Decoding players’ patterns with engagement tracing

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.