The GameAnalytics monetization series:

1. Exploring game monetization: Traditional strategies
2. Exploring innovative game monetization: Alternative approaches
3. Exploring monetization: Maximizing game revenue
4. Exploring monetization: Using data to guide decisions

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Why is revenue data important?

Having access to data is important for optimizing your monetization strategies and ensuring their effectiveness for several reasons:

• Insights into player behavior: By tracking purchase events and other business metrics, game developers can gain deep insights into player behavior. This includes understanding which items or features are most popular, how often players make purchases, and what factors influence buying decisions.
• Performance evaluation: Data allows developers to evaluate the performance of different monetization strategies objectively. They can measure metrics such as conversion rates, average revenue per user (ARPU), and the lifetime value (LTV) of players.
• Optimization and iteration: Armed with data, developers can iterate and optimize their monetization strategies continuously. They can experiment with pricing models, promotions, and in-game offers based on real-time feedback and analytics.
• Personalization: Data-driven insights enable personalized monetization approaches. Developers can segment players based on their spending behavior, engagement patterns, and demographics.
• Forecasting and planning: Data helps to forecast future revenue streams and plan for scalability. By analyzing historical trends and performance metrics, developers can predict revenue projections and plan their monetization strategies accordingly.
• Competitive edge: In the competitive gaming market, data-driven decision-making provides a significant competitive edge.

The GameAnalytics’ monetization features are built with these reasons in mind.

GameAnalytics’ monetization features

To support you and ensure you maximize your revenue data, we’ve enhanced our monetization view into a stand-alone overview with improved features. The most significant update is the integration of Web Shop functionality, enabling you to track revenue directly from your Web Shop.

Note: Currently, GameAnalytics supports tracking of In-App Purchase data for mobile games only.

Let’s take a look at individual features:

Revenue overview and ARPPU

The core feature is the comprehensive revenue view. Positioned prominently at the top of your Monetization Overview, this tool displays your total revenue over time and offers comparisons between iOS, Android, and Web Shop earnings for your game.

This view enables you to address key questions:

• Which platform generates the highest revenue?
• Is revenue consistent or does it fluctuate with peaks and valleys?
• Are there indications of growth on any particular platform?

To uncover and understand your revenue trends, we recommend to:

1. Analyze your user base across each platform. While one platform may dominate in revenue, this could simply be due to having a larger player base on that platform. For instance, if 650 out of 1000 players use Android devices, it’s likely that Android generates the highest revenue. However, this doesn’t necessarily indicate the spending potential of iOS users or those using your Web Shop.
2. Compare revenue generated per platform with the average revenue per paying user (ARPPU). This comparison can show you spending patterns across different platforms. Building on the previous example, while Android may generate more revenue overall due to its larger user base, iOS users might spend twice as much per person. This insight could prompt a strategy shift towards acquiring more iOS users, who potentially have higher spending capabilities
3. If you observe notable changes in your revenue generation, evaluate the events leading up to and during the period of deviation. Consider the following:

• Did you recently release a new game build or introduce fresh content that could influence user spending behavior?
• What was the overall health of your game during this time? Were there any technical issues or bugs that might have impacted player experience and spending?
• Are there recurring patterns in your revenue trends, such as higher generation during paydays or lower revenue towards month-end? Understanding these patterns can help in aligning monetization efforts with peak spending periods and optimizing revenue throughout the month.

Converting users, paying users, and split by items

Other crucial charts to consider include displaying the total number of converting users and paying users.

Who are converting users? Converting users are those who made their first purchase on a specific day, identified by the “converting=true” event filter. These users indicate first engagement with monetization features.

Who are paying users? Paying users encompass all users who made a purchase on a given date, identified by events where “is paying” equals “true.” This metric reflects ongoing engagement with in-game purchases.

Both charts are invaluable as they reveal the likelihood of players making repeated purchases, giving insights into player satisfaction with available content and monetization strategies.

If the number of paying users is higher than the number of converting users, it indicates that players find your purchase items appealing and beneficial to their in-game experience. They appreciate the value of owning premium items and make purchases repeatedly, reflecting a strong monetization strategy.

However, if the number of paying users closely matches or even equals the number of converting users, it signals a need to reassess and optimize your strategy. One effective step is to utilize the ‘Revenue grouped by item’ feature.

This feature categorizes all your revenue by the purchased item, providing insights into which items drive consistent purchases. Items that perform well can be further enhanced or diversified to increase sales, such as offering more skins or rare items within successful categories.

Conversely, if players purchase an item once but don’t return for another purchase, it suggests that the perceived value may not meet expectations. Evaluating different item offerings through A/B testing can help refine and optimize your monetization approach, ensuring that items resonate well with players and drive sustainable revenue growth.

Reviewing the durability of items in your game can also give you an idea of player spending behavior. If players are buying passes or items that offer extended benefits, they may not feel tempted to make frequent additional purchases. To address this, you can consider the following strategies:

• Shorten the duration of passes or items to encourage more frequent purchases.
• Limit the availability of rare or exclusive items within these passes to maintain their value and desirability.
• Increase the price of passes while enhancing their content to justify the higher cost.
• Convert passes into subscription models that automatically renew, providing ongoing value and convenience to players.

First transaction revenue data for in-app purchases

Understanding the First Transaction Revenue chart is also interesting as it uncovers player spending potential within your game. This data reveals how much players are willing and able to invest in in-app purchases the first time around, providing insights that can optimize your pricing strategy and prioritize items effectively.

By analyzing this chart, you can identify the spending thresholds of your player base and strategically place items within these price ranges to maximize conversions. Highlighting items that align with players’ willingness to spend can increase their likelihood of completing purchases, enhancing both player satisfaction and revenue generation.

Generate more revenue by building your own Web Shop

In Part 2 of this series, we highlighted how Web Shops enhance mobile game monetization by facilitating direct sales of in-game items, virtual currency, exclusive content, and subscriptions through a web-based storefront.

Building on this in Part 3, we emphasized the cost-effectiveness of integrating a Web Shop with GameAnalytics, reducing platform fees significantly. If you haven’t yet integrated your Web Shop, our calculator in the Monetization Overview can estimate potential revenue and savings, with Xsolla charging only a 5% fee.

Use the calculator to project your Web Shop revenue by adjusting sliders for estimated revenue and capture rate.

If you are ready to explore this opportunity, simply submit this form to connect with an expert for guidance on Web Shop implementation, no obligations attached.

Now that you understand all the features and tricks to tracking your revenue and optimizing monetization strategies, you are ready to take action. The knowledge of tracking your revenue and the data will help you to make informed decisions, refine your monetization efforts, and ultimately maximize your game’s profitability. The last step is to go ahead and connect your business events to GameAnalytics, accessing all the insights you need to drive your game’s success.

