Casino games are one of the most competitive app store categories, where many game companies can afford to pay shocking amounts of money on advertising because they know that they will see a positive ROI.
But even in this ultra-competitive category, some companies have found that App Store Optimization can make a big difference in growing their user base. One example is Huuuge Games.
In this post, we are happy to present an interview that we did with CEO, Anton Gauffin. We learned how he got started in games, his best results with ASO and much more.
We would love to hear a little about your personal and company background.
I learned my first English words as a 6-year-old kid by playing Lords of Midnight on my first computer, a Commodore C64. I grew up playing countless other PC games while dreaming of having my own game company.
Started my first business at the age of 19 while studying economics & e-commerce at university. Since then, I have founded companies in Finland, Poland, and Silicon Valley.
I established my first mobile gaming company Gamelion, during the early mobile game era in 2002. Then I sold it in 2007 only to buy it back and reunite the team years later in 2014, to start Huuuge Games.
Huuuge Games is a leading real-time mobile games developer, focused on the fast-growing multi-billion-dollar social casino gaming market worldwide.
Our flagship app Huuuge Casino (iOS, Android) offers the best social gaming experience where players are able to interact, engage, play and, most importantly, have fun with other players in real-time in an attractive free-to-play casino environment.
Huuuge Games publishes on all major mobile gaming stores, including iOS App Store, Android Google Play and Amazon App Store. Led by industry veterans with a deep passion for gaming, Huuuge is headquartered in Palo Alto with studios in Poland.
We are backed by leading venture capital firms, including Woori Technology Investment, Seoul Investment Partners, Kiwoom Investment and Korea Investment Partners (KIP).
Currently, Huuuge Games employs over 100 people and is constantly working hard to stay faithful to the brand’s promise of offering the highest quality casino apps. Huuuge’s vision is simple – we want to change how gamers play mobile social casino games by offering superior real-time social experiences on a global scale.
We believe that the next Las Vegas will not be located anywhere in the real world, but will be on mobile instead, freely accessible for everyone across the globe, just at the touch of a finger.
What was the most significant “ah-ha” moment for you in developing and/or marketing your app?
The biggest “ah-ha” moment for us when it comes to marketing, after the first 2 months of poor/no [ASO] results, we finally made a breakthrough and saw our numbers start to go up in a manner we have not seen before.
We knew then, that our investment in ASO was money well spent.
What are some of the biggest challenges that you have faced when marketing your apps?
The top challenge for us when it comes to marketing our apps was to be discovered by our target audience across different geographic regions. We’ve made huuuge progress with it over the course of the last year, with the help of Mobile Action.
How do you use Mobile Action to increase the visibility of your apps?
We’re using Mobile Action in the process of optimizing and testing our distribution assets (icons, banners, screens, trailers, descriptions etc.).
We’re creating our assets with Mobile Action information in mind (keyword ranks, keywords strength, competition changes) and check how their publication impacts our positioning.
The information provided by Mobile Action combined with our internal analytical data tools allows us to make the right decisions at the right time.
What are some of the best results that you have seen after using Mobile Action?
Mobile Action is a great platform for our Distribution team.
Thanks to the information it provides we were able to increase organic installs across our wide casino games portfolio by 120% in just under first 9 month of using it.
This literally saved us millions of USD in user acquisition budget.
What’s Next? What are some goals that you want to achieve in 2017?
Our goal is to provide the best mobile casino experience on the market. To be the #1 global social casino.
Is there a tip that you would give to other app publishers who are struggling with marketing their app?
Don’t be discouraged by failed experiments or lack of progress. Not only learn from your competitors but also test new solutions.
…and most importantly be consistent.
Results will come!
Conclusion
We would like to thank Anton for taking the time out to share his experiences with App Store Optimization, in the super competitive Casino Games category. Hopefully this helps you understand what it takes to do well in your category.
About the Author
Anton Gauffin is a Serial Entrepreneur, Gaming Industry Insider and an Angel Investor. He loves games and believes they have taught him more than any of his academic studies.
