Bringing you the latest news and updates from Yodo1, the mobile gaming industry, and work-from-anywhere culture
IP Licensing
31.03.2023
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5 mins read
The gaming industry is one of the fastest-growing segments in entertainment, growing by 26% between 2019 and 2021, and with no signs of slowing down, it continues to provide nearly unlimited scope and opportunity.
Limited-time IP collaborations have become increasingly popular in the industry, and for good reason: they’re an amazing way to reach new players and generate buzz around your game.
As your games continue to grow, you’re probably wondering, what comes next? How can you take your growth to the next level, expand your player base, and maximize your revenue? As experts in limited-time IP collaborations, we have a birds-eye view of which IPs work best with which games, and the factors that lead to the most successful collaborations.
Let’s look at how these exclusive, short-term collaborations between games and films—we’re including TV shows and animation in this catchall term—benefit each side.
Suppose a superhero movie wants to generate buzz around its upcoming film with the ultimate goal of getting more people in the theater. A limited-time collaboration with a game that has clear audience overlap might be just the thing; a win for the game because existing players love exclusive content, while the film’s high-profile IP can bring a new cohort of players into the game. Bonus, a subset of players will connect the dots and realize there's a movie out! This is a true win-win scenario, perhaps best demonstrated by Fortnite, who often drop exclusive skins from an IP collaboration just before a new movie to TV series release, as they did for the release of John Wick 3: Parabellum in 2019—just one among their many successful events.
Image Credit: Early Game
By bringing well-known IPs with millions of fans to the world of a game, developers and studios can tap into a pre-existing fan base, potentially increasing their game's popularity and profitability. Additionally, if a film is involved in the collaboration and has notable talent, such as A-list celebrities, this can generate huge exposure and become a major driver of traffic for the game.
By associating with a successful film franchise, developers can gain significant credibility and enhance their reputation in the industry, which can lead to not only an immediate revenue boost but also increased opportunities for future projects.
Insight: Finding mutually advantageous collaborations can improve your negotiating position and your bottom line.
Practically speaking, games can be developed and released much more quickly than films, thus allowing filmmakers to promote new content and generate excitement among fans before the film's release.
Other pluses include increased audience engagement, expanded reach, and efficient, targeted content promotion giving the IP a chance to experiment and try out new things with a specific demographic. And of course, games often attract a new audience that may not have been exposed to the film, expanding its reach and popularity.
Insight: Collaborations between films and games offer numerous, tangible benefits to both parties, including increased exposure, credibility, and financial success. The trick is finding the right match.
To reap these rewards, however, it’s crucial that game studios do their homework and invest in IPs that match their game’s demographic in order to get the best possible ROI. Understanding your audience will give you insight into the IPs that may work for your game. If you get this wrong, you could be bringing players in who stop playing immediately. If there’s a fundamental mismatch, it’ll be a bad investment.
Let’s explore the current landscape of entertainment IPs in games, to uncover insights and trends to help you reach new plates and continue scaling your game.
Integrations with live-action shows or movies—such as The Walking Dead in Monster Legends and Puzzles & Survival—have obvious big pluses, as they feature famous celebrities that are recognized and loved by many. Harnessing this star power has resulted in some fabulous limited-time partnerships, like the Fortnite x Dune collab in 2021 that brought Paul Atreides and Chani into the game.
In collaborations involving animation, the negotiation process is generally more straightforward, and everything is also much simpler from a production and approval standpoint. Animated films and shows have more assets ready to be used in games, and of course, likenesses are not an issue. The limited-time collaboration between One Punch Man and Overwatch, which started last week and will continue through April 6, is a great example of a crossover generating a lot of buzz in real-time.
Image Credit: Blizzard
Insight: Live-action and animation each come with their advantages. Understanding these in the context of your game and players can make all the difference when choosing an IP to collaborate with.
A majority of the most successful examples of IPs in games involve a fantasy (defined broadly) or sci-fi element. Why? Well, these genres often come with a built-in fanbase and, more importantly, expansive, detailed worlds that lend themselves well to game adaptations. Game developers can take advantage of these pre-existing worlds to create an alternative universe or mix up characters from the IP and the game to create new stories and experiences.
Star Wars is a great example: whether it’s a first-person shooter, racing, or even a puzzle game, there’s a vast treasure house of lore to mine, and an audience that is endlessly excited by it.
Sci-fi and fantasy IPs are primarily male-driven, another point in their favor since, as a group, they are the biggest spenders in mobile games. Overall, the sky is the limit: characters from action films like Top Gun and Jurassic World, fantasy franchises like Lord of the Rings, the MCU, Harry Potter, and Avatar, and the robots from Terminator and Transformers, all offer great opportunities for time-limited collaborations with games. This is a case where there are myriad options for overlapping audiences, like the very successful Transformers x Top War crossover.
Image Credit: Transformer World
Horror and thriller franchises, also popular among the male gamer demographic, can be highly effective when paired with the right type of game and targeting a specific niche of players. Fans of horror and thriller franchises tend to be very loyal, long-time players who are willing to invest both time and money in games that deliver an immersive and terrifying experience. This dedicated fanbase can create a lucrative opportunity for game developers looking to collaborate with these types of IPs. By tapping into the suspense of horror and thriller franchises, game developers can create games that not only entertain and engage players but also capitalize on the pre-existing popularity of these iconic film genres.
Some IPs, however, regardless of popular appeal, don’t lend themselves as well to collaborations. Can you imagine a first-person shooter based on Titanic? Probably not!
Insight: Generally speaking, the gaming potential of an entertainment IP is a function of its scope and how close it sits to reality. Put simply, sci-fi and fantasy worlds have more possibilities.
Interestingly, in the puzzle and simulation genres, women players outnumber men by quite a margin, and now make up a significant percentage of RPG and MMO players too. The challenge is that they tend to prefer drama, romance, as well as other more reality-based programming, and these more realistic IPs have proven harder to incorporate into games in a way that feels authentic. Not impossible, but it’s certainly more of a challenge to find a game these genres can sync with.
So what’s the solution for this increasingly strong demographic? Looking outside the confines of IP as just movies, anime, or TV shows to find matches among other brands. Fashion is a fast-growing appeal. For example, dressing characters and avatars in interactive and simulation games can be a clear and attractive path to incorporate a fashion designer label into the game.
