How Malpa Games scaled “Boring” puzzle games to millions!

What if you built a puzzle game in the most crowded genre on earth……and scaled it to 5M downloads per month?In this episode, we sit down with Vlad from Malpa Games and Ritzki from PVX Partners to unpack:Why Malpa focused on production before ideas90%+ ad revenue strategyWhy is ad tolerance in puzzles insanely highHow Cardscapes grew 200% month over monthWhy AppLovin ROAS campaigns are the scaling engineHow UA cohort financing unlocked aggressive growthThe truth about incentivized traffic in ad-heavy gamesWhy retention beats everything in ad monetized scalingThis is not a flashy hybrid casual story.This is disciplined production, AB testing, and pure operational excellence.🔥 Key TakeawaysProduction is more than a “Brilliant Idea”1% retention lift = huge winScale increases ad marginsIncent traffic works if you tune your gameCohort financing removes cashflow ceilingAppLovin ROAS = main growth engineEvergreen puzzles can still explodeGet 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---------------------------------------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 Lancaric⁠Special guests: Uladzimir Tsimashkou & Ridzki Syahputerahttps://www.linkedin.com/in/ridzkisyahputera/[Malpa Games Website] https://malpagames.com/[Uladzimir Tsimashkou] https://www.linkedin.com/in/tsimox/[Malpa Games LD] https://www.linkedin.com/company/malpagames/Join our slack channel here: https://join.slack.com/t/two-and-half-gamers/shared_invite/zt-2um8eguhf-c~H9idcxM271mnPzdWbipgChapters00:00 – Why Cardscapes Is Exploding02:00 – Malpa’s 10-Year Production Philosophy06:00 – 90%+ Ad Monetization Strategy10:00 – Why Puzzle Ad Tolerance Is So High14:00 – Scaling with AppLovin ROAS18:00 – Why Facebook Doesn’t Work Here21:00 – Incentivized Traffic & Ad Tuning26:00 – Cohort Financing with PVX Partners30:00 – Why Scale Increases Ad Margins34:00 – Retention vs Monetization Tradeoffs38:00 – Final Lessons for Founders---------------------------------------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] you are interested in getting UA tips every week on Monday, visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠lancaric.substack.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ & sign up for the Brutally Honest newsletter by Matej LancaricDo you have UA questions nobody can answer? Ask ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Matej AI⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ - the First UA AI in the gaming industry! https://lancaric.me/matej-ai