Author: Alfonso Villar

Social casino entry barriers
Product and technology are one of the most valuable parts of any Social Casino company. The real-money gaming industry competes with relatively similar products and different CPA offers. In contrast, the Social Casino industry mainly competes through their game quality. Studios constantly increase the production value of the market.
Production values must rise to meet player expectations as platforms and technologies mature. The rising cost of game development follows a common pattern. We have seen this trend before in many gaming verticals and across other industries. (more…)
March, 2015
The opportunity of Latin America for apps and games
Most gaming companies focus on English-speaking countries such as the US, UK and Australia. These markets offer high LTV and easy localisation of social games. Consequently, we are suffering an exponential growth of user acquisition costs that only the biggest publishers can afford. Small and medium-sized developers should look for new niches, markets or innovative game mechanics. This helps reduce user acquisition costs and generate enough revenue to sustain their business.
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March, 2015
Diversifying user acquisition channels
Churn rate has become one of the most feared metrics for any freemium game. Developers must be continuously feeding the funnel in order to maintain a stable level of revenues. This ‘formula’ may take many game alterations to perfect. Once it works, developers can scale their user base with higher marketing budgets. User acquisition strategies and marketing budgets remain essential to keep a game alive. This holds true even when you are not actively scaling, simply due to churn.
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March, 2015
The Video Game Industry in 2014: A Year in Review
Before diving into the details, I want to clarify that 2014 was packed with significant events in the video game industry. Selecting the most important ones was quite challenging. A single year in gaming can equal a decade of evolution in any other sector. I have tried to be as objective as possible in this selection, drawing from multiple reputable sources. If I have omitted any important event, I apologize in advance.
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January, 2015
Social Casino: Infographic of the Spain and Latin America Markets
PlaySpace, in collaboration with the American video game market intelligence firm SuperData Research, produced an infographic on social casino games in Spain and Latin America. The data was compiled from both companies’ internal records and a survey of over 10,000 players from these markets. This research provides unique insights into a rapidly growing segment of the gaming industry.
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July, 2014
Mallorca Game: Video Games as a Balearic Product
On June 20, 21, and 22, the second edition of Mallorca Game will take place. This is the video game event in Palma de Mallorca where the entire Balearic Islands gaming industry and enthusiasts gather to share their passion for the digital sector. The event is organized by the Balearic School of Design (EDIB), where I have the pleasure of teaching video game development classes, and by the team at RetroMallorca. We are thrilled to serve as the official sponsors this year.
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May, 2014
Advertising Games on TV Works
First of all, I don’t think this headline is the most appropriate. You can’t generalize, and advertising on TV always involves a very high risk. Nevertheless, at PlaySpace we are very happy because it is working exceptionally well in the first days of this first television campaign. As a result, I want to be transparent and share our experience with you. The campaign has been active for just over a week. Furthermore, we are frankly surprised by the good results. One important thing to keep in mind: at PlaySpace we have spent 3 years testing practically all online acquisition channels (Facebook Ads, Google Adwords, affiliate networks, incentivized traffic, email marketing, SEO, branding, etc.). Therefore, we have enough track record to compare results properly.
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May, 2014
Television Advertising: PlaySpace Launches Its First TV Campaign
Nowadays, more and more dot-coms and entrepreneurs are investing in television advertising. At PlaySpace, we refuse to be left behind. Therefore, tomorrow, May 5th, we launch our first TV campaign. It will run for three weeks on all channels of the Mediaset group.
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May, 2014
Business Metrics and Their Complexity
When managing a business, we should ask whether to use a third-party tool for tracking our key performance indicators, or instead build our own system. In this article, I share our experience tracking data across various platforms and countries. We found that conventional analytics tools could not manage all our conversion funnels at scale. So we built our own solution. I outline below the challenges we faced and how we solved them.
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January, 2014
Publisher vs Advertiser Framework: Digital Advertising Explained
Since I started working in the video game industry, I have learned many things. Among them, perhaps one of the most important: understanding the publisher vs advertiser relationship. This concept holds vital importance for any company seeking to increase revenue. There are two main reasons:
1. Monetize traffic (as a publisher).
2. Increase sales (as an advertiser).
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December, 2013