Game Insight’s Anatoly Ropotov explains how to build sustainable free-to-play mobile games

Free-to-play monetization has helped turn mobile gaming into a $30 billion industry.

But many tactics of the successful leaders reflect a “slash-and-burn” mentality. They squeeze consumers for more money and put “pay walls” that block gamers from making further progress. Anatoly Ropotov, a seasoned game developer who became CEO of Game Insight in 2014, believes this behavior is short-sighted.

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Dean Takahashi

Dean Takahashi is editorial director for GamesBeat. He has been a tech journalist since 1988, and he has covered games as a beat since 1996. He was lead writer for GamesBeat at VentureBeat from 2008 to April 2025. Prior to that, he wrote for the San Jose Mercury News, the Red Herring, the Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times, and the Dallas Times-Herald. He is the author of two books, "Opening the Xbox" and "The Xbox 360 Uncloaked." He organizes the annual GamesBeat Next, GamesBeat Summit and GamesBeat Insider Series: Hollywood and Games conferences and is a frequent speaker at gaming and tech events. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.