The GameAnalytics monetization series:

1. Exploring game monetization: Traditional strategies
2. Exploring innovative game monetization: Alternative approaches
3. Exploring monetization: Maximizing game revenue
4. Exploring monetization: Using data to guide decisions

________________

In our exploration through Part 1 and Part 2, we established the two primary monetization models: freemium and premium games, including numerous examples of monetization strategies. While much attention and effort is often directed towards monetization within free-to-play games, premium games also offer revenue generation opportunities.

Regardless of which model your game aligns with, the core principles of successful monetization remain the same – prioritizing player satisfaction while maximizing revenue potential.

Successful game monetization strategies

To ensure that you’re effectively implementing and managing your monetization efforts, several approaches can be taken:

1. Tracking revenue and player behavior

Tracking revenue and player behavior involves collecting and analyzing data related to in-game transactions, player interactions, and engagement metrics.

By leveraging data through GameAnalytics, developers gain insight into players’ spending habits, preferences, and behaviors. This data can then be used to optimize monetization strategies, tailor content offerings to meet player needs, and identify opportunities for revenue growth.

For example, tracking which in-game items or features are most popular among players can inform decisions about pricing, promotions, and content updates. Additionally, analyzing player retention and churn rates can help identify areas for improvement in the overall player experience, ultimately leading to increased monetization opportunities.

All-in-all, data is key to success.

Note: The last part of this series, focused on how to use GameAnalytics’ Monetization Overview will be released next Thursday. In the meantime, please make sure your business events are connected to GameAnalytics.

2. Cost-effectiveness of monetization solutions

When evaluating monetization solutions, it’s important to consider not only the potential revenue they can generate but also the costs associated with implementing and maintaining them.

For example, while in-app purchases may offer significant revenue potential, they may also require ongoing development resources to create and update content, as well as marketing expenses to promote them effectively.

On the other hand, advertising-based monetization models may have lower upfront costs but typically require a large player base to generate substantial revenue.

To ensure cost-effectiveness, developers should carefully assess the return on investment (ROI) of each monetization solution, taking into account factors such as development time, resources required, and potential revenue generation.

Reduce store commissions with custom Web Shops

Platform fees are another critical aspect to consider. These fees can impact your game’s profitability, as some platforms can charge up to 35% percent of revenue earned through their services.

Luckily, there are solutions that can help to mitigate these fees by conducting transactions directly through your own storefronts – reducing reliance on third-party platforms and retaining a larger portion of generated revenue.

The best and most popular solution particularly for mobile games are Xsolla’s Web Shops – a Direct to Consumer (D2C) store that enhance a game’s LiveOps using promotion, retention, and engagement mechanics to monetize players in the most personalized way possible.

Additionally, Web Shop solutions not only help you preserve more revenue (Xsolla only charges you a small fee of 5%), but they also help you increase your reach of paying players by expanding into new markets and accepting payments in over 700 currencies. They’re available to developers, studios and publishers as a trusted partner to guide through this innovative strategy.

This approach eases the burden of store commissions while offering greater flexibility and control over monetization efforts, enabling developers to optimize revenue streams more effectively.

3. Marketing efforts beyond user acquisition

While user acquisition is an essential component of any marketing strategy, developers should also consider other marketing initiatives to promote purchasable content and drive revenue.

This could include targeted advertising campaigns, social media engagement, influencer partnerships, and community events. For example, hosting in-game events or tournaments can generate excitement among players and encourage them to make purchases to participate or unlock exclusive rewards.

Also, leveraging social media platforms to showcase new content updates, promotions, or special offers can help drive player engagement and increase revenue opportunities.

Cross-promotion and partnerships

Collaborating with other developers or brands to cross-promote each other’s games or products can expand your reach and drive revenue. By tapping into each other’s audiences and marketing channels, developers can increase visibility and attract new players who may be interested in purchasing additional content or features.

4. Continuous updates with personalized offers

Regularly updating your game with new content, features, and events will keep players engaged and encourage them to spend more. Offering limited-time promotions, seasonal events, or other exclusive rewards for loyal players can create a sense of urgency and generate revenue.

As we mentioned earlier, data and analytics will be your best friends in creating personalized offers or adjusting pricing. By segmenting players based on their behavior, preferences, and spending habits, your offers will better match individual player needs and interests, leading to increased revenue.

Earlier in this article, we mentioned Xsolla Web Shops as a great cost-effective monetization solution. These stores can be highly customizable, offering players the best content personalized to them – helping to create a quality player experience.

5. Explore incentivized actions

Offering incentives for players to take specific actions within the game, such as watching ads, completing surveys, or inviting friends, is a good way to increase your ad revenue.

By rewarding players with in-game currency, items, or bonuses for engaging with advertisements or participating in promotional activities, you can generate additional revenue streams without disrupting the player experience.

6. Gamification of monetization

Incorporating gamification elements into your monetization strategy, such as loyalty programs, achievement systems, or progression rewards, can encourage players to spend more, increase engagement and improve retention.

Rewarding players for their loyalty, progress, or achievements with exclusive benefits or bonuses, can foster a sense of investment in the game and encourage continued spending over time.

7. Revenue allocation strategies

Careful allocation of revenue is critical to sustaining long-term profitability and continuous growth. When it comes to managing and allocating your newly gained revenue, we recommend you prioritize investments that contribute to enhancing the overall player experience and driving more growth (and therefore more revenue).

This could include investing in game development to create new content, features, or updates that add value for players and encourage spending. Also, allocating resources to marketing efforts can help attract new players, while retaining existing ones. Generally, the more players, the higher the possibility of a successful purchase.

Finally, investing in player engagement initiatives such as customer support, community management, and live events can help foster a loyal player base and drive long-term revenue growth. By strategically allocating revenue across these areas, developers can maximize the return on investment and ensure the ongoing success of their games.

Compare, analyze and optimize your revenue with GameAnalytics

Taking guesses isn’t the best way to boost your monetization and keep your games making money. With GameAnalytics, you can track your IAP (in-app purchase) and WebShop revenue to get a clear picture of how your players spend and improve your strategies. Head over to our tool or click to learn more about maximizing your game’s revenue and using data to make smart decisions.

The GameAnalytics monetization series:

1. Exploring game monetization: Traditional strategies
2. Exploring innovative game monetization: Alternative approaches
3. Exploring monetization: Maximizing game revenue
4. Exploring monetization: Using data to guide decisions

________________

Last week we explored traditional monetization strategies commonly employed in the gaming industry, focusing on freemium and premium models. We outlined various methods such as in-app purchases, advertising, and limitation removal, highlighting their implementation and impact on player experiences.

However, it is not a secret that our industry is constantly changing as player preferences and market trends are shifting over time. What worked once will not necessarily work the second time, and a strategy that uplifted one game could be detrimental to another. This is why Game Developers, Growth Managers and Game Designers should be aware of as many innovative monetization solutions as possible. Beyond revenue generation, these alternatives offer resource-efficient options and the flexibility to tailor strategies that enhance player experiences in ways traditional methods can’t.

