In 2025, the cell gaming market is rewarding agility greater than ever. Rising CPIs, shifting participant habits, and style fatigue are forcing studios to rethink how they construct, monetize, and scale. Gökhan Uzmez, cell development knowledgeable and recreation design guide, shares why “old-school” fundamentals nonetheless outperform flashy methods and the way sensible studios can adapt earlier than it’s too late.
AppSamurai: You’ve identified that some genres are collapsing in 2025 as a consequence of excessive consumer acquisition prices, weak retention of recent gamers, and saturated monetization channels — whereas others are rising due to decrease UA prices and sticky gameplay. How ought to studios adapt their methods to remain forward of those shifts?
Gokhan Uzmez: You need to watch the market when it comes to monetization and UA on a regular basis, catch the change forward of time and adapt. This is applicable to design, UA funds, ROAS expectations and so forth. What’s relevant again in 2020 nonetheless applies at the moment. Nothing fancy will show you how to out. Old-fashioned works the most effective.
Totally different networks prioritize various things, Hybrid campaigns might not work effectively for everybody whereas advert pushed video games nonetheless depart numerous revenue for a lot of studios. Additionally there are particular publishers holding corners, and they aren’t simply letting these go. For instance Match3 was held again for very long time till this previous summer season, now that “energy publishers” can’t take care of rising CPIs, they’re letting it go and new gamers coming into the market.
AppSamurai: From the “10 brutally true suggestions” you talked about in certainly one of your posts, one level that stands out is that creativity is commonly the least rewarded facet of constructing profitable cell video games. Why do you suppose this occurs, and the way can studios stability data-driven selections with inventive risk-taking?
Gokhan Uzmez: I comply with a sure level with Mr. Faisal’s suggestions. Information pushed choice making is going down on each inventive and knowledge pushed selections. 70-20-10 works the most effective. You need to supply 70% of an authentic goal level to level then you may solely apply “inventive” selections to different locations. In any other case the entire thing collapses. Occurs 95% of the video games.
Some video games simply set the requirements on these markets and gamers and also you both comply with otherwise you fall. Many can’t even see the “fall” facet as a result of they will’t climb. Many new video games that make large income per day are flippantly iterated variations of different video games on high. Not often (however nonetheless attainable) we see new video games which are COMPLETELY distinctive, and make it to the highest income makers record.
AppSamurai: You’ve shared how poor stage design throughout early prototyping kills retention earlier than day one. What sensible steps can studios take to design ranges that drive stronger early engagement and extra dependable check outcomes?
Gokhan Uzmez: Creating bucketed stage design. I’ve an academic consultancy collection on this one. It actually makes your complete distinction and cannot be copycatted. That’s the most effective factor about it. There are various hidden participant insights in your recreation and with every check, extra reveals, so you may tweak it extra.
On the finish, there’s often a novel stage funnel created that’s the reason it may be copied. Nearly all of the cloned video games fail as a consequence of this truth.
AppSamurai: You’ve suggested new studios to prioritize “inventive, data-driven design” over chasing monetization or ignoring market indicators. What instruments, processes, or metrics ought to early-stage groups deal with to make smarter, quicker selections?
Gokhan Uzmez: Primary Firebase and unfold sheets work. Create customized occasions and as an alternative of creating A/B exams, strive different fashionable strategies. Many LTV prediction instruments are on the market, however I believe the “factor” continues to be on the UA facet and the way inventive you may get. You don’t wish to appeal to incorrect gamers, it prices you extra in the long term and proper gamers might not be low cost to amass. The stability is within the Progress Group’s hand. Each UA supervisor and Monetization supervisor (typically it might be one particular person doing each) can actually set your recreation’s future in case you can maintain your CPI as little as attainable due to this fact extra room for revenue!
