your game once it is established. (29:56) Extinction Mode/rebooting your late game economy. (43:28) Using quantitative and qualitative data to improve live performance. (48:46) How to keep more players around longer.

- 0:45 How did Mikael Silvennoinen get into the video game industry?- 3:06 How his background as a chef impacts his career in video games.- 5:08 What does he define player experience?- 6:19 How to accommodate all the different things that different players want.- 7:53 Effective ways to communicate with players.- 8:59 The challenge of localization.- 10:20 Communication errors and how to prevent them.- 13:46 Providing a good customer service experiences.- 15:40 Using forums or discord to gain player feedback.- 22:59 Acquiring player feedback through surveys.- 28:55 Using Social Media to engage with players.- 32:09 Marketing campaigns.- 35:10 How to keep more players around longer.

- 0:50 How did Alok Kumar get into the gaming industry?- 6:27 Was briefly leaving the gaming industry helpful? - 8:06 How does Alok Kumar approach psychology?- 13:40 The psychological impact on players - 17:35 How does psychology help game design?- 20:11 Intrinsic motivation vs extrinsic motivation. - 29:51 Reinforcement theories in game design. - 33:32 How to keep more players around longer.

- 1:19 How did Olesja Marjalaakso get into the gaming industry?- 9:56 What has she learned along her way about the gaming industry? - 13:26 What should a co-founding team look like? - 15:47 Deciding what game to build. - 22:08 Testing your game's concept- 28:47 What to do after creating a game concept and nailing down the gameplay. - 35:52 How to keep more players around longer.

- 1:19 What got Jakub Remiar into video games?- 4:17 Does he utilize his background in psychology when designing a video game?- 7:16 What is the best way to get a game to global launch?- 13:13 When is the best time to do a play test?- 19:50 Is a PNG approach a good way to innovate? - 27:36 When should you start thinking about monetization?- 30:39 Battle Passes- 32:35 Using LiveOps to test your content treadmill during soft launch.- 35:45 Ideal launch timeline. - 38:37 Signs you need to kill your game.- 42:44 How to keep more players around longer.

On today's episode of Mastering Retention, Peter Pawan (Co-Founder Of Super Huge Studios) talks with Tom about his journey through the video game industry, starting a studio from scratch, and much more!Episode Highlights: - 0:54 What started Peter’s love for video games?- 3:40 Peters outlines his professional journey in the video game industry.- 7:40 What kind of games are you making at Super Huge Studios?- 9:38 Starting a small game studio from scratch.- 14:50 Testing a product before building it.- 18:27 How to learn from your target audience.- 27:38 Learning from peripheral players.- 33:39 What technology is needed to create your game or game studio?- 40:59 Amplitude VS Delta DNA.- 44:29 How to keep more players around longer.

- 0:22 How did Carson Taylor get started in the business?- 6:02 Has Austin, Texas become a gaming hub?- 11:43 Remote Working vs In Office working.- 17:00 Computer Science- 22:05 Is learning “Sequel” a key to success for Product Managers?- 26:53 An example of a time where “Sequel” made a profound impact.- 31:42 A/B Testing in the video game world.- 40:22 At what stage of development is it appropriate to do A/B testing?- 43:32 What is the right way to A/B test live ops events?- 48:42 How to keep more players around longer?

On today's episode of the Mastering Retention podcast, Stanislav Stankovic, Creative Director at EA, sharing with us a great deal of his experience with games and game development. To read his Medium articles, please visit here. Episode highlights: What to do first when starting new game Approaches to introduce new game concepts and mechanics Psychological feelings in a game Mood boards His retention tip

Episode highlights:- 0:30 How did Daniel Kammerer get into games?- 3:26 What exactly is level design?- 5:20 What would the level building process look like for a match 3 game like Candy Crush Saga?- 8:11 How much should a level designer be playing the level to ensure it is correct?- 9:28 Designing a level with procedurally generated landscapes. - 12:57 Handcrafted design vs procedurally generated design.- 17:37 Should level design be a server side push or should that be built into the client?- 21:45 Testing levels before rolling them out.- 25:24 Is BETA testing worth the possible production delay?- 30:49 Does level design heavily rely on community input?- 36:00 Maximizing the first time user experiences from a level design perspective. - 42:43 Creating a better user experience by tailoring the game to your specific target audience.- 48:15 How to keep more players around longer.

