Airport Master is a hypercasual airplane simulation game where players manage airport ground services in a portrait-oriented, tap-based gameplay experience. The game had strong potential, but the client needed help with funnel drop-offs, monetization underperformance, and scaling acquisition while preserving retention.
Our Role
We joined the project during soft launch and took charge of game funnel optimization, monetization tuning, and scaling paid user acquisition.
🔧 Game Design Funnel Optimization
Using in-game analytics, we identified critical drop-offs in the early- and mid-game levels. Notably:
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A significant churn spike at level 12, with 32.7% of users dropping off.
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Progressive drop through level 20, ending with 7.84% of players completing Level 20.
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Despite this, Level 13 showed a sharp retention rebound, which we leveraged in rebalancing the difficulty curve.
💡 Actions Taken:
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Adjusted mission complexity around Level 10–12 to reduce churn.
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Streamlined level pacing and introduced micro-rewards after key progression milestones.
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Added light tutorial reinforcement based on steps with high abandonment.
📈 Monetization Strategy Improvements
With over 4.6M ad requests served across 12 ad networks, our next focus was improving fill rates and monetization yield:
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Networks like Google Bidding (66.3%) and AppLovin (93.6%) delivered strong performance.
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However, others like Pangle (25.4%) and Meta (40.4%) underperformed.
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Overall average fill rate: 33.09% across all bidding partners.
💡 Actions Taken:
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Prioritized high-fill/high-yield networks in the mediation stack.
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Introduced frequency capping and UX-focused ad spacing to avoid burnout.
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Implemented rewarded ad triggers in gameplay pinch points (e.g., plane upgrades or speeding up passenger boarding).
🚀 Results Achieved
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✅ Over $10,000 in ad spend was optimized for performance.
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📱 100,000+ downloads achieved through a mix of organic and paid UA.
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📊 Day 1 retention stabilized at over 20%, with a stronger progression funnel.
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💰 Improved revenue per user through higher fill rate and ad engagement balance.