Blukulélé @blukulelestudio.bsky.social · 2hCan't be happier reading this, thanks a ton for the kind words! 010
Blukulélé @blukulelestudio.bsky.social · 2hHaha, I totally forgot about it tbh, sorry! I need to find another way to give them tho, as I never get any answer on who gets it I suspect some bots get it every time 😬 010
Blukulélé @blukulelestudio.bsky.social · 2hMaybe the next game I'll build will just be a Steam game tho. But maybe I'll build it so it can live wherever players want to play it ❤️ (The mobile port was made by @ateo.ch and yeah, they're the best and I can't recommend them enough!) 220
Blukulélé @blukulelestudio.bsky.social · 2hGambo happened to be a really good fit for mobile because of that ig. But now that I've seen what can happen when you make a game that works well across platforms, it's definitely something I'll pay much more attention to! 110
Blukulélé @blukulelestudio.bsky.social · 2hAnd I think some of that was already there in Gambo without me consciously thinking about it. I was working on mobile games before going full indie and I think that experience has probably already infused a lot of my design philosophy. Readability, simple controls, ... 110
Blukulélé @blukulelestudio.bsky.social · 2hSo that's probably the biggest lesson for me, I'm not saying every game needs to be on mobile but when a game lends itself to it, making the porting process easier is something I'll try to consider during development. 120
Blukulélé @blukulelestudio.bsky.social · 2hAnd here's the funny part: I don't think there's even an advertising campaign running for Gambo on mobile right now. The only way I tried to bring Steam players over was literally just a popup in Gambo's Steam main menu telling them that the game was also available on mobile! 120
Blukulélé @blukulelestudio.bsky.social · 2hRegarding the 🤑🤑🤑 aspect: The game released on May the 1st (~5 months away) It made : - 300k$ on mobile (Q2) - 788k$ on Steam (May, June only rn) (before taxes, and stuff ofc). That is a LOT of money. It honestly changed my life, I can't thank you enough for all of this! 150
Blukulélé @blukulelestudio.bsky.social · 2hGambo has made 12.5k$ in August on PlayPass We've had around 2.5k daily active users on PP for the time we've been out in August. In September, we'll have the entire month + the user surge with up to 5k active users (now back to 2.5k), so I expect September to be higher. 110
Blukulélé @blukulelestudio.bsky.social · 2hAnd Play Pass isn't just free exposure. It also provides an additional revenue stream based on player usage. So even players who aren't directly buying the game can still generate revenue. That's something I honestly hadn't really considered before releasing on mobile. 110
Blukulélé @blukulelestudio.bsky.social · 2hThen there's Google Play Pass, which completely surprised me. I had more than 10,000 mobile players on the 1st week, and peaked on around 50k PP User ! (ignore the drop to 0, that's a chart fluke) 110
Blukulélé @blukulelestudio.bsky.social · 2hTotal User Acquisition (Play Pass Users + People who bought the game) has peaked a bit later in September at over 6k/Day 110
Blukulélé @blukulelestudio.bsky.social · 2hOn the beginning of September we've had a huge surge in new players, up to 4k per day (User Acquisition) 110
Blukulélé @blukulelestudio.bsky.social · 2hHere are the result of this discount: 🇫🇷 #1 paid app in France (cocorico!) 🇺🇸 #3 paid app in the US WHAT THE FUCK 😭😭😭 I still genuinely can't believe this happened. It really showed me how powerful a store promotion can be. 220
Blukulélé @blukulelestudio.bsky.social · 2hI've also made a 50% Sale (invited by Google & with their marketing support) on Android from the 11th of September until the 24th of September and it was HUGE. Those discount are as important as Steam ones! 110
Blukulélé @blukulelestudio.bsky.social · 2hLet's start with the obvious one: 🖥️ ~190k on Steam 🤖 ~125k on Android 🍎 ~75k on iOS That's roughly 390,000 units across the three platforms! Seeing mobile reach roughly the same order of magnitude as Steam is honestly something I never expected when I released Gambo! 120