Alternative monetization strategies

Traditional strategies may not always be suitable for every game or audience, as player demographics and gaming habits vary widely. Alternative strategies, on the other hand, offer customization options to cater to diverse player needs and preferences. Through creativity and experimentation, developers can differentiate their games and create unique experiences that resonate better with their players.

These are some of the alternative monetization strategies:

1. Web Shops
2. Digital subscriptions and memberships
3. Merchandising and licensing
4. Sponsorships
5. Live streaming and donations
6. NFT and blockchain
7. Events and experiences

1. Web Shops

Web Shops are the perfect addition to mobile game monetization strategies. Revenue is generated from purchases made through the web-based storefront. This includes various monetization strategies such as selling in-game items, virtual currency, exclusive content, and subscriptions directly to players as part of a direct-to-consumer (D2C) strategy.

What this means in practice is that mobile players are invited to a browser-based store, where they proceed with their purchases just as they would in your app. However, this solution offers a more personalized shopping experience, that reflects players’ needs to progress within the game.

Web Shop also expands a game’s LiveOps capabilities with wide-range of web-based LiveOps tools that increase players’ LTV, Retention and Engagement across all platforms.

The goal of implementing a Web Shop is to maximize revenue opportunities and enhance the overall LiveOps monetization strategy for mobile games.

2. Digital subscriptions and memberships

Subscriptions are commonly used on mobile platforms, particularly iOS and Android, where users can subscribe to access premium features, receive content updates, or enjoy exclusive perks on a recurring basis. Examples of games using subscriptions include Clash of Clans by Supercell, which offers a monthly Gold Pass subscription for additional in-game rewards and perks. Also, platforms like Roblox offer premium memberships that grant players additional Robux currency and exclusive items.

Note: Subscription in-game monetization can also refer to monetization model that maintain player’s access to a game base on recurring fee.

3. Merchandising and licensing

Merchandising involves selling physical merchandise such as clothing, accessories, or collectibles featuring game branding and artwork. This strategy is commonly used across various genres, with examples like “Fortnite” by Epic Games offering a wide range of merchandise, including apparel, toys, and accessories.

A related strategy is licensing game assets, characters, or intellectual property for use in merchandise, spin-off games, or other media formats. Games like Minecraft by Mojang Studios license their characters and branding for various merchandise, toys, and media projects.

4. Sponsorships

Game developers can partner with brands or companies for sponsorships, integrating product placements, branded content, or sponsored events within the game. This strategy can be found in mobile games like Pokémon GO by Niantic, which collaborates with various brands for in-game events and promotions.

5. Live streaming and donations

Live streaming platforms offer opportunities for game developers to monetize content through ads, subscriptions, donations, or sponsorships. Games such as League of Legends by Riot Games are popular choices for live streaming, with streamers earning revenue through subscriptions and donations from viewers. Game developers who feel comfortable in front of the camera can also venture onto platforms like Twitch or YouTube and receive donations from their viewers during live streams and gameplay sessions.

6. NFTs and blockchain

Exploring opportunities in non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and blockchain technology allows developers to create digital collectibles, in-game assets, or player-owned economies. In the last few years, we’ve seen a lot of Web3 games come out. Sky Mavis released Axie Infinity, Nplus Entertainment has League Of Kingdoms, Bright Star Studios made Ember Sword. The idea of owning your digital assets is clearly quite important. In fact, Web3 gaming accounts for almost half of all blockchain activity. We explored this trend and took a look at Zynga’s Sugertown here.

7. Events and experiences

Hosting virtual or real-world events, conventions, or meet-ups for fans to engage with developers, participate in tournaments, or purchase exclusive merchandise is a strategy used by many major games across all platforms. Games like World of Warcraft by Blizzard Entertainment host in-game events and real-world conventions like BlizzCon for their community.

These are just a few examples of popular and innovative monetization strategies. However, the potential for creativity and innovation knows no bounds. Game developers are continually exploring new avenues to generate revenue and enhance player experiences, leading to a diverse range of monetization approaches across the industry. If you are curious to learn more, you can venture into exploring in-game events, digital collectibles, influencer partnerships, or virtual real estate, to name a few more.

Compare, analyze and optimize your revenue with GameAnalytics

Taking guesses isn’t the best way to boost your monetization and keep your games making money. With GameAnalytics, you can track your IAP (in-app purchase) and WebShop revenue to get a clear picture of how your players spend and improve your strategies. Head over to our tool or click to learn more about maximizing your game’s revenue and using data to make smart decisions.

The GameAnalytics monetization series:

1. Exploring game monetization: Traditional strategies
2. Exploring innovative game monetization: Alternative approaches
3. Exploring monetization: Maximizing game revenue
4. Exploring monetization: Using data to guide decisions

________________

Decades ago, you’d place your game with a price tag on a shelf and hope for the best. However, with everything moving into the digital world, there are plenty of ways to earn from your game. Do you charge players upfront, or opt for the freebie route and make money from ads and in-app purchases? It could be a bit of a maze out there, but we’re here to guide you through the world of game monetization.

Why should you monetize your game?

Before exploring typical approaches, let’s take a moment to remember why we monetize our games in the first place. Understanding the purpose behind monetization is important as it guides our approach to implementing these strategies effectively.

• Sustainability: Generating revenue is essential for sustaining business operations, funding ongoing development efforts, and ensuring the longevity of your games. Without monetization, you may struggle to cover the costs associated with game development and maintenance.
• Investment in player experience: Sufficient funds allow you to invest in the quality of your games, including hiring talented developers, artists, and designers, as well as implementing advanced technologies and features. All-in-all, you will be able to create richer, more immersive gaming experiences that engage your players, ensuring their retention.
• Innovation: Having resources is often an incentive to explore new ideas, experiment with different gameplay mechanics, and push the boundaries of your game. Such innovation is attractive to both developers and players alike, supporting the culture of your studio as well as player satisfaction and engagement.
• Support for free-to-play models: Monetization is particularly important for free-to-play games, which rely on revenue streams such as in-app purchases, advertising, and subscriptions. These games offer a low barrier to entry for players, making them accessible to a wider audience. However, they still need to generate revenue to remain viable.

Clearly, monetization affects more than just the revenue you generate. It increases flexibility and scalability, boosting player engagement, and removing barriers to entry.

Through monetization, you can also support ongoing content updates, personalize revenue generation, build a sense of community, and use data to optimize your game development, monetization, and marketing strategies.” – Nicholas Lim, Founder and CEO of Sonamine

Gaming monetization models

The traditional strategies revolve around two primary models: freemium and premium.

What is a freemium game?

Freemium games, usually free to download, entice players with various ways to generate revenue. The income can be derived from in-game advertising, microtransactions (such as individual purchases, loot boxes, or gacha), downloadable content (DLC), or tiered extras like season passes or battle passes.

Many gaming studios combine two or more of these models to maximize profits. These combined models are prevalent in free-to-play (F2P) games – where players are enticed to make purchases for enhancements such as extra lives, virtual currency, customized avatars, ad-free experiences, or extended playing time.

