<p>This episode is a pure creative trend reality check for November 2025.</p><p><br></p><p>The big truth that runs through the entire discussion:</p><p>Players don’t care. Platforms don’t care. Only performance matters.</p><p><br></p><p>Across dozens of examples, the episode shows how AI, trend theft, playable abuse, fake ads, and extreme creative volume have become the default winning strategy.</p><p><br></p><p>Key themes:</p><p><br></p><p>King Shot is no longer a game - it’s a creative genre</p><p><br></p><p>AI-generated creatives are now indistinguishable from real UGC</p><p><br></p><p>Creative success = copying what’s scaling right now</p><p><br></p><p>Playables no longer need to match gameplay - they need to match trends</p><p><br></p><p>Century Games-level volume is becoming the new minimum bar</p><p><br></p><p>Ethics, originality, and “gameplay match” arguments are effectively dead</p><p><br></p><p>This episode is less about what’s trending and more about why the rules changed.</p><p><br></p><p>Get our MERCH NOW: 25gamers.com/shop</p><p>--------------------------------------</p><p>PVX Partners offers non-dilutive funding for game developers.</p><p>Go to: https://pvxpartners.com/</p><p>They can help you access the most effective form of growth capital once you have the metrics to back it.</p><p>- Scale fast</p><p>- Keep your shares</p><p>- Drawdown only as needed</p><p>- Have PvX take downside risk alongside you</p><p>+ Work with a team entirely made up of ex-gaming operators and investors</p><p>---------------------------------------</p><p>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.</p><p>Our sponsor FastSpring:</p><p>Has delivered D2C at scale for over 20 years</p><p>They power top mobile publishers around the world</p><p>Launch a new webstore, replace an existing D2C vendor, or add a redundant D2C vendor at fastspring.gg.</p><p>---------------------------------------</p><p>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&#39;s not take it too seriously.</p><p>Panelists: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Jakub Remia⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠r,⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Felix Braberg, Matej Lancaric⁠</p><p>Podcast: </p><p><br></p><p>Join our slack channel here: https://join.slack.com/t/two-and-half-gamers/shared_invite/zt-2um8eguhf-c~H9idcxM271mnPzdWbipg</p><p><br></p><p>00:00 — Intro, Christmas chaos &amp; why nobody cares</p><p>04:00 — Golden Goblins &amp; King Shot becoming a genre</p><p>09:00 — AI creatives reach “can’t tell anymore” level</p><p>14:30 — JigSolitaire &amp; Solitaire playables hijacking UA</p><p>19:30 — Fake ads, gross hooks &amp; emotional manipulation</p><p>25:30 — Century Games creative volume insanity</p><p>31:30 — The real meta: steal fast, iterate faster, ship more</p><p><br></p><p>---------------------------------------</p><p>Matej Lancaric</p><p>User Acquisition &amp; Creatives Consultant</p><p>⁠https://lancaric.me</p><p>Felix Braberg</p><p>Ad monetization consultant</p><p>⁠https://www.felixbraberg.com</p><p>Jakub Remiar</p><p>Game design consultant</p><p>⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/jakubremiar</p><p>---------------------------------------</p><p>Please share the podcast with your industry friends, dogs &amp; cats. Especially cats! They love it!</p><p>Hit the Subscribe button on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple!</p><p>Please share feedback and comments - [email protected]</p><p>---------------------------------------</p><p>If you are interested in getting UA tips every week on Monday, visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠lancaric.substack.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ &amp; sign up for the Brutally Honest newsletter by Matej Lancaric</p><p>Do you have UA questions nobody can answer? Ask ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Matej AI⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ - the First UA AI in the gaming industry! https://lancaric.me/matej-ai</p>