Gaming metrics help developers understand the performance of their game so they not only have insight into how the title is performing currently, but also know how best to optimize moving forward. Tracking and analyzing gaming performance metrics is the key for studios to make informed decisions about everything from monetization to game design. As developers set goals for each part of development, tracking these metrics can prove they’re hitting their objectives and staying on the right track - or show where there’s room for improvement.
Types of gaming metrics
We’ll get into the specific gaming performance metrics soon, but first let’s go over the high-level categories that most metrics fall into:
- User acquisition and discovery: These mobile gaming metrics can be used by game developers to measure the effectiveness of their marketing campaigns. They can reveal which channels are performing best so studios can direct their ad spend accordingly and maximize installs as cost-efficiently as possible
- Engagement: The key to long-term success is user engagement and retention - these boost LTV. Engagement gaming metrics give developers insights into who their users are and how they’re playing the game so studios can improve the player experience (which leads to higher LTV). These KPIs are also critical for optimizing a monetization strateg
- Monetization: Free-to-play (F2P) games are extremely popular across platforms, from mobile to pc and even console. On console, for example, five of the top 10 games based on MAUs in February 2024 were F2P titles, or had an F2P mode. What this means is that maximizing revenue per player is essential - and this is where monetization metrics come into play. Whether a studio is monetizing through advertising or in-app purchases, monetization KPIs can help guide them towards improving profitability
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Top gaming performance metrics to track right now
Now that we’ve gone over the categories of gaming metrics, let’s dig into the specific KPIs in each group that every developer should be tracking.
UA and discovery gaming metrics
CPI
CPI, which stands for cost per install, is a gaming metric that tells developers how much it costs to acquire a new user. It’s calculated by dividing total campaign spend by the number of installs. Looking at CPI can help studios avoid overpaying for players and earn higher profit. It’s also an indicator that developers are reaching their target audience - a higher CPI means they’re spending a lot to acquire users and could be because they’re not reaching the right users or their creatives need tweaking.
CPI = spend / installs
For example, genres like hyper-casual that rely on reaching a huge audience need as low a CPI as possible to avoid racking up costs as they scale. So there are a whole bunch of creative adjustments and tips that hyper-casual studios use to lower their CPI, like improving color contrast and showing different parts of gameplay.
IPM
IPM, or installs per mille, represents the number of installs that are generated for every 1,000 impressions. This gaming performance metric is calculated by dividing total installs by total impressions, then multiplying by one thousand. Like CPI, it’s a good indicator of UA campaign efficiency by showing how many users installed an app after seeing an ad. Like most metrics, IPM benchmarks vary by genre, but generally studios should aim to keep increasing IPM by testing and optimizing creatives.
IPM = (installs / impressions) * 1000
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ROAS
ROAS, which stands for return on ad spend, measures the profitability of a UA campaign. On a high level, ROAS can show that an entire UA strategy is effective - and on the individual ad set level, it can prove which creatives have the highest conversion rates and best performance. To calculate ROAS, divide revenue earned over a set time period by amount spent in that duration, then multiply by 100. The time period is based on genre and studio size. For example, a small startup will usually look at ROAS up to Day 7, while a AAA publisher will measure ROAS up to Day 360.
ROAS = (revenue / spend) * 100
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LTV
Lifetime value, or LTV, is one half of the equation to calculate ROAS. The other is CPI. Beyond helping measure ROAS, LTV is among the most important gaming metrics to track because it can be used to determine the payback period of a UA campaign. The payback period is when LTV = CPI - this is the break-even point when studios can start earning profit. Most LTV curves show sustained growth over time, with an exponential increase in the earlier days, followed by steady growth later on, but this changes depending on genre.
Engagement gaming performance metrics
Retention rate
Retention is one of the most important gaming metrics because it shows the percentage of players that keep returning to a game over a period of time. The higher the retention rate, the more opportunities for monetization and improving LTV. It’s also a quality indicator, indicating how well a game keeps players engaged, or where they’re dropping off. Games enjoy some of the highest D1 retention rates of all types of apps (29%), but this percentage drops off further into the future - on average, retention rate is 6% across all games at D30.
Retention rate = (engaged players on Day X / installs) * 100
Analyzing retention at each part or level of a game can help studios address player experience or design concerns that are contributing to lower rates. For example, if a developer sees that D7-D14 retention rates are low, this could indicate the need for more content and a stronger metagame. Bonus levels, progression mechanics, and social systems are all ideas for improving the user experience and can boost retention at this stage.
