Charting New Worlds – Scaling an Adventure Game with High-Intent UA

Key Performance Highlights

• 212% d30 ROAS growth
• 5x increase in Tier 1 scale
• 70+ creatives tested and iterated

The Challenge

Adventure games sit at the intersection of exploration, story, and immersion — but that also makes them harder to scale. This title had rich gameplay and strong retention, but it wasn’t breaking past a niche audience. Early paid UA attempts struggled to find players who valued story progression over instant rewards.

The developer needed to attract high-quality users who would invest time — and eventually, money — into the game’s world. The goal wasn’t just to increase installs, but to drive profitable engagement and long-term monetization.

The Strategy / Solution

The UA plan focused on one thing: player intent. Instead of chasing low CPIs, we chased high-quality installs by targeting those most likely to engage deeply — and spend.

1. Creative Built Around Curiosity & Consequences

• Produced short story clips with moral choices and consequences
• Hooked users in the first 2 seconds with “What would you do?” moments
• Ran A/B tests on decision-driven creatives vs. cinematic trailers

Best-performing ad had a 3.4x better conversion-to-retention rate

2. Engagement-Based Lookalikes & AEO Targeting

• Built LAL audiences using top 10% of users who finished 5+ chapters
• Optimized for AEO (App Event Optimization) targeting chapter_complete and purchase
• Focused on Android initially for better CPI to LTV ratio

ROAS climbed steadily across AEO-optimized ad sets

3. High-Frequency Creative Loop

• Rolled out 8–10 new creatives weekly, cut poor performers in 48 hours
• Used motion graphics to repurpose existing game assets
• Built region-specific ad sets highlighting local mythologies where applicable

Monetization Strategy

• Introduced limited-time “Story Pass” offers at key plot milestones
• Personalized in-app offers based on narrative progress
• Balanced rewarded ads and IAPs without disrupting flow

IAPs grew 160% in key markets without harming ad revenue

Results

Conclusion

Adventure games are tough to scale, but with the right mix of narrative-driven creatives and data-backed audience targeting, even the slow-burn genres can deliver fast-paced results. This campaign turned a niche hit into a profitable global title — one player journey at a time.