On today's episode of the Mastering Retention show, we have our first artist: Riana McKeith! She is the Art Director at TreesPlease Games and has an incredible amount of experience in game art not only in the corporate setting but also in the startup environment. Episode notes: Going from a corporation to a startup Work between art and product team Art influencing KPIs The idea of content treadmill Creating quick content Thinking about your game in a global context Her retention tip

in today's episode of the Mastering Retention show, Tj’ièn Twijnstra the Game Director at Story Giant Games joins Tom to talk about how to create strong enough meaningful narrative connections in your games and how to implement gameplay into that narrative. Episode highlights: How he got into games Narrative in casual games Elements that make up a good story Adding gameplay to the game narrative Target audience research Having a good narrative on your brand new game His retention tip Follow Tj’ièn’s blog here.

In this episode of the Mastering Retention show, Mădălina Vlădău the Live Ops Manager at Ubisoft RedLynx talks to us all about LiveOps tools! From what LiveOps tools are to how should they be implemented. Episode highlights: Games she’s currently testing What is a LiveOps tool? Designing user experiences How to prevent more errors from happening Commercial tools vs building your own tools Making your game meaningful to increase retention

On today’s episode of the Mastering Retention show, Tom talks to Keeley Bunting, the Executive Producer at Outplay Entertainment. When the episode was recorded, she was transitioning from being a lead game designer to being the executive producer at Outplay and she tells us how the transition is going and how she got there. She’s the lead on the Gordon Ramsay, Chef Blast free-to-play mobile game.Episode highlights: What it means to be a lead game designer How to manage feedback? What it's like working with an IP? Tips for working on casual games If you want to become a game designer, what should you study Her retention tip!

In this episode of the Mastering Retention show, Hadrien Carpentier, the Game Lead at Oh BiBi joins us to talk about their game, FRAG Pro Shooter, and having an audience-first approach. He also goes over how they are doing without a game designer!Episode highlights: How Hadrien got to his current position When should you innovate the art style of a game FRAG Pro Shooter and having an audience-first approach Game engagement How to stay up to date in the industry How his team goes about not having game designers The work of the community management team FPS trends His retention tip!

In today’s episode of the Mastering Retention show, Niek Tuerlings, the senior game designer at Voodoo, tells us all about the new game they are working on: Plantopia. He tells us all the things they’ve learned, how they got to where they are and what they are expecting. If you are currently designing a game, you don’t want to miss this episode! Episode topics: The development process of their first game, Plantopia How to know when to kill a game What does it mean to test a game? What they saw on Merge Mansion and how they fixed it What is the right ratio of innovation Monetization potential on Plantopia What he’s learned with Plantopia His retention tip! Check out Niek's blog here

In today’s episode of the Mastering Retention podcast, Alex Clark, Game Designer at Nitro Games, talks to Tom about everything mobile shooter related! Episode highlights: Definition of mobile shooter Why do people like shooters on mobile What kind of audiences like shooters? Tom pitches Alex a mobile shooter game idea and they dissect the development process! First-time user experience in mobile shooter His retention tip!

On today’s episode of the Mastering Retention podcast, Tom talks to Benjamin Charbit the Co-Founder of DareWise about his most recent game development: Live Beyond. He and Tom talk all about the experiences he and his team are building for this game and some of the things they’ve learned and discovered in the process. Episode notes: How did he develop DareWise The current game/experience they are developing: Live Beyond What type of experiences will there be in the game What does LiveOps look like in a social experience scenario? The concept of cross-platform His recommendation on building social experiences that go beyond the traditional mechanics As always… his retention tip!

Jason Schklar is the founder of UX is Fine! and has led teams and provided product, design, and UX direction both as a sought-after consultant and as a studio leader at Amazon, Big Huge Games, Disney, Microsoft, and Zynga. In today's episode, he talks about the importance of UX in game design. Today's highlights: How he started UX is Fine! What is quantitative data and what is qualitative data? Comparison between the start of Instagram and games What is UX and how important is UX? Some examples where he’s seeing UX go wrong and go well What is a good way to take my player experience to the next level? His retention tip Connect with him on LinkedIn here and follow Jason on Twitter here https://uxisfine.com/

