Game metrics analysis is an integral part of the game development experience. Game analytics metrics of various types help you to shed light on all the processes happening - from how your users complete the tutorial to how they move along the funnel towards a purchase. Mobile game analytics is a complex area in which you need to consider hundreds of nuances and keep dozens of metrics in mind. There are simpler and more unambiguous metrics like DAU, downloads, sessions, and more complex ones like churn or ARPPU, which can cause more questions than give answers (what is good ARPPU? How many days of inactivity we consider as a churn indicator?)
For convenience, we at devtodev compiled an alphabetical list of all game and product analytics metrics with definitions.
Read more: Map of Key Analytics Metrics in Games
Active users (DAU, WAU, MAU)
Active Users – people who have had at least one session in a given time period.
DAU – the number of unique users per day (Daily Active Users);
WAU – the number of unique users per week (Weekly Active Users);
MAU – the number of unique users per month (Monthly Active Users).
Ad gross
Ad gross – revenue from ads in a product or a game.
Ad LTV
Ad LTV (Lifetime Value) – ad revenue received from new users for their entire “life” in the project.
Ad revenue
See ad gross.
ARPPU
ARPPU (Average Revenue Per Paying User) – the average income from a paying user (the user who made at least one payment) for a certain period of time.
You can use this important monetization metric to assess the response of paying users to the value of the project.
ARPU
ARPU (Average Revenue Per User) – average income from one active user over a certain period of time.
ARPDAU (Average Revenue Per Daily Active User) – average income from an active user for one day.
ARPMAU (Average Revenue Per Monthly Active User) – average income from an active user for one month.
You can use this metric to compare different projects' performance.
Read more: ARPU and ARPPU: What's the Difference?
ARPU cumulative
Cumulative ARPU is the cumulative average revenue per user. It is used to assess the quality of traffic and select the optimal CPI indicator (Cost Per Install – the price of one download of application).
Average check
Average check – average shopping bill.
average check = gross / transactions,
where gross is the number of payments for a certain period, and transactions is the total number of transactions for the same period.
Average number of sessions
Average number of sessions – the average number of sessions in a game or product.
Average session length
Average session length (session duration or visit duration or average session time) – average session duration.
average session length = total duration of all sessions/number of sessions
CCU / Users Online
CCU (Concurrent Users) or users online – active users who are currently in the application.
Churn by level
Churn by level – an outflow of new users at the level measured for the period.
Churn rate
Churn rate – an indicator of the outflow of users.
You can use this metric to estimate the number of users who left the application during a certain period.
MRR churn rate
MRR churn rate – a measure of the outflow of users, calculated in monetary terms.
You can use this game analytics metric to measure the loss of profits from unsubscribed users over a period of time.
MRR churn rate = (MRR for the previous period – MRR for the current period) / MRR for the previous period,
where MRR, Monthly Recurring Revenue, is the regular monthly income (most often from subscriptions).
Take a look at devtodev prices!
Conversion to first payment
Conversion to first payment – the proportion of users registered in the project in a certain period who have made at least one payment by the current moment.
Conversion to repeat payment
Conversion to repeat payment – the proportion of users registered in the project in a certain period who have made more than one payment to the current moment.
CSAT
CSAT (Customer Satisfaction Score) – an average customer satisfaction index. It allows you to evaluate the experience of user interaction with the company.
Cumulative revenue for N days
Cumulative revenue for N days shows how much on average a user spends for their first N days in the project.
Downloads
Downloads – the total number of downloads of the application.
Gross
Gross – the number of payments for a certain period.
Install
Install – the same as new users metric.
IRR
IRR (Internal Rate of Return).
K–factor
K–factor – viral coefficient, or virus index, or virality index.
You can use this game analytics metric to assess the virality of your project. It points at an app’s ability to grow organically and without costs for users’ acquisition. It also characterizes the app's growth speed and popularity in the market.
Lifetime
Lifetime is a metric showing how long, on average, a person remains active in a project, that is, the time that has passed from the first to the last application start.
You can use this metric to evaluate changes you’ve made in the project, as well as to modify user behavior.
