Improving player engagement, retention and monetization – check out what we’ve got in store
Happy GDC week…one of our favorite times of the year! The streets of SF are buzzing with tons of game devs, some fantastic parties, and a few awesome creatures roaming (have you seen the Candy Crush folks?).
With thousands of new mobile games launching every week, staying competitive continues to get harder for developers and bringing quality users into your games will remain a challenge. Because of this, we believe the strategy you take to engage players once they are in your game is just as important as your acquisition strategy.
That’s why our suite of intelligent engagement, retention and monetization tools is now available for free. So go ahead and start exploring. We encourage you to experiment with your campaigns in order to understand what is most effective for your audience and what works best for your game.
Check out what you can do with our free tools:
*PlayHaven shares 70% of revenue with developers
Keep an eye out on for new premium features we’ll be adding to our platform in the coming months.
Interested in using PlayHaven’s engagement, retention and monetization tools? Sign up here or log into your dashboard to get started today.
If you’re interested in acquiring new users, reach out to us at advertise@playhaven.com.
PlayHaven Now Available for Adobe AIR Developers
We’re excited to introduce the PlayHaven AIR Native Extension (ANE) for Adobe AIR. If you’re using (or considered using) Adobe’s Gaming Tools to develop iOS or Android games, you can now use the PlayHaven extension to acquire, understand, and intelligently engage and monetize users.
The Adobe AIR runtime allows developers to package the same code into native iOS and Android apps, among other operating systems and create rich, interactive experiences for their players. Their library of AIR Native Extensions makes it easy for developers to quickly integrate tools such as PlayHaven into apps using Flash’s ActionScript.
With the PlayHaven ANE, Adobe AIR developers can start using PlayHaven to:
- Acquire Users: with targeted cost-per-install advertising campaigns on PlayHaven’s mobile advertising network spanning 4,000 mobile games, 460 million unique users, 115 million monthly active users, and 2+ billion monthly sessions.
- Understand Performance: with a wide variety of game usage, campaign, and revenue performance metrics available via our web dashboard.
- Intelligent Engage & Monetize Users: by delivering targeted in-app marketing communications – like cross promotions, rewards and virtual good promotions – to customizable user segments that are designed to improve retention and revenue.
The new PlayHaven AIR Native Extension is available today – sign up on playhaven.com to download the native extension.
Learn more about the PlayHaven Air Native Extension and Adobe’s Gaming Tools here.
PlayHaven Crosses the Pond with a New European Office and General Manager
On the heels of announcing our new COO Charles Yim last month, today we announced that Ville Heijari will join the PlayHaven crew and kickstart our very first office in Europe. Ville comes to us having served as SVP of Marketing for Rovio Entertainment where he led the creation of a global marketing and brand platform while the company went through a rapid growth period with the Angry Birds franchise expanding internationally.
Ville is a tremendous talent and we’re thrilled to have him on the team as we continue to build our team internationally and focus on better serving the needs of developers locally.
Check out what media are saying!
AllThingsD: Top Angry Birds Exec Flies the Coop
Games Industry International: PlayHaven hires former Rovio exec for European expansion
TechCrunch: Gaming Monetization Startup Playhaven Nabs Rovio’s SVP of Brand Marketing Ville Heijari
PocketGamer.biz: PlayHaven opens European office, headed by ex-Rovio SVP Heijari
Talouselama: Rovion lintukuiskaaja jättää yhtiön – Ville Heijari rakentamaan jenkkiyhtiön laajennusta
What We’re Playing This Week
Happy Friday, everyone! Since the holidays, there’s been no shortage of awesome games we’re playing these days. We’ve highlighted some of our favorites in this week’s What We’re Playing.
Have tips on great games we should be playing – give us a shout!