On today's episode of the Mastering Retention podcast, our host Tom Hammond talks to hyper-casual guru Michal Tomcany! He is the Chief Gameplay Scientist at Studio Slovack and has a lot of experience with hyper-casual games. Episode highlights: What is hyper-casual? Types of hyper-casual games What can mobile free-to-play games learn from hyper-casual? The role onboarding tutorials play in retention KPIs to take into account His retention tip! Connect with him on LinkedIn

On today's episode of the Mastering Retention podcast, Riley Andersen, Co-Founder and CEO of Umami Games, joins Tom to talk all about hyper-casual games! Umami Games is a hyper-casual games startup in Copenhagen, Denmark. Riley always been a passionate gamer but found her light with hyper-casual games. Topics from today: How being a social media manager shaped her way of thinking now How she started Umani Games What are hyper hyper-casual games? Who is the target audience for hyper-casual games? Steps to go from idea to reality in hyper-casual games CPI in hyper-casual games Monetizing your game One retention tip for hyper-casual games Finding the right people for your company

In today's episode of the Mastering Retention podcast, Tom talks to Francisco Andrada, the lead World Game Economy Designer at Gameloft. Francisco has always been very passionate about games and about helping other game economy designers in their career paths. During today’s episode, he discusses with Tom what makes a great economy, the GED school and the top 5 mistakes to avoid while designing your game economy. Key topics from today’s episode: What is game economy design? Francisco’s 4 pillars of game economy Misconceptions of being a game economy designer What he calls The GED School If you are a small studio, at what point do you need a game economy? What makes a great economy? Top 5 mistakes to avoid while designing your game economy His retention tips! Connect with Francisco on LinkedIn

On today’s episode of Mastering Retention, Kaitlyn Kincaid, lead economic and monetization designer at Rovio Entertainment Corporation joins today’s episode to talk all about game economy design. From what is a game economy, how to build it correctly to how to better use your data to improve your game. Key topics from today’s episode: What is the game economy? The importance of understanding the psychology of players How to design a game from the beginning to have a good economy Things that every game product manager or game designer should know about the game economy Tip and tricks to get better at data analysis How to think about retention and monetization together? Understanding you audience Putting fun over money (always!) Her retention tip!

Adam Zelenay is an avid listener of the Mastering Retention show so we are happy to have him on as a guest! Adam is the Live Ops manager at ZeptoLab and today he goes in-depth about crucial aspects that game teams should take into account about LiveOps Today's highlights: How he went from being a lawyer to a game developer The balance between copying and creating new features in the game Recommendations about types and numbers of live ops? Getting feedback from the community Tools and processes to manage the complexity of multiple events Reactive operations His retention tip! Connect with Adam on LinkedIn

Jamar Graham, publisher operations partner at Unity technologies joins today's Mastering Retention episode to talk about ad monetization in games. He tells us how he got to his current role at Unity, some of the common mistakes on ad monetization strategies and the right balance between in-app purchases and ads.Episode highlights: Common mistakes on ad monetization strategies The balance between in-app purchases and ads Examples of really successful ad ideas Where do ads fall into a LiveOps strategy? How should segmentation be used in conjunction with ads? Managing ads as a small team Figuring out player personas AB testing His retention tip taking ad monetization into account! Learn more about Unity Technologies Get in touch with Jamar: Jamar.graham@unity3d.com

For today’s episode, we bring you two experts on what there is to know about gaming product teams: Patrik Wilkens & Chris Balazs. Listen to everything there is to know about gaming product teams, from how do you build it to what should it look like on different stages of your game and company sizes.Guests: Patrik Wilkens – VP of Mobile at Azerion and Founder of Game industry Networking Chris Balazs – Game Director at SYBO Episode highlights: What is a gaming product team? What is needed to have a functioning product team? Knowing when to scale your gaming product team The balance between copying and/or innovating a game Collaboration with LiveOps teams How to make your transition smoothly between companies or games What is the best working relationship between the marketing team and the product team

On today's episode of Mastering Retention, Oscar Clark the Chief Strategy Officer at Fundamentally Games and one of the pioneers of games services since 1998, joins us to talk about the core principles of LiveOps. He goes in-depth about the three core aspects of games as services: capturing data, configurations and selling. Today's episode key talking points: What games as a service mean to him The difference between live ops and games as services What would be the first step to start running LiveOps Games as services and LiveOps as a promise to the players Tips to capture data Tools to do oversight configurations Principles of selling free to play games How does a LiveOps team look like? What services do they offer at Fundamentally Games? Learn more about Fundamentally GamesConnect with Oscar on social media: LinkedInTwitterBuy his book "Games As A Service"

