Retention reports and market data
Documents
Pivoting To Survive: Stan Vishnevskiy's Journey on Founding Discord
Discord emerged from the strategic pivot of Hammer and Chisel, a game studio that transitioned from developing a mobile MOBA to building a dedicated communication platform.
- Discord achieved initial traction by manually convincing users on Reddit to try the platform, resulting in a steady growth of over 100 new users per day during the early launch phase.
- The company successfully pivoted from a failed game studio model to a social communication platform by ruthlessly prioritizing product-market fit, even when it required difficult personnel decisions.
- Discord maintains technical agility by distinguishing between 'one-way' and 'two-way' architectural doors, allowing the team to make temporary compromises that can be refactored later as the platform scales.
Why most Soft Launches FAIL ❌ And how to avoid the trap by Matej Lancaric
Mobile game success relies on a disciplined, multi-stage soft launch process designed to validate retention curves and lifetime value models before committing to a global release.
- A soft launch should last 3–6 months to capture statistically significant retention curves (Day 30, 60, and 90) and evolving LTV/ROAS data, as one-month tests provide insufficient, partial insights.
- The framework follows a three-stage progression: Tech Testing (Philippines, Mexico, Brazil) to validate tracking and stability, Retention Validation (Poland, Netherlands) to hit KPI benchmarks, and Monetization Scaling (UK, Germany, Canada).
- Retention success is measured against industry benchmarks of 40% (Day 1), 20% (Day 7), and 10% (Day 30), though these vary significantly by genre, such as puzzle-survival games which may perform at 31% and 12% respectively.
Roblox Hits 120 Million Players and Everyone Is Shocked!
Roblox has reached a significant milestone, reporting 112 million daily active users (DAU), representing a 41% year-over-year increase.
- Roblox reached 112 million daily active users (DAU), marking a 41% year-over-year growth rate.
- Monetization efficiency in Tier 1 markets like the U.S. and Canada remains the primary driver of revenue, significantly outperforming other geographic territories.
- Approximately two-thirds of the user base is reported to be over age 13, though analysts remain skeptical of these figures due to reliance on self-reported data.
Game Analytics 101: Why waiting "One more week" can kill your game!
Retention serves as the foundational metric for growth in the free-to-play mobile gaming sector, as monetization remains impossible without a consistent, active player base.
- Profitability in free-to-play mobile games requires that Lifetime Value (LTV) consistently exceeds the Cost Per Install (CPI), making retention the foundational metric for growth.
- Developers must hit specific Return on Ad Spend (ROAS) targets by Day 7; failing to meet these early benchmarks is a strong indicator that acquisition costs will not be recouped.
- Waiting for ad network performance to improve after missing early benchmarks is a strategic error, as the time required to break even increases exponentially when initial targets are missed.
TWIG #341 Ubisoft Tries “Succession” while Battlefield Attempts a Comeback
The global gaming industry is currently navigating a period of intense volatility characterized by structural financial challenges and shifting consumer behaviors.
- Ubisoft faces significant financial instability, including declining quarterly earnings and a sparse release pipeline through 2027, making it a potential acquisition target for Tencent.
- Standard cosmetic-based monetization models are failing to support games with low daily active user counts, forcing many studios into a cycle of unlaunching and re-releasing titles.
- Electronic Arts is attempting to revitalize the Battlefield franchise to exploit Call of Duty fatigue, though success depends on overcoming persistent issues with live service execution and matchmaking stability.
This AI Bot Runs Events, Roasts Players And Delivers 2x Community Engagement
The gaming industry is undergoing a fundamental shift toward an AI-native production model, where generative tools automate nearly all art creation and streamline complex coding and administrative workflows.
- The implementation of an AI agent named Amy resulted in a 2x increase in community engagement, with event-driven participation spikes reaching 5x to 10x higher than previous baselines.
- GOAT Gaming utilizes AI to industrialize production, reducing the time required to create a 3D character from scratch from 3–4 weeks to a single day, including animations.
