Industry-Leading User Acquisition for Developers and Publishers

In November 2024, Samsung officially commercialized its mobile cloud gaming platform in North America — providing developers and publishers with efficient new ways to reach millions of Galaxy device users while allowing players to instantly access games without waiting or downloading.

The platform is already demonstrating significant value within the gaming community, as highlighted by a recent case study from VIZOR, the developer behind mobile title Klondike Adventures. After launching Klondike Adventures on Samsung’s mobile cloud gaming beta in July 2024, VIZOR experienced substantial growth in user acquisition — with millions of new players joining in less than a year. Additionally, the 60-day return on ad spend (ROAS) for VIZOR’s campaigns on Samsung’s platform was 25% higher than its standard ROAS for comparable campaigns during the same period.

“VIZOR is constantly looking for new channels to attract players to its flagship game, Klondike Adventures,” said Helen Kostina, Chief Marketing Officer of VIZOR. “The results we have achieved together with Samsung’s mobile cloud gaming platform have exceeded our expectations, proving the potential of cloud technology. Moving forward, Samsung will remain an important part of our strategy to reach a wider audience.”

“Our cloud gaming platform is changing the mobile landscape for both publishers and players,” said Jong Woo, Vice President and Head of Game Services at Samsung Electronics. “By converting an ad click directly into gameplay and eliminating the need for app store downloads, we are significantly increasing top-of-funnel conversion rates for publishers’ user acquisition campaigns and driving higher returns on their advertising investments. This increased efficiency is redefining how publishers scale their games while expanding the user base on Galaxy devices. For players, eliminating the wait time for downloads and installations also provides a new kind of discovery and play experience — one that is easy, instant and fun.”

A New Approach to Performance Metrics in Cloud Gaming

Samsung’s mobile cloud gaming platform also introduces a new cloud-based attribution solution in collaboration with leading mobile measurement partners (MMPs).

Traditionally, user acquisition campaign attribution has depended on apps being installed and opened directly on a user’s device. This approach has been the industry standard for game publishers to track new app installs from their ad campaigns, allowing them to measure ROI based on the overall monetization of acquired users.

With cloud gaming, players can instantly jump into gameplay without installing an app — disrupting traditional attribution models. To address this challenge, Samsung partnered with leading MMP AppsFlyer to develop a first-of-its-kind solution that attributes an ad click and the resulting cloud-based gameplay as an app install.

“Cloud gaming is transforming how players access and experience games, and attribution needs to evolve alongside it,” said Adam Smart, Director of Product, Gaming at AppsFlyer. “AppsFlyer has partnered with Samsung to redefine what an install means in a cloud environment. As our technologies evolve, our measurement capabilities must adapt as well. Together, we have pioneered an entirely new way for developers and publishers to track and optimize ad campaign performance — without requiring players to physically install a game.”

Beyond initial attribution, the cloud-based solution allows developers and publishers to track in-game performance including purchases.

New Benefits and Opportunities With Galaxy Store

Unlocking the benefits of Samsung’s mobile cloud gaming platform on Galaxy devices is seamless, thanks to its integration with the existing Galaxy Store infrastructure. Developers and publishers can leverage Samsung’s suite of SDKs and tools to easily build on the platform. Furthermore, the platform supports existing in-game monetization models for a smooth transition and full compatibility with current operations.

Building on this commitment to developers and publishers, Samsung is updating its public terms to put more revenue back into their hands — introducing an 80/20 revenue share model for games on the Galaxy Store. This structure also applies to titles built on Samsung’s cloud gaming platform, providing even greater opportunities for partners. The new revenue share model will take effect on May 15, 2025.

Samsung’s mobile gaming ecosystem — spanning its cloud platform and the Galaxy Store — provides premium promotional support and direct distribution to millions of pre-loaded Galaxy devices worldwide. This integrated approach drives unmatched efficiency and profitability for both developers and publishers.

Those interested in learning more about the Galaxy Store terms and expanding their mobile game distribution with Samsung’s cloud technology can visit Samsung’s Developer page.

For more information and updates on the Galaxy Store, visit https://galaxystore.samsung.com/games.

Samsung Electronics today announced that it plans to open Samsung Game Portal, an online store specializing in gaming, on Samsung.com in more than 30 countries around the world, starting with the U.S., the U.K., Germany, France, Italy, Spain and Brazil in late June.

