Acecraft review: Retro Cartoons + Hardcore Gacha. Collectible Albums just hit Midcore!

We dive into AceCraft, Moonton’s new Tom & Jerry–themed midcore gacha shooter that mixes Cuphead-style 1930s cartoon art with Habi-inspired systems and miHoYo-style monetization depth.Key insights:Gameplay & Core Loop: Systems & MetaDual banners (Tom & Jerry separately) with pity timers, skewed rates, and duplicate scaling.Each major character has a signature weapon requiring rolls.Collectible album (Royal Match / Monopoly Go style) with trade functionality, now ported into midcore — a first.Co-op synchronous modeThree-layer skill trees, elemental affinities, wingman companions.Monetization:~$330K/day IAP revenue post-launch (peaking with Tom/Jerry banner).Battle Pass upsell trick: Downloads ~300K/day at launch, half from China.Scaling across 17+ networks: TikTok, Facebook, YouTube, Unity, AppLovin, IronSource, Mintegral, etc.UA creatives lean on retro cartoon surrealism, dancing ads, Tom & Jerry music, plus street interview trend (borrowed from Raid Rush).Prediction:Likely to fade in Western markets (art style too niche, monetization too punishing).Moonton may line up other WB/Looney Tunes IPs (Sylvester, Tweety, Popeye, Roadrunner) for similar launches.Takeaway: AceCraft is one of the deepest midcore gacha launches in 2025 — but built for Asia, not the West.Get our MERCH NOW: 25gamers.com/shop--------------------------------------PVX Partners offers non-dilutive funding for game developers.Go to: https://pvxpartners.com/They can help you access the most effective form of growth capital once you have the metrics to back it.- Scale fast- Keep your shares- Drawdown only as needed- Have PvX take downside risk alongside you+ Work with a team entirely made up of ex-gaming operators and investors---------------------------------------For an ever-growing number of game developers, this means that now is the perfect time to invest in monetizing direct-to-consumer at scale.Our sponsor FastSpring:Has delivered D2C at scale for over 20 yearsThey power top mobile publishers around the worldLaunch a new webstore, replace an existing D2C vendor, or add a redundant D2C vendor at fastspring.gg.---------------------------------------This is no BS gaming podcast 2.5 gamers session. Sharing actionable insights, dropping knowledge from our day-to-day User Acquisition, Game Design, and Ad monetization jobs. We are definitely not discussing the latest industry news, but having so much fun! Let’s not forget this is a 4 a.m. conference discussion vibe, so let's not take it too seriously.Panelists: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Jakub Remia⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠r,⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Felix Braberg, Matej Lancaric⁠Join our slack channel here: https://join.slack.com/t/two-and-half-gamers/shared_invite/zt-2um8eguhf-c~H9idcxM271mnPzdWbipgChapters00:00 Intro03:46 Discussion on Ace Craft and Impressions09:22 Core Gameplay Mechanics and Innovations12:14 Character Development and Gacha Elements15:04 Battle Pass and Game Structure21:05 Exploring Game Modes and Social Features23:05 The Collectible Album Revolution25:23 Gacha Mechanics: A Deep Dive31:48 Event-Driven Engagement Strategies41:03 Nostalgia in Gaming: The Influence of Classic Titles47:09 The Role of IP in Game Development50:32 Cultural Differences in Game Reception---------------------------------------Matej LancaricUser Acquisition & Creatives Consultant⁠https://lancaric.meFelix BrabergAd monetization consultant⁠https://www.felixbraberg.comJakub RemiarGame design consultant⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/jakubremiar---------------------------------------Please share the podcast with your industry friends, dogs & cats. Especially cats! They love it!Hit the Subscribe button on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple!Please share feedback and comments - [email protected]