Players who choose not to spend money might experience in-game ads, encounter timers, bump into limited customization options, or have restricted access to content. Note that some companies have faced criticism for implementing aggressive pay-to-win (P2W) strategies, where players must make purchases to progress or compete effectively in the game.

What is a premium game?

Premium games require an upfront payment for full access. Once purchased, players typically have unrestricted access to all content and features without the need for additional in-game purchases. However, some premium games may offer additional downloadable content (DLC) or expansion packs for an extra fee – providing players with new levels, characters, or storylines to enhance their gaming experience. Additionally, premium games can also offer optional cosmetic microtransactions, allowing players to customize their characters or avatars with virtual items or skins for a small fee.

Monetization strategies

Now that we’ve covered the basics of the two primary monetization models, let’s dive into the typical strategies used within these models. The extent of these strategies vary depending on whether the game follows a freemium or premium model, but they all aim to maximize revenue while providing value to players.

Monetization strategies for game publishers:

1. Advertising
   • Banner ads
   • Interstitials between levels
   • Video ads
   • Offerwalls
   • Branded experiences
2. In-app purchases
   • Premium version
   • Level packs
   • Battlepasses
   • Extra resources and skins
3. Limitation removal
   • Remove ads
   • More energy, time, etc.
4. Vouchers and wallet payments

1. Advertising

Advertising is a very common and popular monetization method used in various types of games across all platforms, including mobile, PC, console, and even web-based games. Game developers integrate ads into their games to generate revenue by displaying promotional content to players during gameplay. Here are some of the examples:

Banner ads: Banner ads are small advertisements that appear at the top or bottom of the screen while players are engaged in gameplay. These ads are typically static or animated images and can be non-intrusive, allowing players to continue playing while still being exposed to the advertisement.

Interstitials between levels: Interstitial ads are full-screen advertisements that appear between levels or during natural breaks in gameplay. These ads often include interactive elements or video content and provide an opportunity for players to engage with the advertisement before continuing with the game.

Video ads: Video ads are short promotional videos that players watch in exchange for in-game rewards or currency. These ads can range from a few seconds to several minutes in length and may include pre-roll, mid-roll, or post-roll placements within the game.

Offerwalls: Offerwalls are interactive interfaces within the game that allow players to earn in-game rewards or currency by completing tasks or engaging with third-party advertisements and offers. These tasks may include downloading and installing apps, signing up for services, or completing surveys.

Branded experiences: Branded experiences involve integrating sponsored content or branded elements into the game to create immersive advertising experiences for players. This may include in-game events, challenges, or virtual items sponsored by external brands or companies.

2. In-app purchases

In-app purchases are a prevalent monetization method employed across various gaming platforms, including mobile, PC, and console. This approach allows developers to offer additional content, features, or virtual goods to players within the game, enhancing the overall gaming experience. Here’s a breakdown of some in-app purchase strategies and their usage across platforms:

Premium version: This model is commonly used across mobile and PC platforms, where players can purchase a premium version of the game to unlock exclusive content or features not available in the free version. While mobile games often offer a free base game with optional premium upgrades, PC games may release a deluxe or collector’s edition with additional content at a higher price point.

Level packs: Level packs are popular across all platforms and are often used to extend the lifespan of a game by offering additional levels, challenges, or gameplay experiences. Players can purchase these packs to access new content and expand their gaming experience. This strategy is particularly common in mobile games and downloadable content (DLC) for PC and console titles.

Battlepasses: Battlepasses are frequently implemented in multiplayer games across all platforms, offering players a progression system with rewards, challenges, and exclusive content over a set period. While mobile and PC games often feature battlepasses as part of their free-to-play model, console titles may offer similar season pass options for additional content updates.

Extra resources and skins: The sale of extra resources and skins allows players to purchase in-game currency, power-ups, or cosmetic items to enhance their gameplay experience. While the availability of these items may vary depending on the platform and game, the concept of offering optional purchases for virtual goods remains consistent across platforms.

“Some mobile genres generate a bigger share of their revenue via purchases than others: engagement-intense genres like strategy or RPG (as well as casino games that are based on player transactions) see most of their revenue from in-app purchases. In contrast, more than 94% of hypercasual gaming app revenues were via in-app revenue. Compared to other app categories, mobile gaming apps had the largest share of free-to-download apps with in-app purchases.” – Statista, 2024

3. Limitation removals

Limitation removal is a monetization approach commonly used in mobile games, where players can opt to remove certain restrictions or limitations within the game by making a purchase. The two common limitation removal strategies include:

Remove ads: This strategy allows players to eliminate intrusive advertisements from the game by purchasing an ad-free experience. This feature is typically found in mobile games, but may also be available in browser-based or PC titles.

More energy, time, etc.: Another limitation removal strategy involves allowing players to purchase additional energy, time, or other resources to bypass waiting periods or restrictions within the game. For example, players may be able to purchase extra lives, energy points, or time-based boosts to progress through levels more quickly or access premium content without having to wait for cooldowns or recharge timers.

4. Vouchers and wallet payments

The use of vouchers and wallet payments addresses barriers to traditional payment methods such as credit cards (due to fx. age restrictions or regional-related payment methods).

Vouchers are digital codes or coupons that players can redeem within the game to unlock special rewards, discounts, or in-game currency. These vouchers may be distributed through various channels, such as promotional events, partnerships with other brands, or in-game achievements.

Wallet payments enable players to store funds or virtual currency within their game accounts, allowing for quick and convenient purchases without the need for repeated credit card transactions. Players can preload their accounts with a certain amount of virtual currency or link their accounts to digital payment platforms such as PayPal, Google Pay, or Apple Pay.

As we wrap up our exploration of traditional monetization strategies, it’s important to acknowledge that the gaming revenue landscape is vast and always changing. While we’ve covered the basics, there are plenty more ways to make money from your games just waiting to be discovered.

Compare, analyze and optimize your revenue with GameAnalytics

Taking guesses isn’t the best way to boost your monetization and keep your games making money. With GameAnalytics, you can track your IAP (in-app purchase) and WebShop revenue to get a clear picture of how your players spend and improve your strategies. Head over to our tool or click to learn more about maximizing your game’s revenue and using data to make smart decisions.

NOTE: Certain platforms send error events automatically if enabled, while others require manual sending. To start sending events for FPS, Boot time, and Memory, it is required to upgrade your SDK to Unity 7.8.0 or newer.

Every game developer strives to deliver a seamless and optimized gaming experience. To support your efforts, we expanded the capabilities of Health reporting, introducing FPS (frames per second), Memory Usage management, and App Boot Time features. Complementing existing error messages and related charts, our health reporting toolset allows developers to delve deeper into their game’s performance metrics, identify areas for improvement, and ultimately enhance player satisfaction.