On today's episode of Mastering Retention, Harshal Karvande, Game Design Lead at Rovio, joins us to talk about how he started in India and ended up in Finland, what it means to create a LiveOps strategy based on player behavior and how to align yourself to the flow of your audience. During the episode, he provides several real-life examples that make his concepts and logic very fun and easy to understand. Highlights of today's episode: Getting a masters in New media design in India Why are Finnish games so successful How impactful the why behind a company can be What is the purpose of live ops from his perspective Creating a LiveOps strategy based on player behavior Aligning yourself to the flow of your audience How he, as a designer, uses the user data that is collected One tip or trick to increase retention Follow his blog on mediumConnect with him on LinkedIn

Today's guest for another episode of the Mastering Retention podcast is Rachel Ansell—senior producer & product owner at PerBlue. After getting her degree in arts, she got an internship that showed her what she wanted to do with her career: be a producer! She joins today's episode to talk to Tom about the different roles and responsibilities that fall under a game producer, some of the life lessons she’s learned along the way and her experience with live games. Key highlights of today's episode: How her 1st job turned her into a big Star Trek fan! From her perspective, what does being a producer mean? How data-driven game development impacts the role of a producer What she thinks is the ultimate KPI How she would deal with having to do a client fix How important it is to be able to change things in the server Some life lessons that she’s learned along the way in her career Balance of events to add in so you get the right engagement and monetization without burning out your players And as always.. one tip or trick to increase retention! LinkedIn

In today’s episode of the Mastering Retention podcast, we are joined by Creative Game Lead Sophie Vo. She’s French- Vietnamese but currently resides in Berlin where she helps run Voodoo. In today’s episode, she talks to Tom about some hiring practices, her definition and implementation of cognitive diversity, and how she nourishes work culture—especially during Covid-times! Highlights of today's episode: The process of building a new studio and team How she developed the WHY of Voodoo How she defines her dream team What she looks for on resumes Valuing company culture Practices she’s implemented to increase trust in her studio What is cognitive diversity? Preparing your team for the first game launch How to deal with firing Building the culture of coaching Don't forget to check out Sophie's blog and connect with her on LinkedIn

On today’s episode of the Mastering Retention podcast, Tom talks to Renee Gittins, ED of the International Game Developers Association and CEO of Stumbling Cat. Renee is a leader in the field and she is passionate about advocating and connecting game developers in the industry. In today’s episode, she talks about her role at the IGDA, the future of Stumbling Cat and gives some tips to those who want to start their own studio. Today’s episode highlights: How she got into games Running her own studio and being an executive director at the IGBA simultaneously What her role as the ED of IGDA entails How IGDA supports game developers Her advice for students that are looking to land a job in gaming Tips to kickstart your studio Important skills to have beyond your area of expertise Her vision for the future of her studio, Stumbling Cat One tip or trick on how to boost the retention rate Sign up for the IGDA newsletter IGDA.orgRenee's Twitter: @RikuKat

On today’s episode of the Mastering Retention podcast, narrative game designer, Isaac Phoenix, joins us to discuss everything NARRATIVE related! Games are nothing without an appealing storyline. If you are starting a game or are having questions about what are key aspects in your game to craft a good storyline you don’t want to miss today’s episode. Highlights of today’s episode: Why games should have a narrative Defining a storyline to a game Examples of how games implement narratives and Recommendations on when and how you should use cut scenes vs dialogs The concept of reliability Adding mystery to a game One tip or trick on how to boost the retention rate. If you would like to get in touch with Isaac, please contact him at:LinkedInwork@poems.games Article mentioned: The Three Dimensions Of Story

