Overview
Potato Play is a Singapore-based mobile game publisher founded in 2018 with a mission to bring hybrid-casual games developed in Asia to a global audience. Combining data-driven marketing, creative expertise, and strong monetization capabilities, Potato Play has released more than 50 titles and surpassed 27 million downloads. Popular hits include Merge Restaurant, Supermarket Affairs, and Merge Rush Z.
Partnering with Almedia, Potato Play aimed to strengthen its user acquisition (UA) performance through Freecash, Almedia’s global rewarded UA platform, to efficiently scaling high-quality users, driving meaningful engagement, and expanding into new markets with measurable ROI.
Challenge
As a growth-focused publisher, Potato Play needed a UA partner capable of performing at high volume and spend levels while maintaining efficiency across key KPIs such as retention and ROI.
Traditional UA channels delivered scale but often fell short on engagement and long-term profitability. The team sought a solution that could combine significant volume with sustainable value, acquiring users who not only install but also actively engage and monetize over time.
“We required UA partners who can perform at high spend levels and still hit key metrics like retention and a positive return on investment while scaling our game installs.”
Saras Panigrahi, Marketing Director at Potato Play
Solution
To achieve these dual objectives of scale and efficiency, Potato Play and Almedia collaborated to develop a customized rewarded UA strategy powered by data insights and agile optimization.
Engagement-Driven Task Design: The campaign promoted Merge Restaurant: Makeover, a highly popular hybrid-casual merge and simulation title. On Freecash, Almedia designed high-intent incentive tasks, such as reaching specific levels within 30 days or completing in-game purchases, to encourage deeper engagement, stronger retention, and higher LTV.
Access to Gaming-Native Audiences: Unlike traditional ad channels targeting broad demographics, Freecash provides direct access to a curated base of active gaming audiences worldwide. By reaching users already familiar with gameplay and progression mechanics, Potato Play achieved higher conversion rates and stronger monetization efficiency from the start.
Multi-Geo Expansion: The campaign initially launched across five markets, optimizing performance through localized offers and creatives. Following early success, it was quickly scaled to 15 key geos, including major EU and Tier-2 regions, unlocking rapid global reach and incremental installs.
End-to-End Campaign Support: Almedia’s dedicated account management team provided proactive, real-time monitoring and optimization, continuously adjusting bid structures, rewards, and targeting based on performance data. Their full-cycle support ensured seamless cross-market execution and consistent performance improvement.
This strategy enabled Potato Play to scale efficiently across markets while maintaining profitability and engagement, validating rewarded UA as a sustainable, performance-driven growth channel for hybrid-casual games.
“Almedia teams deliver full-cycle support for launching campaigns in multiple markets. They monitor KPIs closely, tweak campaign setups in real time, and consistently share new optimization ideas that help elevate results.”
Saras Panigrahi, Marketing Director, Potato Play
Results
Potato Play successfully achieved its key UA goals with Almedia, significantly outperforming traditional channels on engagement and monetization and validating rewarded UA as a scalable, ROI-driven growth solution.
+20% Install Growth: Expanded user base through gaming-focused targeting
+40% Spend Growth: Increased ad investment while sustaining positive ROI
+26% D30 ARPU Growth: Enhanced monetization efficiency through deeper user engagement
3× Geo Expansion: Scaled from 5 to 15 markets, including EU and Tier-2 regions
Through continuous optimization and multi-geo expansion, Potato Play strengthened its global UA performance with Almedia - achieving measurable improvements in engagement, monetization, and ROI.
“By showcasing our game directly to people who already play games and tailoring offers around in-game behavior, Freecash helped us scale installs globally faster and more efficiently than traditional channels.”
Saras Panigrahi, Marketing Director at Potato Play
Conclusion
Potato Play’s partnership with Almedia demonstrates how rewarded UA can deliver sustainable scale and superior profitability. By leveraging Freecash’s gamer-first ecosystem and Almedia’s data-driven optimization, Potato Play achieved meaningful gains in engagement, monetization, and global reach, all while maintaining a strong return on investment.
The success of ‘Merge Restaurant: Makeover’ validated rewarded UA as a long-term, performance-driven growth channel for hybrid-casual titles. With Almedia’s continuous strategic support, Potato Play successfully unlocked a scalable model for profitable growth across global markets.
Ready to scale globally with higher ROI and engagement? Get in touch to see how Almedia can support your growth strategy.