As a game developer, you want to know if your game is reaching your target audience, engaging them, and generating revenue. But how do you measure and track your game's success? In this article, we will explore some of the key metrics and tools that can help you monitor and improve your game's performance.
The first and most obvious metric is how many people download and install your game. This shows the initial interest and demand for your game, as well as the effectiveness of your marketing and distribution channels. You can use platforms like Google Play Console, App Store Connect, or Steamworks to track your downloads and installs, as well as other data such as ratings, reviews, and device information.
In our projects, we primarily look at DAU, MAU, and the number of App downloads. In Blockchain Gaming, the most important indicator is The number of unique active wallets in the blockchain and The total number of transactions made between UAW. Monitoring a game's success involves tracking various metrics and data to assess performance, player engagement, and overall impact. Key steps include analyzing player retention, engagement, monetization metrics, acquisition and marketing data, user feedback and reviews, game performance, social media presence, community involvement, content updates, and conducting long-term analysis. These insights are crucial for optimizing the game's success and enhancing player satisfaction and engagement.
Downloads and installs are obviously great ways to measure financial and popular success of a game. Ratings and reviews add another layer of information to that form of data. However, this data must be always contextualised and seen in relationship to other factors. For example the game "Scorn" by Ebb Software, which received, for a horror game, outstanding download numbers was met with harsh critcism. Not because it was a bad game but because the game was considered to be too expensive for the amount of playtime it offered. The game was given mediocre user scores because of that and is somehow not remembered as a success even though the game itself can be considered of great design and its download numbers for the genre were very high.
Downloads and Installs are just the top of your funnel. Teams really need to understand the cost of install. Are you running ads for instance? As much as possible have your ALL your game sat on the platform's servers. If once the player downloads the game, they need additional data from your servers that's costing you. Keep it to a minimum - consider an additional download once the player has invested time in your game. You're never going to see good revenue without enough people coming in at the top of the funnel, but if they don't go much beyond install they could just be costing you $$. Consider a soft launch to test some of your assumptions and test your onboarding before you fully turn on the taps!
Unless your game is premium (= buy to play), downloads and installs are vanity metrics. It doesn't really matter how many people download your game, if they never play it or churn on day 2. Digital stores like Steam and Epic Games Store give you detailed breakdowns about how many copies were downloaded (and where).
?? Decoding Game Success: Downloads & Installs ?? - Initial Pulse: Downloads & installs reflect gamers' keen interest and marketing impact. - Tools of Insight: Harness Microsoft Dev Center, EPIC, and Steamworks. - Platform Power: Track XBOX, Microsoft Store, and Steam data effortlessly. - User Engagement: Keep an eye on DAU (Daily Active Users) and MAU (Monthly Active Users). - Review Rally: Encourage reviews to enhance your game's credibility. - Social Proof: Leverage positive reviews as a powerful marketing tool. - Gaming Triumph: Armed with these insights, you're on the path to gaming success. #GamingSuccess #Analytics #GameDownloads #Installs ????
However, downloads and installs are not enough to tell you if your game is successful. You also need to know how many people keep playing your game, how often, and for how long. These metrics are called retention and engagement, and they indicate how loyal and satisfied your players are. You can use analytics tools like Firebase, Unity Analytics, or GameAnalytics to measure your retention and engagement rates, as well as other factors such as session length, frequency, and depth.
Retention and engagement are absolutely the right drivers, but be clear on how you / your team / your studio measures these. D1 - D7 are usually key drivers across many titles, however for Live Games, you will almost always go beyond... D30, D90, D180 even, to also help you understand your re-engagement metrics and win-back strategies, but also your ad and acquisition spend.
Downloads and installs are a solid start, but they only scratch the surface of your game's success. To really understand how well your game is doing, you've got to look at retention and engagement. These metrics show you if players are sticking around and how much they're enjoying your game. Tools like Firebase, Unity Analytics, or Game Analytics can help you keep track of these numbers, like how often players come back and how long they play each session.
Retention is a metric that measures how many players continue to engage with your game over a specific period, typically days or weeks, after their initial install or first interaction. Rolling Retention, also known as cumulative retention, takes a longer-term perspective by measuring how many players continue to play your game over an extended period, often months. Other engagement metrics focus on how players interact with your game, including a range of behaviors within the game, such as session length, the number of sessions per day or week, actions per session, and progression through levels or achievements. Engagement metrics help to assess the quality of the player experience and how immersed and active they are within the game.
I use analytics tools like Firebase, Unity Analytics, or GameAnalytics to measure my retention and engagement rates. These tools provide me with a wealth of insights into player behavior, such as which features they're using the most, which ones they're struggling with, and where they're dropping off. With this data in hand, I can identify areas of my game that need improvement. For example, if I see that a lot of players are uninstalling my game after a certain level, I may want to make that level easier or more engaging. Or, if I see that players are spending a lot of time in a certain area of my game, I can add more content or features to that area.
Without strong user retention, monetization becomes challenging. It all begins with the First Time User Experience (FTUE) – ensuring that players can easily grasp how to play the game is essential. If the initial experience is confusing, players are likely to leave. Once players understand the game, the key is to keep them engaged consistently by offering various activities and incentives that encourage them to return over several days. It's crucial to start by focusing on Day 1 retention and gradually improve these numbers before moving on to longer retention periods like D3, D7, D14, D28, and D60. Enhance the game incrementally, step by step, based on user feedback and data.
Another important metric is how much money your game makes. This depends on your monetization strategy, which can include in-app purchases, subscriptions, ads, or premium sales. You need to track your revenue and conversion rates, as well as your costs and expenses, to calculate your return on investment (ROI) and profitability. You can use monetization tools like AdMob, Unity Ads, or In-App Purchasing to manage your revenue streams, as well as payment platforms like PayPal, Stripe, or Apple Pay to process your transactions.
