⚠️ The Industry’s Dirty Little Secrets: Confessions from the UA Underground

🎙️ This might be the most dangerous podcast episode we’ve ever released.An anonymous insider, voice-modulated for protection, joins us to expose the truth about mobile UA, ad network manipulation, and how millions are spent with zero payback logic. With voice modulation in place, our guest “Dr. Doom” reveals what happens behind the dashboards, network sales decks, and investor slides.You’ll hear :Dream Games' $50M brand campaign: brilliant market takeover or the dumbest ROI play of 2025?Why are most UA managers glorified spreadsheet jockeys, and why can’t founders tell the difference?The smoke-and-mirrors of cohort data, fake growth stories, and shady LTV curve manipulation.Chinese game studios' 300-person creative teams, outworking and outspending the West with terrifying efficiency.Rewarded traffic, fake installs, App Store gaming, everything still happens. We pretend it doesn’t.Ad network manipulation — how early numbers are fluffed, forecasts are gamed, and management eats it up.This episode is a gloves-off, bullshit-free reality check. No brand-safe talking points. Just raw, uncomfortable truth from someone who’s spent millions and seen the industry from every dirty angle.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---------------------------------------Vibe. Vibe is the leading Streaming TV ad platform for small and medium-sized businesses looking for actionable advertising campaign performance.https://www.vibe.co/---------------------------------------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: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Matej Lancaric, Joseph KimSpecial guest: Dr. Doom (anonymous gaming industry legend)Youtube: https://youtu.be/1Rb3L6gBK9EJoin our slack channel here: https://join.slack.com/t/two-and-half-gamers/shared_invite/zt-2um8eguhf-c~H9idcxM271mnPzdWbipgChapters00:00 Introduction to the Podcast and Guest04:57 The Overrated Studios in Mobile Gaming06:40 Analyzing Dream Games' Strategy12:39 Understanding User Acquisition Challenges18:44 The Role of UA Managers and Internal Metrics25:46 Understanding User Acquisition Campaigns28:16 The Evolution of User Acquisition Strategies30:15 The Importance of Community in User Acquisition31:56 Creative Teams and Competitive Advantage33:09 The Role of Chinese Studios in the Market37:57 Challenges for Western Developers in Forex Games42:00 The Impact of AI on Creative Processes45:22 The Viability of Bot Downloads Today---------------------------------------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 Lancaric