Sebastian Pattom - Director of Product at Electronic Arts (EA) will share his experiences and knowledge of his work in the retention space. Retention is a key focus for product teams, and the games industry has some great insights into how they think about engagement to attract and keep their users. While games have some unique difference to many products, the concepts in this talk are ones any product team can apply in their user journey. Retention is also not a once and done job, so thinking about opportunities to keep your customers engaged along the entire lifecycle of using your products will also be covered.

1. MAKING RETENTION FUN :
HOW GAMES GET PLAYERS
COMING BACK FOR MORE
Sebastian Pattom

2. ABOUT ME
 8+ years in Product Management
 Started out as a Product Planning Engineer in a two-wheeler
manufacturing company
 At EA, worked on various successful mobile free-to-play games such
as Need for Speed: No Limits, Real Racing 3, The Sims Freeplay
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3. AGENDA
Introduction
How do Games retain players?
Summary
Questions
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4. INTRODUCTION
 What are free-to-play games?
 Retention definition
 Why is retention so important for free-to-play games?
 The Core Loop – Fun (value), Reward, Progression
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5. WHAT ARE FREE-TO-PLAY GAMES?
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6. WHAT ARE FREE-TO-PLAY GAMES?
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Easily Accessible Hooked fast Continued usage

7. WHAT IS RETENTION?
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 Retention rate refers to the percentage of users who continue to use an app after a certain period
of installing it
Daily Active Users (DAU)
Monthly Active Users (MAU)
Stickiness =
Number of users active on day n
Number of installs on the first day, D0
D(n)
Retention
=
 Most often, user retention is measured in 4 intervals:
 1-day retention (D1)
 7-day retention (D7)
 30-day retention (D30)
 90-day retention (D90)
For example, 30-day retention would be the percentage of users returning to the
app on the 30th day out of the users who installed on the first day.

8. WHAT IS GOOD RETENTION?
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 Social on Android and iOS has the unique distinction of having the highest consistent retention
out of all categories appearing and alternating in the top two on Day 1, 7, and 30.
 Finance & Business on iOS reaches the second-highest retention of apps on Day 7 and takes the
top-ranking spot on Day 30. It’s only one of two to feature twice in the top three.
 Games for iOS dominate retention rates, taking the number one slot on Day 1, and Day 7, and is
listed in Day 30’s top two.
Good Retention Rate
Day (out of 30)
42%
1
17%
7
12%
14
8%
30
Top 10% - Gaming (iOS)
Good Retention Rate
Day (out of 30)
28%
1
13%
7
10%
14
7%
30
Top 10% - Non-Gaming (iOS)

9. WHY IS RETENTION SO IMPORTANT FOR
FREE-TO-PLAY GAMES?
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10. WHY IS RETENTION SO IMPORTANT FOR
FREE-TO-PLAY GAMES?
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 Good retention reflects high player engagement, interest and
loyalty
 Average conversion rate (spenders) for games is 2%. Important
to keep the funnel as large as possible to improve
monetisation
 Retaining users for a longer period increases LTV per user
 Lower cost per acquisition
 Apps with higher retention rates are more likely to be
recommended to users, leading to increased visibility and
downloads.

11. THE CORE LOOP
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12. THE CORE LOOP
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 Do something (hopefully fun) > build rewards for that action >
redeem reward
 Keeps a user engaged while showing progress
 All core loops peak with a pleasurable experience
 Resulting dopamine hit brings us joy and inspires us to start
again

13. AGENDA
Introduction
How do Games retain players?
Summary
Questions
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14. MAKE A GREAT
FIRST IMPRESSION
1

15. MAKE A GREAT FIRST IMPRESSION
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50% users retained
after Day 1 abandon
the app after a week
It takes just 2
minutes for a user to
define whether they
like your app or not
Game tutorials puts
the user directly into
the game without
forms/logins

16. MAKE A GREAT FIRST IMPRESSION : SET THE BACKGROUND
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Immersive opening trailer/
dynamic loading screens
Enhancing the tutorial with
characters narrating events
Weaving the player’s tasks
inside the story

17. MAKE A GREAT FIRST IMPRESSION :
OBSESS OVER ONBOARDING
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Tutorials demonstrate game mechanics
and core loop AND upsell the progression
Directs attention to what needs to be
showcased

