two & a half gamers 🎯 Creative trends don’t DIE. They cycle! Quiet influence of Kingshot (January 2026)
In this episode, we break down what’s really happening in mobile game creatives right now. Creative trends for January 2026 are here..
From Kingshot clones everywhere to Pixel Flow conveyor belts invading other genres… from 2022 impulse puzzles coming back to life… to the brutal truth about creative fatigue lasting DAYS instead of weeks.
We look at Golden Goblins, Royal Kingdom, Match Factory, Tasty Travels, Tile Survive and more, and what their ads tell us about 2026.
If you work in UA, creative production, or game marketing… this one matters.
Get our MERCH NOW: 25gamers.com/shop
--------------------------------------
PVX Partners offers non-dilutive funding for game developers.
Go to: https://pvxpartners.com/
They can help you access the most effective form of growth capital once you have the metrics to back it.
- Scale fast
- Keep your shares
- Drawdown only as needed
- Have PvX take downside risk alongside you
+ Work with a team entirely made up of ex-gaming operators and investors
---------------------------------------
For an ever-growing number of game developers, this means that now is the perfect time to invest in monetizing direct-to-consumer at scale.
Our sponsor FastSpring:
Has delivered D2C at scale for over 20 years
They power top mobile publishers around the world
Launch a new webstore, replace an existing D2C vendor, or add a redundant D2C vendor at fastspring.gg.
---------------------------------------
This is no BS gaming podcast 2.5 gamers session. Sharing actionable insights, dropping knowledge from our day-to-day User Acquisition, Game Design, and Ad monetization jobs. We are definitely not discussing the latest industry news, but having so much fun! Let’s not forget this is a 4 a.m. conference discussion vibe, so let's not take it too seriously.
Panelists: Jakub Remiar, Felix Braberg, Matej Lancaric
Podcast:
Join our slack channel here: https://join.slack.com/t/two-and-half-gamers/shared_invite/zt-2um8eguhf-c~H9idcxM271mnPzdWbipg
Chapters
0:00 – Why Creative Trends Matter More Than Ever
2:45 – Golden Goblins & The Decline Curve
6:20 – Creative Fatigue Is Now Measured in Days
10:05 – Borrowing Hypercasual Mechanics Into 4X
12:10 – Noob vs Pro Is Back
16:00 – KingShot’s Influence Across Genres
20:00 – Royal Kingdom, Block Blast & Fake Mini-Games
23:10 – Tower War, Mob Control & Genre Crossovers
28:40 – 2022 Concepts Are Working Again
30:55 – Elevate vs Impulse & The “IQ App” Strategy
33:00 – Tile Survive & Massive Playable Scaling
36:45 – Tasty Travels & 10-Click Playables
38:25 – The Real Lesson for 2026
---------------------------------------
Matej Lancaric
User Acquisition & Creatives Consultant
https://lancaric.me
Felix Braberg
Ad monetization consultant
https://www.felixbraberg.com
Jakub Remiar
Game design consultant
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jakubremiar
---------------------------------------
Please share the podcast with your industry friends, dogs & cats. Especially cats! They love it!
Hit the Subscribe button on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple!
Please share feedback and comments - matej@lancaric.me
---------------------------------------
If you are interested in getting UA tips every week on Monday, visit lancaric.substack.com & sign up for the Brutally Honest newsletter by Matej Lancaric
Do you have UA questions nobody can answer? Ask Matej AI - the First UA AI in the gaming industry! https://lancaric.me/matej-ai