🎮 Matching Story review: The 2-Year Soft Launch That Turned Into a $100 Million Match-3 Success

What if Royal Match and EverMerge had a baby… and it made $250K/day?That’s Matching Story, the surprise hit that blended match-3, merge, and classic narrative-driven creatives into one of the most polished casual games of 2025.Today, we dissect how Matching Story, which soft-launched in 2021, took its time, perfected its systems, and is now out-earning most casual titles on the charts.🔍 What’s inside:How Matching Story blends match-3 + merge mechanics to create deeper monetizationWhy it took 2 years of soft launch to get rightThe role of event meta, merge economy, and story triggers (yes, freezing families are back)The creative strategy: Product-led UA at its finestKey metrics:🧮 $250K/day revenue📲 7M+ downloads🇺🇸 50% of revenue from the US📈 Day 1 retention: 41%, Day 30: 15%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---------------------------------------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 Lancaric⁠Youtube: https://youtu.be/Avb2F9MXY9AJoin our slack channel here: https://join.slack.com/t/two-and-half-gamers/shared_invite/zt-2um8eguhf-c~H9idcxM271mnPzdWbipgChapters00:00 Introduction and Public Service Announcement05:52 Matching Story: A Game's Journey08:48 Gameplay Mechanics and Features11:52 Monetization Strategies and Player Engagement14:54 Market Impact and Competitor Analysis17:51 Visual Appeal and Game Iteration20:44 Conclusion and Future Prospects25:04 Visual Progression and User Engagement26:37 Monetization Strategies and Ad Revenue28:50 Retention Metrics and User Acquisition31:23 Game Design Innovations and User Experience34:14 Product-Led User Acquisition Strategies37:43 Historical Context and Market Trends42:42 The Emotional Roller Coaster of Gaming44:54 Trends in Casual Gaming: Freezing Families and More46:58 Reviving Old Concepts in Game Marketing48:47 The Importance of Mastering Game Creatives51:52 The Evolution of Game Creatives and AI Influence53:55 The Cutthroat Nature of Game Development56:45 Analyzing Game Performance and Market Trends---------------------------------------Matej LancaricUser Acquisition & Creatives Consultant⁠https://lancaric.meFelix BrabergAd monetization consultant⁠https://www.felixbraberg.comJakub RemiarGame design consultant⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/jakubremiar---------------------------------------TakeawaysCombine merge and match-3 for exponential monetization potentialUse merge to create downtime gameplay when match-3 lives run outProduct-led UA is real: build the ad inside the gameLeverage classic triggers like “fix the house,” “save the family,” “choose the makeover”Spend 2 years if that’s what it takes to get it right---------------------------------------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]