Music is another avenue that can be used to target the female demographic effectively; recent successful examples of live, in-game concerts include BLACKPINK in PUBG Mobile and Ariana Grande in Fortnite, to resounding success.
Insight: Different audiences require creativity in matching IP with appealing interests, but thinking outside the box to brands beyond entertainment can open up new avenues for collaborations.
You may have noticed that we haven’t mentioned campaigns targeted at children. In general, these have not proven the ideal market for limited-time IP collaborations. Due to specific restrictions—for good reason—on advertising aimed at children, most games for younger age groups monetize using a subscription model, making it challenging to monetize the IP once in the game, and the ROI is often not worth it.
Some IPs target game collaborations specifically during premiere launches or other new-content drops. This can be more expensive for games but is usually more than worth it due to extra promotion tied in with the huge marketing campaigns the IPs are already taking on.
Licensors will start discussing game collabs for these big launches about a year in advance, so they can sync these up with other facets of their promotional launch campaigns, so plan well ahead. Large IPs tend to have very loyal fanbases, which can lead these brands to be more conservative in their marketing choices. If it’s a real out-of-the-box collaboration, a newer IP is often more flexible and open to something different.
In practice, the standard is for at least four of the IP’s iconic characters to be introduced to the game; usually several are offered free and the others are purchasable. If there’s something else strongly associated with the brand—a vehicle, weapon, or other recognizable items—these are great to incorporate, too. Amazon Prime show The Boys teamed up with PUBG MOBILE for the former’s Season 3 launch by offering, among others, exclusive Homelander, Soldier Boy, and Starlight super suits, weapon skins, and even a one-of-a-kind parachute.
Image Credit: Variety
Whether it’s characters or items, this is where the limited-time angle of the collaboration comes into play: if you’re a fan, it’s now or never for these special items. That’s why they have to be well-selected so that what is offered generates excitement and FOMO among fans.
Insight: Think ahead, plan well, and make sure your audience knows what’s on offer and that it won’t be around for long–leverage FOMO to your advantage.
If your game is growing steadily but has hit a plateau in terms of players and revenue, or maybe it’s still growing but you want to try something new to attract a new audience and expand revenue further, now is the time to dig in and see if limited-time events are the next step in your growth trajectory and worth the investment.
The goal: increased purchases from existing players who are excited at the new content on offer, and new players who come to the game as fans of the IP. It’s a way to stay relevant if your game has been around for years, or, conversely, a way to put yourself on the map if you haven’t, linking your name with a top IP.
At Yodo1, we’re experienced in creating successful matches between brands and games. We know the ins and outs of licensing details, contracts, and legalities and can help you navigate them—and in many cases, take them off your hands—setting you on the path to a successful pairing. Reach out today to learn how!
Culture
08.03.2023
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5 mins read
At Yodo1, we’ve championed the importance of equity and diversity from day one. When we launched over 10 years ago, half of our founding team was women, and all these years later, that fact remains true among our leadership team.
Today, we recognize the success of seven incredible women from across Yodo1—and worldwide—who are making waves in the mobile gaming industry. By diversifying perspectives and taking risks, these inspiring women have achieved remarkable growth and built a life they love through mobile games.
Join us as we share their stories and highlight their incredible accomplishments to celebrate International Women’s Day!
Vivien Zhang joined Yodo1 in an entry-level marketing position in 2012. A few years later, she was leading the Chinese marketing department. As Yodo1 became globally focused, Vivien got the opportunity to reinvent herself as head of a completely new IP licensing business unit launched in 2019 called Brands in Games.
As her career was advancing, Vivien also started a family. From newly-wed to new mom, Yodo1’s Work From Anywhere (WFA) policy has given her the flexibility to spend more quality time with her daughter, travel as a family, and strengthen bonds.
Vivien continues to lead her teams in what is now our fastest-growing business line and she has been a member of Yodo1’s executive management team for over five years.
Vivien, how has Yodo1 empowered you?
Over the past ten years, I have grown professionally and started a family at the same time. As a woman, I feel strongly that Yodo1 always trusts and encourages me to take on new challenges and helps me succeed. I’m given the chance and guidance to try new things and even if I eventually fail in some of them, what I learn in the process is still a great treasure to me. Also, the management and my peers respect my personal life and have supported me when I had to deal with family issues.
What advice would you give to other women who want to advance their careers without sacrificing family life?
In current society, women are under even more pressure than men. We have to take care of the kids and family while also being excellent at work.
My suggestion to you is not to lose yourself in all the daily chores and tasks. Remember, you are the most important person in your life. When at work, do your best so there’s no room for regret. Reserve time for yourself and doing what makes you happy.
Trust me, if you do this and stay positive in everything, you will find your life and work getting better!
Elizabeth currently lives in Dublin with her 12-year-old daughter. She joined the Yodo1 team in Beijing in 2014 as an accountant and was later based out of Hong Kong. In 2022, she decided to take full advantage of our Work From Anywhere arrangement and relocate to Ireland for her daughter’s studies.
Moving to a different country and time zone is never easy, but it didn’t stop Elizabeth from being promoted from Accounting Lead to leading the entire Finance Team and earning a spot in management for her outstanding work in transforming Yodo1’s finance function.
Elizabeth, how has Yodo1 empowered you?
Yodo1 embraces our mobility through Work From Anywhere. I’m very glad I’ve continued my job while navigating a new hometown. It empowers me and my daughter, as she can pursue her preferred education. With the flexibility to work from anywhere, we’re able to live in an area with better education opportunities that’s more affordable than in other regions of Hong Kong.
What advice would you give women who are thinking about relocating for work?
It certainly takes a great deal of time and effort to blend into a new environment. Being respectful in a new society is important. Be focused and prepared to explore; get ready to experience a bit of a bumpy ride sometimes and, most importantly, have fun!
Marina moved from her hometown of Barcelona to Beijing in 2017 to study Mandarin. In 2019, after being enticed by the gaming industry, Marina started an entry-level position as a Monetization Manager at Yodo1. After less than six months, she led the team, and one year after that, she became the head of Yodo1’s MAS business unit—managing 30+ people and becoming Yodo1’s youngest-ever business leader.
