Kübra Taşlıtepe Bıyık is a Digital Marketing and Growth Specialist at Moralabs. We asked her how studios should approach paid acquisition for a new game, where most of them go wrong before hitting their first 10,000 installs, and how she would allocate budgets of different sizes. Her answers are below, lightly edited for flow.

This is part of our ongoing interview series with gaming founders and growth leads.

Interview Highlights

Paid is for validation, not scale, in the early days. Small budgets exist to find what works. Scaling comes after you have a clear winning concept, not before.
UGC-style creatives often perform better in early tests. They feel more authentic, grab attention faster, and are quicker to test and iterate.
When retention is low, look beyond marketing. The issue is often related to product experience, audience fit, or the gap between the ad promise and the actual gameplay.

Meta for early growth, TikTok for testing creative angles

In Moralabs’ experience, most early acquisition runs on Meta (Facebook and Instagram), with TikTok in the mix for creative testing.

“Meta has often been reliable for early UA, while TikTok can be useful for testing different creative angles,” Kübra says. The team enjoys the creative side and rapid testing. The part they don’t enjoy is how volatile performance can be, which means constant iteration is the default state.

Use paid early, but use it for validation

Kübra’s core position on early paid spending is direct. Start before you think you’re ready, but be clear about why you’re spending. “We strongly recommend using paid channels early for validation, not just scale. Start small, test creatives fast, and focus on learning what works before increasing budgets.”

The mistake she sees most often with first paid campaigns runs in the opposite direction: studios scaling too early without validating creatives and core metrics, increasing budgets before they have a clear winning concept.

Focus on the core, skip the polish

For studios chasing their first 10,000 installs, her focus list is short. Strong core gameplay and clear ad creatives that show it quickly. Test fast and iterate based on data. Avoid scaling too early and over-polishing before validating what actually works.

Two patterns show up repeatedly between launch and the 10K mark. Studios test too few creatives and lean on a handful of ideas, then ignore early data and continue with underperforming concepts for too long.

UGC-style creatives often win in early tests

On the creative side, Kübra leans toward authenticity over polish. “UGC-style creatives often perform better in early tests. They feel more authentic, grab attention faster, and are quicker to test and iterate.”

A specific experiment at Moralabs reinforced the point. The team tested multiple simple creative variations, focusing especially on changing the first few seconds and the core hook. “We learned that small changes in framing can significantly impact performance, so fast iteration matters more than production quality.” This is also why trusting the data over the prototype matters so much in early UA.

Three budgets, three different playbooks

Kübra’s framework for how the approach should change with monthly spend:

$2K per month: Focus on testing creatives and validating core metrics.
$10K per month: Double down on winning creatives and start controlled scaling.
$50K+ per month: Systemize creative production, scale proven winners more confidently, and optimize for ROAS.

The shift across these tiers is from learning what works to compounding what already does.

When retention is low, look beyond marketing

One issue Kübra sees studios misattributing to paid is low retention and engagement. “If users don’t stick, the issue is often related to product experience, audience fit, or the gap between the ad promise and the actual gameplay.”

Paid can deliver the install, but it can’t close that gap on its own.

The metrics shift after 10K installs

Different stages call for different signals. Before the first 10,000 installs, Kübra watches CTR, CPI, and early retention to validate the concept. After 10K, the focus moves to ROAS, LTV, and scaling efficiency. The early-stage metrics answer one question: does this game work? The later ones answer a different question: how big can this get?

Paid is for Validation, Not Scale: Kübra Taşlıtepe Bıyık on Acquiring the First 10k Game App Installs

Richa Agarwal