LTV: Lifetime value
The total revenue a player is expected to bring over time.
Retention: Player retention.
The share of players who return after a set number of days.
Retention is the share of players who come back to a game after installing it, usually measured on day 1, day 7 and day 30. It is one of the clearest signals of whether a game is worth acquiring players for.
How it is measured
Day N retention = players who open the game on day N after install / players who installed that day
Install day is day 0, so day 1 retention counts players who came back the next day. Day 1, day 7 and day 30 are the usual checkpoints.
Why it matters
Retention is the first signal of whether a game can pay for its players. Weak day 1 retention usually points to the first session and onboarding. Weak later days usually point to progression and content.
Retention and revenue
Without retention, neither ads nor monetization pay back, which is why it sits inside LTV. Compare your numbers with games in the same genre, because benchmarks differ a lot between genres.
Improving it
Fix the first session, keep the game stable, and give players reasons to return with updates and events. That ongoing work is LiveOps. Test changes in a soft launch first.
Related terms.
LiveOps: Live operations
Running a game after launch with updates, events and offers.
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