In this episode of Story Mode, where we talk to executives about the video game industry, we chat with Warren Woodward, Co-founder & Co-Founder & Chief Growth Officer at Upptic. We tap into Warren’s extensive experience in the growth marketing space to learn all about the different phases of a game launch and the most crucial steps in each phase. Olya and Warren discuss a wide range of topics, including:

• The different stages of mobile game launches and how to approach each one.

• The role of the pre-launch phase and the key questions to ask yourself before you continue to soft launch.

• The learning tracks that should be conducted during soft launch (technical, retention, and monetization).

• Why Upptic recommends a dumbed-down ad network mix for soft launch and why that’s the key to obtain clean data for an initial test.

• Upptic’s typical scope and their approach for bolt-on marketing and UA for video games.

• The key learnings mobile gaming can learn from PC and web3, and vice versa.

• Why cross-platform is becoming the new norm and the prevalence of PC games branching into mobile.

• The impact of AI on the role of growth marketers and the ways they work in gaming.

• The paramount importance of data and measurement, and why some types of games and teams miss the mark there.

About Warren

Warren Woodward co-founded Upptic in 2019, where he has spearheaded full-stack growth marketing initiatives for leading games. With over a decade of experience in user acquisition and digital marketing, Warren has held key roles at companies like Nexon, Blastworks, and Wargaming, where he successfully launched and scaled multiple top-performing mobile games. I’m really excited to ask some questions and learn from Warren’s extensive background in growth and UA.