Check out what we’ve got it in store this week…
“I love a good platformer, and Wind Up Knight is no exception. Duck, dodge, slash, jump, roll, and headbutt your way to the Princess’ heart. The great twist with Wind Up Knight is that you not only are against the pitfalls and baddies that litter each area, but the clock as well. Keep your knight wound up or pay the price” – Tim
“What better way to soak in ski season than riding a Yeti AND a penguin through a backwoods wonderland…oh yeah – all while avoiding a deathly avalanche! Backflip your way to the top of the score charts and catch penguins in mid-air to earn more coins. The combination of cute snow creatures and the never ending urge to beat my last score makes Ski Safari a pretty cool experience.” – Laura
The Yeti gives you turbo power, but don’t fall off or else the avalanche will get ya!!
“I’ve been playing strategy games since I can remember. Risk, Axis vs. Allies, Settlers of Catan… they’re all so nostalgic to me. The main reason I loved this genre of games was because they were all highly competitive. After perusing forms and charts, I stumbled upon Valor by Quark Games.” – Kelly
Announcing Our Latest Round of Funding and New Partnership with GGV Capital
As you may have seen today, PlayHaven just closed an $8 million round of financing led by GGV Capital along with existing investors e.ventures and Tandem Entrepreneurs. We’re excited about the work we’re doing over here at PlayHaven and the new opportunities we see with GGV Capital as a strategic partner and board member.
Read what media have been saying about PlayHaven!
- GigaOm - PlayHaven Raises $8m to Make Mobile Developers Money
- PocketGamer.biz - Monetisation platform PlayHaven targets international growth with $8 million investment round
- San Francisco Business Times - PlayHaven gets $8 million to fuel games
- TechCrunch - PlayHaven Lands $8M From GGV To Help App Developers Monetize Their Games, Expand Overseas
- The Next Web - PlayHaven closes $8m for global expansion and improved insight features for developers
- VentureBeat - PlayHaven rounds up $8 million to finance international expansion
What We’re Playing This Week
It’s pretty clear that we love playing games at PlayHaven…in this week’s What We’re Playing series, we have a pretty interesting mix I must say. From chart topping sequels and highly addictive word puzzles to “eradicating the human population” with deadly plagues, get the inside look at what’s topping the PlayHaven charts this week!
“The Extreme Road Trip series is a poster child for indie success. I was super psyched to see Roofdog release a sequel to one of my favorite endless-runners. This time they took it to the extreme (queue rimshot) adding Game Center challenges, player ghosting, a ridiculous number of power-ups, and a persistent leveling system. It’s impressive to see a game with this level of quality and depth made by only a few indie devs.” – Ryan
Backflips, ftw, but don’t get greedy or you’ll end up in a wreck
What We’re Playing: Week #3
We play a lot of games at PlayHaven…every week we love giving you a little insight into what consumes our free time. From intense puzzle games to retro arcade and card trading games, we hope you enjoy what we have in store this week!
Take a look at what we’re playing!
“10,000,000 provides some of the most fast paced and entertaining puzzle gameplay I’ve had to date. Taking a traditional match 3 game and adding light RPG elements, and a sliding puzzle grid, 10000000 will keep you wanting more and more. At least until you complete the task of scoring 10000000 points…good luck 
” – Tim
8 bit style sexiness
What We’re Playing: Week #2
It’s been a very productive week! In between taking over Austin, TX for GDC Online and trying to scope out Obama and his crew (who just so happen to make a surprise visit at the hotel across from our SF office), the one thing we did not forget to do is invest quality time playing our favorite games.
Check out this week’s favorites in week #2 of What We’re Playing!
“Bejeweled is pretty much a classic, but some of the alternate versions of the game are even more challenging and fun than the original or timed versions. My favorite is the Butterflies mode, where you’re saving cute little butterflies from an evil spider — my high score is 1,119,925 on that one!” – Jess
Seriously, that spider creeps me out. He actually EATS the poor butterflies if he catches them… 
Come Party with PlayHaven and AdColony at GDC Online
GDC Online is finally here and the PlayHaven crew is teaming up with AdColony to take Austin by storm!
Join us at 5pm on Tuesday, October 9 at Parkside for some good company, good food + drinks, and live music.
Planning to be in Austin this week? We’d love to see you there!
