Android: Even the best game wears out players in less than a month

Mobile game, temporary pleasure? Here is a proverb that Android tries to contradict. Even the best games on the Play Store seem to tire gamers out in just a month, according to a new report from Apptopia. The most striking example is the game. Star Wars Galaxy of Heroes by Electronic Arts. This title has been downloaded more than 50 million times and is among the 10 most profitable apps on Android. However, 95 out of 100 people stop using it within a month. After thirty days, the retention rate drops to 4.5%. But this game has the best retention rate among all Android games.

By comparison, Marvel Future Fight has a 4.1% retention rate, Rovio’s RPG Angry Birds Evolution 3.6% and Gymnastics Superstar 3.5%. For apps, the finding is a little less deplorable, but still worrying. Pandora, Netflix and Snapchat apps top the charts with a 6.5% retention rate on the 30th day. According to Apptopia, the storage capacity of Android games and apps has never been as low as in 2017.

Android: Retention has never been this low

This phenomenon is much less noticeable on iOS. Top apps in the Apple App Store have three times higher retention rates than those in the Play Store. Thus, the game, which is at the top of the ranking, Sniper 3D Assassin: Shoot To Kill Gun The game keeps 15.8% of users after 30 day. titles candy Crush Saga, sudoku and Angry Birds 2 all manage to keep 11 to 15% of players alert for 30 days. The same goes for apps. Twitter on iOS shows a retention rate of 19.6% a month later, while Facebook, Skype and WhatsApp reach 17-19%.

However, even on iOS these retention rates remain incredibly low. However, the explanation for this phenomenon seems obvious, especially for games. Mobile games for developers not profitable enough take the trouble to create truly immersive and fascinating experiences in the long run. Most games are quickly repetitive and cause fatigue after a few days. There are thousands of games on Android and iOS, but none of them are really exciting.

Moreover, most popular games are based on the Free2Play model and this business model has many flaws. Let’s take the example of the very cool RPG PostKnight. After several hours of gameplay, the player has to pay to advance quickly. If it refuses, the progress becomes very tedious and the user is likely to get bored. The alternative is to watch ads to progress without paying, but do we really want a game whose main challenge is to watch the ads in a loop? The statistics Apptopia reveals seem to be self-answering.

And you, which Android game is holding you back the longest? How long did you play there?