In 2022, Marina moved to a new challenge, becoming Head of Strategic Partnerships for our Publishing and IP Licensing teams. Today, she is fully focused on expanding our global licensing partnerships and Brands in Games collaborations.
She’s also a certified sailor and can even do a headstand!
Marina, how has Yodo1 empowered you?
Yodo1 allowed me to grow extremely fast in the past four years, trusting me to do things I had never done before. I got the chance to work in the three main business units, engage with, and learn from many different teams around the company.
Working remotely allowed me to be based in Barcelona but have the freedom to travel often for work and pleasure, planning my working hours in a way that best fits me.
I have also been able to hire great team members from all around the world. Not being limited by a geo-location when building a team is extremely empowering and allowed me to hire the best people for each role.
What advice would you give to women who want to stay physically active and socially connected while advancing their careers in a remote work environment?
If you want to advance quickly without sacrificing your health or social life—especially when working remotely—you need to create the right environment for yourself.
Choosing a place to live where you have friends or at least have the chance to meet people is important, as you're going to spend a lot of time working by yourself, connected to your colleagues online but far away physically.
In my case, using a co-working space really helped, as I got to meet new people and have a more stable routine. It feels like having the perks of an office with the freedom of working remotely.
Lastly, I think it's important to make the effort to meet your colleagues in person once a quarter to strengthen personal connections and engagement with the company.
Flo was never interested in a traditional career path. After high school, she left her home country of the Netherlands to volunteer in Asia while pursuing an online college degree and teaching English on the side. Coincidentally, it was when she started running a blog that she landed her first freelance writing work with Yodo1. After a few months, she was offered a part-time and eventually full-time position in the PR department.
The big leap came when Yodo1 closed its Beijing office and went fully remote. Co-founder and Co-CEO James LaLonde asked Flo if she was interested in leading Yodo1’s new global recruiting efforts. Four months after that, she became the Head of HR—leading recruitment and people operations—and hasn’t looked back since.
Flo, how has Yodo1 empowered you?
My boss and mentor was quick to see my potential in areas I’d previously never imagined myself working. Along with new opportunities, I got a lot of coaching, on-the-job learning experience, and—most importantly—a lot of trust to try my hand at a new set of challenges.
I’ve never heard of a company that promotes people as quickly as Yodo1. And it’s super empowering to work alongside so many exceptional women leaders!
What advice would you give to freelancers who want to transition to a full-time career?
Whatever job comes your way, don’t take it unless you’re going to give it your best. Freelancers build their careers by establishing a reputation of excellence, whether the assignment is one hour or one year.
Do the research needed, pay attention to detail, double and triple check. Once you are known for delivering at your best on whatever task you’re given, clients will keep coming back and may even want to bring you on full-time if an opportunity opens up.
Winnie joined Yodo1 in 2019 as a project manager in the Publishing department, handling the game production schedule, ensuring quality releases, and managing external communications.
As she gained more experience and demonstrated her capabilities, she was given the opportunity to take on a bigger role within the team. Now, she oversees the entire game production team, operates multiple projects, and helps run the business unit.
Winnie, how has Yodo1 empowered you?
Yodo1 empowers me by trusting me with increasing responsibilities and providing opportunities for growth and development.
Moving to my new role, I had to start managing people, costs, and strategic direction. One of the biggest challenges I faced was transitioning from a hands-on worker to a more strategic thinker, which required me to learn how to delegate tasks effectively, empower team members to make decisions, and focus on the bigger picture of the business.
Despite the challenges, my work at Yodo1 has been extremely rewarding, allowing me to significantly impact the company. Overall, this role has been an incredible opportunity for growth and development, and I am excited to see where it will take me.
What advice would you give to women wanting to become gaming industry leaders?
I honed leadership skills such as communication, delegation, and decision-making to succeed in my role. I built relationships with key stakeholders. These are important skills to develop.
Additionally, I stay up-to-date with industry trends and best practices to ensure our games remain competitive and engaging for players.
My advice — believe in yourself, develop your skills, seek mentorship and support, and remain persistent in pursuing your goals.
One of our first employees, Nina, joined Yodo1 in the early Beijing days in 2012. Four years later, she left to pursue a different path, and in 2020, she returned to continue her career in gaming. By this time, Yodo1 was a completely different company… and while COVID disrupted work, it didn’t slow Nina’s growth.
Starting as a Product Manager for a publishing project in China, Nina eventually took on the brand new challenge of leading Yodo1’s first globally published game.
Though it required getting out of her comfort zone, Nina stepped up to the plate and led her fully-remote (and now globally distributed team) to success with ARBS, increasing the game’s player base by 50x
Nina, how has Yodo1 empowered you?
At work, Yodo1 gives me a lot of room to play. When I face unknowns, my leaders never give me direct orders, but they provide me with a lot of information and inspiration to explore and learn on my own. My colleagues also share recent discoveries and grow together. I feel that I am making progress every year, every month, and even every day at Yodo1 and this makes me feel more empowered and confident.
There is one more point I want to make about women. For women my age, I am often asked when I am looking for a job in China, "When are you going to get married?" "When are you going to have children?" But the interviewers at Yodo1 never asked anything like this; they were focused on my career plan, professionalism, and potential. This made me feel very well taken care of as a woman.
What advice would you give non-native English speakers wanting to break into a global workspace?
Get out there and talk! Speak out loud. Don't worry about grammar or word choice. The first step is always to speak. People are very tolerant of non-native English speakers. They will encourage you if they understand what you are trying to say and see that you’re making the effort. The more you speak, the more you’ll get used to it and the better you will become!
Nadiia, a digital nomad from Ukraine, was living and working in Vietnam when she decided it was time for a new challenge. She spotted one of Yodo1’s “work from anywhere” job openings and joined the team as a User Acquisition Specialist in 2021. It wasn’t long before she was promoted to UA Team Lead, and in less than a year, she became Head of Game Marketing and a member of our management team!
Nadiia was at a Yodo1 offsite in Thailand when the war started. If not for the trip, she would have been in Ukraine. Today, she is living and working in Canada.
Nadiia, how has Yodo1 empowered you?
Working at Yodo1 helped me keep moving despite the difficult war situation back home and inspired me to grow myself, my skills, and my team.
