Quynh Anh Nguyen from Widogame

Managing monetization strategies across multiple mobile game genres is no easy task. We met with Quynh Anh Nguyen, Monetization Lead at Widogame in Hanoi, Vietnam, to discuss her background in mobile marketing and how she works closely with other teams to grow Widogame’s titles.

In this interview, she emphasizes the importance of optimizing waterfalls and balancing the revenue flow in games to achieve top-of-category status.

Unity: Tell us how you got started in the mobile gaming industry.

Nguyen: I started my career as a marketer in an out-of-home advertising company. After a year, I wanted to find a new challenge in marketing, and a friend recommended moving into mobile marketing. I worked at ABI Game Studio as a monetization executive for two years before moving to Widogame.

Unity: What interested you specifically about getting into the mobile marketing space?

Nguyen: I love how you can really build projects from the ground up. I am constantly learning from others in the industry by observing how games are designed and marketed. I’m passionate about bringing the best experience to our users.

Unity: Tell us about Widogame and what genres you work in.

Nguyen: The studio currently has around 30 employees, and we make and publish a range of genres, from hyper-casual to puzzle and simulation games. We also plan to potentially make a multiplayer game in the near future.

Unity: How does your monetization strategy vary between different genres?

Nguyen: We’re always updating gameplay and making new features. Measuring the difficulty of a level to ensure retention is also an important part of our strategy. Across all of our games, effective cost per mille (eCPM) is a critical key metric that I regularly optimize in our waterfalls.

Unity: What specific goals are you expected to achieve in your role?

Nguyen: My biggest goal is to have our games be at the top of their category. To achieve this, I’m always optimizing our monetization strategies, such as balancing the revenue flow in games, planning in-app purchases (IAP), and adjusting our mediation tactics daily to meet demand. Our biggest title on Android is Pixel by Number, which has now nearly reached our goal of 10 million downloads.

Unity: How do you work with other teams to seamlessly integrate monetization into the player experience?

Nguyen: Open communication is key. We’re always talking through ideas and solutions with each other and it really helps keep things moving. The team also does quarterly playtests together so that everyone has a chance to experience our games and provide feedback. 

Unity: How do you ensure that players who don’t make purchases still have an enjoyable game experience?

Nguyen: We put rewarded ads in many parts of our games to make sure that users who don’t make purchases still have a chance to access items that can help them throughout the game. This includes daily rewards, spinning wheel, and bonus rewards for winning. We’re mindful of ad frequency and length so that they’re compatible with user demand and won’t affect the experience.

Unity: What is something you wish you knew earlier about being successful in monetization?

Nguyen: I wish I knew about ad quality, real-time pivot tools, and certain tips for customizing ads. For example, getting details about the latency of ads and adjusting the mediation more effectively took some time to learn. Besides that, we can make changes in audio and close/skip buttons to increase eCPM. Small tips and tools have helped us a lot in improving our games’ performance over time.

Unity: How do you stay up to date on trends and best practices in mobile game monetization?

Nguyen: The most important things are attending conferences, joining communities, and following great partners and games on social media. It’s also important to constantly test and analyze games to understand which tactics work and which do not.

Unity: What do you think the future of monetization will look like?

Nguyen: I think the mobile ad market will continually see healthy growth. Consumable, non-consumable, and subscription will still be the dominant types of in-app purchases. In terms of advertising, I think more ad formats will appear that are more tailored to user demands. Because of how fast technology is improving, I think developers and publishers will focus more on IAP as a strategy for their game. 

Unity: Is there a trend in monetization that you’re seeing right now that you’re really excited about?

Nguyen: I’m excited that more networks now have bidding available, which helps free up our time to focus on other areas. More available bidding also helps improve our eCPM.