Loyal users (LDAU, LWAU, LMAU)
Loyal users – the users who open the application at least two times in a certain period of time.
LDAU – the number of unique loyal users per day (Loyal Daily Active Users).
LWAU – the number of unique loyal users per week (Loyal Weekly Active Users).
LMAU – the number of unique loyal users per month (Loyal Monthly Active Users).
LTV or CLV
LTV (LifeTime Value), or CLV (Customer Lifetime Value) – the average amount of money from one user for his entire "life" in the project.
In product analytics, LTV is used to optimize the costs spent on acquiring users, anticipate revenue in advance, evaluate the effectiveness of the acquisition channels, choose the most financially attractive user segments, and much more.
Max users online
Max users online – the maximum number of users that was active on a particular day.
New paying users
New paying users – the number of users who made the first payment in the application in a certain period of time.
New Users
New users – users who opened the application for the first time.
NPS
NPS (Net Promoter Score) – user loyalty index.
NPS =% promoters –% detractors,
where %promoters is the percentage of loyal users and %detractors is the percentage of dissatisfied users.
NPV
NPV (Net Present Value).
Paying conversion
Paying conversion – the conversion to the payment.
Paying share
Paying share – the share of paying users.
paying share = paying users / active users,
where paying users are those who made at least one payment, and active users are those who have had at least one session at a given time period.
Paying users
Paying users (payers) – the percentage of all unique users active for a certain period who made at least one payment.
Paying users retention
Paying users retention – coefficient of return of paying users.
PCCU
PCCU (Peak Concurrent Users) – the maximum number of users simultaneously running the application.
Premium currency accrual
Premium currency accrual – accrual of premium currency.
Retention
Retention shows the ability of the project to keep users engaged.
Day 0 retention – the proportion of users who opened the application for the second time within one day after the first login.
Day 1 retention – the proportion of users opening the application one day after the first visit.
Day 7 retention – the proportion of users opening the application seven days after the first visit.
Day 28 (30) retention – the percentage of users entering project 28 (30) days after the first visit.
Revenue
Revenue – the amount of income for a certain period.
ROI
ROI (Return On Investment) shows how much money you make from your investment.
Rolling Retention
Day N rolling retention – the percentage of users who opened the project N days after the first visit or later.
ROMI
ROMI (Return on Marketing Investment).
Sessions
Sessions – the number of sessions in the application for a certain period.
Sessions per user
Sessions per user – the number of sessions per user (total number of sessions divided by the total number of users).
Social LTV
Social LTV (Social Lifetime Value) – a mobile game analytics metric that combines the main indicator of project quality (LTV) and its virality indicator (K–factor).
social lifetime value = lifetime value * (1 + K–factor),
where lifetime value is the average amount of money paid by one user, and K–factor is the virality index.
Sticky factor
Sticky factor is an analytical indicator. You can use it to assess the regularity of visits as well as the stability and loyalty of your user base.
Total daily play time
Total daily play time is a game metric that shows how much time a user spends in a product.
total daily play time = total sessions length / active users,
where total sessions length is the total duration of all gaming sessions, and active users is the total number of active users.
Total gross
Total gross – the sum of all payments and advertising revenue.
total gross = gross + ad gross,
where gross is the number of payments for a certain period, and ad gross is the advertising revenue.
Total Revenue
Total revenue – the sum of net revenue and advertising revenue.
total revenue = revenue + ad gross,
where revenue is net revenue and ad gross is ad revenue.
Total users
Total users – the number of application users who have a database representation on the selected date.
Transactions
Transactions – the total number of transactions for a certain period.
Transactions by user
Transactions by user – the average number of transactions completed by one user during a certain period.
Tutorial conversion
Tutorial conversion – the proportion of new users who have successfully completed the tutorial.
Unit sales
Unit sales – selling items for premium currency.
Users by level
Users by level – distribution of players by their level in the game.
Users online
Users online or CCU (Concurrent Users) – active users who are currently in the application.
Read more: 25 Key Metrics to Track User Loyalty
So, what data to track? Game analytics tailored to the specific app can help you answer this question.