Receiving constant support from my team has been almost life-saving for me during such a difficult time. But the cherry on top is when I hear testimonials from our developers and receive sincere thanks and positive feedback directly from them. Being in a role where I can directly help developers empowers me greatly!
What advice would you give to women wanting to enter the gaming industry?
With focus and determination, nothing can stop you from succeeding, so keep moving towards your goals!
Ready to grow with us? Check out our Careers page!
IP Licensing
01.03.2023
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5 mins read
When it comes to integrating major brands into games, it’s hard to find a better example than Fortnite. The team over at Epic are experts at working with well-known IPs, and integrating those brands into the game in exciting ways that attract new players, engages the existing community, and keeps those retention levels up! But what is it exactly that makes them so successful at this, and what are some of the key lessons you can learn and apply to grow your game?
Let’s dive in and find out.
Brand events within games are a unique way to experience original collaborations between some of the biggest names in the entertainment industry. Musical artists, characters from a hit TV show or blockbuster movie: everyone’s getting in on the action. And it’s easy to see why these events are a perfect opportunity to bring together different fan bases and expand the reach of the IPs and the games involved.
Exclusive collaborations like these have proven a hit with gamers. The integration of recognizable brands, actors, or characters not only enhances the overall gaming experience, but also creates a limited-time opportunity where players collect exclusive items that are only available for a short period.
As mobile gaming continues to evolve, the way in which games integrate content has become increasingly important. And there's no better example of this than Epic Games’ epic game, Fortnite. Over half of their players are between the ages of 18-24, and they’ve figured out how to keep their audience engaged with a variety of integrations that go beyond the typical skins.
So, how does Fortnite do it? Let's take a closer look:
They know their player base well, and not just what they like but the sheer volume, how vast their reach is, and the key differences between players in various parts of the world. A majority of these players are young, used to digesting media and content quickly and constantly—Fortnite understands this and packages their collaborations to appeal to them.
For instance, the trailer for Fortnite Chapter 4 Season 1 featuring Mr. Beast zipping through outer space created a storm of hype among Mr. Beast's 100 million+ fans, creating a huge amount of anticipation around the new chapter.
Insight: Think of potential players and strategic IP integrations like a Venn diagram. The large intersection between "gamers" and "Mr. Beast fans" made that collaboration a brilliant move. In order to find the perfect fit for your brand integrations, it's important to understand your player base and what appeals to them.
Fortnite engages its audience by regularly dropping hints about upcoming content, adding to the anticipation and keeping players curious and coming back. Some events have been announced just a day before launch, following the trend in music over the past two years where artists don't announce their new songs/albums far in advance, but instead drop a tweet just a day or two before the launch. This feeling of immediacy and excitement is part and parcel of the whole experience.
Going back to our earlier example, that trailer for Chapter 4 featuring Mr. Beast dropped on December 3, 2022, only a day before the start of the new season.
Insight: The volume of content young gamers can consume verges on incomprehensible. That means a week is an eternity. Keep that in mind as you build hype around fresh content releases.
Fortnite’s collaborations span a broad range of genres and brands, ensuring they appeal to as wide an audience as possible. They might team up with key figures in fashion, influencers, anime, film, TV or sports, in addition to collaborations with IPs from the likes of Marvel, Star Wars, and DC. These integrations are so numerous and come at such speed that even if a particular one is not of interest to a player, they’ll still check in again soon because they know there’s always something new on the horizon that they won’t want to miss.
Insight: It’s not possible for a given IP collaboration to resonate with all players. While quality is important, quantity shouldn’t be disregarded. If the goal is to appeal to more players, skins and events may make a bigger splash than a deep storyline integration.
One of Fortnite’s many integration hits was their recent collaboration with Dragon Ball Z. With the overlap between the anime and gaming audiences, putting the two together via an IP integration was a match made in heaven. A study conducted by media distribution service Crunchyroll showed that 90% of anime consumers also play games, and as a result the integration of anime brands in games is becoming more mainstream.
Dragon Ball Z fits in with Fortnite’s demographic perfectly: the mega-successful anime series has both a strong nostalgia factor for people in their 20s to 40s, and, as the franchise is still ongoing with new movies and manga series being released, it continues to attract new fans.
The integration between Fortnite and Dragon Ball Z had two distinct events: the first, launched on August 16, 2022, was tied with the US film release of Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero. You could watch the movie’s trailer in the event, and even discover some new episodes as a part of a chest. The characters skins Goku, Vegeta, Bulma, and Beerus featured as well.
The second event dropped on January 31, 2023, after being announced only the day before. This time, players could acquire skins of the movie’s main characters, Piccolo and Gohan.
The Dragon Ball Z example above is only one example—in November 2022, Fortnite held a collaboration with Naruto, the most popular anime in the US, followed by the August 2022 Dragon Ball Z event outlined above. They followed that up in December with My Hero Academia in December, for a staggering total of three anime integrations alone in the space of just one year.
So, what can we learn from this approach? What’s the secret to successful brand integration? Identify the sweet spot where your game's audience intersects with fans of a particular IP. Create exclusive, buzz-worthy events that tap into the FOMO of players and offer something new (ideally driven by a deep emotion, like nostalgia). Get creative and strike a balance that benefits both parties, bringing in fresh players to your game and giving the IP a boost—a true win-win. Rinse and repeat.
From a brand perspective, this is an exciting new landscape for game studios and developers, offering an opportunity for not just the big hitters like Fortnite, but established, proven studios of all sizes.
IP holders want to reach players of all ages and engage with them, and despite what you might think, many are open to a variety of collaborations. Some might be looking to reinvigorate their brand or test a new IP across a variety of markets, and that’s an opportunity.
What level does a studio need to be at to consider IP integrations? First of all, you should have a solid and profitable game with active LiveOps that allow for this sort of crossover. There needs to be a natural path to welcome the IP into your game so it can smoothly fit into your game's roadmap.That ultimately means planning everything far in advance (including deal negotiations), so that you can take full advantage of the integration.
With the rise of mobile gaming, games are now coming from a place of more strength and negotiation power; they can even become their own IPs and license them out once they reach a certain level of success. This can bring exciting new possibilities for both game developers, players, and the IPs, a win-win-win.