Our health feature offers robust filtering capabilities, enabling developers to dissect performance metrics by country, build, and device. Such a granular level of analysis empowers developers to identify performance inconsistencies across different platforms and tailor optimizations accordingly.

At the core of health reporting and error tracking

Health reporting focuses on your game’s technical performance, providing efficient and profound insights into health-related issues. Reported errors are always categorized by severity (critical, error, warning, info, and debug), which allows you to assess their urgency and efficiently plan improvements.

These are the three prominent use cases that can help you guide your decisions confidently:

The first significant application is the ability to compare error counts between the latest and previous builds. This core functionality enables developers to track their game’s performance over time, identifying trends in error occurrence and assessing the impact of new releases. For example, observing a decrease in error counts following bug fixes in a new build provides developers with insights into the effectiveness of their troubleshooting efforts, guiding decisions on further updates.

Secondly, our feature facilitates in-depth analysis of error stacktraces, allowing developers to identify and prioritize specific error patterns affecting a significant number of users. For example, identifying a common stacktrace related to in-app purchases causing widespread crashes can help you address the underlying problem quickly, mitigating negative impacts on player retention and satisfaction.

Lastly, you can track device-specific error trends, helping you optimize your games for various hardware configurations. For example, identifying prevalent errors on older devices with lower processing power prompts you to review resource usage or implement fallback mechanisms, ensuring a smoother gameplay experience across different devices.

Frames per second (FPS)

The first Pro addition to your game’s ultimate health center is a detailed breakdown of frames per second (FPS) experienced by players throughout their gaming sessions. This feature enables developers to analyze FPS ranges and identify performance bottlenecks. By pinpointing areas of poor(er) performance, you can iteratively improve game builds to ensure a smooth and immersive gaming experience for players.

For instance, if a decrease in FPS is observed after deployment, you should review game’s code to pinpoint potential rendering inefficiencies. By implementing global rendering optimizations, you can improve FPS across all gameplay sequences, ensuring smoother gameplay experience, hence improving player satisfaction.

With the ongoing health monitoring, you can continue to track FPS metrics across various game builds and updates, ensuring that performance remains consistently high for all players.

Memory usage

When your game consumes excessive random access memory (RAM), it becomes challenging to run smoothly, especially on smaller devices with limited resources. Users on these devices may experience lag, slowdowns, or even crashes, leading to frustration and negative reviews. By prioritizing memory optimization, you not only enhance performance but also ensure compatibility with a broader range of devices.

Our Memory function – the second Pro addition to our health centre – provides valuable insights into the RAM usage of your application. By monitoring RAM usage, you can detect potential memory leaks that may lead to game crashes. This feature allows you to track the distribution of device memory usage and identify areas of excessive consumption, enabling you to implement memory-efficient coding practices and optimize game assets.

App boot time

The last Pro addition to our health reporting package, the app boot time function, is essential for optimizing player engagement and retention. The App Boot Time function provides developers with visibility into the loading time of their game. By analyzing app boot times, developers can identify opportunities to streamline the loading process, minimize wait times, and ensure a pleasing user experience from the moment players launch the game.

Our latest Health reporting features, including FPS, Memory management, and App Boot Time insights, are now available exclusively for GameAnalytics Pro users. With these tools, developers can delve deeper into their game’s performance metrics, identify areas for improvement, and improve player satisfaction. Upgrade to GameAnalytics Pro today to unlock these powerful features and optimize your game’s technical performance.

If you want to optimize your games, improve user experience, and enhance monetization, insights are everything. Understanding player behavior, trends, and preferences can make or break a game’s success. That’s where GameAnalytics’ Raw Export comes in—an innovative feature allowing you to automate the export of your games’ data in its raw JSON format and transfer it in real time.

Raw Export was developed with one goal in mind: to empower developers with a need to perform custom analytics. By providing immediate access to raw data, we enable developers to build internal tools without the need for extensive research and development time or infrastructure costs. Developers can, therefore, focus solely on extracting insights and driving their games’ success.

Automate your data flow with Raw Export

Raw Export is a cutting-edge service that automatically extracts and transfers your game’s raw data to your preferred storage solutions, such as an AWS S3 bucket, in real time. This raw data includes granular gameplay events, properties, and timestamps—essentially, a direct pipeline to your game’s data, empowering you to process, store, and transform it according to your own requirements.

We’re trying lots of different versions of our games all the time, making sure that the CPI isn’t rising and that playtime is staying the same or increasing, Philippe Grazina from TapNation says. The data that GameAnalytics provides is highly accurate and flexible when it comes to tracking additional metrics on the fly.

Thanks to Raw Export, developers gain full control over their data, allowing for custom analysis, seamless integration with third-party tools, and the creation of tailored reporting systems. This not only saves time and infrastructure costs but also provides the flexibility to adapt data analysis to specific needs—resulting in informed decision-making and enhanced game performance.

Realizing success with Raw Export

An example is a gaming studio striving to analyze player behavior to enhance game design. By leveraging Raw Export, they can effortlessly receive their game’s raw event data directly into their AWS S3 bucket. Analysts within the studio can then utilize this data in their business intelligence tools to pinpoint trends, make informed decisions on game updates, and ultimately boost player engagement and retention.

However, if you’re looking for business intelligence, you might want to learn about GameIntel, a Store Intelligence and Industry benchmark solution that is part of GameAnalytics Pro.

An exemplary success story comes from TapNation, who increased player Lifetime Value (LTV) by an impressive 50% across their game portfolio within just six months of implementing Raw Export. Their use of GameAnalytics Raw Export shows how studios can leverage data insights to substantially improve game performance and player satisfaction.

DataSuite is a highly reliable product, allowing us to use our game metrics effectively, while focusing on our core algorithms, Philippe from TapNation adds. All without putting time and effort into maintaining data collection services.

With unparalleled access to raw data and the freedom to customize analyses, developers can unlock their games’ full potential and propel them to new heights of success. Part of GameAnalytics’ DataSuite, Raw Export allows you to transfer all of your game’s data in real time and run custom analyses.

Securing a coveted spot in the top charts can be a game-changer for developers. It opens doors to increased downloads, revenue, player engagement, and long-term success in the competitive mobile gaming world. To help you navigate the complexities of app stores, we developed the Store Intelligence platform.

Store rankings are not just empty metrics; they provide valuable insights into player preferences, market trends, and the factors that drive a game’s success. Access to such metrics is especially important for developers and studios aspiring to get to the top, who do not have the resources for expensive data solutions and data scientists to help them translate acquired data into actionable insights.

Together with our Benchmarks, Store Intelligence presents a tangible opportunity to understand your competitors’ strategies and how they turn them into engaging gameplay mechanics, monetization strategies, and more. The biggest advantage? Store Intelligence allows you to apply granular filters, such as store type, game category, date, and rank change, or focus on paid versus free games. That means you can view similar titles to yours and follow their development.

