Questions to Shortlist Gaming Marketing Agencies

Choosing a gaming marketing agency starts with better questions

Most agency shortlists look similar on paper. They compare budget, reach, creative capabilities, market coverage, and a few case studies. Those details matter, but they don't tell you how an agency will protect your spend once the campaign is live.

The harder questions are about fraud prevention, measurement methodology, and media efficiency. Can the agency explain where traffic comes from? Can it show what happens after the install? Can it separate attributed performance from incremental value? And when traffic quality drops, can someone pause the source before more budget disappears?

This buyer-side framework is designed for gaming industry marketing leaders comparing gaming marketing agencies, performance marketing partners, and media buying teams. Use it to structure shortlist conversations before the sales deck becomes the decision.

1. What channels do you actually buy?

Start with the media mix. Don't accept a long list of platforms as proof of capability. Ask which channels the agency buys directly, which are managed through intermediaries, and where the team has enough volume to optimise properly.

• Which channels are operated internally?
• Which publishers, networks, or supply partners can be named?
• How does the mix change by game genre, platform, market, and launch stage?
• What happens when a source scales but player quality drops?
• How quickly can the team move budget between sources?

Our guide to game user acquisition channels makes the key point: media buying, affiliate networks, and creator-led activity should be judged against player quality, retention, fraud risk, and return on ad spend, not in isolation.

A strong answer should connect each channel to a specific job. Media buying may be best for controlled testing and fast iteration. Affiliate activity may help diversify reach. Creator-led campaigns may build trust and explain the gameplay. The right mix depends on the game.

2. What does fraud prevention look like before the campaign starts?

“Fraud is monitored” is not a fraud-prevention methodology. Ask the agency to explain the detection stack, the signals it uses, and where decisions happen in the buying chain.

For gaming campaigns, the discussion should cover at least these vectors:

• Device farms: Recycled or controlled devices generating installs with little real gameplay.
• Click injection: Android activity that attempts to insert a click just before an organic install and take attribution credit.
• SDK spoofing: Fabricated install or event signals without normal device behaviour.
• Click flooding: Large volumes of clicks created in the hope that organic conversions fall inside the attribution window.
• Lead throttling: Lead volume artificially paced or capped to make low-quality traffic look stable.

Then ask where filtering happens. Pre-bid controls can block suspicious inventory before a bid is placed. Real-time controls can pause a source while the campaign is still active. Post-attribution detection may identify a problem, but it usually arrives after the install has been counted and the spend has been committed.

In our guide to transparent gaming UA partners treats active fraud detection, attribution clarity, source visibility, and real-time reporting as core partner criteria. That is a useful benchmark for any shortlist.

3. Can the agency show traffic quality at source level?

A polished dashboard can still hide a weak supply path. Require reporting that lets the buying team move from the campaign total to the publisher, placement, sub-publisher, device, and geography underneath it.

Ask whether the agency can provide:

• Publisher and placement breakdowns
• Sub-publisher and network detail
• Country, region, device, and operating-system splits
• Click-to-install time distributions by source
• New-device rates by source and market
• Day 1, Day 7, and Day 30 retention by acquisition source
• Post-install event completion and revenue quality
• Alerts when a source crosses an agreed anomaly or IVT threshold

Don't rely on one average. A source can deliver an attractive CPI while producing weak retention, unusual device patterns, or a high share of suspiciously short click-to-install intervals. The signals need to be reviewed together.

Also ask how quickly relevant raw data can be shared when an investigation starts. If the agency cannot provide enough detail to verify its own conclusions, the publisher is being asked to trust the report rather than assess it.

4. Which attribution model is driving the result?

Every shortlist conversation should include a plain-language explanation of attribution. Ask which model is used, what the click and view-through lookback windows are, how organic users are treated, and which mobile measurement partner is connected.

Ask the agency to separate:

• Click-through conversions from view-through conversions
• Attributed ROAS from incremental ROAS
• New users from reactivated or retargeted users
• Install volume from users who complete meaningful post-install events

Last-click attribution can reward the touchpoint closest to conversion even when that touchpoint did not create the demand. A retargeting campaign can look strong while receiving credit for users who were already returning. Without a holdout group, that distinction stays hidden.

