Steam UA · Case Study · Ubisoft

PC gamers acquired on mobile.
$0.37 per Steam page visit.

How Adzap acquired Steam PC gamers for Might & Magic Fates using mobile advertising — expanding to 9 markets in 43 days with ground-truth Steam-side measurement at every step.

$0.37
Cost per Steam page visit
From mobile ad impression to active Steam session
$6
Cost per Steam install
Blended across all 9 markets
4→9
Markets in 43 days
Phase-by-phase expansion earning the right to scale
Might & Magic Fates
00

The game & campaign objective

PC · SteamCard BattleStrategy RPGHero CollectionFree to PlayUbisoft

Might & Magic Fates is Ubisoft's strategic card-battle RPG for PC on Steam. With a strong launch wishlist and no native Steam performance UA channel, the mandate was to prove that mobile advertising could efficiently acquire PC gamers — and expand internationally without sacrificing cost efficiency.

Steam has no performance UA channel. The only way to reach PC gamers at scale is to find them somewhere else — and Adzap's proprietary targeting makes mobile advertising that place. The ad runs on mobile, but the conversion happens on Steam.

1
Acquire Steam PC gamers at performance prices
Adzap's proprietary targeting identifies PC gamers within mobile ad inventory — turning broad reach into a precision audience channel for Steam, built from scratch.
2
Prove incrementality per market
Each market evaluated on its own incremental performance vs. organic baseline. No vanity numbers. The bar: Steam installs at a defensible cost.
3
Expand internationally without efficiency loss
Phase by phase, validated efficiency became the license to expand. 4 markets became 9 in 43 days — the prerequisite for a standing repeatable acquisition budget.
01

The challenge

The game launched with a strong organic spike that would naturally decay. Any paid UA had to demonstrably outperform the organic baseline — simply maintaining absolute user counts was not enough. Incrementality was the bar.

−38%
Organic decay baseline
Across unmanaged markets during Phase 1 — the baseline Adzap had to beat
📱→🖥
The channel inversion
Mobile advertising reaching PC gamers — conversion happens on Steam, not on the device where the ad was shown
0
Prior UA infrastructure
No Steam UA infrastructure existed — Adzap built the full acquisition stack from zero
The Brief

Acquire Steam PC gamers via mobile advertising at a defensible cost per Steam install. Prove the channel in English-speaking markets first, then expand. No blended metrics, no vanity numbers.

The Constraint

The game launched with a strong organic spike that would naturally decay. Any paid UA had to demonstrably outperform organic baseline — simply maintaining absolute user counts was not enough. Incrementality was the bar.

02

Our approach

A phased expansion strategy built on Adzap's proprietary PC gamer targeting, alongside Ubisoft's efforts: reach Steam players through mobile advertising, measure Steam-side conversion with ground-truth data. Performance at every step earned the license to expand.

Pixel-first measurement

The Steam pixel tracked the full funnel: mobile ad click → Steam page visit → Steam install — ground-truth data at every step, no proxies or modeled attribution.

Three-phase rollout
Phase 1Mar 19–28
Anchor launch — 4 markets

Campaigns launched across English-speaking markets. Organic decay was −38% across unmanaged markets during this window; Adzap's campaigns delivered +926 incremental Steam installs above that baseline.

+926incremental installs
Phase 2Mar 30 – Apr 5
EU expansion — 7 markets

Budget reallocated from underperforming markets to the stronger EU opportunity. Poland emerged immediately as best incremental CPA of all markets tested. −25% CPA improvement phase-over-phase.

+1,426incremental installs
Phase 3Apr 6–30
Multi-channel launch + Brazil — 9 markets

A second acquisition channel was activated, providing a complementary audience layer and validating the approach across inventory sources. Brazil opened, confirming the lowest CPR in the mix.

9markets active
03

The results

Across 43 days and 9 markets, Adzap proved that mobile advertising can efficiently acquire Steam PC gamers.

$0.37
Cost per Steam page visit
From mobile ad impression to active Steam session
$6
Cost per Steam install
Blended across all 9 markets
−25%
CPA improvement P1 → P2
Incremental cost per install fell phase over phase
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