On 6 June 2025, the final acceleration day of the Bologna Game Farm 2024 programme took place, focusing on two key aspects for any development studio: on the one hand, strategies for navigating the competitive mobile gaming market; on the other, techniques for presenting one’s project to potential publishers in the best possible light.
During the meeting, Fabio Dell’Erba from Digital Moka shared his experience in the field of mobile gaming, outlining the dynamics of an industry that is as vast as it is challenging. The Digital Moka team does not limit itself to game development: it brings together expertise in crucial areas such as data analysis, art direction, CTO, user acquisition and many others…
The mobile video games market: big numbers and great challenges
The world of mobile gaming is often underestimated, but it accounts for a huge share of the global gaming market. Even in countries with lower purchasing power, such as India and Brazil, it is possible to monetise effectively through tailored strategies.
Fabio Dell’Erba explained the main user acquisition channels (ARM – Acquisition, Retention, Monetisation), distinguishing between external resources (advertising, social media and influencer marketing) and internal resources (optimisation of assets such as store graphics, SEO and cross-promotion between games).
The key metrics to monitor at this stage are:
CPI (Cost per Install)
LTV (Lifetime Value)
ROAS (Return on Ad Spend)
Retention and live operations: how to keep players engaged
Once you’ve acquired a user, the real challenge is keeping them.
Retention is built both within the game – through new content, recurring rewards, events and social features – and outside it, via push notifications and social media content. A retention rate of 45 per cent of users who remain after the first day is considered excellent.
Live operations (Live Ops) also help to keep the game fresh and engaging, offering special opportunities linked to events, holidays or new gameplay features.
Monetisation models and metrics to consider
The main models are:
Premium
Free
Freemium
Key metrics for monetisation include:
ARPDAU (Average Revenue Per Daily Active User)
IAP Penetration Rate
Time to First Purchase
How to show a game to a publisher: the pitch
Alberto Casolini from Slitherine, meanwhile, guided the teams through the best practices for preparing an effective pitch. His opening piece of advice? “Be able to explain your game in a nutshell.”
A good pitch ideally starts with a short video and continues with a high-level overview of the game, focusing on what makes it unique.
The key sections include:
Unique Selling Point (USP)
Art style and tone
Core features and gameplay loop
Market positioning and target audience
Development timeline and budget overview
Scalability of the project
A key tip is to start building a community early on: audience engagement can make all the difference right from the outset.
Bologna Game Farm thus continues to offer practical tools and high-level expertise to support teams in developing not only their games, but also their entrepreneurial strategy.