Subscrible announced the launch of its game catalog app that offers an ad-free, uninterrupted gaming experience on Apple and Android smartphones.
It is free for gamers to use and addresses the problem that developers frequently lose revenues from poor-quality ads, as they degrade the user experience, and disabling ads does not solve this problem for gamers, said Evgeny Unegovsky, cofounder of Limassol, Cyprus-based Subscrible, in an interview with GamesBeat.
Founded by Unegovsky and former Playrix user acquisition manager, Igor Diev, the game catalog has already gained over 15,000 users.
By leveraging a single acquisition to engage users across multiple titles, Subscrible significantly reduces acquisition costs. It’s important to note that while game companies spend nearly $27 billion on user acquisition, only about 10% of this investment is recouped as revenue from game studios, primarily through non-intrusive advertising formats, the company said.
Subscribe has a partnership with Xsolla, the global video game commerce company. The catalog features games such as Archero, Asphalt, Fantastic Jewel Lost Kingdom, and more. The startup is backed by $300,000 of business angel investments and plans to close a new round of funding within the next few months.
Unlike its competitors Multiscription, Apple Arcade, and Google Play Pass, the game catalog app is free for gamers and operates as an “offerwall” monetization tool within the gaming industry. This approach not only improves the gamer experience by eliminating disruptive ads but also benefits game developers through efficient traffic management, which increases profitability while reducing user acquisition costs, Unegovsky said.
“Intrusive ads, which players universally dislike, make up a small percentage of revenue in quality games,” Unegovsky said. “By cutting acquisition costs by even 20%, we can triple the profit margins for game developers. This approach not only maximizes efficiency but also aligns with consumer preferences for minimal ad interruptions, enhancing overall user satisfaction.”
The model supports both higher gamer retention and superior revenue outcomes for developers, he said.
Research shows that players typically explore approximately 5.6 games on average, a figure that the company’s metrics consistently support. Users can’t pay for individual ad-disabling solutions for every game, they need a unified solution.
Moreover, 32% of mobile gamers plan to spend less on in-app purchases in 2024, which aggravates the challenge of user retention. These findings prompted the Subscrible team to launch the first game catalog application that eliminated the need for advertising.
The company has seven employees.
The inspiration for Subscrible stemmed from the founder’s family and friends. Unegovsky noticed that his child was eager to enjoy games, but his limited playtime was often interrupted by video advertisements, turning what should have been moments of fun into periods of anxiety, and the family’s relaxation time was disrupted.
Disabling ads is not a viable solution either, since they force players to purchase subscriptions for every game, which, in turn, creates animosity against game developers. At the same time, Unegovsky’s friends remarked to him that they do not play games that have cover ads and proceed to delete them immediately. These findings prompted the Subscrible team to launch the first game catalog application that eliminated the need for advertising.
Unegovsky is a seasoned entrepreneur with more than 20 years of experience who has successfully built four tech companies in the fields of gaming, development, and travel. Based in the EMEA region, these firms have generated a total revenue of over $20 million.
Over fifteen years, Unegovsky cofounded three of the biggest travel tech companies in Israel, including a company with more than $13 million per year in turnover, and an “Uber for day trips” startup with a unique search engine that creates personalized offers for tourists. The team has background at Playrix, WN Events, Playtox and more.
“While I was talking with my co founder, we wanted to solve the problem of having a lot of advertisements in games,” he said. “The family asked us to eliminate the ads in games.”
Apple’s push for user privacy over targeted ads resulted in less efficient ads and lower revenue for game companies. With more ads flooding into games and the ads becoming less efficient, advertisers paid less per ad and that resulted in even more ads.
“We want to change that,” Unegovsky said.
With a better user experience, the players are more engaged and dedicated, and that makes them more valuable in the long run to developers, he said. There are eight games now, and there will be less than 100 games to choose from so it’s not a dizzying array of games available.
“Players don’t need billions of games,” he said.
Subscrible makes money through a different form of monetization. It acquires its users and then sells them to the developers, who are happy to acquire happier users at a reduced price that still turns out to be more than they would pay if they advertised to get them. The developers pay money to Subscrible to acquire users for them but do not otherwise pay a fee.
“We make money because we get users at scale and try to sell them different times, multiple times to different game developers,” he said. “The developers pay a reduced price for the users.”
The company started inthe beginning of 2020, with a focus on subscription games that players paid for. But it pivoted away from that and made the games free.
“The players know these games are interesting and they don’t have ads,” he said.
The competition in the market is Google Play Pass, as well as game publishers themselves. Those game publishers can also be clients.
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