Mobile game metrics

What are the key metrics for a mobile game?

The key metrics for a mobile game measure what a player costs, how far they get, how long they keep playing and how much they earn per day of play.

• Acquisition: cost per install, plus CTR and IPM for creative testing.
• Activation: tutorial completion, the first step of level progression.
• Engagement: DAU, sessions per user and stickiness.
• Retention: D1, D7 and D30 retention.
• Monetisation: ARPDAU, payer conversion, ROAS and LTV.

IPM: installs per 1,000 impressions. It joins click-through rate and store conversion in one number, which is why game studios use it to compare creatives.

What decides how much a game install is worth?

Two numbers do most of the work: how many days an average install stays active (the area under its retention curve) and how much each active day earns (ARPDAU). Multiply them and you have a simple per-install LTV to compare with CPI.

1. AcquisitionInstall cost and creative pull (IPM)

   1CpiCost per install5CtrClick-through rate
2. →
   ActivationTutorial done, levels reached

   21LvlLevel progression rate
3. →
   EngagementHow often they play

   13DauDaily active users17SpuSessions per user15StkDAU/MAU stickiness
4. →
   RetentionD1, D7 and D30

   22RetRetention rate
5. →
   MonetisationDaily revenue, payers and payback

   27ArpdRevenue per daily active user28PcrPaying user conversion rate31RoasReturn on ad spend30LtvLifetime value

Retention curve: retention plotted for every day after install. Adding up the daily retention rates gives the expected number of active days per install.

How the game metrics connect

• LTV per install ≈ ARPDAU × expected active days per install.
• Maximum CPI = LTV per install ÷ target ROAS. Bidding above it buys installs that cannot pay back at your target.
• Cohort ROAS by day = revenue per install by day n ÷ CPI. D0 and D7 ROAS are early reads of where the curve is heading.
• Progression feeds retention: a level with a sharp drop in level-to-level rate usually shows up as a dent in the retention curve a few days later.

The calculator runs this chain on example inputs. Change expected active days to see how much retention, not monetisation, sets the price you can pay for an install.

What to watch in each game metric

• IPM before CTR. A creative can win clicks and lose installs. IPM and click-to-install rate show which creatives bring players, not just taps.
• Tutorial completion by source. Low-quality inventory shows up first as a low tutorial completion rate, days before ROAS confirms it.
• D1 as a gate. D1 retention is the fastest read on whether a traffic source suits the game. Split it by network and campaign before scaling any of them.
• ARPDAU with ads included. Most players never pay, so ad revenue is often a large part of ARPDAU. Compare like with like.
• Payer concentration. Payer conversion and ARPPU are driven by a small group of high spenders; one large purchase can swing a small cohort's ROAS.
• ROAS by day, at the same age. Compare D7 ROAS with D7 ROAS. Older cohorts always look better on period ROAS.

Where game numbers go wrong

• iOS cohorts read like Android cohorts. On iOS, much campaign data arrives through SKAdNetwork postbacks, which are delayed, aggregated and limited by privacy thresholds, so day-level ROAS by campaign is often unavailable. Attribution Debugger's guide to SKAN 4 postbacks explains the windows and tiers.
• Mixing level designs. Progression from before and after a rebalance should never share a chart.
• Average session length alone. Idle and auto-play mechanics can inflate it; read it with sessions per user and progression.

Further reading

Linkrunner's Metrics that Matter: Mobile gaming edition covers acquisition, retention and monetisation metrics for games and how to join spend, installs and revenue, and its guide to the events every mobile game should track lists the events these formulas need.