The Game Portal is a one-stop online store for gamers designed to significantly increase the convenience of browsing and purchasing products such as smartphones, TVs, gaming monitors and high-performance SSDs. It also provides customers with a variety of gaming-related content in one place, fine-tuned to their preferences and experiences.

In 2021, Accenture, a leading global professional services company, published an illuminating gaming-related study. The study found that half of the gaming population are cross-platform gamers who use more than one device to play, spending an average of 16 hours a week gaming, as well as eight hours a week watching gaming-related video content and six hours a week participating in gaming-related communities.

In response to these customer trends, Samsung has designed the Game Portal to provide an impressive variety of content, such as gaming product information, domestic and international expert reviews, product purchase benefits and offers, product utilization ideas that help users enjoy games more and game-related news.

“Gaming has become an important part of consumers’ lifestyle, not just entertainment, especially for Millennials and Gen Z,” said Evelyn Kim, Executive Vice President of the D2C Center at Samsung Electronics. “We will implement various initiatives to provide customers with a superior gaming experience, from purchase to use, by providing an environment that makes it enjoyable and easy to purchase gaming-related products.”

Notable products to be available on the portal are the Galaxy S23 Ultra, which is optimized for mobile gaming with its high-performance Snapdragon® 8 Gen 2 Mobile Platform for Galaxy and 5000mAh battery; the Neo QLED TV, which allows users to enjoy cloud gaming without a separate console through the Samsung Gaming Hub; and the Odyssey OLED G9 monitor, which provides an unparalleled immersive gaming experience with its 49-inch curved OLED screen. Another impressive offering is the 990 PRO SSD, which delivers sequential read and write speeds of up to 7,450 and 6,900MB/s for faster loading of PlayStation and DirectStorage PC games.

To celebrate the launch of the Game Portal, Samsung is offering¹ discounts on bundles of gaming devices, as well as a variety of regional purchasing incentives centered on its recently launched Odyssey gaming monitor and Neo QLED 8K products.

The gaming industry is one of the few sectors that continues to grow. Given this trend, Samsung has been engaged in various activities to strengthen its leadership in the industry, including enhancing the competitiveness of its gaming-related products and services. Opening the Samsung Game Portal is a key move in this direction that paves the way for further growth. For more information, please visit https://www.samsung.com/game-portal.

¹ Purchase benefits may vary by country.

The Galaxy S23 series, Samsung Electronics’ flagship smartphone unveiled on February 1, boasts the best and most powerful GPU, which enhances performance by 41% compared to the previous version, and Ray Tracing, which brings true-to-life lighting to mobile gaming, have gained the attention of gamers worldwide.

▲ Ray Tracing technology, which creates an immersive mobile gaming experience, on the Galaxy S23 series, was introduced at Galaxy Unpacked 2023

Samsung Newsroom sat down with the developers of Ray Tracing, recently introduced to the Galaxy S23 series, to understand the story behind how the team upgraded the mobile gaming experience. Read on to learn more about one of the biggest leaps in smartphone gaming graphics in years.

Ray Tracing: Level Up Your Gaming Experience With True-to-Life Graphics

Ray Tracing is the latest rendering method that manifests graphic effects in real time by tracing rays of light. The Galaxy S23 series’ GPU is equipped with special-purpose hardware to accelerate these ray tracing simulations similar to a desktop GPU, displaying shadows and light reflections in mobile games in a much more realistic manner.

▲ (From the left) Jungwoo Kim and Joonyong Park, the developers of Ray Tracing technology from the System Platform R&D Group of Samsung Electronics’ MX Business

System Platform Development Group’s Jungwoo Kim, who managed the GPU development for the Galaxy S23 series, described Ray Tracing technology as “the ultimate graphic rendering method.”

“Ray Tracing is a complex simulation that traces how the optic nerve of an eye receives a ray of light after being reflected, refracted or diffracted by an object,” said Kim. “It’s very similar to how light is actually processed.”

“The previous rasterization technique is limited, resulting in awkward and inaccurate expressions,” said Joonyong Park, who managed GPU technical support and both internal and external cooperation for this new product. “When it comes to the shadow effect, for instance, the previous method used to project an object on a scene to create a shadow map in advance and adjust that on the object again. On the other hand, Ray Tracing simulates the actual effect of how shadows are formed, which appears accurately and realistically onscreen — so users can enjoy more natural-looking graphics.”

