One of the most challenging aspects of developing a mobile game is retaining players over a longer period of time.
And the task becomes even more difficult when you need to balance retention and monetization.
How do you know if your monetization strategy is hurting retention? And how can you be sure that you’re monetizing in the right way?
Mobile game retention benchmarks can come in handy.
By comparing your numbers with these benchmarks, you can get a clearer idea of how your game is performing and whether there is space for improvement.
Let’s dive right in.
Mobile Game Metrics to Watch
When analyzing your monetization strategy, the first thing to do is to have clearly in mind what the most important metrics for your game are.
Ask yourself: What am I trying to achieve?
This will help you figure out whether your strategy is performing as it should.
In fact, only data can tell whether your monetization strategy is the right one.
In general, you’ll know your monetization strategy is “right” if it meets your business goals and keeps players engaged.
Here are the key metrics to watch:
- ARPDAU (Average Revenue Per Daily Active User): How much you earn per active user, per day. Great for comparing performance across game builds or time periods.
- ARPPU (Average Revenue Per Paying User): How much your paying users spend on average. Useful for evaluating your pricing or premium offers.
- ROAS (Return On Ad Spend): How much revenue you’re making for each dollar spent on advertising. Useful for evaluating the performance of the whole campaign.
- Conversion Rate (to payer): The % of users who make at least one purchase. If this is too low, your offer might lack appeal or visibility.
- eCPM (Effective Cost Per Mille): Revenue per 1,000 ad impressions. Helps you compare the performance of different ad formats (banners, interstitials, rewarded, etc.).
- LTV (Lifetime Value): The total revenue a user is expected to generate over time. If LTV is low, it limits how much you can spend on acquiring new users.
- Retention Rate (Day 1, 7, 30): It refers to the percentage of users who continue using an app over time. A sharp drop-off might mean your monetization is hurting the experience.
- Session Length and Frequency: It measures how long and how often users engage with your app. If monetization changes cause a noticeable drop, users may lose interest or patience.
- Ad Engagement Rate: For rewarded video ads, it’s the % of users who chose to watch the ads. A low rate could indicate poor ad placement.
It’s also important to always keep an eye on user sentiment through direct feedback or reviews. If users are actively complaining about too many ads, then it’s a good idea to tone it down a bit. Ad revenue is important, but it will be more profitable if your players stick around for longer.
Mobile Game Retention Benchmarks: Choosing the Right Strategy
Of course, having a list of acronyms without proper benchmarks is not that useful.
That’s why we asked our team of experts at MAF to provide some benchmarks of a good monetization strategy.
Here’s what they told us.
Retention is Key
Your objective is to keep your users playing. That’s why D1/7/30 retention is the first metric to focus on. Usually, a good retention rate looks a bit like this:
- D1: 45% and higher.
- D7: 20% and higher.
- D30: 10% and higher.
According to MAF’s Campaign Manager, Gaetano Di Lietro, D1 is where most of the retention is made. If your monetization strategy is too aggressive, you’ll notice a low retention rate from the beginning.
If you’re trying to increase your mobile game’s retention, a good way to start is to have fewer ads in the beginning, and then slightly increase their frequency once players are hooked in the game (of course, don’t overdo it!).
Your ROAS Will Highly Depend on Your Monetization Strategy
The return on the investment you make on your ad spend will be influenced mainly by your monetization strategy:
- Games that rely mainly on ads usually aim to return on their investment in a shorter period, for example, one month.
- Games that rely mainly on in-app purchases aim to return on their investment over a longer period, which can also go up to one or two years.
- A hybrid monetization strategy will be a mix of those.
Before you start, set a realistic deadline.
If by that date you don’t see the expected results, then something in your strategy needs to be optimized.
Let’s look at a few examples of how to analyze a monetization strategy.
Scenario 1
What This Data Tells You
People like your game and stick around, but they’re not converting or engaging with monetization. Time to experiment with more visible IAP prompts or introduce rewarded ads in moments of need (e.g. extra lives, boosts, currency).
Scenario 2
What This Data Tells You
You’re making good revenue, but users are leaving quickly and unhappy. Likely, the monetization is driving players away. You should tone down the ad pressure or adjust placements to be more natural (e.g., at session breaks).
Scenario 3
What This Data Tells You
Your monetization is well-balanced. Users are sticking around, a solid % is paying, and others are watching ads. There’s room for growth, but the current strategy works and doesn’t hurt user experience.
Monetization Needs to Be Well Integrated into Gameplay
Of course, you want your game to bring you revenue, but you shouldn’t forget that monetization tactics need to be well integrated into the gameplay.
Your strategy should never feel like it’s interrupting the player, so start by checking your in-game metrics.
Are players engaging with the core features? Are they completing the tutorial? Is the timing of your pop-ups helping or hurting the flow?
A good game has solid content and multiple gameplay layers that keep players interested, which in turn supports better monetization.
If a campaign isn’t performing, it’s usually a sign that something in the user journey needs adjusting. Maybe the ads show up too early, or maybe players aren’t seeing the value in in-app purchases.
Stay data-driven, test different approaches, and always aim for a strategy that’s simple, respectful, and up to date.
Mobile Game Retention: Industry Averages
However, if we compare mobile game retention benchmarks with industry averages, we notice that the averages are slightly lower than the benchmarks.
According to a report by GameAnalytics, the average retention rates for mobile games in 2024 were:
- D1: between 26.48% and 27.69%.
- D7: around 8%.
- D30: lower than 3%.
Moreover, iOS shows overall higher retention rates than Android. For example, among the top-performing games in 2024, D1 retention was between 31-33% on iOS and 25-27% on Android.
If your game falls into these numbers, then you align with the averages.
This isn’t necessarily a bad thing.
Mobile gaming is a highly competitive industry. There are 244,863 games on Google Play alone, and we know that standing out can be challenging.
However, there are a few things you can try to improve your retention rates.
How To Improve the Retention of Your Mobile Game
As we said, D1 is when most retention is made, so start by optimizing onboarding and first-time user experience.
- Tutorials: Keep them minimal and interactive, and try to grab the players’ interest from the very first minutes. Your players should immediately understand how the gameplay works.
- Difficulty and pacing: Balance the difficulty of your game. It shouldn’t be too easy, or players will get bored and not come back, and it shouldn’t be too hard to frustrate them. Make the game challenging enough to keep people hooked.
- Reward systems: A good way to improve retention is to give players a reason to open your game daily. That’s what rewards are for. Create a system of login bonuses, achievement tracking, and timely incentives to give players reasons to return.
- Push notifications: Notifications can help you re-engage players. Personalized reminders, milestone celebrations, and relevant tips can significantly improve retention, but be careful with their frequency. You don’t want to be spammy.
- Expand the content: Continue testing, iterating, and expanding your game’s content. Live ops, updates, and fresh gameplay will help you maintain momentum from day seven to day 30 and beyond.
Final Thoughts
Retention and monetization can work hand in hand to build a player-first strategy.
The key is to keep a close eye on your metrics, listen to your players, and test what works for your specific game. There’s no one-size-fits-all solution, but if your users are sticking around, engaging with your content, and spending (either time or money), you’re on the right track.
Focus on making the game experience rewarding, not just profitable, and the numbers will follow.