DAUs
Daily active users, or DAUs, are the number of unique players that engage with a game at least once within a 24-hour period. It’s an essential gaming metric for calculating retention rates - retention uses DAUs to determine the percentage of users that keep returning to the game. Monitoring mobile gaming metrics like DAUs lets studios identify the UA campaigns and game design adjustments that are making the biggest impact.
For example, studios that roll out content updates on a seasonal (or other regular) basis often experience an uptick in DAUs. Developers can compare the DAU increase across other times they’ve introduced content to extract any insights about what resonated most with their players to optimize for future updates.
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Churn rate
On average, over 50% of game apps are uninstalled within 30 days of installation. Gaming metrics like churn rate let developers track when and where these installations happen so they can try and reduce the occurrence. It’s calculated by dividing the number of players that uninstalled a game during a certain period by the total number of players at the start of that period, then multiplying by 100. Whether it’s an overly aggressive monetization strategy, a bunch of bugs in the system, or a lack of content to keep players engaged, analyzing churn rate can help developers identify issues with their games and direct their resources efficiently. Since churn rate and retention are closely correlated, lower churn rate should result in higher retention rate - and in turn, higher LTV.
Churn rate = (uninstalls / total installs) * 100
Session length
Session length measures the amount of time a player spends actively engaged in a game - it starts from the moment a user opens an app and ends when they’ve been inactive for a long enough period of time (that timeout is determined by the mobile measurement provider).
During a session, developers can get valuable insight into player behavior, like what micro transactions they make, level failures, and resources collected and/or redeemed. The longer the session length, the more player behavior data that’s available. Then studios can use this data to optimize the user experience. For example, if session length decreases significantly at a level with a high difficulty and player data shows a significant number of level failures, a developer can test introducing boosters that help players progress. Looking at session length, they can confirm that this test led to longer session lengths as more players completed the level.
Longer session lengths also often indicate higher player engagement and retention - the more a player enjoys a game, the longer they’ll play and stick around. So session length is also among the most important mobile gaming metrics for analyzing retention and LTV.
Monetization gaming metrics
ARPU
ARPU stands for average revenue per user. It’s used to both determine the overall effectiveness of a game’s monetization strategy and zero-in on the performance of specific revenue-drivers, like IAPs or in-game ads. Since UA strategies post-IDFA mean studios need to go more broad with their ads then target players in-game, ARPU is how they can measure the effectiveness of their in-game efforts.
ARPU = revenue / users
Looking at mobile gaming metrics like ARPU also lets studios segment their users based on value. Those that have the highest ARPU are often a game’s highest-spenders - and these are the ones that F2P games should focus on to increase spend depth. Only 5% of users complete IAPs in a game - but these 5% contribute most of the revenue. Finding out who the 5% is in a game can help studios optimize those players’ experiences to maximize their LTV - and lead to higher profitability.
ARPPU
No, it’s not a typo - that extra “p” in ARPPU stands for “paying”. Average revenue per paying user is one of the most important gaming metrics because it measures how much revenue an app can expect to generate from its paying users. Unlike ARPU which takes into account both non-paying and in-app advertising revenue, ARPPU lets studios calculate average revenue only for players that have made a purchase in the game. This allows them to segment out these paying customers, evaluate the efficiency of their IAP monetization strategy and UA (which channels drove these high-value users), and predict the amount of revenue they can expect to earn over a certain period of time.
Since 5% of players are the ones that make in-app purchases, monetization mobile gaming metrics like ARPPU are essential so developers can segment out these users and start targeting them with optimized offers that maximize revenue. For example, after segmenting out their highest-paying users, developers can offer personalized bundles based on their playing behavior, like champions they don’t have in their collection or limited-edition weapons. Then they can measure the effectiveness of this strategy by looking for a boost in ARPPU.
ARPPU = revenue / amount of paying users
Time to purchase
Mobile gaming metrics like time to first purchase indicate how well-balanced a game’s monetization strategy is. Measuring the time it takes for players to make their first purchases can inform when developers present opportunities for making IAPs or showing in-app ads. If users feel like they’re being asked too soon to buy something, they may churn - and if a studio waits too long to present a purchasing opportunity, players could already have lost interest in the game. Seeing when players complete purchase, combined with engagement metrics after the fact, help studios optimize their timing and placements.
Maximize your game’s metrics
Going direct-to-consumer with channels like web shops improves the player experience and can help maximize gaming metrics along the entire funnel, from UA to monetization. Talk to us at Stash today about how to set up your own D2C channels as the best ways for your users to pay and play - and optimize gaming performance metrics along the way.