For both IP holders and game developers/publishers, IP integration offers a chance to bring new and exciting content to a game, promoting the IP while engaging loyal players and bringing in new ones. It’s simple–but there’s a lot involved: the key to successful IP integration in the gaming world is understanding the needs and wants of both parties involved and then creating an event that stands out—unique, risk-taking, and hopefully gets people talking—resulting in all sides not just recouping their investment but increasing their bottom line overall.
In a recent conversation, the Yodo1 Brands team discussed just this topic, and shared some insights about Fortnite brand integrations, including the big picture landscape of IP in mobile gaming.
Check out the conversation here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D8Ibu9RE4hc
“We can make the process easier and less intimidating for developers. With experience of working with IP holders from anime to Hollywood—and as game publishers ourselves, we know the ins and outs of developing and understand both sides of the coin.”
- Fil Robinson (Yodo1 IP Licensing Manager)
“We are in touch with licensors on a number of deals all the time, so we’re familiar with the people, terms and processes: working with Yodo1 can give a developer access to all those IP holders. Many are open to collaborations, but don’t have the time to go looking for games, and instead respond more reactively to opportunities, so they don’t always find their perfect match. We have a huge network of studios all over the world and we know which IPs they’re interested in and their budget, as well as what kind of games the IPs are looking for, saving you time and effort.”
- Marina Espin (Yodo1 Head of Strategic partnerships)
If you’re curious, but don’t know where to begin, happily, at Yodo1, we have a wealth of experience in positioning and integrating IPs to maximize their impact on a game. We know the ins and outs, and we're here to help. In just one example, we recently worked with game studio 37Games to organize and set up their popular Puzzles and Survival x The Walking Dead collaboration.
Don't miss out on the opportunity to take your game to the next level—get in touch to learn more about Brands in Games from Yodo1 and what it could mean for you.
Game Growth
01.03.2023
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5 mins read
Are you looking for ways to boost your mobile game's growth and success? With so much pressure in today's competitive gaming scene, it can be hard to decide how best to invest all of the resources at your disposal. But don't worry, you're not alone!
We've worked with hundreds of successful mobile game studios, indie developers, and creators over the last decade-plus who have achieved amazing results by making smart investments in their games that enabled them to grow their projects exponentially, and much faster than they ever could have dreamed.
In today's blog post, we'll explore a few insider tips and tricks to help you make similar savvy decisions with whatever resources you have and jumpstart your mobile game's growth!
When investing in your mobile game, it's crucial to prioritize the fun factor above all else. A game's success is highly dependent on its ability to engage players with enjoyable gameplay. Neglecting this factor can result in a lack of player interest, regardless of marketing efforts. So... what do we mean by focusing on the fun factor when investing in your game? It means allocating time, money, and people, into the planning and market research phase to ensure that unique and entertaining gameplay elements are identified and included in the game. In other words, investing in the fun factor from the outset will lead to long-term success.
GROWTH TIP: Don't forget to regularly release new content and experiment while preserving the core gameplay that your players love.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mP51adcK4Mc
Many developers stretch themselves (and their teams) too thin by wearing too many hats. The true key to success is understanding your limits, embracing a growth mindset, and learning to delegate to others with specialized expertise.
When budgeting and allocating resources, experiment with different options to see what works and, regardless of the outcome, see them as opportunities to learn and grow as an entrepreneur. Constant testing and iteration can be a tremendous wellspring of insights about your players and strategies for growing your game.
On the other side of the coin, it’s also important to avoid falling into the dreaded sunk cost fallacy. With limited resources and time, no developer should be spinning their wheels on stuff that simply isn’t working or generating insights. To avoid this, always identify what you’re trying to learn or gain from any experiments you run. Measure results against those goals continuously and be brave enough to pull the plug on an idea or activity that isn’t generating fruit.
GROWTH TIP: Don't be afraid to collaborate with other developers or outsource tasks like asset creation, user acquisition, and monetization.
With a fun game and a growth mindset, it's time to take action. Create a roadmap of exciting content that your core player base will love, and make sure to include new things you want to test. Look outside your team for opportunities to help you scale and reach new heights.
Have you heard of Nordicandia? They're a perfect example.
This 2D dungeon explorer inspired by Diablo has a simple, straightforward design that naturally brings players together. The game saw tremendous growth by investing time and effort in creating the right channels for player engagement and connection, but they were looking for help with their monetization strategy. By integrating their game with MAS, Yodo1’s AI monetization platform, the developer was able to grow their revenue, freeing them up to focus on bringing out fresh content for their players. Today, the game has a thriving community and player base with a clearly defined path for growth.
Don't underestimate the power of networking with other developers, investors, and publishers. They may have valuable insights and feedback that can help you reach new heights.
Each game is on a unique journey, and we're here to support you every step of the way. Want to learn more about investing in your game to achieve growth? Book a discovery call with a Yodo1 Game Growth Expert to learn more about how we can help simplify your mobile game growth strategy.
Game Growth
14.12.2022
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5 mins read
This is the final installment of our four-part feature on the multi-platform crossover hit, Animal Revolt Battle Simulator. In part three, discover how VDimension Studios increased ARBS' player base by 50x—and learn more in part one and part two!
If you’re reading this, you probably know that User Acquisition (or UA) is a data-driven approach to marketing, specifically designed to attract and engage more users for your game or app. Today, we’ll take a deeper dive to explore some of the things you can do right now to help you get the most out of your next UA campaign.
So… you've launched a game, and now you’re starting to get some traction and solid revenue is rolling in. This is where the next critical stage of growth comes into play: maximizing your revenue and finding creative ways you attract more users!
A new game can benefit from UA right from the jump. If you believe your game has a unique selling point compared to its peers you can prove it with data and a basic UA test. Start with a week or two of ads on Google, Facebook or whichever channel best fits your game. Acquire enough users so you can get a 3-5000 DAU to really get the metrics you need.
What are you looking to learn from this test? How do you get a perspective on what you should aim for? How do you know what a realistic yet ambitious goal is for your game? Research the market—Appmagic is a great tool for this—to see what developers and publishers big and small are doing: screenshots, icons, subtitles, those small things can show you easy and immediate angles for potential areas for improvement in your game.
