Europe’s leading B2B conference for the global mobile games industry, Pocket Gamer Connects London, is rapidly approaching and we could not be more excited to share with you the fantastic speakers gracing us with their knowledge and expertise on February 14-15!
You can view the entire speaker line-up so far here to get a full scope of the talent that will be speaking this February. To give you a glimpse of what you can expect, we are spotlighting some of the most highly anticipated speakers to showcase the incredible talent and top-tier businesses that will be sharing their insights with us.
In his talk, What to expect in ASO in 2022, Simon Thillay, Head of App Store Optimisation at AppTweak, will profile the significant changes Apple and Google are making to how their app stores can serve publishers, discuss the essential trends of app store optimisation (ASO) and what mobile marketers should anticipate and prepare for to win in 2022.
PocketGamer.biz: What’s the most common mistake you see being made in the games sector?
Simon Thillay: Treating ASO and paid advertising as separate channels: since each discipline has historically developed a particular set of skills for their respective functions, most companies have created siloed teams as they accepted the specialisation, hindering the core synergies that can be built as a result and without even realising it.
New marketing tools offered by iOS 15, as well as some tools on Google Play, are going to drive many companies to bridge part of that gap, but setting up an ASO strategy that supports the overall marketing efforts of a studio requires a shift in mindsets that some will make faster than others.
What is the single biggest challenge facing the mobile games industry today?
Reinventing user acquisition (both paid and organic) after the fallouts of Apple’s App Tracking Transparency (ATT) and the introduction of iOS 15 is, in my opinion, the biggest challenge for mobile games. Marketers are still adapting to the various measurement issues induced by ATT and coming up with new strategies to not only cope with losses in data and targeting for their campaigns, but also to develop innovative tactics around targeting and to leverage new tools that are emerging.
What developments do you think have been undervalued by the mobile games industry?
I’m a firm believer in Apple’s App Clips. While these have been designed with the intent to help apps tied to the physical world boost their customer adoption, I think there is tremendous potential in how you can use a simple QR Code, URL, or iMessage link to get more iPhone users to try a game and become engaged players.
What game has been on your phone the longest?
Phoenix 2 by Firi Games. It’s a simple enough space shooter which I discovered through an App Clip, and perfect for when I’m on public transport or in need of a 5 minutes break.
What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever received that you can pass on to others?
“Always consider how what you do fits your users’ expectations”. One of the very first games I ever worked on was not having any early success despite people at the company all loving the game and being convinced of its potential, partly because we had failed to recognise the PvP mode needed a much shorter experience than what we had when testing the game.
This was a huge lesson for me and something I realised applies to many different functions in mobile gaming, including but not limited to marketing.
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Don’t miss out on the opportunity to meet with Simon Thillay and other industry leaders at Europe’s #1 B2B games industry conference on February 14-15. Make sure you secure your spot today!