On today's episode of the Mastering Retention podcast, we have a special visit from the Mobile Game Doctor! Dave Rohrl has 25 years of experience in design, production, and studio leadership that has allowed him to lead several groups of people to grow his business and help others with their design challenges. Because of Dave's incredible journey, today's episode is one you'll want to listen to the very end. Some of today's key topics were: How he started the Mobile Game Doctor What he looks for when he is hiring? Split testing Some of the projects they've been working on Growth marketing in the gaming industry What are the right things to do when developing a game from scratch? What to look for to make sure the game is marketable One tip or trick on how to boost the retention rate. If you would like to get in touch with Dave and the Mobile Game Doctor crew, please contact them at: Mobilegamedoctor.cominfo@mobilegamedoctor.com

On today's episode of the Mastering Retention podcast, Tom talks to the first woman to join the podcast, Antanina Livingston! She's an accomplished product manager originally from Belarus, that is currently working at Activision. Some key topics for today's episode: How living in different places and speaking different languages has helped her approach live ops and content that is tailored to people in different locations What it means to be a product manager and the difference between being a product manager and live ops specialist How she approaches event/feature planning and maintaining engagement and retention Understanding the data to be able to influence your audience Managing burnout as a live ops specialist Regional specific content live ops requirements Details on what she calls the core pillars of LiveOps The importance of player archetypes Tools needed to do LiveOps One tip or trick on how to boost the retention rate.

In today’s episode of the Mastering Retention Podcast, Tom has a conversation with Karan Khairajani, cofounder of independent studio Firescore on all there is to know about hyper-casual games. From starting a gaming company to what KPIs are important. Some of the highlights of today's episode are: How he got into gaming and his entrepreneurial spirit What it takes to start up a gaming companyCPI, LTV, and ROAS as KPI’s in gaming The importance of working with publishers as an independent studio Live ops for hyper-casual games Explains ROAS – Return on Ads Spent Soap cutting, ASMR, and knowing what’s hype right now!One tip or trick on how to boost the retention rateIf you are interested in Crazy Labs, visit their website here and reach out to Karan through LinkedIn!

In today's episode of the Mastering Retention podcast, Tom interviews MURKA's COO Barak David, who went from a technological background to leading a company's business strategy. Some of the key topics from today's episode:  Why he decided to open an accelerator division within MURKA How some of the Social Casino features can transfer to other genres Pushing MURKA to be a more data-driven company but letting creativity thrive His take on 100% personalization The process they recommend for planning a live ops calendar  How do they incorporate their audience and community into new game content and features  One tip or trick on how to boost the retention rate. Visit Barak's website here or contact him through LinkedIn. 

In today's episode of the Mastering Retention podcast, Tom talks with Fawzi Mesmar, Head Designer at DICE, and winner of the Game Dev Heroes award in 2020 for the category of Game Design! Key takeaways from today's episode:  Thoughts on Genshin Impact How his computer science undergrad impacted his career in games Why he is getting and MBA  The balance between business and development  Lessons learned while overlooking the Candy Crush franchise  Designing casual games and understanding how consumers use the game within the context of their lives   One tip or trick on how to boost the retention rate.

On today’s episode of Mastering Retention, Tom is joined by Ethan Levy, Executive Producer on Tetris Mobile! Ethan is an experienced game designer and producer that has worked on several cool projects from several different angles. Ethan is also the founder and lead consultant at Famous Aspect in regards to free-to-play monetization. Some of the key takeaways of today's episode are:  How Ethan started in the gaming industry  Balancing between game design (his core pillar) and production  The benefits of having a holistic understanding of all the different jobs within a gaming company and how they interconnect with each other  Small scoop on a new Tetris game he is working on!  When and how to get feedback from players as a business owner to understand what its important for them  Key insights on one of his GDC talks - what does config driven design really mean?  Ethan’s thoughts on using notifications as a tool to boost user engagement and retention rates One tip or trick on how to boost the retention rate.  Connect with Ethan:Twitterethan@famousaspect.com

On today's episode of Mastering Retention, we get a gaming history lesson from Alex Ronald from Clanet.io! Alex has been in the gaming industry for a long time and is very knowledgeable about how human behavior has been impacted by the gaming industry and vice-versa. Some of the topics touched on today's episode: How he got into gaming  His experience in China and building his own company there  His experience at Twitch and how he helped them with communication  Interesting facts and information about his company called Clanet   The nonprofit he has been working on to create a record of what has happened to our generation in cyberspace  Tip for community managers that are looking to influence their audiences’ behavior   Connect with Alex: Alex@clanet.iohttps://clanet.io/ LinkedIn

