Meta Is Back in the Game. Here's What That Actually Means.

Why It Matters

If successful, Meta’s reorganization and product changes could restore ad performance for mobile game user acquisition, improving ROI for developers and increasing ad spend on Meta platforms — a potential revenue tailwind for the company. It also signals renewed competition in performance marketing for gaming after ATT disrupted measurement and targeting.

Summary

Meta has rebuilt a dedicated gaming org after Apple’s App Tracking Transparency (ATT) shock reduced the effectiveness of its mobile ad tools for game developers. The company moved from a country-based sales model back to an industry-focused team headquartered in London to get direct feedback into product and rapidly iterate ad-product improvements. Meta says it’s now working daily with product teams, shipping notable improvements in recent months and aiming to shorten developers’ costly learning curves around user acquisition and creative testing. The effort is presented as a deliberate push to win back market share and provide clearer benchmarks and value to game studios worldwide.

Original Description

Guy Meiboom, Meta's EMEA Gaming Director, reveals what ATT actually did to mobile gaming performance — and why Meta had to rebuild its entire gaming organization from scratch. In this episode, we go deep on the real mechanics of mobile UA in 2024:

1. How ATT reshaped gaming performance marketing on Meta

2. Why creative velocity is now the #1 lever for algorithmic reach

3. Geo lift testing: what it is, why it matters, and how to execute it

4. UA funding models and how capital allocation decisions make or break growth

6. How Meta restructured its gaming org — and what that means for your campaigns

If you’re scaling a mobile game in 2026, this conversation is about the mechanics that matter and the habits you may need to unlearn.

CHAPTERS:

00:00 Post ATT Reality Check

01:08 Why Gaming Needed Its Own Org

06:10 What Works Now In UA

09:34 AI Moats And Creative Diversity

14:34 Guardrails Versus Clickbait Ads

18:20 Attribution Mistakes Get Expensive

24:53 Long Term ROAS And Source Of Truth

27:08 Lift Testing Playbook

29:06 Future UA Roles Map

31:17 Macro Outlook for Gaming

35:04 Mobile Downloads and Scaling

39:05 UA Funding and Capital

41:12 Learning from China

43:49 Unlearning Marketing Habits

46:30 Apps vs Games Lessons

48:01 Challenge the Status Quo