According to the information and content compiled by ironSource experts, it is not enough to have an effective concept or design to place your game at the top of the charts. Your game will also require an effective launch strategy. This is one of the mistakes that hyper-casual developers often make. Developers use the same strategies they use on social platforms in in-app user acquisition networks, which reduces performance.
ironSource has published an article so that game developers do not repeat this mistake. This article will let you learn how implementing a unique launch strategy for each channel can enable your game to scale quickly and profitably. You will also be able to grasp the differences between launch strategies available for hyper-casual games in in-app ad networks.
3 strategies to launch a hyper-casual game
Strategies are divided into three main categories as conservative, aggressive, and standard. ironSource argues that deciding which approach is right for you depends on your budget and how much risk you are willing to take. Let’s take a look at each of the strategies and the characteristics that define them.
Conservative strategy
ironSource defines conservative strategy in its article: “A conservative launch strategy is defined by a small budget and high bids that you adjust over time based on both LTV (lifetime value) and how quickly you scale.” Accordingly, a conservative approach minimizes the risk of overspending or losing money, but at the same time, you need to monitor the campaign closely and optimize frequently so you don’t hit the cap. ironSource notes that this strategy also leaves more room for errors, as it requires a high degree of manual oversight, and it will often take longer to scale with a low budget.
Here’s ironSource’s recommendation for the conservative strategy: “If you can’t afford to start with a higher budget, or if you want to stay longer in the soft-launch phase, a conservative launch strategy can work to help you minimize expenses. But this strategy also requires a sacrifice in how quickly you can learn from campaigns to optimize and scale.”
Aggressive strategy
Contrary to the conservative strategy, if you want to start your game with a more aggressive strategy, you need to start with both a high cap and high bids, and then optimize for continued profit after reaching the top of the charts. As ironSource points out, the benefit of an aggressive approach is that your game will rank higher on the charts, resulting in strong organic promotion; this can help your marketing and brand awareness for future games.
ironSource argues that for studios or developers who can afford to lose money in the beginning, an aggressive approach can help them get games to the top faster. However, it should not be forgotten that this strategy carries great risks such as not being profitable at all.
Standard strategy
The standard strategy is the type of strategy that ironSource most often recommends for a hyper-casual game because it is neither too risky nor too cautious. You can optimize your campaigns if you don’t see enough traffic, starting with high limits and target bids that you set based on information from testing and soft-launch processes. ironSource argues that when you start collecting information from the performance of the campaign 1-3 days after publishing your game, it is also important to bid in more detail. Additionally, he recommends contacting your ad network for recommendations based on quality and performance so you can find this target bid quickly and easily.
IronSource highlights that to maximize IPM (app installs per thousand ad impressions) with this strategy, consider where to start first. Accordingly, your best bet is the regions in the Tier 1 category, such as the USA, which gives the highest IPM during soft-launch. If you don’t have enough data, ironSource strongly recommends starting with the US region. This is because the time you publish your game is also very important, as Fridays and US peak hours (UTC 18:00-22:00) usually perform best. It usually takes a week or less to gather enough data from the campaign to see if it continues to scale or if you need to optimize. In addition, if you need to tweak your game, ironSource recommends checking your creatives and in-game metrics. KPIs like playtime and retention can show if you are effectively monetizing users so you can get a higher bid.
ironSource believes this type of launch strategy is best for hyper-casual games. Because this strategy is where you can get the most appropriate learning to maintain momentum longer, improve performance quickly and efficiently, and maximize profitability.
Let’s take a closer look at the standard launch strategy with a few examples from customers on the ironSource platform.
Body Race and Count Masters hit #1 on both lists with the right growth strategy on the ironSource network
Body Race by Gismart and Count Masters by Freeplay Inc. are hyper-casual games that both run user acquisition (UA) campaigns on the ironSource network and use ironSource mediation to help them maximize ARPDAU and acquire better users. Using playable elements designed by ironSource’s in-house creative solution, the games ran a standard growth strategy with recommendations from the ironSource team regarding cap and target bids.
Budgets were high enough and the bids were just right – both games turned out to be profitable, reaching very high IPMs (Body Race’s IPM hit 90 and Count Masters’ IPM 100), and their offers and they have effectively monetized so they can continue to increase scaling. Effective implementation of a standard launch strategy helped both games quickly reach the top of the charts, with Body Race reaching #1 on iOS and Android in 2 days and staying in the top 3 for over a month.
On the other hand, Count Masters reached #1 on iOS and Android in 1 day and remained at the top for over a month.
Climbing to the top with the right strategy
IronSource states that choosing the right strategy to launch your hyper-casual game on in-app UA networks can help you reach the top of the charts efficiently while maximizing profitability. Remember, you need to have a different approach than your social media acquisition campaigns. So shape your strategy around in-app networks, making sure you evaluate your resources and optimize them based on the information you’ve gathered along the way. As you scale, take note of what works and apply what you learn for future titles, but always keep testing and tuning based on performance.