- The studio uses AI-driven internal automation for administrative tasks, such as finance teams using image-based tools to reconcile receipts and update databases automatically.
Inside $500M/Year Bending Spoons: TikTok Trends, Viral videos, UA & Paywall Science
Bending Spoons functions as a hybrid between a technology firm and a private equity entity, managing a $2.5 billion portfolio of utility-focused applications including Remini, Splice, Evernote, and WeTransfer.
- Bending Spoons generates $500 million in annual revenue by acquiring apps, optimizing their design and subscription flows, and scaling them through aggressive user acquisition.
- The company’s portfolio includes high-performing apps like Remini, which achieves 300,000 daily installs, and Splice, which generates $120,000 in daily in-app purchase revenue.
- Bending Spoons utilizes 'Superwall-style' paywalls that limit functionality for free users, a strategy that has become a industry-standard template for maximizing conversion rates from install to subscription.
These Games Are Winning Big In 2025!
The mobile and platform-based gaming landscape in 2025 is defined by a dichotomy between long-term sustainable titles and aggressive, hit-driven monetization models.
- The Merge 2 puzzle subgenre has experienced significant growth, with in-app purchase revenue doubling over the past 12 months.
- Financial viability in 2025 is driven by a hybrid model that pairs mass-market, accessible gameplay with deep, complex monetization systems designed to maximize revenue from high-spending users.
- Chinese development studios are currently setting the industry standard by successfully integrating casual mechanics with aggressive, hardcore monetization designs.
‘Star Wars Hunters was no failure’ – The Big Zynga Interview
Zynga is currently executing a strategic pivot toward mobile-first development, emphasizing the creation of bespoke, high-engagement experiences over the adaptation of existing console intellectual property.
- Zynga is pivoting its strategy to prioritize wholly-owned mobile intellectual property over licensed console adaptations to reduce costs and improve marketing efficiency.
- The company has set a strategic growth target of reaching one billion monthly active users through scalable, social, and interactive mobile experiences.
- Zynga is actively shifting away from experimental technologies, specifically deprioritizing blockchain and console-specific development initiatives.
Keeping Live Games Good | Design Club
Maintaining a healthy, engaging live game environment requires a delicate balance between direct intervention and ecosystem management.
- Maintaining a healthy live game requires balancing direct interventions with ecosystem management to prevent dominant strategies from stifling player creativity and rendering content obsolete.
- Digital platforms should prioritize granular, surgical adjustments like stat tweaks or hitbox modifications over the blunt bans and restrictions typically required by static, physical tabletop games.
- Designers can shift the meta-game indirectly by altering environmental factors like terrain or introducing new items, which preserves the mechanical investment players have already made in their characters.
Panel: How To Create Your Own Retargeting Strategy.
This panel discussion explores the strategic implementation of retargeting in the mobile gaming industry, emphasizing its role as a vital complement to user acquisition (UA).
- Retargeting should be considered as soon as a game launches to capture churned users, as waiting too long results in missed opportunities to recover acquisition investment.
- A recommended budget allocation for retargeting is 5% to 10% of total spend; exceeding 10% is considered risky because many churned users are permanently disengaged.
- The 7-day inactivity window is the standard starting point for initiating retargeting campaigns, as users inactive for longer periods are significantly harder to re-engage.
What hope does Twitch have in a TikTok world?
Twitch CEO Dan Clancy outlines the platform’s strategic evolution, emphasizing a shift toward community-centric live streaming as a counterpoint to the passive, short-form consumption models popularized by platforms like TikTok.
- Twitch is pivoting from restrictive exclusivity contracts to a multi-streaming model, forcing the platform to compete based on creator tools and community engagement rather than artificial barriers.
- Twitch serves as a major driver for game discovery and retention, evidenced by Grand Theft Auto V generating 1.4 billion hours of watch time annually on the platform.
- The platform is shifting its monetization strategy toward sustainable creator compensation through the Plus program, ad revenue sharing, and mobile-focused micro-transactions like 'combos'.