Everything you want to know about Voodoo - An Interview with Voodoo Games - 1

Everything you want to know about Voodoo – An Interview with Voodoo Games

After our article on why Voodoo was beating indie developers on the app store, we wanted to reach out and uncover how they run such a successful publishing division? Their Publishing Manager Alexander Shea was gracious enough to give us a little more insight into how their processes work.We’ve been following the trend of Hyper Casual game design and the rise of the core mechanics that are trending on the store. I’ve always been interested in mobile game publishing (having been a mobile game publisher myself for a number of years!) and I still think publishing houses add a lot of value to new and experienced game development studios. I asked some pretty tough questions and Voodoo gave as much insight as they could, but can’t share download or revenue figures with us. Let’s jump into the interview:
5 reasons why Voodoo beats small game developers on the app store - game publisher hypercasual ketchapp mobile publisher publishing voodoo voodoo games 2

5 reasons why Voodoo beats small game developers on the app store

Mobile gaming has shifted, again. The hypercasual genre has begun to dominate the free app charts. In 2017 Ketchapp (now owned by Ubisoft) started a revolution of simplicity in game design with mobile titles such as Tower or Ballz. The games focused on clear visuals and simple mechanics and very light progression systems.  They also importantly removed IAP as the core monetization and replaced it with Advertising revenue. The games were so simple and casual that anyone could understand them in under 10 seconds. Since then, there has been a proliferation of publishers, studios, and solo indie developers each working on similar casual titles. Space is highly competitive, but there is a clear king of the app store, Voodoo, recently receiving $200 million from Goldman Sachs.
GDC 2018: Shoestring Soft Launch - Low Budget High Value Launch Strategy -

GDC 2018: Shoestring Soft Launch – Low Budget High Value Launch Strategy

It's been a month since GDC 2018 and if you visited San Fransisco and perhaps even saw my talk live, thank you! If like most people you missed it, here are the slides and link to the GDC Vault:
The 4 Critical Decisions a Soft Launch Can Answer: Stuck, Stick, Stack, Scale - analysis data launch soft launch testing 1

The 4 Critical Questions a Soft Launch Can Answer: Stuck, Stick, Stack, Scale

As i’ve been digging deeper into Soft Launching for my upcoming GDC talk, I’ve been asking, When is a Soft Launch complete? How do you know when you’re ready?
Getting Ready for GDC 2018: The people, the parties, and the Mobile Masters Meet Up - 2

Getting Ready for GDC 2018: The people, the parties, and the Mobile Masters Meet Up

It’s close to that time of year when everyone in the industry gets ready to take a plane halfway around the world to meet the gaming community at GDC 2018.  Personally speaking, it’s one of the only times I see half of my ex-colleagues each year.
The Path to 100 Million Downloads: How Hypercasual Mobile Games Are Rewriting the Game Design Rulebook 8

100 Million Downloads: How Hypercasual Mobile Games Are Rewriting the Game Design Rulebook

How do you make a game that almost everyone will want to play?
How to Plan and Track Events in Mobile Games 1

How to Plan and Track Events in Mobile Games

At one stage in your career you’ve begun to care about data. You decide that you want to know what your players are doing, so you start tracking gameplay events. You track everything. With a flurry of code your app is sending tracking events for every card combination, move, spell effect and battle stat!
Understanding the value chain for Mobile Video Ads

Understanding the value chain for Mobile Video Ads

Video ad revenue now accounts for a large proportion of most casual free to play mobile games. Companies like Hipster Whale, Futureplay and the publisher Ketchapp have built business models focussed on rewarded video ads. This shows many of the similarities of the shift from premium to freemium. As an indie developer it’s relatively simple to drop a video ad into your game, but do you understand where the money comes from? In this piece we breakdown how the flow of money gets from the advertiser to your bank account.
Soft Launches in 2016 3

How to Soft Launch (GDC 2016)

This year at GDC I spoke about how to soft launch games. A deep dive into how Wooga looks at soft launches, and specifically what you can expect in terms of Cost, Learning and Growth.
Deconstructions
Design
Growth & Marketing
Industry & Market Trends
Monetization
Retention