Understanding mobile game success: a study of features related to acquisition, retention and monetization

Abstract

As mobile game distribution costs gets near zero, the number of available games on app stores, which is already enormous, continues to grow. It gets increasingly difficult for game developers to build a mobile game and achieve the top positions on charts. With it in mind, this paper’s main purpose is to investigate the relationship between game features and the performance achieved by mobile games in terms of number of downloads and gross revenue. A total of 37 game features were analyzed in order to study how each of them influence mobile games’ performance on app stores. The performance of mobile games is measured based on their current position in download and revenue charts on Google Play store. A linear regression model that maps game features and charts performance is trained using a M5 prime classifier and data from 64 mobile games. Results show how each game feature influences the download and revenue performance of successful mobile games.