Mark Luijks explores the changing measurement environment in his article on the future of gaming UA. The practical lesson is simple: dashboards, cohort analysis, and post-install data improve decision-making, but privacy changes and imperfect tracking still require judgement.

5. How does the agency optimise beyond installs?

Installs are an early signal, not the end of the funnel. Ask what the agency optimises toward after acquisition and what event volume is needed before automated buying can make reliable decisions.

Useful questions include:

• Which post-install events can the agency optimise toward?
• How are retention and payer quality included in budget decisions?
• How are Day 1, Day 7, and Day 30 cohorts compared with organic users?
• How does the team handle a low-CPI source with poor retention?
• How often are creatives tested and localised by market?
• What is the process for cutting a source that looks efficient but produces weak revenue?

ROI-focused media buying should connect spend to retained users, paying users, revenue, or another verified business outcome. A low CPI is not efficient if the acquired players churn immediately.

6. What measurement tests will the agency run?

Ask how the agency will test whether advertising caused additional behaviour. Holdout and geo-lift tests are not suitable for every campaign in the same way, but refusing to discuss incrementality is a warning sign.

Before signing, agree on:

• The control group or test market
• The test period and minimum detectable effect
• The primary success metric
• The statistical confidence standard
• The reporting format and decision that follows the result

The test should answer a business question, not become another decorative dashboard. For example: did the campaign create new paying players, improve incremental revenue, or bring back users who would otherwise have remained inactive?

7. What happens when quality falls below the agreed standard?

Fraud prevention and transparent reporting are useful only when the contract gives the publisher a way to act. Put the guardrails in writing.

At a minimum, discuss:

• IVT ceilings: Define the maximum acceptable invalid traffic rate and how it will be measured.
• Make-good terms: Agree on refunds, credits, bonus media, or verified replacement installs.
• Kill-switch rights: Make sure the publisher can pause a source when an agreed threshold is exceeded.
• Audit rights: Define what source data can be reviewed and how quickly it must be provided.
• Fee alignment: Consider tying part of the fee to verified retention, quality, or post-install outcomes.

A number without a consequence is only a reporting preference. The contract should state who can pause spend, how quickly the agency must respond, and what evidence is required before a source is restarted.

8. How should the shortlist be scored?

A simple weighted score keeps the shortlist from being decided by the best presentation or the lowest CPI.

Score each criterion from 1 to 5. A score below 3 in one dimension deserves a serious review. A low overall score does not always mean the agency cannot be used, but it does mean the relationship needs stronger protections before significant budget is committed.

Adjust the weights to fit the portfolio. A new market launch may place more weight on fraud controls and source transparency. A mature live-service title may place more weight on retention, revenue quality, and incrementality testing.

Questions to ask before selecting a gaming marketing agency

1. Which traffic sources can you name, and which are bought through intermediaries?
2. Where does fraud filtering happen: pre-bid, in real time, or after attribution?
3. Which gaming-specific fraud vectors can your team detect?
4. Can you show source-level retention, revenue, and post-install event data?
5. What attribution model and lookback windows will be used?
6. How do you separate attributed ROAS from incremental ROAS?
7. What happens when a source exceeds the agreed quality threshold?
8. How quickly can spend be paused?
9. What data can be provided for independent verification?
10. Which metrics determine whether budget increases?

Final thoughts: shortlist for proof, not presentation quality

The best gaming marketing agency is not necessarily the one with the largest reach or the lowest quoted CPI. It is the partner that can explain where the traffic comes from, how quality is measured, what happens after the install, and what protection exists when the numbers stop making sense.

FragPunk launch case study shows the value of connecting channel testing with player tracking, sign-ups, revenue, and real-time performance dashboards across PC, Xbox, and PlayStation. That is the level of operational detail a buyer-side framework should test for.

Use the questions above before the shortlist becomes a contract. The right partner should be comfortable with the scrutiny because transparent reporting, fraud prevention, and ROI-focused media buying are part of the work, not a premium add-on.