Case Study: How Game District increased retention by 25% and ARPDAU by 15% with AppMetrica

Game District is Pakistan’s fastest-growing mobile gaming company, with over 800 games launched to date. Their games are available on both Android and iOS platforms, with a user base spanning globally. The company shows impressive metrics, including more than 10 million Daily Active Users (DAU) and 300 million Monthly Active Users (MAU). Their monetization strategy primarily involves in-app advertising (IAA), which accounts for 80-90% of their revenue, and in-app purchases (IAP), which they aim to increase to 30% by the end of the year.

Challenges

As Game District rapidly scaled its operations, they faced several challenges in optimizing game performance, user retention, and monetization. The team was looking for:

1. Deep insights into player engagement and retention to understand why players were dropping off at specific points in the game. To do that, they needed data to improve game design, enhance monetization, and identify key areas where users were losing interest.
   
   
2. A balance between Ad Frequency and KPIs. Game District struggled to find the right balance between monetization via ads and user experience. Too many ads could hurt engagement and retention, so they needed tools to track ad performance and optimize placements.
   
   
3. A way to detect technical issues and abnormal behavior. Identifying crashes, glitches, and unusual behavior in users was essential to maintaining a smooth and enjoyable player experience.
   
   

Analytics needs

To tackle these challenges, Game District needed to track key metrics that would offer a deeper understanding of how their games were performing. These included:

• Retention and Engagement: Measuring how long players stayed engaged and how often they returned.
• First-Time User Experience (FTUE): Ensuring that new users had a smooth onboarding process.
• Churn Rate: Identifying when and why players dropped off.
• Ad Impressions and Monetization Metrics: Tracking how ads were performing, including impressions per user and average revenue per daily active user (ARPDAU).

Solution

Game District turned to AppMetrica after exploring several analytics platforms, seeking a solution that would provide a comprehensive and deep analysis of player behavior and game performance. AppMetrica stood out due to its:

1. Comprehensive user behavior insights: Detailed tracking of player interactions and user journeys, which helped Game District understand key moments of drop-off and engagement.
2. Performance monitoring and funnel analysis: Offering a clearer view of where players were losing interest or encountering issues.
3. Cohort tracking without data limitations: Unlike some alternatives, AppMetrica allowed Game District to track players over extended periods and track their behavior in specific cohorts.

Monetization optimization

With AppMetrica in place, Game District was able to take a more strategic approach to its monetization efforts. They identified several trends in mobile monetization and tested various approaches to improve ad revenue without sacrificing player experience. These included:

• Hybrid monetization models: Combining ads, IAP, and subscriptions to maximize revenue.
• A/B testing for ad placements and frequencies: Adjusting ad placements and testing different frequencies to find the ideal balance between monetization and retention.

Strategic pivots based on data

One of the most impactful changes Game District made was based on insights derived from AppMetrica’s ad revenue data analysis:

• Delaying Forced Ads for new users: They found that forcing interstitial ads too early in the player journey led to lower retention rates. As a solution, they delayed ad exposure for new users, leading to a 25% increase in Day 1 retention and 50% higher level completion rates.
• Switching to Rewarded Ads: Forced interstitial ads were causing early drop-offs, so Game District switched to using optional rewarded ads instead. This approach not only improved retention but also resulted in a 15% increase in ARPDAU.

Key Results

By leveraging AppMetrica’s data analysis and implementing their insights into their monetization strategy, Game District achieved the following:

• +25% increase in Day 1 retention
• +50% higher level completion rate
• +15% increase in ARPDAU

These improvements were driven by a more player-centric approach to ad placement, resulting in a smoother experience for users while still boosting revenue.

Game District’s partnership with AppMetrica highlights the power of data-driven decision-making in mobile game development. By using detailed analytics to understand player behavior, optimize monetization strategies, and reduce friction points in the user experience, Game District was able to significantly improve both retention and revenue.