Most studios reach the same decision point. The game has proven retention, the first campaigns pay back, and someone has to run the ad accounts every day. The question is whether that someone should be a consultant, an in-house hire, or a mix of both.

There is no single right answer. The right one depends on how much you spend, how many titles you run, and how much creative capacity your team has. Here is how to think it through.

What you are really buying

User acquisition is not one job. It is four:

  • Campaign management: bids, budgets, geo and network setup, daily optimisation
  • Creative direction: deciding what to test next and when to kill a concept
  • Measurement: attribution setup, payback and ROAS reporting, LTV forecasting
  • Strategy: which networks, which markets, how fast to scale

A consultant usually covers all four from day one, because they have run the same playbook across several games. A first in-house hire is rarely strong in all four and learns part of it on your budget.

When a consultant is the better fit

A consultant tends to win when:

  • Spend is still finding its level. In the early phase of a roadmap, daily budgets per game are small and a full-time salary is hard to justify.
  • You have one or two titles. There is not enough work to keep a specialist busy, but there is enough at stake that mistakes are expensive.
  • You need a second opinion. An outside read on your CPI, retention and ROAS against your payback window can save weeks of guessing.
  • You are entering a new network. Someone who has already set up Applovin, Google Ads, Mintegral and Unity avoids the usual early mistakes on each.

The cost is flexibility, not quality: a consultant works with several clients, so agree response times and a reporting rhythm upfront.

When going in-house starts to pay off

Hiring a full-time UA manager makes sense when:

  • Spend is large and steady. In the three-phase scaling roadmap we describe, a dedicated UA manager joins in the scale phase, as monthly spend heads toward the low six figures.
  • You run a portfolio. A dozen titles with their own creatives and budgets need someone watching them every day.
  • UA is core to your business model. If paid growth is how every new game launches, the knowledge should live inside the company.

Even then, in-house hires need tools, creative production and a lead who can review their work. Budget for those as well as the salary.

The mixed model

Many studios do both. A consultant sets up the foundations (attribution, campaign structure, creative testing rhythm, reporting) and runs growth while the first hire ramps up. When the hire is ready, the consultant moves to an advisory role: monthly reviews, a second pair of eyes on big budget changes, and help with new networks or markets.

Questions to ask before you decide

  1. What is our monthly UA spend now, and what will it be in six months?
  2. How many titles will need active campaign management?
  3. Who builds and iterates the creatives, and how many per month?
  4. Do we have attribution and reporting we trust, or do we need to build them?
  5. Can we afford to learn on our own budget, or do we need to avoid early mistakes?

If your answers point to small, uncertain spend and a thin team, start with a consultant. If they point to large, steady spend and a portfolio, plan the hire and use a consultant to set it up.

For the strategy side of the process either person will run, see our guide to UA strategy and process. If you are still before launch, read soft launching mobile games first.