Airplane Chefs, a time management game developed by the Lithuanian game development studio Nordcurrent, is currently at the top of the Asian mobile game market. The game has become a hit in Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines, surpassing its normal download figures by five times in the past few months.
Airplane Chefs, a successful startup JAV and Europe, currently receives more than 1 million daily players from around the world. In recent years, the game has successfully established itself in the Asian region, where in addition to a significant increase in the number of downloads, the number of players has tripled daily and monthly.
"The Asian mobile game market is rapidly growing and extremely competitive, so it can be difficult for even the most innovative developers to gain a foothold in it. We had to understand what really attracts players and meets their needs", comments Ada Mockutė Jaime, Marketing Manager of Nordcurrent, about the success of the game. According to her, players in this region are looking for short, enjoyable gaming sessions that allow them to feel progress, and the principle of time management games is based on the ability to collect achievements in the short term.
Success was not accidental
The game's difficulty level has been designed to appeal to both young players and the casual gaming audience that currently dominates the Asian market. In addition to knowing your audience, observing general trends was equally important.
"Continuous data analysis and targeted optimization of marketing campaigns allow us to stay in control, regardless of how fast we grow. One of our biggest achievements at this stage is keeping the game's cost per download (CPI) stable. In Asia, where competition grows every day and the costs of acquiring users often increase, this is extremely difficult," shares A. Mockutė Jaime.
Fans become ambassadors for the game
Social networks have become a real source of organic growth for some time now, as users share their gaming experiences. This trend did not escape Airplane Chefs either, where one of the creators of the content of the social network TikTok collected more than 18 million views with one video.
"We always think about the communities that the games we create bring together. The content shared by players is authentic, unmatched by any traditional form of advertising, so we treat players as our ambassadors. That's why we've included their content in our paid campaigns. This has been incredibly effective: with over 1 billion ad impressions in Southeast Asia alone, Airplane Chefs has not only reduced the consumer cost per acquisition (CPI), but also ensured that the content and style of the ad is responsive to the trends and specifics of the local markets,” reveals “ Head of Marketing at Nordcurrent.
In the future, Nordcurrent plans to balance growth both in Asia and in its core markets – the US and Europe, while maintaining consistency, stability and customer loyalty.
