Success rarely happens by chance. Behind every thriving platform is a blend of hard-earned lessons and strategies shaped through real-world experience. That is why, for this month’s playbook, we decided to turn to the people who know this journey better than anyone else - the publishers themselves.
Drawing from Nitro’s Publisher Showcase series, we have collected 6 unique insights from some of the most innovative website owners across our network. Through their experiences, they reveal how they built tools players love, grew engaged communities, and developed sustainable strategies to drive traffic and scale their platforms.
Their platforms may be different, but the challenges they face are shared by creators everywhere. This playbook brings together their tactics and advice so you can learn directly from the people shaping the future of gaming websites.
1. Build for shareability that never stops
When users create something worth showing off, growth becomes self-sustaining.
Mastery Chart transformed League of Legends mastery data into colorful bubble charts tied to champion icons, making player progress instantly recognizable and visually appealing. Players began posting their charts online largely because they looked good and told a personal story.
The real breakout came in late 2022, when a French gaming forum discovered the tool and shared it within their community, creating a viral surge that carried into the following year. “Once people saw what others were sharing, they wanted their own chart too,” recalls creator Marvin Scham. Because the charts were designed to be easily downloaded and reposted, every share set off another ripple of new users. Virality was not a one-time spark but a loop baked into the product, keeping visibility alive long after the initial breakout.
2. Borrow trust from partner communities
Growth is faster when you attach yourself to a hub players already trust.
When Diablo Trade launched, the team knew trust would be the deciding factor. They began by collaborating with streamers and YouTubers to build early awareness, then formed a key partnership with the Sanctuary Discord, becoming its official trading platform. “This partnership led to explosive growth,” they explain.
By embedding directly into a community where Diablo players were already active, the platform quickly earned credibility and adoption, proving how powerful it can be to grow alongside trusted hubs rather than starting in isolation.
3. Spark growth where players already share
The right subreddit can transform a niche idea into a wave of momentum.
When Abe Train of Trainwreck Labs launched Globle, he shared it in just two subreddits. One ignored it, but the Geography subreddit embraced it instantly and spread it far beyond his expectations. “I posted about Globle on 2 subreddits… it blew up in the latter and has been a global hit ever since,” he recalls.
A similar pattern powered the rise of PvPoke, the go-to simulator for Pokémon GO battles. Its creator Matthew Luckow never ran ads or sought out influencers. Growth came because players themselves kept the tool circulating. “Redditors shared links because it gave them more material to discuss, content creators made videos talking over the website because it was a helpful visual reference,” he explains. When a product gives communities something to talk about, they take on the role of distribution, turning simple shares into lasting momentum.
4. Let users’ complaints serve as blueprint
Your best roadmap is hidden in user’s loudest frustrations.
Warframe Market grew by solving what players were already struggling with in Warframe’s chaotic trade chat. Founder Kyckyc explains, “The most effective way to drive traffic to any project is pretty simple: build something good. You need to solve real user problems and focus on being user-oriented first.” Instead of adding bells and whistles, the platform fixed trading pain points that players had long accepted as unavoidable.
TH.GL follows the same philosophy. Leon Machens spent hours in Discords and forums, listening closely to what players say is broken or missing. Features like whiteboard mode, item search, and shared filters came directly from those complaints. “The features are shaped directly by player behavior and community discussions,” he says. By listening closely to what players were already struggling with and building solutions around those pain points, both platforms turned frustration into loyalty, making growth a natural byproduct of meeting real needs.
5. Claim the premium lane before anyone else
Position yourself as the best-in-class before competitors define the space.
In the crowded field of Magic: The Gathering deck-building tools, Moxfield set itself apart by aiming higher than the hobbyist standard. “Our naive approach was to bring a higher level of quality to Moxfield to set it apart,” says co-founder Harry Finocchiaro.
By positioning as the professional grade option early on, Moxfield avoided competing feature for feature and became the obvious choice for serious players.
6. Build from passion, choose like an investor
Growth comes when your enthusiasm overlaps with clear demand.
Both Questlog.gg and gaming.tools credit their success to this balance. The Questlog.gg team explains, “Make sure you are working on something you truly enjoy… but also pick a niche that has real demand.” They combined their passion for polished gaming resources with careful targeting of gaps in the market.
Mennan Kara, creator of gaming.tools, echoes the same principle: “Pick your games carefully, especially if you are doing it solo.” His decision to build tools for New World, a game lacking strong support sites at launch, paid off quickly. The right niche requires both careful selection and genuine enthusiasm, treating it as an investment while ensuring the passion to sustain it over time.
Fueling the Next Stage of Growth
What connects all of these stories is a clear truth. Growth comes from building with players in mind and adopting strategies that can sustain momentum over time. But the strongest results happen when you have a partner committed to carrying that growth forward.
At Nitro, that partnership is our focus. We give publishers the foundation to turn creative projects into sustainable platforms, with infrastructure designed around the shape of gaming traffic and the realities of player behavior.
Our platform supports flexible ad formats that adapt to each site’s layout, ensuring monetization feels native to the experience rather than disruptive. At the same time, our curated demand keeps campaigns high-quality and contextually relevant, so revenue growth never comes at the expense of user trust.
Behind the scenes, our tech stack is built for speed and reliability, ensuring performance never compromises the player experience. At the center of it all is our client success team, a dedicated group of specialists always ready to work with publishers to spot opportunities as they arise and shape strategies that drive lasting growth.
Nitro is dedicated to reinventing website monetization for the gaming industry. Our ad tech platform combines uncompromised user experience and nitro-speed revenue and service with Net 7 Payouts, same-day support and the industry’s fastest ad loading.