Blukulélé @blukulelestudio.bsky.social · 2hI thought Gambo was a Steam game... Turns out, I was accidentally making a mobile game too! Launching on Steam, iOS and Android has completely changed the way I think about releasing games. So here are some numbers, some surprises, and a few things I learned along the way! 270
Blukulélé @blukulelestudio.bsky.social · 17/09/2026It really is! And honestly, it also really shows the power of Google Play deals. I’m SUPER impressed by how much of an impact they can have! Thank you so much! 100
Blukulélé @blukulelestudio.bsky.social · 16/09/2026Je n'espérais même pas un top 100 en lançant le jeu, c'est juste incr! 010
Blukulélé @blukulelestudio.bsky.social · 16/09/2026Gambo is currently the #3 paid app on the US Google Play Store!! I’m so happy right now, thank you so much everyone!! (Oh, and it is 50% off too 👀) 2164
Blukulélé @blukulelestudio.bsky.social · 10/09/2026My pleasure le J&B! I’d say the playtest with a direct link to the Discord helped a LOT! During SNF, I also ran a giveaway where players who finished the demo got a code for a raffle to win a free copy of the game (they just had to send a code on the discord). A lot of people joined through that! 010
Blukulélé @blukulelestudio.bsky.social · 10/09/2026Anyway, that's what I found! I'm still not sure what all these numbers really mean, but I found them interesting enough to share 👀 If you're a fellow dev with similar data, I'd love to compare! 10/10 140
Blukulélé @blukulelestudio.bsky.social · 10/09/2026Ofc it doesn't mean much without context! A 13% refund rate might be perfectly fine for a roguelike and worrying for a 10-minute arcade game. Genre, price, audience, launch conditions... everything matters! So please don't use my numbers as a benchmark for your own game! 9/10 120
Blukulélé @blukulelestudio.bsky.social · 10/09/2026The difference between average (4h10) and median (1h54) is also pretty funny. It basically tells me that there's a smaller group of players putting a LOT of time into Gambo. Probably the 10k+ discord community tbh, do not hesitate to join btw! 8/10 120
Blukulélé @blukulelestudio.bsky.social · 10/09/2026~10 minutes is also the duration of the tutorial, so maybe I should investigate more on this one? 🔑DCMK?-6Z338-JKY76🔑 (? => first letter of the 8/10 tweet) 7/10 220
Blukulélé @blukulelestudio.bsky.social · 10/09/2026And there's another number I really like: 95% of players played for at least 10 minutes. Which means that only ~5% of players seemingly launched Gambo and immediately went: "Nope. What the hell is this." Honestly, I think I'll take it. 6/10 120
Blukulélé @blukulelestudio.bsky.social · 10/09/2026I don't know if that's actually "good" by industry standards, and I don't want to pretend it is. But for a silly little roguelike chess game that people can refund after 2 h seeing that almost 7/10 played for more than an hour makes me pretty happy. ❤️ 5/10 120
Blukulélé @blukulelestudio.bsky.social · 10/09/2026Now this one surprised me. Median playtime: 1h54 Out of 184,722 players measured by Steam: • 68% played for 1h+ • 48% played for 2h+ • 22% for 5h+ • 8% for 10h+ • 2% for 20h+ And the average is 4h10. IDK what to do with this last info, but here it is! 4/10 120
Blukulélé @blukulelestudio.bsky.social · 10/09/2026Gambo's lifetime wishlist conversion rate: 14.8% Steam says the average for other Game applications is around 15.3% after their first year of wishlisting. So despite all the weirdness of Gambo, apparently my wishlist conversion is... pretty normal (yaaaay!) 3/10 120
Blukulélé @blukulelestudio.bsky.social · 10/09/2026Let's start with the scary one: Refund rate:13% A rough rule of thumb I've heard is: 🟢 <10% = very good 🟡 10–15% = nothing to worry about 🔴 >15% = worth investigating Obviously, this varies A LOT depending on the game. (I would love to have your pov on this one tbh) 2/10 120
Blukulélé @blukulelestudio.bsky.social · 10/09/2026Gambonanza reached 300,000 sales in 3 months and I decided to dig into some of Steam's deeper stats for those who are interested! - Refund rate - Playtime - etc... I've received quite a few questions about my data, so let's go! 1/10 1205
