Welcome to Voices of Mobile Gaming: a series of interviews where industry leaders share their perspectives on the future of mobile gaming and the trends shaping the market.
We're kicking things off with John Wright, CEO of Turborilla, a Swedish game developer best known for its competitive, physics-based racing franchise, Mad Skills Motocross. With millions of downloads worldwide, the series has built a passionate global player base across mobile and PC. John has been leading Turborilla’s strategy to deepen player engagement, expand cross-platform presence, and explore emerging markets while staying true to the studio’s niche in high-quality racing experiences. Beyond Turborilla, he has driven industry impact with standout launches and key partnerships, becoming a strong voice in gaming.
1. How do you envision the future of mobile gaming over the next 5 to 10 years? What key trends will shape the industry?
We’re moving beyond the siloed world of ‘just mobile.’ Games like Genshin Impact have already set the blueprint for cross-platform success, delivering console quality experiences on phones, synced across PC and PlayStation, with seamless progression. That trend isn’t going away. In fact, it’ll accelerate. Studios that treat mobile as one part of a unified ecosystem, rather than a standalone platform, are the ones that will stay relevant. You need to give players the ability to game where they want, when they want and how they want.
A big shift that we’ve seen the last 2 years, and will continue to see, is how retention is the new UA. The days of cheap CPI are over. What matters now is not how many users you acquire but how long you keep them, and how deeply they engage. The smartest studios are reallocating budgets from performance marketing to lifecycle design: community, live ops, personalised monetisation. Why? Because the value of a retained player is compounding, through time, spend, and multiple titles (if you have a good cross promotion and back catalogue play).
Now let’s talk about player-to-player economies. We’re still scratching the surface here. The idea that players can trade, gift, or sell items and services, whether for in-game or real-world currency, adds a whole new layer of social stickiness and long-tail monetisation.
Games aren’t just entertainment anymore; they’re becoming platforms, as we’ve seen from the likes of Roblox.
And yes, digital ownership will play a role, but not in the hype-driven NFT way we saw in 2021. I’m more bullish on functional digital assets: skins, collectibles, and even physical items purchased through games or “digital twins” of acquired real- world items. Think merch tied to achievements, or real-world rewards gated behind in-game milestones. Done right, this isn’t about speculation, it's about identity and utility.
2. What role do emerging technologies like AI, AR, and VR play in the future of mobile games? Do you plan to integrate them into your own titles?
Let’s start with AI. Everyone’s talking about it, and for good reason it’s already changing how we build and operate games. From level design to smarter matchmaking to predictive live ops and QA, AI is less about buzzwords and more about efficiency and scale. For example, I’ve seen teams cut production time in half using AI-assisted pipelines, while also delivering more personalised content for players. If you're not exploring how AI can augment your dev cycle or optimise retention, you're already behind. AI in personalisation, especially for monetisation and bespoke offers is something I’m seeing having a huge impact for companies using tech like Elevatix.
AR and VR? They’re still early on mobile but AR has clear utility, especially in genres like location based games. The key is friction. If AR enhances immersion without requiring players to change behaviour, it’ll stick. We’ve seen huge success in Pokemon Go, and relative success in Monster Hunter Now but we’ve still got a long way to go.
VR is less relevant and interesting to mobile right now, but as the hardware converges (think Apple Vision Pro), the line between mobile and immersive will start to blur and we’ll see more of an uptake.
3. With an increasingly saturated market, what do you think still allows certain mobile games to break through and become hits?
Let’s call it what it is: CPIs have gone through the roof. A few years ago, you could acquire users for $0.50–$1 and have very basic, predominately ad-rev driven monetisation. Now? It’s not unusual to see CPIs at $5-10 in key markets, for even more casual titles. That changes the entire equation. If your LTV doesn’t outpace that, and fast, you’re dead in the water. So the question isn’t just “is the game fun?”; it’s “does this game generate positive unit economics within 14-30 days?” And “can you be profitable in 90-180 days?”
The teams that are still breaking through today are the ones who understand this deeply. They build around early monetisation and strong Day 1–7 retention, because that’s what drives ROAS-positive user acquisition. They run marketability tests before they build, not after. They use CPI tests and fake ads to vet concepts, art styles, and gameplay hooks before spending a year in development. It’s clinical but it works.
We're also seeing a shift toward diversified monetisation, hybrid models that combine IAP, ads, battle passes, subscriptions, even merchandise or off-platform (webstore) revenue. Why? Because relying solely on one revenue stream puts you at the mercy of platform fees and CPM swings, which we cannot afford these days.
