Tencent’s Level Infinite exceeded ROAS target for Goddess of Victory: Nikke with Moloco

About Level Infinite, Tencent Games

Level Infinite, established in 2021, is Tencent Games' overseas publishing brand. The brand aims to provide captivating original gaming experiences to a global audience. It offers extensive services and resources to developers and partner studios worldwide to help them realize their games' full potential. As its flagship product, the popular game "Goddess of Victory: 'Nikke'" (hereafter referred to as 'Nikke') has been well-received by players worldwide since its release.

Challenge

Tencent's Level Infinite goal for ‘Nikke' was to acquire incremental users outside walled gardens on the open internet to achieve sustained growth. By focusing on key metrics such as return on advertising spend (ROAS) and cost-per-install (CPI), Level Infinite aimed to strategically attract high-value users, which is crucial for sustaining success in the competitive gaming industry.

Solution

Partnering with Moloco, Level Infinite’s 'Nikke' expanded its user base through machine learning (ML) driven user engagement solutions. Through Moloco's extensive reach on the open internet, Moloco's ML models focused on users with the highest potential to become long-term players. Ad placements were optimized based on real-time behavior and conversion data to maximize user engagement and return on investment (ROI). This approach included several aspects:

• Multi-model user reach strategy: Moloco tailored a multi-model ML strategy for Level Infinite’s 'Nikke', focusing on capturing diverse users. The strategy combined the D7 ROAS and CPA model to target as many high-value users as possible. The CPA model optimized the cost of acquiring each user, while the D7 ROAS model assessed the effectiveness of these acquisitions one week after the initial engagement. The multi-model approach ensures targeted engagement with users most likely to become long-term players and extended reach to high-value potential users beyond the confines of the walled gardens.
  
  
• Leveraged data for machine learning: Data is essential for driving the full value of machine learning. Moloco’s ML models could predict long-term player engagement by leveraging data related to advertising goals. Through Moloco, Leve Infinite’s 'Nikke' effectively focused on players who showed potential from the game's initial release.
  
  
• Strategic access to inventory: Moloco enabled ‘Nikke’ to access high-quality, premium inventory in Korea for incremental reach to enhance the ROI for the campaign. By leveraging Moloco's capabilities as one of the few DSPs with access to this valuable inventory, ‘Nikke’ achieved consistently strong results. The campaign effectively reached and engaged high-value users using Moloco’s advanced targeting and optimization capabilities.

Results

Through this ML-driven collaboration for Level Infinite's 'Nikke' campaign, Moloco enabled precise targeting and engagement of high-quality users. Moloco exceeded target ROAS and improved CPA performance for the Day-7 install-to-action rate, outperforming several other advertising solutions. 

“Our collaboration with Moloco was very successful, not only achieving our ROAS goals, but also attracting many high-quality new customers. Throughout the campaign, Moloco provided 'Nikke' with customized services, demonstrating marketing results that were different from the past. With Moloco's sophisticated campaign optimization strategy and professional support, we achieved higher-level promotion goals and confirmed the effectiveness of budget expansion. We look forward to a long-term partnership with them.”

— Bincen Li, Senior User Acquisition Director, Tencent IEG Global