New players are only worth something if they return. Retention shows how many do, how that is changing, and which valuable players are drifting away.
The share of new players who played again exactly one, seven or thirty days after their first day, so weeks and games compare fairly.
Players grouped by when they first joined, and what share came back in each later period. Switch between daily, weekly and monthly.
Weekly retention over 8 weeks, with your last 4 weekly cohorts against the 4 before. A lower recent line means something changed for new players.
How long new players stay in their very first session. A big share leaving within 5 minutes points at your spawn or tutorial.
Every player is new, active, at risk, lapsed or churned. At-risk players are listed by spend, so you reach the valuable ones first.
Retention split by where players came from, so you can tell a source that brings many players from one that brings players who stay. On Growth and up.
You rebuilt spawn and the tutorial, and a week later player counts feel flat even though joins are steady.
First session length shows more new players leaving within 5 minutes, and day 1 return for the latest cohorts sits below the ones before, so you know it is the first minutes, not your marketing.
One voting site sends more new players than anything else, and you are about to pay for a featured slot.
Return rate by source shows those players rarely come back on day 7 compared with players from your YouTube domain, so you put the money behind the source whose players stay.
Some long-time supporters have not joined for over a week.
The at-risk table lists them sorted by spend, so you reach out to the top few with a personal message before they drift to another server.
Install the Analyse plugin. Retention is worked out from sessions automatically: day 1, 7 and 30 return rates, cohorts and lifecycle stages, with days in your game's timezone.
It depends heavily on genre and where players come from, so the most useful comparison is your own game over time. The retention curve compares your latest weekly cohorts with the ones before, and an alert can tell you when day 1 return drops.
A player who has had at least 3 sessions and has been quiet for 7 days or more. After 30 days they are lapsed, and after 90 days churned.
Free shows day 1 and day 7 return. Starter unlocks the full page with cohorts, curve, lifecycle and at-risk players. Return rate by source needs Growth or higher.
Free to start, 14 days of Pro, and about four minutes of setup.