Bridging the Gap Between Desktop and Mobile Graphics With the Galaxy S23 Series

Since 2010, Samsung has focused on breaking down the barriers between console, desktop and mobile by expanding the performance and range of its graphics API (application programming interface). By partnering with major industry players, Samsung has led the way in standardizing its latest technology as the common API. In doing so, more companies can easily apply the latest technology to more games and expand their relevant ecosystems.

“In 2016, we standardized the next-generation graphics API called Vulkan released by the Khronos Group and succeeded in commercialization through the Galaxy S7,” said Kim. “But, we’ve been working on advanced GPU development with partners like Epic Games and Unity to optimize the performance of Android games since 2015, before Vulkan was integrated into Galaxy devices. The optimization code we acquired by working together was provided to game developers first and made the successful case for Vulkan and engine optimization. The achievement was presented at various developer conferences.”

▲ Jungwoo Kim from the System Platform R&D Group of Samsung Electronics’ MX Business

In line with the recent rising trends in cross-platform games, Samsung rapidly applied desktop GPU technology to their mobile GPU. “With close cooperation with the AP vendors, we’ve continued to improve the performance of the latest mobile GPU for flagship products,” said Park. “With the rise in consumers demanding that the graphic quality on their mobile devices matches the quality of consoles, we’ve been preparing to offer Ray Tracing technology in mobile game engines since two years ago,” he said, describing his team’s proactive effort to lead this mobile innovation.

Multi-Player Collaboration Driving Mobile Performance

The developers cooperated with Samsung R&D Institute Ukraine (SRUKR) and various partner companies, including Epic Games, the developer of Unreal Engine, to prepare the best graphics.

▲ Galaxy Unpacked 2023 demo content was created in partnership with Epic Games. Compared to the previous rasterization rendering method (right), the Ray Tracing method (left) simulates more realistic graphics.

Kim explained that the demo contents introduced at the Galaxy Unpacked 2023 were a team effort. “This is an area that we’ve been working on in collaboration with a game engine developer and game developers,” said Kim. “We kept making various attempts for efficient rendering. As a result, we were able to overcome challenges by reducing the number of computations while maintaining the same level of quality.”

▲ Content demonstration developed by Samsung Electronics. Compared to the previous method of rasterization rendering (below), Ray Tracing technology (above) allows for more realistic graphics with Dynamic Shadow.

▲ Joonyong Park from the System Platform R&D Group of Samsung Electronics’ MX Business

Park also shared an episode from when he was working on the Galaxy S7 product development.

“I remember developing a content demonstration at the Epic Games head office in North Carolina in the U.S.,” said Park. “We successfully rendered a demo game where a chicken character appeared using the Vulkan API for the first time. As soon as the chicken character appeared for the first time after fixing an error, everyone from Epic Games, SRUKR and colleagues from MX R&D team all cheered. Then, we all celebrated with a dinner party, where we all ate fried chicken.” Park thanked his colleagues with whom he had worked so hard to achieve this feat.

Galaxy S23 Series Opens a New Paradigm for Mobile Gaming

So what does the future look like in which Ray Tracing technology is commercialized? “From now on, I expect the pipeline of creating and consuming graphic content to change in a way that is aligned with Ray Tracing,” said Park. “In this process, we expect that mobile devices with both portability and high-performance hardware on par with consoles will contribute to the changes.”

▲ Ray Tracing technology on the Galaxy S23

“You can certainly expect an eye-catching gaming experience,” said the developers of Ray Tracing, speaking to the fans looking forward to the new Galaxy flagship’s gaming performance. The developers also shared their plans to use this technology widely, starting with the Galaxy S23 series.

“Ray Tracing technology is now only starting to go mobile. Since Samsung has been researching and preparing this technology for a long time, our company will lead the industry and quickly expand this technology,” said Kim. “Our next goal is to find the optimal method to apply Ray Tracing in many mobile devices and provide a great gaming experience to the users.”

▲ (From the left) Jungwoo Kim and Joonyong Park from the System Platform R&D Group of Samsung Electronics’ MX Business pose with the Galaxy S23, which introduces Ray Tracing to mobile gaming.

