Why is Lessmore’s Arrow Puzzle Escape scaling to millions of DAU and making $250k/day in Ad Revenue?

In this episode, we break down how Lessmore built Arrow Puzzle Escape into one of the fastest-scaling ad-monetized puzzle games on the market. From brutal simplicity and ultra-low CPI to aggressive ad design and relentless testing, this is a masterclass in distribution-first mobile game design.

Topics covered

• Why Lessmore is a testing company

• How Arrow Puzzle Escape reached ~4M DAU

• Why simplicity crushes CPI

• Ad monetization design choices

• Session length vs difficulty

• Why remove-ads is hidden

• Why copycats don’t matter

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

---------------------------------------

For an ever-growing number of game developers, this means that now is the perfect time to invest in monetizing direct-to-consumer at scale.

Our sponsor FastSpring:

Has delivered D2C at scale for over 20 years

They power top mobile publishers around the world

Launch a new webstore, replace an existing D2C vendor, or add a redundant D2C vendor at fastspring.gg.

---------------------------------------

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 Lancaric

Join our slack channel here: https://join.slack.com/t/two-and-half-gamers/shared_invite/zt-2um8eguhf-c~H9idcxM271mnPzdWbipg

00:00 — Intro & Lessmore background

02:30 — Miniclip acquisition context

04:30 — Portfolio overview & performance

06:00 — Arrows DAU explosion explained

08:10 — Category comparison vs traffic puzzles

10:30 — Why arrows beat cars for CPI

12:30 — Gameplay walkthrough & simplicity

15:00 — Difficulty design and session length

17:30 — Ad monetization breakdown

20:00 — Interstitials, rewarded videos & banners

22:30 — Retention vs monetization tradeoffs

25:00 — Why remove-ads is hidden

27:00 — Creatives & UA scaling logic

29:30 — Testing culture & prototype accounts

32:00 — Why copycats won’t catch up

34:00 — Final takeaways & Part 2 teaser

---------------------------------------

Matej Lancaric

User Acquisition & Creatives Consultant

⁠https://lancaric.me

Felix Braberg

Ad monetization consultant

⁠https://www.felixbraberg.com

Jakub Remiar

Game design consultant

⁠https://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 - matej@lancaric.me

---------------------------------------

If 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

Do you have UA questions nobody can answer? Ask ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Matej AI⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ - the First UA AI in the gaming industry! https://lancaric.me/matej-ai

↪️​ Simple ARROW design FTW. You don't need super high-polished art to make $250k/day!

two &amp; a half gamers

↪️​ Simple ARROW design FTW. You don't need super high-polished art to make $250k/day!

↪️ Simple ARROW design FTW. You don't need super high-polished art to make $250k/day!

two & a half gamers

↪️ Simple ARROW design FTW. You don't need super high-polished art to make $250k/day!