If you have in-game ads, your focus should be on impressions per DAU and your eCPM. The key is finding a way to balance these with retention to ensure a satisfying game experience that will keep your players coming back and increase your LTV.
If your game uses mostly in-app purchases, you should focus on the new user pay rate and average revenue for paying users and monitor your ANR and crash rate daily. Have a list of metrics and facts you’re looking for—you want to extract as much value as possible from your investment.
Once you’ve reached/hit a few thousand DAU from ASO and other organic marketing, that might be the time to invest in a two week ad series and see how that impacts your LTV.
Your users’ lifetime value (LTV)—or how much revenue you will receive from a user during the whole time they play your game, is based on your average revenue per active user and your retention. These are important figures to track and analyze so you know what your overall investment per user is worth.
Do your research and find the eCPI for your game genre–this can show you what to invest money in and where to experiment. Have benchmarks, a hypothesis you’re looking to prove or disprove.
MMP, or mobile measurement platforms, are your first step, and only a few allow you to configure your own metrics, though you won’t have full access to all of your data. But an MMP will allow you to see the actual facts.
So the first and arguably the most important step is choosing an MMP to partner with, integrate their UA, start testing, and then you can begin with ad networks.
“The most important UA metrics are your retention rates and ARPDAU,” says Nadiia Marchynska, Head of Game Marketing & UA at Yodo1. “If you have in-app purchases, what is the pay rate? And for each paying user, what are you earning?”
And don’t forget, these figures can be very different depending on if you have a hyper casual game with much higher churn as opposed to a game with fewer users who play for much longer—that’s why you need to have researched the standard for your game genre to set accurate goal expectations. Your game genre determines your monetization strategy
Getting started on all this can be one of the biggest bottlenecks for gaming studios, who often lack both time and specific skills.
You need good, solid creatives to run a successful campaign, followed up by a very solid testing plan to see which ones work. It’s an iterative process of creating, testing, judging the results, and repeating to get the best possible results—continuing ongoing results will require new content, if you stick with the same old stuff, your growth will plateau.
Sure, you could get a freelancer or someone in-house who’s already got too much on their plate to do the creatives for you, but without specific experience, it’s not going to be as impactful as it could be, and will ultimately not be the best use of your resources. The market changes and fluctuates, so you have to monitor your ROI constantly, you can’t just set it and forget it.
“Performance benchmarks for the ad creatives in your genre are also crucial to follow up on–that’s how you can judge your game’s marketability,” continues Nadiia. “It’s evolving so much that now you can even give players a chance to interact with your game via playable ads and try it out before they even install it. It’s a good tool to beta test future ideas, too.”
“So glad I found Yodo1! It’s such a relief having them take care of user acquisition, so I can focus on what's most important: making Animal Revolt Battle Simulator a successful multi-platform gaming experience.” Lam Trinh Hoang,
Founder, VDimension Studios
If you find the scale and logistics of all this challenging, you’re not alone. Even with the best of intentions, the deck is often stacked against flying solo. For example, a newly set up UA account with no history will find it nearly impossible to get support when they need it, and some ad networks don’t even unlock all their features for new advertisers, unless and until they’ve reached a certain spending level, making it nearly impossible to run optimal, successful campaigns.
Even something as simple as paying for their services can require jumping through many hoops, with different payment methods and restrictions from country to country, and so on, meaning that when something is successful, the window may have passed before you are able to scale it up. All these factors combine to make it a real challenge for those who want to dive in.
These are trends we began seeing with many of our ad monetization partners using our MAS service, leading us to begin helping them with our own in-house team and accounts, developing into the full-fledged UA service that we are now offering to mobile game developers worldwide.
This quality of full-service UA is unique in the market: from setting up the MMP, integration, QA/QC, access to all add networks, detailed testing, planning and projections, ROI, and budget planning. From technical to top-level planning, creative production and testing, and optimization, all the way through, Yodo1’s comprehensive UA service gives you the benefit of our longstanding accounts, as well as our years of experience, automated for optimal results.
The result is data-driven optimization and smart UA campaigns taken off your shoulders, allowing you to try this out without building an additional team in-house.
How has this worked in the real world?
In Animal Revolt Battle Simulator (ARBS), we went from starting with no UA, to, by the fifth month, increasing the game’s revenue sevenfold, and we are continuing to scale it up.
At Yodo1, we’ve spent more than a decade helping mobile game studios simplify their growth. We've run thousands of ROI-positive UA campaigns for iconic titles—like Crossy Road, Rodeo Stampede, Transformers: Earth Wars, and more—amassing more than 1.5 billion players around the world. And now we’re making it easy for you to grow your games into chart-topping hits, too
We want you to be able to focus on doing what you love: making cool games, instead of having to invest your precious time and resources becoming a UA expert. If you’re already using MAS, you can choose to reinvest your ad income directly from that into your UA campaigns, and you’re already set up in a way that optimizes the effects of running a UA campaign.
If you’re interested in learning more about our full-stack UA service, set up a call today with a member of our team—we’re all over the world, so there’s no need to worry about time zones. We can set up testing and validation, and from there give you a detailed projection on what to expect from the service.
Culture
11.08.2022
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5 mins read
When Yodo1 transitioned to a fully work-from-anywhere (WFA) company in December 2020 it became immediately clear we needed to up our collaboration game by finding and using the best tools to promote long-distance co-working.
A year and a half on, here’s a quick look at ten tools that enable us to collaborate and be more productive than ever in 2022. All are free to try out or for light use, with premium options for heavy users.
Released: 2018
Why we love it: It’s Evernote meets Trello meets mini-WordPress. There’s seemingly no end to the ways you can adapt this tool to make your work life easier. It’s excellent both for personal organization and project management. We love to use it as a space where every team can work “in the sunshine” thus ensuring transparency and accountability.
Released: 2012
Why we love it: Airtable is a powerful database tool that can be thought of as spreadsheets meets Trello with automation capabilities. It’s easy to see where you are across multiple projects at a glance, keeping all the balls rolling and the statuses up-to-date.
Released: 2016
Why we love it: Great way to quickly design, build, and export files for prototyping websites and mobile apps. As a bonus, check out Figjam, a fast and whimsical online whiteboard for sticky notes and ideas to supercharge your team brainstorming sessions.