Consider this guide your first step in optimizing your games to increase their visibility in the stores:

Identify high-potential keywords

One of the keys to discoverability is understanding the keywords or search terms that lead players to top-ranked games. You might have heard about Search Engine Optimization (SEO) – a marketing strategy to rank a website on the top of search engines such as Google, attracting organic (not paid) traffic.

With Store Intelligence, you can pinpoint which keywords effectively drive this traffic. You can then optimize your game title, description, and metadata to increase visibility and attract more players.

Competitive analysis

Top-ranked games didn’t get there by chance. With Store Intelligence, you can analyze the ranking positions of successful games in your category and genre to uncover valuable insights. You can then use their gameplay mechanics, art styles, and user reviews to identify common elements across successful titles that resonate with players. This information can guide your game development decisions.

Pricing and monetization

Successful monetization strategies often align with higher rankings. With Store Intelligence, you can analyze store ranking fluctuations and their connection to in-game monetization to optimize pricing models and in-app purchases, driving more revenue. This approach can help you optimize your monetization strategies.

Promotion strategies

Studying the promotional strategies employed by top-ranked games can offer valuable lessons. Investigate their advertising campaigns, social media engagement, influencer partnerships, and other marketing efforts. Understanding what works for others can inform your own promotional initiatives, with Store Intelligence as your guide. Here are some tools to help you out:

• Google Ads Transparency Center: Find active ads published through Google (FREE)
• AdSpy: Searchable database of Facebook and Instagram ads
• Moat by Oracle Data Cloud: Search for specific ads and view their performance metrics.

Timing and seasonality

The game’s popularity can also be influenced by the time of the year. Use Store Intelligence to analyze how this factor impacts rankings and player activity. You can then plan game releases, updates, and events to align with periods of increased player engagement or holidays. Guided by Store Intelligence, strategic timing can give your game a competitive edge.

Store ranking data is a goldmine of insights that can propel your game to the top charts. These 5 strategies are just the tip of the iceberg regarding its power. We encourage you to go ahead and explore our Store Intelligence on your own. Although users of our core analytics can access this tool, they will realize that access to some features might be restricted. For unlimited experience, we suggest you update to GameAnalytics Pro.

Achieving success when creating a game requires more than creativity and innovation. Knowing and correctly interpreting your KPIs is undoubtedly the foundation of making educated decisions during game development. And to support you on your data journey, we compiled a list of the 22 most essential metrics to keep an eye on.

But while paying attention to your game performance cannot be overstated, it is equally important to deeply understand player preferences and industry standards. From performance comparison to trend identification, game industry benchmarks offer a grand scale to set realistic goals and expectations.

Providing data and insights from over 140,000 game studios and developers, our Benchmarks are a powerful ally for game developers. The tool offers a wealth of information on key metrics such as retention, monetization, engagement, and advertising, enabling developers to understand player behavior and market trends better.

Before we delve into concrete steps to guide you through interpreting the benchmark data, learn about various benchmark tables, associated metrics, and filtering possibilities:

How game developers benefit from industry benchmarks?

When comparing your game to other studios and developers, holistic data about player retention gives developers insights into how other games retain players. This data is valuable for understanding how players engage with games over time and allows developers to benchmark their game’s performance against industry standards.

You can, for example, analyze retention trends within your game’s genre to understand player behavior patterns unique to that category. Similarly, by examining retention benchmarks over different time periods, you can track player engagement changes and identify potential improvement areas. Such analysis can help identify correlations between different metrics and provide insights into player engagement and retention strategies.

Relying solely on individual benchmarks may provide a limited perspective. Instead, we recommend a holistic approach by comparing and contrasting several benchmarks to unveil deeper insights. Such multifaceted analysis enriches your understanding of player dynamics and allows you to refine your strategies.

For instance, by analyzing how changes in session length correlate with retention rates, developers can pinpoint optimal session durations that keep players coming back for more. Similarly, understanding how playtime affects retention can inform decisions about game pacing, content depth, and progression mechanics to enhance player engagement over time.

Insights into monetization trends

Monetization benchmarks are essential to measure the effectiveness of in-game monetization strategies and assess the overall financial performance of their genre. These benchmarks provide insights into key revenue metrics such as conversion rates, average revenue per daily active user (ARPDAU), and average revenue per paying user (ARPPU).

Once again, comparing with other benchmarks will only deepen your understanding of the market. For example, comparing monetization benchmarks to engagement metrics involves analyzing how revenue metrics like ARPDAU correlate with key engagement indicators such as session length, session count, and retention rates. If higher ARPDAU coincides with longer session lengths or higher retention rates, it suggests that players who engage more deeply are more likely to spend. Conversely, if monetization metrics are low despite strong engagement, it may indicate opportunities to optimize monetization mechanics or offer more compelling in-game purchases. By identifying these correlations, you can refine your monetization strategies and maximize revenue potential while maintaining a positive player experience.

Focus on your target player and keep testing

Segment analysis is a powerful strategy for deriving actionable insights from GameAnalytics’ Benchmarks. Filtering the data based on various parameters, such as time period, genre, region, or platform, will allow you to customize game features, content, and monetization strategies to suit specific player groups better.

To achieve the best improvements possible, you can conduct A/B tests to experiment with different game features, mechanics, and monetization strategies. GameAnalytics Pro allows you to roll out a discovery you made through A/B testing, target users in a specific country, build or operation system version, and set a config to switch ON/OFF at a specific time directly in the tool.

GameAnalytics’ Benchmarks are simply a treasure trove of data-driven insights for game developers. By leveraging its comprehensive dataset, you can refine the entire portfolio of your games, optimize engagement and monetization strategies, and ultimately scale the games for success.

When it comes to game and mobile app analytics, there are hundreds of metrics numbers to track. There are metrics like downloads, sessions, or DAUs on one end of the spectrum. These numbers are relatively straightforward and measure concrete actions. More complicated metrics include user churn or Average Revenue Per Paying User (ARPPU). These are less intuitive to interpret and might raise more questions than answers.

While there’s no one-size-fits-all policy for game analytics, some useful metrics can help shed light on how you can improve your mobile game. To better understand how these metrics relate to each other and provide comprehensive insights into your game’s performance, we divide them into three main categories: engagement metrics, monetization metrics, and advertising metrics. Each category focuses on different aspects of player behavior, revenue generation, and marketing effectiveness, allowing you to optimize various avenues of your games.

Let’s dive into the first category.

Engagement metrics

Engagement metrics refer to key performance indicators (KPIs) that measure how actively and deeply players interact with your game. These metrics provide insights into player behavior, preferences, and satisfaction levels, helping developers assess the efficiency of their game infrastructures, evaluate player engagement levels, and optimize their games to enhance players’ experiences to maximize their retention.

