2. BACKFLIP STUDIOS
• About Backflip Studios
– Founded March 2009
– Located in Boulder, CO
– 100+ full-time employees
– Majority owned by Hasbro
– Publishing
• About Me
– PhD Physicist turned Data Scientist
– Previously worked at FICO
– Backflip
• Game, Ad Network,
User Acquisition Data
• Models
• High Level Reporting
MOBILE GAMES!
3. KEY METRICS
• App “Health”
– New Users
• Organic
• User Acquisition
– Daily Active Users
• New Users
• Retention
– Retention
• Day 1, 7, 14. 28+
– Sessions
• Engagement
– Session Length
• Engagement
• Accessibility
• Revenue
– ARPDAU
– ARPU
– ARPPU
– LTV
– Conversion Rate
• Others
– Ad Network
• Click-Through Rate
• Conversion Rate
– User Acquisition
• Cost Per Acquisition
• Return On Investment
7. -15 0 15 30 45 60 75 90 105 120 135 150 165 180
DAILY ACTIVE USERS
RETENTION IS KING
Days Since Launch
2x Users vs.
Better Retention
Day 1 40%
Day 7 20%
Day 14 13%
Day 28 5%
Day 1 50%
Day 7 25%
Day 14 18%
Day 28 10%
8. REVENUE METRICS
FOR IN-APP PURCHASE DRIVEN GAMES (F2P)
• ARPDAU (Average Revenue per Daily Active User)
– Daily spending
– $0.05 to $0.20
• ARPU (Average Revenue per User)
– Over some fixed period (Daily = ARPDAU, Monthly)
• ARPPU (Average Revenue per Paying User)
– Individual users can be $1 to $1,000s (“Whales”)
– Average ~ $10 - $20
• LTV (Lifetime Value)
– Projection
– Top Games ~ $2 to $5
– Can we “buy” users? (Marketing)
• Conversion Rate (% of users who buy)
– 1% (Poor) to 10% (Mythical unicorn land)
– Average ~3-4%
9. GAME ANALYSIS
• Event Driven
– Tutorial Progress
– Level Completed (Which Level, Win/Loss, Health Left, # Moves, Power-
ups Used, Rewards)
– Item Purchased (What Item, Cost)
– In-App Purchase (Actual $$)
– Social Events (invite friend, send gift, post to FB)
• User Summary
– First Activity Date, Last Activity Date
– User Level
– Total # Sessions, Total Time In Game
– # of Transactions, Total $$ Spent
– Total In-game Currency
10. GAME ANALYSIS
• Game Balance
– Monitor Progression (Tutorial
and beyond)
– Find “Sticking” Points
– Currency Sources and Sinks
• Retention
– FUN
– Keeping People Interested
• Key Features
• Limited Events
• New Content
– Length & Number of Sessions
• Monetization
– What Are People Spending $$ On (items, speedups, lives, etc)
– When Are People Spending $$ (early game, late game)
– Popular Items
* http://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/JonBrown/20100922/88111/Difficulty_Curves_Start_At_Their_Peak.php
*
Saw the iphone as disruptive (mom, wife, daughter), huge opportunity to bring casual fare to a broader gaming audience
Some companies have one of these or the other, but very few have both – we do
Story of RDB and PT, design plus distribution, simple piece of 5th grade math
Investing in success