Ryan Davies, Head of Digital Marketing at Kwalee, describes in this article how a partnership with IronSource and using LevelPlay’s marketability testing tool brought Hunt and Seek to the top of the charts.

Read the original IronSource article here.

Kwalee is a video game publisher and developer based in the United Kingdom. The company is known for dozens of hits in the hyper-casual genre: Draw it, Teacher Simulator and Airport Security. The studio scaled its game portfolio with a new hit but needed a better understanding of which of its many prototypes was worth investing in.

That’s when the ironSource team recommended the LevelPlay marketability testing tool. Soon the new game Hunt and Seek was #1 on the charts.

Source: Company case

Testing marketing opportunities

At Kwalee, we’re constantly testing prototypes for new games. The company has spent years searching for a tool that goes beyond the typical methods for hyper-casual markets to help more accurately predict which prototypes will scale.

Ryan Davies, Head of Digital Marketing at Kwalee

The ironSource team suggested a tool to test market opportunities, and Kwalee immediately agreed. Previously, the company had only tested games on social media, so it had limited insight into the potential of games.

Using the marketing testing tool, the studio tested games on SDK networks and saw which ones showed initial potential for scaling, giving a holistic and accurate view of marketing.

This is important because a significant portion of installs over the game’s life come from SDK networks. In addition, the tool provided access to useful KPIs, such as a specific sales metric, IPM, and the minimum rate needed to scale.

Testing prototypes

Following the ironSource team’s guidance, the company agreed to test all prototypes that performed well on social media. The process went smoothly. Kwalee tested the prototypes monthly and created a spreadsheet to document the results of each test.

Ryan Davies, Head of Digital Marketing at Kwalee

The company and the ironSource team put together a plan to optimize the results. For example, if a game received an average score for marketability, the test was a rerun, only with a different set of creatives.

The marketability test scored each game on a scale of 1 to 5. One game stood out immediately, receiving a score of 5: Hunt and Seek.

Hunt and Seek by Kwalee

Based on the initial social testing, the company did not expect this game to perform so well, so it was not a priority for launch. The sales test revealed the hidden potential of the prototype, so the ironSource team suggested continuing development.

Source: Company case

Tops the charts

Two months later, after finishing the development of Hunt and Seek, Kwalee launched the game globally, and it quickly topped the US charts. The game also had a high IPM score, which matched the results of the marketability test.

Ryan Davies, Head of Digital Marketing at Kwalee

Side note: Hunt and Seek goes global.

Not only did the marketability test reveal the potential of each of the prototypes, but it also allowed you to dig deeper and find opportunities in unexpected places.

Today, it’s harder to identify hit games on social platforms, so ironSource’s marketability tool is a more realistic, representative and reliable method of discovering hit games.

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