two & a half gamers -🎯 The Mobile Games Ecosystem Explained by Felix Braberg

Summary

When Felix interviewed at MoPub/Twitter years ago, they asked him the difference between a DSP and an ad network. He couldn’t answer, and didn’t get the job. Nobody explains how the mobile ecosystem actually works when you’re starting out — so this episode is the explainer he wishes he’d had.

Felix Braberg flies solo for an introduction to the mobile games ecosystem, built for anyone interviewing for or just starting an entry-level role in mobile UA, ad monetization, or ad tech. He walks the whole map from the ground up: the sheer scale of mobile (Apple says the ecosystem facilitated over $1.4T in 2025, with ~$52.5B in App Store gaming IAP), the core problem the entire industry exists to solve (discoverability — 2.5M apps on each store and almost no way to be found), and how each type of company slots in to solve it. Ad networks (SDK-connected, own their inventory, sell on eCPM), MMPs like AppsFlyer and Adjust (the impartial attribution layer that tracks installs and events), AppLovin-style UA campaigns tailored to IAP, subscription, or ad monetization, why creative is now the battleground (100 creatives a month used to be enough; now you need ~10,000 to scale), DSPs like Liftoff and Moloco (demand-side, buy on the open market, don’t own the end relationship), retargeting platforms like Addictive for pulling high-value users back, the 30% Apple/Google tax (roughly 12% of Apple’s top line, ~9% of Google’s) and the lawsuits around it, and the payments/D2C disruption (FastSpring and others knocking that 30% down to a couple of percent).

If you’re new to mobile, start here. This is the head start nobody gave the rest of us.