two & a half gamers 🚀 War Inc Review: It's not 2018 anymore! Great game, questionable UA & growth.
In this episode, we break down War Inc: Rise, the new title from the studio behind Art of War: Legions - a game that previously generated over $150M.
The gameplay? Solid.
The systems? Efficient.
The monetization? Confusing.
The UA strategy? Questionable.
We dive into:
Why War Inc feels like Battle Legion + Lucky Defense combined
How Fastone Games recycled their old IP smartly
Why ad monetization is almost nonexistent (and why that’s crazy)
The missed Applovin opportunity
Creative strategy mistakes that cap scale
Whether this can become their next big hit
This game should be scaling 2–3x harder. It’s not. And the reason is simple.
War Inc is actually good. Clean core loop. Smart recycling of IP from Art of War. Efficient production. Even layered modes like Lucky Defense built in.
But here’s the problem.
They barely monetize through ads. They don't push AppLovin. They’re still heavy on Facebook and Google. And their creative playbook looks like 2021.
The lesson? In 2026, you can’t just build a good game. You need the full growth stack aligned. Miss one piece of the puzzle and you cap your scale.
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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
Join our slack channel here: https://join.slack.com/t/two-and-half-gamers/shared_invite/zt-2um8eguhf-c~H9idcxM271mnPzdWbipg
Chapters
00:00 – “Why Isn’t This Game Bigger?”
02:00 – First Impressions & Battle Legion Comparison
06:30 – Core Loop Breakdown (Merge + Army Builder)
10:30 – Gacha System Explained (And Why It’s Weird)
15:30 – Limited Banner Strategy & Power Units
18:30 – Lucky Defense Mode Inside War Inc
23:00 – Why Co-Op Actually Matters
26:00 – Comparing It to Art of War: Legions
30:00 – Revenue & Spend Deep Dive ($40K/Day Reality)
33:30 – Retention, Payback & Scaling Limits
36:00 – Creative Strategy Review (What’s Missing)
39:00 – The Ad Monetization Mistake
41:30 – AppLovin, Blended ROAS & The Missed Scale
43:00 – Final Verdict: Great Game, Capped Growth
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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
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