• DAU and MAU: The daily- and monthly active users ratio measures the percentage of monthly active users who engage with the game on a daily basis, providing insights into the game’s stickiness and popularity over time. A high DAU/MAU ratio indicates strong user retention and frequent engagement, while a low ratio may signal potential churn or disinterest among users.
• Retention: Retention tracks the number of players who continue to engage with the game over time, typically measured at various intervals such as day 1, day 7, and day 30. High retention rates mean players find your game compelling and will likely return. On the other hand, low retention rates suggest issues with gameplay, onboarding, or overall user experience.

Read more: Decoding players’ patterns with engagement tracing

• Playtime: Playtime refers to the total time players spend actively engaging with the game across all sessions. It provides insights into player engagement levels and the overall appeal of the game’s content and mechanics. Monitoring playtime can help developers identify popular game features, optimize gameplay experiences, and tailor content to meet player preferences.
• Session length: Session length measures the average duration of a single gaming session, indicating how long players typically play the game in one sitting. Longer session lengths suggest high player engagement and enjoyment, while shorter session lengths may indicate issues with pacing, content depth, or player frustration. Analyzing session length trends can help you fine-tune gameplay mechanics, level design, and progression systems to maximize player satisfaction and retention.
• Session count: Session count tracks the number of gaming sessions initiated by players within a defined timeframe, providing insights into player engagement frequency and habits. Higher session counts indicate strong player engagement and interest in the game, while lower session counts may signal waning interest or competing priorities. Understanding session count trends can help developers identify opportunities to enhance return visits, introduce new content, or enhance social features to keep players returning for more.
• Churn rate: Churn rate is when players stop engaging with the game over a specific period, indicating the number of players who churn or disengage. A high churn rate suggests issues with player retention and overall game satisfaction, while a low churn rate indicates strong player loyalty and satisfaction.

Read more: Retention Rate Secrets to Reduce User Churn

• Player count: Player count refers to the total number of players engaging with the game within a specified timeframe, providing insights into overall player interest and adoption.
• New users: New users represent players who have recently installed or started playing the game for the first time within a defined timeframe. Monitoring new user acquisition rates gives you insights into the game’s appeal to new audiences, the effectiveness of your marketing efforts, and overall user acquisition trends.
• Installs ratio: The installs ratio compares the number of game installs to other relevant metrics, such as ad impressions or clicks, providing insights into user acquisition campaigns’ effectiveness and marketing channels’ effectiveness. A high install ratio indicates efficient user acquisition and conversion rates, while a low ratio may suggest inefficiencies or issues with campaign targeting, messaging, or creatives.

These metrics are crucial to developers who want to understand how the players engage with their games. But knowing how your games compare to the market is equally important. With data and insights from over 140,000 game studios and developers, GameAnalytics’ Benchmarks are a powerful ally for game developers. Further, our Store Intelligence provides insights into store rankings, including historical data. Both these tools are carefully packaged in a tool we call GameIntel, and their unlimited potential is a part of the Pro subscription.

The next category of metrics relates to a product or service’s financial performance, particularly in revenue generation.

Monetization metrics

Monetization metrics KPIs focus on assessing the effectiveness of in-game monetization strategies and measuring the revenue generated from player interactions. Some common monetization metrics that we offer in our analytics solutions include:

• Conversion rate: Conversion rate measures the percentage of players who take a desired action, such as making in-game purchases, subscribing to a premium service, or completing a specific level or task. A high conversion rate indicates effective monetization strategies and a players’ willingness to engage in these revenue-generating activities.
• ARPU (Average Revenue Per User): ARPU calculates the average revenue generated per user, providing insights into the overall monetization effectiveness of a game. By dividing total revenue by the total number of active users within a specified period, you can calculate the average value of each player and identify opportunities to increase revenue through targeted monetization efforts.
• ARPPU (Average Revenue Per Paying User): ARPPU determines the average revenue generated per purchase user, excluding non-paying players from the calculation. It offers insights into the spending behavior and value of paying players, helping developers optimize pricing strategies, in-game offers, and monetization mechanics to maximize revenue from paying users.
• LTV (Lifetime Value): LTV estimates the total revenue generated by a player over their entire engagement with the game, including initial and recurring purchases. By forecasting the long-term value of players, you can prioritize user acquisition efforts, optimize retention strategies, and calculate the return on investment for marketing campaigns and user acquisition initiatives.
• IAP revenue (In-App Purchase Revenue): IAP revenue represents the total revenue generated from in-game purchases, including consumable items, virtual currency, expansion packs, and other digital goods.
• ILRD (IAP Lifetime Revenue per Download): ILRD measures the lifetime revenue generated per download from in-app purchases, indicating the revenue potential of each acquired user. These metrics allows you to understand the average revenue generated per user acquisition and evaluate the effectiveness of monetization strategies in converting downloads into revenue.

Advertising metrics

Advertising metrics evaluate the effectiveness and efficiency of advertising campaigns. In the context of game analytics, advertising metrics focus on assessing the performance of advertisements used to promote games and drive user acquisition. Some common advertising metrics include:

• CPC (Cost Per Click): CPC represents the average cost of each ad click, indicating the efficiency and effectiveness of ad campaigns in driving user engagement. Lower CPC values suggest more cost-effective advertising strategies and higher engagement rates among target audiences.
• CPI (Cost Per Install): CPI measures the average cost associated with acquiring a new user through an advertisement, providing insights into the efficiency and return on investment of user acquisition campaigns.
• CPM (Cost Per Thousand Impressions): CPM calculates the cost per one thousand ad impressions, representing the cost advertisers pay for every thousand times their ad is displayed to users. It is a common pricing model used in online advertising, with higher CPM values indicating greater demand for ad inventory and potentially higher advertising revenue for publishers.
• CTR (Click-Through Rate): CTR measures the percentage of users who click on an advertisement after viewing it, indicating the effectiveness of ad creatives, messaging, and placement in driving user engagement.
• Fraud Share: Fraud share represents the portion of ad clicks or impressions that are deemed fraudulent or invalid, often resulting from click bots, fraudulent traffic sources, or ad stacking techniques. Monitoring fraud share helps advertisers identify and mitigate fraudulent activities, protect advertising budgets, and ensure the accuracy and integrity of campaign performance data.

Both monetization and advertising data is available in our Benchmarks.

While there is no magic recipe for game analytics, the above metrics are standards that can help you get started in the world of analytics. The most important part of mobile game analytics is to get started and establish benchmarks for your own games. Once you understand how your users behave, you can measure things like the impact of a game update or changes to your user acquisition strategy.

If you like challenging yourself, we encourage you to explore advanced analytics concepts like segmentation, funnels, or custom events. GameAnalytics makes accessing this data easy and provides you with a set of actionable insights to help you optimize your games – no data scientist needed.

Addressing developers’ demands for more nuanced retention analysis, we created a solution beyond conventional retention metrics, empowering developers and studios to gain a deeper understanding of player behavior and refine their strategies for long-term success.

Our engagement feature enables developers to filter retention based on various event types, offering a granular view of player behavior beyond standard global filters such as country or platform. By creating custom cohorts for retention, developers can tailor their analyses to specific in-game actions, answering critical questions such as whether users return after completing a particular level, making specific purchases, or investing resources in the game.

