Reflections from PGC London: Why the Future of UA is Smart, Not Just Fast

As LEUS, we joined Pocket Gamer Connects London 2026 together as a team. It was genuinely a great experience full of thoughtful conversations, new connections, and honest discussions about where the industry is heading. Now that a bit of time has passed, we wanted to share a few reflections.

The energy at PGC London 2026 felt different. Instead of the usual buzzword hype, there was a palpable sense of honesty about the hurdles we’re all facing. The sessions we attended and the conversations we had highlighted a clear shift in the industry: a new landscape where the 'Publisher Paradox' forces studios to prove their own viability, where creative quality has become the primary targeting lever, and where LLMs are starting to rewrite the rules of discovery.

With publishers now 'de-risking to the nth degree,' it’s clear we’ve reached a more mature phase. Success is no longer about chasing sheer download volume; it's about building sustainable businesses through predictive intelligence and smart capital. At LEUS, our takeaway was simple: in 2026, growth isn't just about moving fast it's about moving with confidence.

A Moment of Dialogue: Creatives, Predictions & Funding

One of the highlights for us was the session given by our Co-founder, Halil İbrahim Özdemir, titled “The Future of UA: Creatives, Predictions & Funding”.

The room was packed, but what we appreciated most wasn't just the attendance, it was the engagement. We shared our perspective that you can no longer treat creatives, prediction, and capital as separate parts. We genuinely appreciated the interest and the deep-dive conversations that followed at our booth. It confirmed what we’ve been feeling: the "spray-and-pray" era of UA is officially over, replaced by a more disciplined approach to sustainable growth.

The New UA Mantra: Feed the Machine with Confidence

The takeaways we gathered from industry peers and data align perfectly with why we built LEUS:

• Creative as the New Targeting: Meta’s insight that 50% of auction outcomes are driven by creative quality is a clear directive. We launched VISUA just before the event, and having the chance to run live demos for attendees at our booth was incredible. Seeing your immediate reactions to how we decode winning strategies, from automatic categorization of emotional tones to our semantic search that finds "ads with happy music" in seconds, was the highlight of our trip. VISUA is our answer to the need for deep competitor surveillance and finding the patterns that separate winners from losers.
• The "Publisher Paradox" & Smart Funding: A recurring theme at PGC was the shift in the publishing landscape. Many studios are caught in a paradox: publishers now only want "de-risked" games. But if you’ve done the hard work to de-risk your title, why give away your most valuable asset your equity? We believe funding should be a tool for leverage, not a reason to lose control. By using our Funding Eligibility Score, we offer different membership models that allow studios at various stages to access UA funding and scale without any equity loss. You can explore the full details of our membership models on our How We Work page.
• ARPU Over Downloads (Quality Over Quantity): A major theme echoing through the halls of PGC London from Meta’s keynote to Adjust’s technical sessions, was the shift away from "vanity metrics." As the market matures, the industry consensus is clear: growth in 2026 will be driven by ARPU, not just downloads. Industry experts like Brett Nowak have recently spotlighted this shift, noting that in a post-ATT world, finding the right player is more valuable than finding many players. This makes predictive intelligence vital. By forecasting LTV and ROAS with high accuracy, we help teams move past the "install" and focus on the long-term value of their users from day one.
• Predictive Confidence: A standout moment at PGC London was Adjust’s session on redefining growth, which introduced a new governing equation for UA: Margin to Bid. This moves us past simple "historical ROAS" and into a model driven by Confidence the statistical certainty of a user’s future value. At LEUS, we believe growth shouldn't be a gamble. This is why our LUMINA engine doesn't just provide broad estimates; it delivers precise LTV and ROAS predictions broken down by country, company, app, and channel. By identifying early predictive signals like progression velocity and monetization intent we enable teams to see their trajectory with high accuracy before committing a single dollar of capital. When you have that level of granular confidence, scaling isn't just a goal; it's a science.

Looking Ahead: Our 2026 Roadmap

We didn't just go to London to listen; we went to share where we are going. We were thrilled to announce our expansion with a new London Office to bring LEUS’ performance-based UA funding to studios across Europe, powered by the same predictive intelligence.

As we look toward the rest of 2026, we’re building tools to bridge the gap between data and action:

• Creative Success Tool: We are building a way to "test before you spend," allowing you to benchmark the success potential of your creatives against market-winning ads before you launch.
• LEUS Bot: We want to offer "less dashboards, more answers." Our personal AI copilot will allow you to ask questions and turn performance data into clear, actionable growth decisions.

We also introduced the LEUS Club, our community vision built around growth potential to support founders at different stages:

• The Explorer: Designed for teams with monthly UA spend under $100K and promising scalability signals. You get full access to our tech stack (VISUA & LUMINA) and a performance audit report at no cost and no obligation.
• The Scaler: For teams ready to accelerate with tailored scale funding structures (up to 12 months) and ongoing strategic support as you grow.

Let’s Keep the Conversation Going

PGC London confirmed that while the market is mature, the opportunity for teams that use "smart capital" has never been higher. Whether you’re trying to move beyond the "publishing paradox" or simply want to know if your unit economics are sound enough for funding, we invite you to reach out.