Adventure Communist — From -$1.18M Loss to Profitable UA
Adventure Communist had spent more than $3M on user acquisition over twelve months at 61% ROAS — a $1.18M loss. Twelve months later the programme was profitable: +11% UA ROI, and $1.37M of incremental profit after all fees. This is the turnaround, the decisions behind it, and what it says for any UA team running on thin margins.
Where it started
Hyper Hippo is the studio behind idle hits such as Adventure Capitalist, Adventure Ages and Adventure Communist. On Adventure Communist, one of its largest titles, every dollar of UA spend was returning $0.61. Over twelve months that came to more than $3M spent, a UA ROI of −39%, and a $1.18M loss.
The reports were accurate; the problem was timing. By the time a cohort’s ROAS showed it would never reach breakeven, the budget behind it was already gone. What the programme needed first was a way to know, at the point of spend, which dollars would pay back.
The turnaround, in two numbers
SuperPlatform brought predictive LTV and channel-level ROI control to the programme. ROAS moved from 61% to 111% — from well below breakeven to above it.
In profit terms: the twelve months before SuperPlatform lost $1.18M. The following twelve closed at +$186K — a $1.37M swing after all fees — on 38% less spend, $3.0M down to $1.6M. Revenue held up on roughly half the budget because the spend that remained was paying back.
Two numbers underneath explain how. SuperPlatform’s cohort-level LTV predictions ran at 95%+ accuracy against realised revenue, which is what made a forward-looking ROAS trustworthy enough to act on. And acting on it early — cutting segments before their budget went out — prevented $400K of wasted spend over the engagement.
How the turnaround happened
The partnership was earned in stages: prove it on a smaller title, then take the same playbook to one of the studio’s largest games.
Pilot on Adventure Ages. SuperPlatform modernized Hyper Hippo’s LTV predictions, replacing stale models with cohort-level revenue forecasting.
Prove new channels. Predicted LTV made it safe to test beyond the incumbent networks, and demonstrated the viability of new UA channels on controlled spend.
Expand to Adventure Communist. With that track record, the collaboration moved to one of Hyper Hippo’s largest titles — a programme that had spent $3M+ at 61% ROAS.
Scale with guardrails. Spend scaled against aggressive performance goals: segments that could not reach breakeven were cut fast, and the high-performing channels and creatives were doubled down on.
“Over the past year, Hyper Hippo have worked closely with SuperScale to drive growth in one of our games, with SuperPlatform providing key insights and support. Building on that success, we’re excited to expand the partnership to one of our largest titles and further unlock the platform’s full potential.”
Mike Aaronson, SVP of Commercial Strategy & Growth, Hyper Hippo
Takeaways for margin-constrained UA teams
Predict before you spend
A ROAS report tells you what a cohort did; it cannot tell you what to do with the next dollar. Predicted LTV turns ROAS into a forward signal, so the decision to spend, hold or cut is made before the budget goes out rather than after. On Adventure Communist the predictions held at 95%+ accuracy, which is the bar a forward signal has to clear before a UA team will bet budget on it.
Cut losing spend first
The first move was subtraction. Cutting the segments that could never reach breakeven is where the 38% spend reduction came from, it prevented $400K of spend that would have been wasted, and it freed budget that the profitable channels could absorb.
Scale only what is proven
Every incremental dollar had a predicted payback behind it, and the target was profit after all fees rather than ROAS on its own. Growth became predictable because the goal was the right one.
About the numbers
Figures are from the SuperScale × Hyper Hippo engagement on Adventure Communist. The twelve months before SuperPlatform lost $1.18M at 61% ROAS on more than $3M of spend, a UA ROI of −39%. The following twelve months delivered a 50-percentage-point swing to +11% UA ROI, closed at +$186K, and generated more than $1.37M in incremental profit after all fees, on $1.6M of spend. LTV prediction accuracy over the engagement was 95%+; $400K of wasted spend was prevented. Breakeven = 100% ROAS.