Released: 2002
Why we love it: Jira is still the go-to platform for project management, making it a popular tool across a wide range of companies. While the younger Airtable and Notion platforms do have some similar project management features, our tech leaders still swear by Jira.
Released: 2017
Why we love it: Recently, Yodo1 transitioned from having chats, calls, email, and scheduling spread across a myriad of platforms to using Microsoft Outlook and Teams.
We’re still exploring various add-ons and best practices but so far what we like best is having everything in one place and being able to easily see who’s available when.
Bonus: We love the GIFs in Teams chat as well as “Together Mode” in calls.
Released: 2016
Why we love it: Quick and easy way to record and share videos of yourself or your screen. It’s particularly useful for helping those in different time zones to get rid of endless PowerPoint slide decks and communicate ideas more effectively. The free version allows videos up to five minutes long.
Released: 2013
Why we love it: Make it easy for others–both in or out of your organization–to book time on your calendar based on your availability. Calendly now also includes meeting polls, where multiple participants can vote on the best time for a call.
Released: 2020
Why we love it: This relatively new tool is a simple, interactive, and powerful alternative to Canva, Google Slides, or PowerPoint.
Released: 2013
Why we love it: Great for editing and creating visual content. It’s the go-to platform many of our staff use to design slides, posters and many more projects–get your work done in just minutes with the thousands of ready-made templates and fun graphics that are available. It’s also collaborative and easy to learn.
Released: 2013
Why we love it: Access to thousands of high-quality images available for free use.
And did you know...you can even access Unsplash's photo library from directly within Notion—sweet tip, right?!
What tools do you use for remote work? Tell us about it on LinkedIn–and if you’re interested to join the ranks of Yodies working remotely from over 30 countries check out our open positions today!
Culture
12.07.2022
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5 mins read
Snorkeling with sea turtles in Indonesia one month, catching NBA games the next. A stint living and DJing in the Caribbean. Home in South East Asia one day, Canada the next. Hanging out with people of 30+ nationalities. Visiting eight countries and four continents in three years.
These are not the stories of students on a gap year; this is the WFA life of some of our global team.
When Yodo1 switched to a fully flexible work-from-anywhere (WFA) policy in December 2020, doors opened for nomads to live their dream lives and take their job with them. The policy is simple: As long as you are excelling at your work, you can do it from any country in the world.
For many Yodies, this has meant taking advantage of the flexible work hours to spend more time with family and friends, and several brave souls have fully embraced the nomadic and adventurous lifestyle that working from anywhere makes possible.
These are their stories.
Home Country: Spain,
Currently Found In: Lombok, Indonesia
I have been with Yodo1 for 13 months now; I started on a commission basis as part of the Games Growth team and then graduated to full-time employment; I work to help developers to grow a sustainable economy with their free-to-play games. Before joining Yodo1 I worked in four different countries: I would move somewhere and start a new life, find a job there, etc, and live there for a while.
When I joined Yodo1 the WFA policies were certainly a great plus but I was also attracted by the opportunities this company gives you to grow. And thanks to the freedom provided by WFA I have worked from 14 cities across four countries over the last year, even meeting up with other Yodies like Felipe (see below) several times around the world!
From snorkeling with sea turtles off the spectacular island of Gili Meno in Indonesia to indulging my love of the NBA by attending not one but 11 live games–including a playoff!–when I was in the US a few months ago, it has been one adventure after another!
I’m glad that I can travel and still progress professionally without having to find a new job each time.
Home Country: Chile
Currently Found In: Back home in Chile
I have been with Yodo1 for about a year. I started as a Business Developer for MAS and in January this year I joined the publishing team. My job is to find Indie developers with great games and see if we can establish new partnerships with them in order to help them scale their games globally.
About five years ago I quit my corporate job in Chile and started traveling, first moving to Kaohsiung, Taiwan, to study Mandarin. After Taiwan, I moved to Barcelona and started working at a startup before moving to Zurich where I spent 2 years. I started looking for remote jobs because I wanted to be able to move forward with my career without having to be bound to any country. This is when I found out about Yodo1. I was looking for a job with this sort of freedom, and also one of my dreams was to join the gaming industry, which made the decision to join the company a no-brainer.
I am not really a big city person and I love that I can work while living in places like the Caribbean–it feels like living two completely different lives: I can be fully focused on a high performing job during the morning and next thing I know, I will be playing at a DJ gig in the middle of the jungle in the evening!
Home Country: Ukraine
Currently Found In: Vancouver, Canada
I’m the Head of Game Marketing and have been with Yodo1 since September last year. I was always a nomad at heart, but my previous jobs didn’t give me the opportunity to fully embrace my nomadic self. Yodo1’s WFA policy was definitely a game changer for me and helped me make the decision to give up on my settled-down office lifestyle.
I was in Vietnam when I joined Yodo1. Thanks to the flexibility WFA gave me, I was able to visit my hometown in Ukraine and see my family for the first time in three years. When the war started in Ukraine and my city started getting bombed I was actually luckily pulled out on a company trip to Thailand, which was destined to save my life. Despite this un-peaceful time in my life, thanks to WFA I was able to peacefully keep my job no matter where I was.
And thanks to WFA, I have once again relocated—this time to Canada, and I plan to travel more soon!
Currently Found In: Back home in Kyrgyz Republic
I’ve been at Yodo1 for over two years now, starting as an Business Development Manager and now leading and training our Games Growth sales team. I love traveling and with Yodo1 I can work and travel around the whole world, there are no limits. I have been to around 20 countries already, four since joining Yodo1. I love our WFA policy: I have family and friends all over the world and I can visit them while I work.
Also, I love learning about different cultures and absorbing their way of living, their wisdom and knowledge. The things travel has taught me have helped me build and lead our international team of 20 Yodies representing 15 different countries from varied backgrounds–we are honestly one big family.
These two years with Yodo1 have helped me to grow and become a better version of myself both professionally and individually. I love the intercultural atmosphere, it really expands your horizons when you are learning from people who are anywhere from Japan to Venezuela!
Currently Found In: The Netherlands
I recently celebrated my three year anniversary with Yodo1, and it's been quite a journey—literally and figuratively. Back when I was based in the Philippines, I wanted to go spend a few months in Australia but my then-employer wouldn't let me. So I quit and started looking for online freelance work.