Here is everything you need to know about this feature:

Tracking event-based player retention

While traditional retention metrics usually focus on install-based data, GameAnalytics’s Engagement feature allows you to filter retention based on player events. You can explore player behavior by tracking those who perform specific actions during a given period and return on subsequent days. The charts and cohort give you an overview of which players return after performing specific in-game actions, such as buying items or completing challenging levels.

For example, you want to see the retention rate of players who purchased a sniper rifle:

• In the condition field, select ‘user sent.’ This means you are looking for an event that was triggered.
• Choose a ‘Business’ event to indicate your interest in purchase-related events.
• Next you specify the event by selecting ‘Item type’ and ‘Item ID’, here it is ‘Weapons’ and ‘SniperRifle.’
• Now, the retention chart and cohort are generated.

You can additionally select a specific period you want to analyze.

Custom triggers for deeper insights

With customizable starting and returning triggers, you can focus on analyzing specific player segments. Whether it’s players who completed a level, made a purchase, or triggered a specific event, you are the one to define the conditions that matter most to you.
To better understand your players, you can explore the retention rate of users who purchased the said sniper rifle and completed Level One in World One:

• In the ‘Start’ trigger line, you implement the same conditions chosen for event-based tracking earlier.
• The returning event you seek is a state of ‘Progression.’
• Now, in the event filter, you set the status to ‘completed’ and select worlds and levels as you desire.
• The related retention chart and cohort are generated.

Accessible, in-depth analytics for game developers

While the Engagement feature is a part of all product tiers, event-based retention, and custom triggers are only available for Pro users. GameAnalytics Pro is designed to reduce friction points and empower developers and game studios to make educated decisions, enhancing the game experience and improving retention rates.

Aside from the Engagement feature, GameAnalytics Pro includes many efficient and relevant tools to help you optimize your games and apps, such as Scheduled reporting, Portfolio overview, Health monitoring, industry Benchmarks or Metrics API access. You can learn about the Pro tier here.

The importance of data in game development is undeniable and crucial for optimizing user experience, player retention, monetization, and more. GameAnalytics helps over 60,000 gaming studios optimize and improve their games, offering a well-supported ecosystem of integrations whatever your dev tools of choice. When considering switching engines, the real challenge lies in preserving historically collected data, which serves as a compass guiding future game enhancements and decision-making.

We understand these concerns and make sure that you can confidently switch between engines, knowing that your historical data remains intact and actionable.All you need to do is instrument your SDK of choice, and the data collection continues in our engine-agnostic platform, enabling you to make data-driven decisions and continually refine your games. To make it as easy as possible, GameAnalytics is compatible with a wide range of not only engines but also popular platforms like Roblox, Javascript/web games, development environments, and frameworks.

Integration with leading game development engines

GameAnalytics offers 18 official integrations for all popular game development engines and environments, ensuring accessibility for developers across the board, making it a truly engine-agnostic platform, suitable for any tech stack. Each integration is tailor-made to satisfy the specific requirements of the game engine, providing a hassle-free and efficient experience.

These integrations are powered by streamlined SDKs, each comprising just a single line of code. While installation is a breeze, it’s worth noting that each game engine requires its unique line of code. These codes are readily available, either directly from GameAnalytics, the engine’s marketplaces, or dedicated hosting development platforms such as GitHub. Head over to our ready-to-use SDK documentation to understand their application and start collecting data and insights for your games.

PS: Our SDKs have built-in features to enable A/B testing and Live Ops – free of charge!

If you are considering switching your engine – or simply are looking to start with one –, check out our overview of the most popular ones:

Unity: Unity enables you to work with both 2D and 3D graphics and their Animator system can be used to create an animation state machine. The Unity-specific snippet empowers you to collect data and glean insights into player behavior effortlessly. Dive into detailed instructions via our Unity Integration Guide.

Unreal: Unreal engine is a great option for cross-platform development, high-quality graphics creation, and its ability to scale your game. Whether you want to start with the Unreal engine or already develop games through this platform, explore our Unreal Integration Guide to understand all the benefits that GameAnalytics can provide.

Godot: Renowned for its open-source nature and user-friendly interface, Godot operates on a language model similar to Python, which is one of the easiest coding languages used for game development. With GameAnalytics, you can dissect player progression, in-game events, monetization, and more in real-time. Read along with our Godot Integration Guide to learn more.

Cocos2D: This is the primary engine for writing games for iOS and Mac. While Cocos2D allows the development of regular old applications along with customized graphics, it also provides Objective C code. Our Cocos2D Integration Guide provides in-depth instructions to get you started.

Defold: This is a free-to-use engine that operates in Lua programming language with a high-quality visual editor and hot reload function. Head over to our documentation to explore the full potential of Defold analytics via our Defold Integration Guide.

GameMaker: Thanks to its intuitive interface, GameMaker eliminates the need to create a code base and engine from scratch. That allows game development beginners to easily create 2D mobile games. SDK for this engine is available in our GitHub repository and you can fetch it via the GameMaker Integration Guide.

Cordova: The biggest advantage of the Cordova engine is its ability to build mobile apps without the need to learn new programming languages or frameworks. That means developers can use and leverage their existing HTML, CSS, or JavaScript skills. To learn how to integrate Cordova with GameAnalytics, read the Cordova Integration Guide.

Flutter: This cross-platform development framework allows developers to work fast thanks to its Hot Reload feature and highly customizable UI design. Integrating the open-source framework to GameAnalytics is as easy as flipping the switch and is fully described in the step-by-step Flutter Integration Guide.

GameAnalytics compatibility extends also to many leading platforms and environments along the engines listed above:

• Android
• iOS
• Roblox
• Meta Quest 2
• JavaScript
• Adobe Air
• Construct
• C#
• C++

We know that working with data requires sensitive treatment. It is at our core to incorporate great measures toward legal, privacy, and security compliance. Continue reading to learn about our mission towards navigating the complexities of an ever-changing privacy regulatory landscape for you.

Privacy and Security: GameAnalytics’ Commitment

Integrating GameAnalytics into your game development process offers a wealth of benefits, from improving user experiences to ensuring player privacy. We understand the importance of trust, compliance, and data security in the gaming industry, which is why we go the extra mile to ensure your data is in safe hands. Our commitment to security and privacy is underlined by our impressive certifications:

• SOC2 Type II Compliant
• ISO27001 Certified
• Regular Penetration Testing
• Business Continuity/Disaster Recovery (BC/DR) Plans
• Robust Intrusion Detection and Infrastructure Monitoring

Our analytics tool empowers game developers to optimize and improve their games by collecting and analyzing crucial game data. We respect the privacy of both you and your players and do not provide collected data to any third party. Our products are further engineered with industry-leading security protocols to safeguard your data at all times. From multi-layered encryption to firewall protections, we ensure your data is uncompromised.