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Optimising mobile game play involves focusing on various metrics to enhance user experience, engagement, and overall performance. Here are some key metrics to consider:

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User Retention Rate

Definition: The percentage of users who continue to play the game over a specific period.

Why it matters: Retaining users is crucial for the long-term success of a mobile game. Higher retention rates indicate that players find the game enjoyable and are likely to keep playing.

Session Length

Definition: The average amount of time users spend playing the game in a single session.

Why it matters: Longer sessions often indicate that players are engaged and enjoying the game. Monitoring session length helps identify if players are finding the content compelling.

Daily Active Users (DAU) and Monthly Active Users (MAU)

Definition: The number of unique users who play the game daily or monthly.

Why it matters: DAU and MAU provide insights into the game's popularity and overall user engagement. A healthy balance between the two indicates consistent interest over time.

Conversion Rates

Definition: The percentage of players who take a desired action, such as making an in-app purchase or completing a level.

Why it matters: Improving conversion rates is essential for monetising mobile games. Analyse where players drop off in the conversion funnel to optimise the user journey.

In-App Purchases (IAP)

Definition: The revenue generated from in-app purchases.

Why it matters: For freemium games, IAP is a crucial metric. Analyse the types of purchases players make and optimise the pricing and offerings accordingly.

Average Revenue Per User (ARPU)

Definition: The average revenue generated per user.

Why it matters: ARPU helps measure the overall financial performance of the game. Increasing ARPU involves strategies like enhancing monetisation features and providing value through in-app purchases.

Load Time

Definition: The time it takes for the game to load on a user's device.

Why it matters: Faster load times contribute to a positive user experience. Long load times can lead to user frustration and abandonment.

Crash Rate

Definition: The frequency at which the game crashes or experiences errors.

Why it matters: Minimising crashes is crucial for player satisfaction. Frequent crashes can lead to negative reviews and impact user retention.

Social Sharing and Virality

Definition: The extent to which players share their achievements or invite friends to play.

Why it matters: Social features can boost user acquisition and engagement. Encourage players to share their experiences, achievements, and invite friends to play.

User Feedback and Reviews

Definition: Ratings and reviews provided by users on app stores.

Why it matters: User feedback offers valuable insights into what players like or dislike about the game. Addressing issues raised in reviews can improve overall satisfaction.

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Bad game play directly affects monetisation due to low retention rate and limiting opportunities for upsell e.g. IAP, subscriptions etc

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Mobile game play and monetisation are closely interconnected, and developers often design game mechanics and features to encourage in-app purchases and other revenue-generating activities. Here's some important metrics to look at when optimisation monetisation through game play:

IPDAU

Definition: Monetisation Ad Impressions per Daily Active User

Why it matters: Understanding ad impression count and revenue by Daily Active Users helps to track user behaviour on day-to-day. Example: If the impression count started to drop from X date, you can trace back to activities happened e.g. launch of new version

RPDAU

Definition: Revenue per Daily Active User

Why it matters: Access how effectively you are monetising your user base. It provides insights into the revenue generation potential of each daily active user, allowing your app to optimise the monetisation strategies.

RPM

Definition: Revenue per thousand impressions for banner, interstitial, reward video

Why it matters: This is useful to identify ad networks that are bringing in the highest revenue based on high volume of impressions.

Ad LTV, IAP LTV

Definition: Lifetime value of ad revenue and in-app purchase

Why it matters: Having Ad LTV and IAP LTV helps to project the potential revenue generated by users who make in-app purchases over their entire lifecycle. This allows for the segmentation of users based on their value to the business. Segmentation can inform targeted marketing efforts, personalized experiences, and tailored incentives for different user groups, maximising revenue potential.

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Ad Impressions Level Breakdown

Definition: No. of ad impressions by game level

Why it matters: Drop in ad impressions for specific level(s) can imply that the game level is an outlier. More investigation can be done to find out if the game level requires improvements. Go deeper to analyse ad impression breakdown by ad type such as interstitial, banner or rewarded ad.

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Regularly monitoring and optimising these metrics can help developers create a more enjoyable and successful mobile game. Additionally, A/B testing different features and updates can provide valuable data for continuous improvement.

Read more about Cost Center's analytics features for game optimisation here.