That's how I started at Yodo1. A lot has changed since then—I'm now the Head of HR—but one thing that hasn't changed is that I can go anywhere, anytime, and still do my job. All I need is my laptop. It’s been great for my partner and daughter, allowing us to go on all kinds of adventures together as well as making it possible for me to take her to visit family in the US.
Plus, I love to travel! In the past three years with Yodo1, I've worked from Australia, Taiwan, Malaysia, the USA, Germany, Ireland, and—most recently—Thailand. Most of the time, my partner and daughter come along. Since Covid we've established our home base here in the Netherlands but we still love traveling together as a family whenever we can. My dream is for us to be world-schooling nomads in a few years’ time. I’m also looking forward to meeting more colleagues from around the world!
Ready to Start your WFA Journey?
If you would you like to travel the world while growing your career in a cutting-edge industry, and working from anywhere with no limits appeals to you, then don’t just sit there dreaming about it— check out our WFA career opportunities today!
IP Licensing
02.05.2022
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5 mins read
Thinking up new and exciting ways to help grow our partners is a top priority for Yodo1 and our recent cross-promotion events speak to this focus.
Animal Revolt Battle Simulator (ARBS) and Rodeo Stampede, both games published by Yodo1, joined up for a crossover event in March. In this instance, Rodeo Stampede players could unlock up-to five ARBS animals which had been integrated into the game.
T-rex, Hellhound and Minotaur were only some of the beloved ARBS animals that gamers could choose to use in Rodeo Stampede, and the response was phenomenal. These crossover animal skins were free to use for three days, and if players completed a certain number of missions during that time, the skins were theirs to keep.
And if utilizing new characters in an already incredibly fun title wasn’t enough, interstitial messages using KTPlay, our community management tool, encouraged players to head to the source and check out the original game, in this case ARBS.
This was the second time Yodo1 organized a game crossover event of this kind in the last six months. Keplerians, one of our monetization partners since 2019, also participated in a cross-promo event with Rodeo Stampede. Organized in October 2021 for Halloween, it lasted 4 weeks. Rod, Ice Scream's signature character, the crocodile, Rod's pet, and the iconic Ice Scream Van were integrated into Rodeo Stampede, so players could choose to run as Rod instead of with the usual Rodeo rider, and unlock the crocodile once they reached the higher levels.
The game was enhanced by Halloween-themed visuals and lasted one month. Thanks to the interstitial messages, you could access and download Ice Scream 4 directly from Rodeo Stampede.
“Once we shared the assets, the Yodo1 team took care of all integration and design details,” said Pablo, Co-Founder of Keplerians. “With all the logistics and details taken care of, it could only be a win-win for us.”
How does Yodo1 make this happen? With these games in our partner pool, we’re able to communicate promptly, leading to successful matches and deals. Once the events are approved from both sides, our team handles all the crossover logistics, from designing the visual elements, to planning the event promotion, to analyzing the results.
This Keplerians-Rodeo Stampede event was the first crossover either game had participated in, and successfully generated a huge buzz across social media, ultimately increasing traffic for the respective games.
“It was exciting for our game’s community! We promoted it on Discord and encouraged players to post screenshots and videos, offering rewards. Bringing new content to our existing player base and seeing their enthusiastic reaction was definitely a highlight of this collaboration,” Pablo further explained.
Over three million gamers play thousands of games that use Yodo1’s MAS platform. This provides a rich ecosystem of players and content for creating fun and high-impact cross-overs. Yodo1's expertise in designing fun and engaging cross-over campaigns helps to create marketing buzz for the games involved, providing a free cross-promotion network that partner games can participate in and benefit from.
Out-of-the-box events like these are just some of the many ways Yodo1 works to help its partners, bring people together and increase revenue creatively.
In summary, how can crossover events like these benefit you?
If you want to work with us on monetization or game publishing and participate in these cross-promotion events between Yodo1 partners, reach out and contact us today.
Game Growth
29.03.2022
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5 mins read
Gaming is now firmly established as the most popular form of entertainment worldwide, and mobile gaming is its golden child.
Last year alone, mobile games generated US$93.2 billion in revenue. For context, global cinema box office and music revenues combined totaled “only” $42 billion.
Considering these figures, you would think that small game developers prioritize the business side as they do the creating side. However, that has not been the case for most, and the primary reason is a lack of access to educational resources to empower them.
When they do exist, these resources are also usually scattered, presenting a challenge for time-crunched indie developers to locate.
And this is where Yodo1 and Game Creator Academy (GCA) come in.
Having helped thousands of studios worldwide market, manage, and monetize their games, Yodo1 intends to help thousands of game creators expand and diversify their global knowledge of mobile gaming.
While many game development programs prioritize programming, GCA's focus is educational content to help indie developers navigate the business aspect of the industry.
“It is important to emphasize that once a developer builds a game and publishes it on the app store, they operate a business. That game is now competing with other games for eyeballs, downloads, revenue, etc.,” explained Luke Priddy, Yodo1’s head of education.
Hence, having a solid marketing and monetization framework is critical for mobile gaming success.
“With GCA, we’re taking everything we’ve learned from publishing games that have gained over 1.5 billion players and putting those methods and strategies into accessible content in one convenient location,” added Luke.
Yodo1-produced education courses have been widely acclaimed, with over 100,000 students enrolled to date. GCA will diversify and add to that already established student base by making available new learning resources in courses, interviews, PDFs, and more on a weekly basis.
One recent example is a series on game design best practices, which teaches the fundamentals of mobile game design and takes you through the phases of game development from pre-production through post-production. This resource is a relevant roadmap for building more interesting and exciting titles.
Also included in GCA is the 5-star rated Business of Mobile Gaming (BoMG) course taught by Yodo1 co-founder and gaming guru Henry Fong. The popular App Store Optimization Course (ASO), which covers tips and tricks to increase downloads and conversions, is also included.
At Yodo1, we believe gaming success is achievable for all indie developers. Mobile gaming revenue is projected to grow to $116 billion by 2024, and we want to provide you with the knowledge to unlock your earning potential. And right now, the best way to do that is for you to sign up for your free GCA membership. Visit game Creator Academy today to learn more.