And perhaps most importantly: retention is now a cost-saving strategy. Every day a player stays engaged is a day you don’t have to buy a new one. In a world of expensive UA, keeping players around longer has become the most profitable thing you can do.
4. How have player expectations and preferences changed in recent years? What does today’s mobile gamer want from a game?
Today’s mobile gamer is much more demanding than a few years back and has less patience than ever. But they’re also more valuable if you get it right. Hyper casual was great in many ways but I do think it made people realise what they were missing out on, product wise.
Players used to forgive clunky UX, non-tutorials, and shallow loops, as long as the dopamine hit was fast. Now? That doesn’t cut it. Today’s players expect polish, robust mechanics and meta, instant value, and meaningful progression, all within the first hour. You’ve got maybe 2-3 minutes to hook them, and if you don’t deliver, they’re onto the next game at the press of a button
One of the biggest shifts is the demand for depth without friction. Players want richer mechanics, progression systems, customisation, personalisation… But they want it layered in over time, not dumped on them upfront. Games like Brawl Stars and Clash Royale nailed this: simple onboarding, deep meta, and constant novelty. That’s the bar now.
There’s also a growing preference for authenticity and identity. Players want to express themselves through cosmetics, clans, UGC, and even real-world tie-ins. They expect games to feel alive: regular updates, seasonal content, meaningful events. Live ops isn’t a nice-to-have anymore, it’s the standard.


5. What's your take on play-and-earn and Web3 gaming? Do you see them as sustainable models or passing trends?
We saw the hype cycle in 2021; token drops and mints every 5 minutes, roadmaps full of promises, and games that felt more like fintech platforms with some Unity assets in them. And what happened? Most players left. Because the games weren’t fun, the economies weren’t stable, and speculation replaced retention.
But let’s not throw the whole thing out. The core idea of player ownership, tradable assets, and real economic agency is powerful. Players already spend billions on cosmetics, battle passes, and virtual goods. The ability to truly own or trade those? That’s not going away. But it only works if the game holds value on its own. If no one wants to play your game without the token, then the token isn’t your feature, it’s your crutch.
What I’m more bullish on is utility-first Web3, games where ownership enhances the experience, not defines it. Think: players trading high-skill cosmetics, guild systems with real economic loops, or games where off-platform value emerges naturally (like CS:GO skins or Roblox UGC), just with clearer rails and better infrastructure. That’s sustainable. That’s player-first.
As for play-and-earn, look, everyone wants to make money playing games. That’s not new. But unless you're building for a niche economy (like competitive esports or creator-driven platforms), earning can't be the core loop. It has to be an outcome of skill, creativity, or community, not just time spent. Otherwise, you’re building a job, not a game.
Bottom line? Web3 isn’t the revolution. Great games are. If you can nail gameplay, retention, and community and then layer ownership in where it makes sense, you’ve got something that can last. But if you lead with tokens and backfill the game later, it’s just another passing trend with better branding.

6. What is the biggest challenge in mobile game development today, and how do you plan to tackle it at Turborilla?
We already covered it above but for me its unit economics in games, the bar has never been higher. CPIs are brutal, retention targets are unforgiving, and players expectations have never been higher. That’s a tough mix. It forces teams to make tough decisions between innovation and proven mechanics, between depth and accessibility, between building for fun and building for metrics.
At Turborilla, we tackle this by staying incredibly focused. We're not trying to chase every trend, we’re doubling down on what we do best: competitive, physics-driven racing that feels visceral, responsive, and rewarding. That’s our niche. And within that niche, we’re obsessing over early retention, session depth, and player lifecycle. If we can keep a player coming back for Day 3, 7, 30, we’ve earned the right to monetise.
We’re not trying to outspend the giants on UA. Instead, we’re investing in community, live ops, and long-tail engagement. The goal isn’t to go viral, it’s to earn loyalty. Because in 2025, the most valuable games won’t be the flashiest; they’ll be the ones that build trust, deliver value, and retain players profitably.
7. How important is cross-platform integration for the future of mobile gaming? Is that something Turborilla is exploring?
The way people play games has fundamentally changed. Mobile is no longer the little brother to console or PC, it’s just another access point, an access point that’s been generating the lion's share of gaming revenue for the past few years now. Players want to jump from their phone on the train, to their tablet at home, to their PC or console in the evening and they expect their progress, purchases, and identity to travel with them. Games like Genshin Impact, Fortnite, and Roblox have raised the bar. Cross-platform isn’t just about convenience anymore, it’s about building a lasting player relationship.
