Some Metrics Every Game Developer Should Know
KPI (Key Performance Indicator): KPI means target in the most general sense. On the other hand, KPIs are some of the more systematic and measurable metrics for how to get your games getting success in the test time and later stages.
For example, CPI, ROI, CPC…
CAMPAIGN DATA KPIs
CTR (Click Through Rate): This rate shows us the marketability of our games. We should use the gameplay video of our game to measure the ad performance before putting the game in the store to test the marketability of the game.
For example, our gameplay ads have been watched by 1000 people, 10 people clicked the ad.
Our CTR = (10/1000) * 100 = 1%
Target hyper-casual CTR: 2.5% -4.0%
CPI (Cost Per Install): CPI briefly is how much average value of money we spend for a user to download our game and install it on their phone.
For example, 10.000$ ad produces 5.000 installs
Our CPI is a 2$ CPI
Target hyper-casual CPI: 0.20$ — 0.30$
CPC (Cost Per Click): It is the cost obtained by dividing the advertiser’s fee by the number of clicks.
For example 100$ fee for ads 50 click
CPC = 2$
Target CPC of hyper-casual games = 0.15$
CR (Conversion Rate): It is a metric that shows us how many people who watched the advertisement of the game you made and downloaded it by clicking the ad.
For example, our gameplay ads have been watched by 1000 people and 200 people clicked the ad. 10 out of those 200 people downloaded the game.
Our CR = 10/200 = 0.05
Target CR of hyper-casual games: %80
GAME DATA KPIs
Retention Rate: The rate at which your current customers are regained. Also, we can call it the rate of returning (playing) users registered to your game. Regardless of all other metrics, how soon do you make your users return to the game? That way you can tell how efficient game users you have.
For example, 20 people leave a game played by 100 people after one week. In the present case our Retention rate 80/100 * 100 = %80
Target Retention Rate of hyper-casual games: D1: +40 % — D7: +10%
Some of the issues to be considered here are as follows:
1. The game type
2. How it is played
3. Your target audience can have different effects on the retention rate.
It is useful to avoid generalizations such as what the retention rate should be in the first seven days or saying that the retention rate in mobile games is better than this rate. Your historical data should be the most important base factor in your industry.
Churn Rate: It is found by dividing the users who canceled the service they received in a certain period of time by the total number of members in the same period.
Churn Rate = 1 — Retention Rate
Based on the example above, there is a segment of users who have canceled their membership by 20% compared to the first week.
Session Time: How long user plays when she/he open the game
Target session time of hyper-casual games: minimum 2 min.
Play Time: How long does she/he play the game during the day.
Target playtime of hyper-casual games: minimum 8–10 min.
MONETIZATION DATA KPIs
E-CPM (Cost Per Mille): It refers to the earnings of publishers per 1000 ad views and the cost of advertisers per 1000 views. E-CPM means effective cost calculation per thousand impressions. E-CPM is simply calculated by multiplying the ratio of total revenue to total impressions by 1000.
For Example: Let’s say you are an advertiser and you have two different gameplay ads. Their names A and B. Both will be published in a week.
From these posts, the publisher earns $1 per click on the ad. Meanwhile, both of your ads reach 2000 views in total. A gets 10 clicks and B gets 50 clicks from these ads. As we mentioned above, we can reach the ECPM results by proportioning the total revenue to the total cost and multiplying by 1000.
For A, the total revenue from your ad where the publisher earns $1 per impression is $10. Thus, when we fit these numbers into the ECPM formula: 10/2000 * 1000 in other words the result is $5.
For B, the total revenue from your ad where the publisher earns $1 per impression is $50. Thus, when we fit these numbers into the ECPM formula: 50/2000 * 1000 in other words the result is $25.
This calculation shows that for the publisher using the B ad will be more beneficial. For advertisers, ECPM makes it easier for you to distinguish higher-performing publishers when the goal of the campaign is to generate traffic, not brand awareness.
ARPU (Average Revenue Per User): This metric shows how much money you have earned on average from each user. You can calculate the ARPU of your game by dividing your daily income by the number of daily active players.
For example, your game’s daily income is $50, the number of active users is 1000.
ARPU = 50/1000 = $0.05
ARPPU (Average Revenue Per Paying User): It shows the average revenue of the users who spend money on your game. In the other words, it is obtained by dividing your daily income by the number of players who spend money that day.
ARPPU: daily income from the game/the number of users who spent money on the game
LTV (Life Time Value): In the simplest terms, it is a metric that shows on average, how much money users will spend playing your game. LTV should be bigger than CPI.
LTV = ARPDAU * AVG USER LIFETIME (DAYS)
ROI (Return On Investment): It is the data that shows you the return of your investment.
ROI = (Return on investment — investment cost) / investment cost
If the ROI ratio is above 100%, it provides a monetary profit return.
For example, if the ROI rate of 150% it will result in a return of $150 for every $100.
For example, if the ROI rate of 75% it will result in a return of $75 for every $100. This means %25 damage.
