The best success stories in the world of
mobile games don’t always end in fame and fortune for the creators.
Success for many indie developers is finding a way to make a good living
doing what they love to do most. Inspired by his developer brother,
Rico Margallo started making games several years ago. Still, it took
many years of hard work and commitment before securing his place in the
industry.

His story is not altogether uncommon. Having developed a
series of titles under the Ricreator brand, our Philippine solo
developer struggled to find the breakthrough he needed. “All I want to
do is make games,” says Rico. “I like nothing more than to create
entertainment that people enjoy and want to play.” His games, which
primarily targeted a Filipino audience, were indeed popular. The real
problem was that monetization did not correlate with growth and
increasing downloads.

“Configuring Unity Ads to work with multiple networks was the most complicated challenge of my gaming career.”

In
the early years, Rico didn’t earn much at all from his original
monetization setup. Not enough, at least, to turn his passion into a
full-time career. Like many solo independents that develop in Unity, he
just went with its ad platform – Unity Ads. While it seemed like the
best option at the time, the developer struggled to combine multiple ad
networks to maximize revenue. “It is the most complicated challenge I
ever had to face in my gaming career,” explains Rico. As the issue
persisted, he understood the need for a fresh approach and expert
assistance.

“I couldn’t believe the publishing partner for Transformers would work with a small indie developer like me!”

Finding
a new partner to help better monetize his games was not as difficult as
Rico first thought. After researching various alternatives, he came
across Yodo1’s Managed Ad Services (MAS). MAS appeared to be the
solution he sought since it requires only one easy to install SDK to
integrate multiple networks. 

Unlike his original setup, MAS
turned out to be fast and easy to install. Throughout the MAS
integration on his first game, House of Celestina, Rico was surprised by
the level of support he received from Yodo1. It was hard for him to
believe that the publishing partner for big games like Rodeo Stampede
and Transformers would be interested in working with a small developer.
“Not only was I amazed that Yodo1 would work with me,” he said, “but the
level of support I received from the company’s friendly staff made
integration easy.”

“Before MAS, revenue behaved
like a turtle – low and slow. Then, in the blink of an eye, my revenue
increased by 90% after installing the new system.”

Making
the effort to maximize the monetization potential of his games had a
huge impact. Rico experienced a 90% increase in revenue in just the
first month. It freed him from his day-to-day financial worries and
meant that he could focus entirely on developing new games. He has since
made more games, with many more planned for the future. The revenue
growth he has witnessed through intelligent AI automation has convinced
Rico to monetize all his future games through MAS exclusively. Of the
new partnership, he went on to conclude, “I am very sure that I will
never leave Yodo1, and all my future games will integrate with it.”

Partner with the best

Does Rico’s story resonate with you? Have you faced similar monetization challenges? Get in touch today at bd@yodo1.com to learn more about MAS.