If for you those the abbreviations ARPDAU, DCR, ROAS, ARPPU means nothing, that page is for you and will list and detailed all abbreviations that you may need to understand free to play business.

ARPDAU

The ARPDAU Is the average revenue per daily active users. We use the daily revenue divided by the number of daily users. This is a key metrics to determine if you live services is performing enough to be a long term business. It one of the most important monetization key metrics. The average ARPDAU that you will aimed for will depend of multiple detailed. The game category, the target audience, the acquisition cost. I have work on game that as having good business case with an ARPDAU of 0.15$ while work on some other game that was targeting more mid-core player where we have an ARPDAU of $0.89 on average for an entire month.

ARPPU

The ARPPU is the average revenue per paying users. We calculate that metrics by taking the amount of revenu per day divided by the amount of paying player within the same day. The ARPPU is a key monetization metric, this metric can move overtime. For example, if you have promo set on Friday that interested most of your spending users there’s big chance that you ARPPU will be higher on that on that day than others. You ARPPU may increase if also if you don’t have new users acquisition and only engage users remains in the game.

RETENTION

Retention is by far the most important key metrics, without retention, you can’t expect to monetize you audience. This is true in any gams as a service or services app and product on the market. We mesure the retention on the daily activities of users that enter the game based on specific days.

D1, D3, D7, D14 and D28 are the one that are the most important. On my side, I also consider long term retention such as D60, D90 and D180.

The longer the users or players stick to your game, the more you have chance to convert him as a paying users and then have a long term business case. To calculate the retention, you must consider the players that come back at a specific day after the install.

The D1 retention will indicate the player that comes back the day after the first launch of the games. The D28 retention will indicate the number of users that have launch the games on the 28th days after the launch the game for the first time. I have written an article that has been publish on gamasutra called “Motivate players for better engagement and retention” that may interested you, follow that link for more detailed.

ROAS

The ROAS means return on investing spend. This is a key metrics to validated if you acquisition campaign will get a good ROI or not. In order to calculate it, you need to track each acquire users as a cohort by itself. You need to consider a specific days and look at your ROI on that specific day.

Example: If you want to recoup your marketing spends within a one year timeframe, you must consider having a ROAS of 20% at least on D3. Those number may change and your target will depends of what is you acquisition campaign goal. ROAS is an important key metrics to monitor in order to have a clear visibility of your marketing campaign ROI will or will not be positive.