At Turborilla, that’s absolutely on our radar. We already have a passionate player base in the Mad Skills Motocross franchise across mobile and now PC with Mad Skills Motocross: Chasing The Dream and MSM2 on Poki recently, in an effort to get our games and franchises in the hands of players everywhere.
Cross-platform isn’t just a feature: it boosts session length, improves monetisation, and builds community across ecosystems. And long-term, it helps future-proof your IP. The platform doesn’t matter, the player experience does. And the more places your game can live, the stronger that relationship becomes.
8. How do you leverage data and analytics when making decisions about game development or marketing strategy?
Now more than ever you can’t afford to build blind. Every decision, from game design to ad creative production to pricing, needs to be grounded in real player behaviour and date.
At Turborilla, we use data to validate hypotheses, spot friction points, and prioritise what actually moves the needle. Whether it’s retention curves, funnel drop-offs, or LTV vs. CPI benchmarks, the goal is always the same: reduce guesswork, increase impact.
But here’s the thing, data alone doesn’t build great games. It tells you what is happening, but not always why. That’s where experience and creative intuition come in. If retention drops at Day 3, the data flags it, but understanding whether it's the tutorial, the difficulty progression, or the reward amount takes human insight. So we blend the two: we let data inform the questions, then use game feel, player feedback, and team judgment to craft the solutions.
On the marketing side, we treat UA and creative testing like product development. Every ad is an experiment. We A/B test art styles, themes, value props, sometimes before the game is even fully built. Because if a concept doesn’t drive installs or interest in a test market, it’s not worth scaling. And once the game is live, we’re tracking cohort performance daily. Not just top-line installs, but ROAS, ARPDAU, and engagement by source and segment.
Bottom line? We don’t chase data for the sake of dashboards, we use it to unlock focus. In a market this competitive, the edge comes from knowing not just what to do but what not to waste time on.

9. Which emerging markets (e.g., MENA, LATAM, SEA) do you find the most exciting or promising for mobile game growth?
MENA is exploding right now, especially Saudi Arabia and the UAE. Massive investment, a young, mobile-first population, and a strong appetite for competitive and social experiences. But it’s not just about localisation, it’s about cultural fit. If your monetisation model or content cadence doesn’t align with local behaviour and values, you’ll burn that market before you ever earn it.
LATAM is another hotbed. Brazil and Mexico are leading the charge, and what’s exciting here is the blend of passion and accessibility. These players are highly engaged, but value-conscious, so games that offer depth, social competition, and fair monetisation do incredibly well. It’s a region where community and esports can carry a title far beyond what paid UA alone could achieve.
SEA continues to be a retention-first region. Countries like Indonesia, the Philippines, and Vietnam have huge mobile penetration, and players who stick with games longer than many western cohorts. But again, pricing sensitivity and Android fragmentation force you to be smart, optimise your build size, your ad strategy, and your onboarding. The upside is huge, but only if you tailor your approach.
We are definitely looking at all three at Turborilla pretty closely to see how we maximise our success in each of them.
10. If you were to launch a brand-new game studio today, what approach would you take to survive and scale in the mobile space?
Great question, first, I’d start with a small, senior team. No fluff, no bloated org, just 3 to 5 people who’ve shipped before and can move fast, ideally people I have a history with. The goal isn’t to build a masterpiece, it’s to find marketability and retention fit as quickly as possible. That means idea-first, prototype-fast, kill ruthlessly. If the CPI is too high or the Day 1 retention is trash, we pivot or drop it. There’s no room for vanity projects.
Next: test before you build. I’d run fake ads, store tests, and CPI benchmarks on raw concepts by recording footage from a Unity scene. The best teams know if a concept has legs before they sink six months into dev. If a hook doesn’t cut through on Meta in 2025, it won’t cut through elsewhere either.
From there, it’s all about early monetisation and sustainable growth loops. I wouldn’t even think about scaling until we see signs of LTV > CPI. That could mean ad-heavy casual games, or light IAP in midcore, but either way, you need to hit ROI early, because funding is no longer a safety net, it’s a multiplier, not a lifeline. Fact is most VC’s won’t even entertain giving you money until you’ve already got decent D7/14 metrics now.
I’d also be thinking global from Day 1. If you’re only building for the US or Western Europe, you’re missing the big growth pockets. SEA, MENA, LATAM, these markets matter, and you need to consider localisation, pricing strategy, and device performance up front.
And finally, build in public. Share your process, your learnings, even your failures. Build a community of players, devs, and publishers before you ever launch. In this market, attention is leverage and if you don’t have a war chest, that visibility can be your unfair advantage.