In today's episode of Mastering Retention, Tom talks with Nick Murray! Nick is a freelance consultant, the head of Games for Carry1st, and a publisher looking to promote gaming in the African continent and worldwide. Some of the topics discussed during this episode include:  Nick's favorite subject: Game balancing and why it's so important!  Working on a game that is not your go-to-fun  How to know when a live-ops event was successful  Conversion in live-ops  Looking at how events perform in the context of the whole month  Team management and managing burn out amongst his staff  Contact Nick through LinkedIn 

In today's episode, Hadrian Semroud, an experienced product manager with experience at companies like GSN and Ubisoft, joins us to discuss his experience with free to play games, how to be data-driven in these types of games, and more! Some of the topics Tom and Hadrian discuss:  What it means to be data-driven in free to play games  Market analysis and research  The process that Hadrian would take if he were to manage the liveops and events of a big game  Effectively designing for the audience you want to talk to   Appreciating the gacha as a social feature and a user experience  To finish the episode, as always, Hadrian gives is his thoughts on how to improve retention!  Contact Hadrian here 

On today's episode of Mastering Retention, Michael Tapley joins Tom to discuss what he has learned during his career in the gaming industry and his thoughts on how to take gamer intuition into account when designing games. Some of the key topics discussed during this episode:  What the role of a game designer entails  Designing games with live-ops in mind  Balancing out gamer intuition and data analytics  Taking into account UI/UX during the design process Game economy! Tips and tricks on cross-genre  Contact Michael here 

In this episode of Mastering Retention Podcast, Tom is joined by Hinrik Asgeirsson from FunPlus to talk about measuring retention by quantifying fun in the gaming industry and how to maintain an efficient yet caring work culture. Amongst many other things, here are some aspects Tom and Hinrik discuss:  Quantifying FUN  Blending the data side and the art side of gaming when developing games   Concept testing  Working with 5G and its benefits for the gaming industry (console and mobile)  Developing an efficient and caring work culture to avoid burnout  Podcast Philosophize this! Contact Hinrik

In this episode of Mastering Retention, we are joined by Dennis Heizman, product manager at Tilting Point, to speak about some (secret) projects they are working on, the importance of data analytics, and more! Some of the key takeaways of today's episode:  Read Dennis' article about tips for maximizing ARPDAU  The importance of data analytics on all aspects of gaming  The benefits of having a publisher partnership Recommendations for product managers and live-ops teams  Tips to increase retention rate  Contact Dennis Heizman 

On today’s episode of Mastering Retention, we talk with Jónas Antonsson the co-founder of the Swedish game publisher, Raw Fury, about the gaming industry and his career path. During this episode, Jónas and Tom talk about:  What motivates Jónas to get out of bed every morning and how important games are to him.  The importance of games as mediums of art What advice would Jónas give to those who want to start a studio or create a game.  How to manage burnout in the gaming industry and Raw Fury’s mantra of treating humans like human beings  What retention does mean? Books mentioned:  The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz  Meditations by Marcus Aurelius

In today’s episode of Mastering Retention, we are joined by Javier Barnes, head game designer at Pixel Noire Games. Javier tells us about how he started working in the gaming industry at Gameloft and how he ended up at Social Point, where he was the Lead Game Designer for Monster Legends before taking over as Game Lead for their upcoming game Rageball. We'll cover these great topics and more:Introduction to F2P game monetization & data oriented game design.How to automate live ops production.How to implement community led game design in your live game.What we might see happening in the next ten years in mobile gaming.We also discuss the development of his own company, where he is getting the help of a group of kids that suffered from depression and have relied on games to help them with their mental health. He gives us his thoughts on free to play game monetization and data-oriented design. And he gives us some tips on involving the community and players while developing games.   If you don't already you absolutely should follow Javier’s blog here and if you have any questions for him, reach out to his LinkedIn

In our first ever Mastering Retention podcast episode we talk to Patrik Wilkens, Vice President Mobile at Azerion, about people and product in mobile gaming.In today’s episode we’ll learn: Where gaming will likely be going in the next three to five years How gaming has shifted from just shipping a game to the mantra of live ops and continually pushing content to your users What career advancement in mobile gaming can look like from product manager to product lead to head of mobile gaming How to find and attract the right people for your studio and what traits you should look for in a person How to be adaptive to your game’s ever changing environment