Q&A with Conrad, McGee-Stocks, Growth lead at Uken Games

Gamesforum:  Hi Conrad, thanks for taking the time to talk to us today. Tell us about yourself and your role at Uken games.

Conrad: I'm the Growth Lead at Uken Games. My team's main responsibility is User Acquisition and Ad Monetization. We're dedicated to blurring the line between advertising and content, all in an effort to help great games reach a global audience.

Gamesforum:  The pressures on games marketing are well known; what are you doing differently at Uken games to grow your titles?

Conrad: Delivering value to players first and foremost. By treating every ad impression as an opportunity to delight your potential users as opposed to waiting until they landed on the store page or when they download has had a profound impact on performance. We focus wholly on our internal tools to help augment our ability to run effective UA at scale with less overhead and lag time.

Gamesforum:  When creating a growth strategy for games, what are the most important factors you consider?

Conrad: The most important factor is getting a fundamental understanding of what you're trying to grow.

The second most important factor that comes into play is what type of growth is going to be considered a success. Everyone is shooting for the next top 5 grossing titles but developing an understanding of what you're trying to achieve and in what time frame can impact the strategy immensely.

Gamesforum: In the age of instant analytics, you must be tempted to pivot if early results don't meet expectations. When's the right point to deviate from your plan?

Conrad: There is no single point to know when to pivot as there are many contributing factors, so changes are very situational. It's important to view early data as a balance between importance and exploratory.

Gamesforum: What are the biggest challenges you see coming in 2019?

Conrad: A couple of challenges I see coming in 2019 include more available playable placement inventory and how to leverage it. CPM's will continue to be pushed up by more traditional advertisers. Finally, continued innovation in the space will make it more competitive than ever.

Gamesforum:  And finally, what has been the moment you look back on with the greatest satisfaction during your time at Uken Games?

Conrad: My time at Uken hasn't ended so with the lack of closure/perspective I don't think I can answer that. Broadly speaking I look back on every incremental hire for my team as a special time, that and game launches are always a very exciting time.

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