Levelling Up Monetization Without Breaking the Game

An interview with David Vykopal, Executive Producer at NOXGAMES

Q: What challenge were you looking to solve?

David: As a creative indie studio, we’re always walking the line between monetizing our games effectively and preserving a great player experience. We wanted to evolve our monetization strategy to include new revenue streams to increase player lifetime value (LTV) across casual titles like Age of Tanks, Tanks Arena, and Merge Master: Tanks.

Hybrid-casual is about designing sustainable systems where depth supports yield, and smart pacing replaces burnout. We wanted to avoid players’ overexposure to ads by preserving flow without undercutting immersion.

Q: What was your approach to hybrid monetization?

David: We implemented an InGamePlay hybrid monetization strategy with AdInMo because their immersive placements look great and don’t interruptive gameplay. We wanted to avoid players’ overexposure to ads by preserving flow without undercutting immersion.

We started with CROSSPromo and then expanded to us IAPBoost™ to contextually promote our IAPs. Finally, we removed all disruptive ads post-IAP to reward paying users

This approach allowed us to blend immersive in-game ads within a unified player experience.

Q: What was your A/B testing strategy?

David: We agreed player segmentation from the get-go and systematically added different features measuring impact on retention and ARPU each time. 

We introduced different campaigns in isolation and tested impact and key metrics on new and existing players.

Q. What were the results?

David: Honestly? the results exceeded our expectations:

🔼 2.5x increase in overall LTV
💸 83% boost in ARPDAU
🛒 28% uplift in IAP revenue
🔁 33% improvement in D7 retention
📈 57% higher ROAS

It wasn’t just the numbers—it was how sustainable the growth felt. We saw a meaningful uplift across all metrics and now play to continue to roll out new campaigns and optimizations across our portfolio.

Q: How did CROSSPromo campaigns perform?

David: CROSSPromo was a real eye-opener. By matching promotions by genre and targeting engaged players already in our ecosystem, we achieved:

• 4.2x higher click-through rates than industry averages
• 37% better 30-day retention for cross-promoted players
• And a 2x ARPU lift from existing players when genre-matched properly

One standout result: promoting Merge Master: Tanks inside Tanks Arena led to the highest ARPU at $0.25 per user—proof that genre alignment pays off.

Q: What about IAPBoost and in-game purchase behaviour?

David: Focusing on our game economy was a key part of the partnership with AdInMo, as we continue to evolve to focus on hybrid-casual. IAPBoost drove strong conversions—especially for non-consumable items like battle passes and premium vehicles. 

We saw 8.8% conversion rates in Tanks Arena and a 53% higher conversion for non-consumables.

What we were blown away by was 19.6% organic uplift of purchases for the cohorts running IAPBoost campaigns. Awareness campaigns for your IAPs. Revenue increased by 72% over just five weeks, thanks to contextual InGamePlay placements, smarter and smoother purchase flows.

Q: Final thoughts?

David: Working with AdInMo helped us develop a more sophisticated, player-centric monetization strategy. Their tools enabled smarter decision-making, more precise targeting, and consistent growth—with zero negative impact on retention. That’s a win in any studio’s book.

Want to learn more?

Get in touch at Sales@AdInMo.com or book a demo to see how InGamePlay hybrid monetization can drive results for your studio.

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