“The mobile games that support Ray Tracing aren’t available in the market yet, but if there’s a game company that shows an interest in new mobile GPU technology, it will be more than welcome,” said Park. When asked about the future of mobile gaming performance, Park replied that they were “working very hard to apply Ray Tracing technology to more mobile games.”

The developers’ long-term vision is to present even more immersive mobile gaming experiences with realistic graphics in the future.

Watch the video below to learn more about Ray Tracing technology on the Galaxy S23 series.

Samsung Electronics invites game enthusiasts from around the world to enjoy an immersive on-site gaming experience at E3 (Electronic Entertainment Expo), one of the largest game events in the world.

Samsung will demo the company’s latest technologies to provide off-the-charts experiences for thrill-seeking gamers. The technology on display includes:

• Vulkan API Game Experience –try the Galaxy S7 equipped with the Vulkan API that enables game developers to deliver amazing graphics and a high-quality gaming experience. Get the chance to play the first games leveraging the technology, Need for Speed No Limits, HIT and Vainglory.
• Gear VR Skateboarding– through a Gear VR headset, users will experience what it’s like to take a leap of faith on a 4D skateboard experience.
• Intuitive Tools– the Galaxy S7 comes with a game pack valued around $200 to kick-start your mobile gaming adventure. The Samsung Game Launcher and Game Tools let you control everything that can record gameplay, prevent from hitting and conserve battery.

“At Samsung, we always aim to provide new, diverse and fun ways for people to enjoy our technologies,” said Younghee Lee, Executive Vice President of Global Marketing, Mobile Communications Business at Samsung Electronics. “We’re excited to couple one of the most cutting-edge graphics technology with the most advanced Samsung devices to bring a better gaming experience to gamers around the world.”

The Samsung booth will be open from June 14 – 16, and will also include a look at celebrated musician Lil Wayne’s new Sqvad Up mobile skateboarding game, along with an appearance and opportunity to meet the four-time Grammy Award winning rapper. During his time at their booth, Lil Wayne will also unveil a VR experience inspired by Sqvad Up 360, which was shot using Samsung’s Gear 360 camera.

Game Recorder+ gives game-lovers a utility to record and share the things that are important to them, like their new high score. Game Recorder+ is a free app offered through Google Play and the Galaxy App store. A “floating” UI is overlaid on top of any game also available through the two stores, to enhance gaming experience. The ‘floating’ UI doesn’t require any rooting and is safe and easy. Users can choose resolution and bitrate speeds, and Game Recorder+ optimizes device memory when running for a smoother gaming experience

Best Features

• Game Recorder+ can record any games up to full HD 1080p resolution.
• Users can trim the video after recording.
• Users can use the front-facing camera and built-in microphone to record their commentary over the game audio. Users can also upload a profile photo to disable the front camera when recording. The size of the profile image is adjustable.
• Touch interactions can be recorded.
• Users can upload their videos directly to YouTube. For countries with no access to YouTube, such as China, users can save their videos to a gallery and upload them to other platforms.
• Galaxy S6 and S6 edge users can record noise-free gaming audio, which disables the microphone.
• Every game can be optimized using “Game Boost,” which maximizes memory usage.
• Available on smart devices powered by Android 4.1~5.0 (Jelly Bean, KitKat, Lollipop)

Game Recorder+ is available on Galaxy S6, S6 edge, Galaxy S5, Note 4, S4, Note 3 and Note 2 in 161 countries. Game Recorder+ can be experienced at E3 2015, the world’s premier trade show for computer, video and mobile games.

At This Year’s E3

E3 2015 is expected to have about 49,000 attendees and 3,700 media personnel. It is scheduled to take place June 16-18 in Los Angeles, USA. This year, Samsung will feature the latest flagship smartphones Galaxy S6, S6 edge, Gear VR2, Level, Game Recorder+ and more. Visitors can experience 12 HD games from Electronic Arts (EA games), Gameloft, Kabam and Ubisoft, using Galaxy S6 and S6 edge.

Samsung will offer a VR zone and a Competition and Experience zone. Samsung hopes to create memorable experiences for attendees by offering hands-on access to products and seeing Samsung’s cutting edge technology. Visitors will be able to see how Galaxy S6’s processing power, vivid display and fast-charging battery makes it the best device for gamers. In addition, there will be a special event in the Samsung Studio LA on the last day of the show.

See more: HD mobile gaming on the move – Samsung Galaxy S6 and S6 edge