If your game isn't generating revenue at scale, you should consider killing or pivoting it. There's no point in maintaining a leaking bucket, unless you can heavily monetize it later on (looking at you, social medias!). Nowadays, each store provides tools and APIs for tracking and enabling in-app purchases. This is useful because you don't have to deal with payment processing, or other legal matters related to mone transfers. The only disadvantage is that the platform will take a % of your revenue, but that's usually a good tradeoff as you can focus on your game without having to worry about the rest.
Don't hope your players will convert to payers, have a proper strategy. How will your game deliver value to the payers? If the player doesn't feel they achieved something for that payment, they won't pay again. For example, tailor an upsell to the moment the player finds themselves at. Timed events are great for this, the clock is running down and I haven't quite finished X. That purchase seeing them over the finish line adds additional value to the purchase.
Monetisation and revenue tracking is super important to help you understand not only what sells (obviously), but also the cost of creation (how many man hours did it take to create a cosmetic, how many man days did it take to make this battle pass happen) and if you operate sustainably. When it comes to breaking down your monetisation tracking, this can be done in many ways; in some live studios I have spoken to, the key metrics are usually broken down to: - first payment (new, recaptured, returning users) - non-first payment (new, recaptured, returning users) - mean time between first and second payment (new, recaptured, returning) - in-game spend currency vs paying users - sales vs paying users - all of the above, by cohorts
Making money from your game is crucial to its success. Whether it's through in-app purchases, ads, or premium sales, tracking revenue, conversion rates, and expenses is key. Tools like AdMob, Unity Ads, or In-App Purchasing can help manage revenue streams, while payment platforms like PayPal, Stripe, or Apple Pay handle transactions
As a game developer, I know that monetization and revenue are important, but I also know that it's important to provide value to my players. That's why I carefully consider my monetization strategy when developing a new game. I want to make sure that my monetization options are balanced, fair, and transparent, and that they're aligned with the game's design and gameplay. I use a variety of monetization tools and platforms to manage my revenue streams and process my transactions, and I use analytics data to track my revenue and conversion rates. This information helps me to identify what's working well and what's not, so I can make adjustments to my monetization strategy as needed.
Finally, you need to understand what your players think and feel about your game. This can help you identify your strengths and weaknesses, as well as your opportunities and threats. You can collect user feedback and behavior data through various methods, such as surveys, reviews, ratings, social media, forums, or customer support. You can also use tools like Flurry, Mixpanel, or Amplitude to track and analyze your user events, actions, and preferences.
Tracking your game's success is not a one-time task, but a continuous process that requires you to set goals, measure results, and make adjustments. By using the metrics and tools we discussed, you can gain valuable insights and optimize your game's performance.
Setting up a successful community feedback loop is key. This isn't something that can be done purely from a data standpoint (although abnormal volume spikes is a typical signal of something happening). This is why investment into your community department is paramount. We identified this role as one of five key initial roles. Speaking directly to the community, enabling a strong developer/audience feedback loop on the channels they are communicating most on, and actively listening and improving off of feedback will create a positive community.
Getting to know what players think about your game is key to making it better. You can gather feedback from surveys, reviews, and social media. Tools like Flurry, Mixpanel, or Amplitude are handy for tracking how players behave. Remember, tracking your game's success is an ongoing journey where you set goals and tweak things along the way.
, I know that user feedback and behavior are essential for creating successful games. By understanding what my players think and feel about my game, I can identify areas where I need to improve and make sure that I'm delivering a game that they enjoy playing. I collect user feedback and behavior data through a variety of methods, including: Surveys. Reviews and ratings. Social media. Forums. Customer support. I also use tools like Flurry, Mixpanel, and Amplitude to track and analyze user events, actions, and preferences. This data helps me to understand how players are interacting with my game and where they're dropping off.
In today's landscape, being data-driven is paramount. Analyzing player interactions and identifying drop-off points within the game provides invaluable insights. Decision-making should be rooted in data, not guesswork. Gathering player feedback is equally crucial for understanding their perspectives. However, it's essential to cross-reference this feedback with data insights to make informed decisions. It's important to exercise caution when dealing with vocal minorities; one person's complaint doesn't necessarily indicate a widespread issue. Prioritization is key, as resources like time and money are finite. Focus on addressing what holds the most significance in terms of enhancing player experience and generating revenue for the company.
Typical numerical approaches to evaluating success (such as KPIs) are not always the best at evaluating the merit of a given product. Consider things like how you might want the game to be evaluated by the audience; how they might compare you to a competitor or what features of the game you would like them to highlight and why. Think of how the streaming community will experience the game, and how advanced strategies or secrets in the game may be revealed.
App store reviews are also hugely important and a great source of feedback and potential long term customers. If you respond to their comments and concerns, you have the potential to get them to upgrade their rating and create a long-term customer.
Let's talk about community – it's a big deal in game development. Engaging with players outside the game can create a tight-knit group that loves what you do. Whether it's hosting events, setting up forums, or running fan art contests, building this community can bring insights, buzz, and friendships that last.
Another important factors can be - Average time spent by a user in your game - You should find out how many users have stuck around and are actively playing the game since it first launched. Imagine the game is now two months old; you should be interested in knowing how many players started back then or around that time and are still engaged."
Numbers and aggregates, and treating your customers as an anonymous mass is not the only thing to consider. Is the game something people want to engage with? Does it fill a niche not already covered by existing games? Research before actually committing to creating a product is even more valuable than tweaking numbers post release. Try out prototypes at various stages with a group of players, face to face. Insights will help you change fundamentals early on and help you even decide whether your idea is sustainable as a product at all.