Blukulélé @blukulelestudio.bsky.social · 02/09/2026Seeing someone discover a mechanic I spent months working on! Talking to other devs and hearing the stories behind their games! And realizing there are so many cool people making games! That's what I'll take away from this event. Not the 3,747 sales (but thanks tho!) 🙏 9/9 010
Blukulélé @blukulelestudio.bsky.social · 02/09/2026That doesn't mean events aren't worth it. Quite the opposite! I just think you shouldn't go to an event expecting it to magically boost your sales or visibility. You should go because you want to meet people! 8/9 110
Blukulélé @blukulelestudio.bsky.social · 02/09/2026But I'm not sure it really works that way... An event can give you visibility, but visibility isn't the same thing as sales! Plus for an already-released game like Gambo, I think the effect can be even smaller! 🔑3KN4Y-H?MEL-Y6VZE🔑 (? = 1st letter of the 5/10 tweet) 7/9 110
Blukulélé @blukulelestudio.bsky.social · 02/09/2026I think it's easy to look at an event like Gamescom and think: I'm going there → more people will see my game → more people will buy it. 6/9 110
Blukulélé @blukulelestudio.bsky.social · 02/09/2026Yes… but probably not for the reason you think! During the whole event, Gambonanza was 35% off! (It was also part of the official Gamescom event on Steam, so that should definitely be taken into account too!) 5/9 120
Blukulélé @blukulelestudio.bsky.social · 02/09/2026So, more wishlist converted and more sales! Is that the proof of the magnificent ✨GAMESCOM EFFECT✨? 4/9 120
Blukulélé @blukulelestudio.bsky.social · 02/09/2026❤️ The wishlists Last week: -784 wishlists This week: -1,801 wishlists Which might look terrible at first... But there's an important detail: most of those wishlists were converted into sales. And that's actually a good sign! 3/9 110
Blukulélé @blukulelestudio.bsky.social · 02/09/2026📈 The sales Last week: 1,905 copies sold This week: 3,747 copies sold That's almost 2x more sales in one week! 2/9 110
Blukulélé @blukulelestudio.bsky.social · 02/09/2026Did Gamescom actually boost my game's sales? 👀 Gambonanza is already 4 months old, so I was curious to see what would happen after spending a week at one of the biggest game events in the world! 1/9 140
Blukulélé @blukulelestudio.bsky.social · 01/09/2026Waaah, j'avais jamais vu la vue du bâtiment de ce côté, c'est joli! (Et aussi je serai là 💪) 140
Blukulélé @blukulelestudio.bsky.social · 01/09/2026My pleasure, can't wait to play the full game! 010
Blukulélé @blukulelestudio.bsky.social · 31/08/2026📬 Tom the Postgirl by bsky.app/profile/oops... Play as a postgirl delivering mail and uncovering the DEEPEST secrets of the people you're delivering to. It's funny, creepy, and has this amazing stalker vibe. I LOVED IT! DO YOU HEAR ME?? (Demo on steam!) 010
Blukulélé @blukulelestudio.bsky.social · 31/08/2026💈The Midnight Barber by bsky.app/profile/omae... A rhythm + investigation game with an INCREDIBLE vibe! I'm not usually into narrative investigation games, but this one caught me off guard and I really enjoyed my time with it! Plus, the devs are adorable! ❤️ (demo available on steam!) 110
Blukulélé @blukulelestudio.bsky.social · 31/08/2026🎨 Jordi & Oslo: The Lost Tail by bsky.app/profile/jord... A BEAUTIFUL hand-painted watercolor point'n'click adventure! Made by an amazing dev handling both the art, animation and code, alongside a composer and a sound designer. They were all lovely and incredibly talented! 262
Blukulélé @blukulelestudio.bsky.social · 31/08/2026🥊 Knuckle Paradise by bsky.app/profile/flyi... An ultra-juicy beat 'em up where you extend your combos with a chicken! Made by the creator of ScourgeBringer, this one definitely has the juice too! It's SO satisfying !! 120
Blukulélé @blukulelestudio.bsky.social · 31/08/2026🐔 Matelotes by bsky.app/profile/lapo... Build a somehow functional crew and take to the sea! SUPER funny and charming, I loved it so much! Can't wait to play the full game! (demo available on steam btw) 120
