How a Mature Casual F2P Title Reversed UA Decline - with PWN Games
/// BACKGROUND
The Setup
Established Game Publisher*
Our client, an established game publisher, has run a casual simulation free-to-play title for nearly a decade. The easy growth was gone — new user acquisition was declining, and they needed a partner who could reverse it without sacrificing player quality.
*This case study has been anonymized at the client request. All performance data and outcomes are real.
PWN Games
PWN Games stepped in as their PC UA partner. On a pure CPA model, our growth is tied directly to theirs — every conversion is a shared investment in quality, not just volume.
/// THE CHALLENGE
What We Were Up Against
MARKET DYNAMICS
Each market behaves differently — what works in one geo won't necessarily work in another. Strategy had to be built per market, not applied globally.
PLATFORM REALITY
PC and browser inventory skews toward core and mid-core gaming audiences. Reaching casual simulation players at scale required finding the right pockets of inventory.
CHANNEL CONSTRAINTS
Social media is typically where casual simulation titles perform best. It was off the table for this campaign — meaning we had to find and qualify alternative inventory that could reach the same audience at comparable scale.
GROWTH VS. STABILITY
The publisher needed to scale quickly — but aggressive spend increases disrupt campaign optimization and erode quality. Hitting ROAS and retention benchmarks as budgets grew required finding the right pace, not just chasing volume.
/// THE JOURNEY
Partnership Timeline
Every phase earned through the same discipline - test the economics, prove retention, then scale.
/// HOW WE OPERATE
Our Playbook
Four principles that drive every partnership we run - from the first pilot to global scale.
TEST MARKETS FAST, SCALE WHAT WORKS
APAC and EU weren't obvious choices for a casual simulation title on PC. We found them by compressing test cycles and letting the data decide — not by following conventional geo logic.
BUDGET CONSISTENCY MATTERS
NA looked promising. We exited it. APAC scaled. The difference wasn't just performance — it was the discipline to increase budgets gradually once signals were confirmed, not before.
CAMPAIGNS NEED TIME TO OPTIMIZE
Retention data doesn't materialize in a week. We held evaluation windows long enough for ROAS and D30 signals to be meaningful — and pushed back when pressure to pause would have cut campaigns before they could learn.
CREATIVE DRIVEN BY DATA
Character-driven gameplay visuals outperformed across markets. We knew that within weeks, not quarters — and deployed new batches and landing page variants fast enough to compound on it.
SHARED DATA, SHARED DECISIONS
Publisher KPIs and retention benchmarks were in the room for every optimization call. That's what made the decisions defensible — and what turned the campaign into a two-way process.
/// RESULTS
The Impact
The numbers that came from disciplined execution.
Conversions Across Markets
Goal Achievement in Top Markets
of D30 Retention Target Met
UA Decline Trend
/// KEY TAKEAWAY
How a Mature PC/Browser F2P Title Reignited Growth — with PWN Games
Transparent Communication
Real-time data sharing through both successes and challenges builds trust that survives tough quarters.
Platform Expertise
Deep understanding of algorithm mechanics enables proactive recommendations rather than reactive excuses.
Collaborative Optimization
Using data to inform strategy on both sides — adapting campaigns to business needs and business decisions to platform realities.
Continuous Testing
Strategic testing, creative refresh cycles, and geo-specific optimization based on quality signals, not just volume.
/// LET'S TALK GROWTH
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