AFK Arena: How to Launch a Chinese Mobile Game in the US leveraging Gaming Influencers

About the Game

A casual RPG card game, AFK Arena features both heroes and factions inspired by Celtic mythology. Gamers need to send back the demonic invasion that is threatening Esperia. AFK Arena has swiftly become a leading game in its genre in the West, hitting up the top 40 grossing spots in the UK and US and racking up 6.6 million players within two months and $40m since launch.

Campaign Strategy

1. We built a campaign strategy completely around YouTube, as video best showcased the game’s beautiful graphics and game mechanics. It leveraged the timelessness YouTube videos provide by generating evergreen, relevant ad placement to new viewers. Cloutboost partnered with six YouTube macro-influencers who showcased:

• The ability to attract casual gamers (due to the casual nature of an Idle RPG)
• A history in successfully promoting mobile games
• Consistent performance based on True Reach (this metric importantly measures the percentage of a channel’s active audience and identifies the influencer’s ability in keeping subscribers interested)

2. We created messaging and communication strategies for each influencer that: 

• Highlighted AFK Arena’s Idle RPG nature
• A genre that’s easy to play on-the-go, anywhere
• A game that rewards the player even when they are not actively playing

3. We enabled the influencers to authentically promote the game in their own unique style

4. We utilized personalized, branded codes for each Influencer so we could track performance and implemented a giveaway offering in-game items to help boost conversion rate and downloads

Creator Content

Check out a few highlights from the six YouTube video ads created for this campaign:

AFK, which stands for Away From Keyboard, represents a huge potential for easy and fun gameplay without too much effort from the player.

The key communication points were:

• To highlight how simple and convenient it is to play the game: anytime and anywhere on your mobile device.
• To encourage viewers to download the game without any delay and be the first to play it.

Here’s how these talking points were implemented by Orange Juice Gaming:

Achievements

We know how to set up ambitious goals: getting AFK Arena onto Top-50 Free Game charts in the US was one of them. Yet, this campaign shows that even a high goal can be outperformed.

Let the numbers speak for themselves:

• Google Play U.S. Launch: #13 in Free Games
• App Store U.S. Launch: #26 in Free Games (charting above Fortnite!)
• Overall Reach: 20M+
• YouTube Views: 15M+ (Lifetime)
• Each video saw amazing first month totals, and even more impressive totals over time

We impressed Lilith Games so much with the campaign and the delivered results that they asked Cloutboost to help out once again for AFK Arena’s 1st anniversary next year.