18. HABITUATION
2

19. HABITUATION
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20. HABITUATION : SKINNER BOX
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• Developed by B.F. Skinner in the 1930s,
laboratory experiment to study animal
behaviour
• Rats in the study continued to press lever
even if sometimes it meant getting a small
electric shock
• Further applied to humans as Operant
Conditioning (why it’s considered
controversial)

21. HABITUATION : APPOINTMENT MECHANICS
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Repetitive Short -> Medium -> Long Term Goals

22. HABITUATION : APPOINTMENT MECHANICS
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• Time Interval
• Level of Involvement
• Progression
• Reward Randomness

23. HABITUATION : LOGIN/PLAY REWARDS
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24. FOMO
(FEAR OF MISSING OUT)
3

25. FEAR OF MISSING OUT
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26. FEAR OF MISSING OUT
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• Create a Limited Time Deal
• Apply Peer Pressure
• Show Scarcity
• Make It Exclusive

27. FOMO : LIMITED TIME EVENTS
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28. FOMO : SEASONAL EVENTS
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29. FOMO : TEMPORARY BOOSTS
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30. ENDOWED
PROGRESS EFFECT
4

31. ENDOWED PROGRESS EFFECT
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START HERE

32. ENDOWED PROGRESS EFFECT
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START HERE
1 is your new 0.

33. ENDOWED PROGRESS EFFECT
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START
When did I fill up the first 3 bars?
Feels great! Only 4 more to go!

34. ENDOWED PROGRESS EFFECT :
LOGIN/STREAK REWARDS
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35. ENDOWED PROGRESS EFFECT : PIGGY BANKS
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• Player completes in-game actions which fill up
the piggy bank with rewards
• Player sees their efforts = Winnings + Time spent
in the game increments the amount of rewards
the Pig holds
• As Player keeps playing the game the Piggy
bank keeps swelling (remember players every
spin, time spent in the game adds free coins in
to the pig)
• Effective way of tying retention to monetisation
(pay real money to break the piggy bank)

36. SOCIAL
INTERACTIONS
5

37. SOCIAL INTERACTIONS : INSIDE THE GAME
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Viewing other players/
Showcasing successful players
Interacting/ Creating teams with
communal mechanics
Synchronous Player Vs Player

38. SOCIAL INTERACTIONS : OUTSIDE THE GAME
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• Official Community guides/posts/notifications
• Unofficial Communities - Reddit/ Discord/
Whatsapp/ Facebook
• Great way for your game to be “top-of-mind” for
the player

39. NOTIFICATIONS
6

40. NOTIFICATIONS
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• Timely
• Personalised
• Actionable
• Drive notifications from outside (social)

41. AGENDA
Introduction
How do Games retain players?
Summary
Questions
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42. BRINGING IT ALL TOGETHER
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43. SOURCES
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• https://www.applovin.com/glossary/retention-rate/
• https://www.applovin.com/blog/what-is-retention-rate/
• https://www.plotline.so/blog/retention-rates-mobile-apps-by-industry
• https://andrewchen.com/new-data-shows-why-losing-80-of-your-mobile-users-is-normal-and-that-the-best-apps-
do-much-better/
• https://www.adjust.com/blog/what-makes-a-good-retention-rate/
• https://www.appsflyer.com/resources/reports/app-retention-benchmarks/#daily-app-retention-benchmarks
• https://www.plotline.so/blog/retention-rates-mobile-apps-by-industry
• https://appodeal.com/blog/tips-increase-user-retention-mobile-games/
• https://medium.com/googleplaydev/why-the-first-ten-minutes-is-crucial-if-you-want-to-keep-players-coming-back-
to-your-mobile-game-4a89031b6308
• https://www.sailthru.com/marketing-blog/core-loop-mobile-apps/
• https://www.gamerefinery.com/first-impression-seals-the-deal-onboarding-best-practices-part-1/
• https://matthewshadbolt.com/itchy-triggers-learning-from-destinys-habituation-tactics
• https://clevertap.com/blog/fomo/
• https://www.gamedeveloper.com/business/ux-review-piggy-bank-endowment-effect-unique-monetisation-hooks-of-
slotomania#close-modal
• https://www.gamerefinery.com/why-add-social-elements-to-your-mobile-game/
• https://clevertap.com/blog/push-notification-best-practices/

44. QUESTIONS
Seb Pattom
pattom@gmail.com
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