Two days of #bedirect, #beapplike and #havefun at GameGurus!

One year ago, we had the idea to host an event unlike any other big fair or marketing conference out there. We wanted to skip the formalities and business jargon and instead focus on getting to know the people behind the brands, people we are working with every day all around the world. We had a blast in 2018s GameGurus and figured that creating a relaxed and casual environment, where knowledge and insights flow freely, not only enables our guests to learn from each other but also us to learn from them.

Last week we held the second edition of GameGurus with guests from all around the globe. UA Managers and team leads from Moon Active, Jam City, Murka, GSN Games, Goodgame Studios, Huuuge Games, Bytro Labs, Machine Zone, Lotum and many more had two exciting days of presentations, panel talks and chatting with like-minded professionals to strengthen bonds and deepen knowledge.

Jonas Thiemann: “Our first GameGurus Event in 2018 was such a great success, that we just needed to do it again! In 2019, we focussed even more on learning and content, next to making friends with some of the smartest minds in our industry!”

Handshakes, small talk and some breakfast-snacks in our hobby room created the right atmosphere for CEO and Co-Founder Jonas Thiemann to welcome more than 30 guests to our Hamburg office and introducing them to the schedule of the upcoming days.
The approach of GameGurus is to let partners not only benefit from our insights but allow everyone to validate learnings and exchange growth hacks in a cozy atmosphere without having to worry about competition. From our understanding, we must work together with our partners to get the best possible outcome for all of us.

The first day started with a presentation about different approaches towards creative optimization and a recommendation on why when and how new networks should be tested and validated.
The lunch break rang the bell for the second half of Thursday, starting with a profound dive into one of the most significant issues of mobile ad marketing: Fraud. CTO & Co-Founder Carlo Szelinsky gave the audience an explanation of how AppLike got ahead of the competition in fighting and preventing fraud.

Day 1 was rounded up by the success story of Bravoloto, and an interesting presentation of Appsflyer’s Performance index 2019, third time in a row with AppLike in the top ten, and the final panel talk “How to plan a perfect global launch” for the interested audience. Emily Arakawa from Jam City, Alina Perova from Murka and Davide Sinigaglia from also Hamburg based Goodgame Studios took everyone through the necessary steps of bringing a mobile game into the markets.

To highlight the importance and positive outcome of our value have fun, we went on an Alster-boat ride through the world-famous Hamburg harbor, came across some of the biggest container-ships in the world and drank some “Glühweins” on the Christmas-Market. After that, we had the chance to close out a fantastic first day with dinner and some drinks in a closeby restaurant.

Day 2 kicked off with another presentation about an overview of the right KPI in user acquisition, followed by a lecture over the perks of finding your own niche in the gaming market before Igor Myrgorodskyi, AppLike’s Lead Account Manager, brought a brand new category to the table: AppLike’s very own “Most Played Games Index”! Contrary to existing indices, it measures the playtime of all games, representing a list of the games that were played the longest amongst all AppLike users.

The final entry of day two’s schedule also was one of the highlights. Jonas Thiemann again entered our stage and hosted a panel talk over programmatic and other mobile user acquisition trends from 2019.
One final evening of carousels, mulled wine and a delicious vegan burger dinner marked the perfect way to round off the event. Two days full of happy faces, fascinating topics and a lot of old and new friends not only exchanging knowledge and do business but also just having fun.

Check out a small picture gallery on our LinkedIn-page if you want to see more or get in touch with us!