How should indie teams define acquisition goals?

For indie developers, acquisition goals need to be specific and measurable: target daily active users (DAU), payback period for customer acquisition cost (CAC), and a realistic lifetime value (LTV) estimate. Start by mapping funnel stages—impression, click, install, onboarding completion, first purchase—and assign a KPI to each. Combining qualitative feedback from community channels with quantitative analytics helps indie teams prioritize limited marketing spend while improving onboarding flows and early retention.

Smaller teams should emphasize efficient discovery and community growth: low-cost streaming outreach, focused influencer partnerships, and targeted localization can multiply organic traction without large ad budgets.

Which mobile and console metrics matter?

Mobile acquisition often centers on CPI (cost per install), retention at day 1/day 7, and ARPDAU (average revenue per daily active user). For console and PC, consider discovery metrics such as wishlists, store page conversion, and playtime per user alongside revenue per user and return rates. Platform differences matter: mobile promotions rely on ad networks and store optimization, while console/PC discovery leans on storefront placement, curator lists, and streaming visibility.

Cross-platform measurement requires normalized KPIs—use per-user revenue and retention cohorts to compare performance between mobile, console, and PC releases.

How does analytics inform onboarding and retention?

Onboarding funnels reveal where drop-off happens: account creation, tutorial completion, or first session length. Instrument events to track user progress and correlate those events with retention cohorts. Key measures include time-to-first-progression, percentage completing tutorial, and conversion from free to paid mechanics. Use A/B testing to iterate: small UX changes that increase onboarding completion often boost day-7 retention substantially.

Retention is the most predictive metric for long-term acquisition efficiency. Improving retention reduces CAC payback time and raises LTV, letting you scale promotion more profitably.

What discovery and promotion signals should teams track?

Discovery metrics include impressions, click-through rate (CTR) on store creatives, search conversion, and organic uplift from streaming or influencer mentions. Promotion channels—ads, influencer campaigns, community events, and streaming premieres—should each have unique tracking tags to attribute installs and downstream behavior. Track uplift windows to see how long a discovery event impacts installs and engagement.

Combine ad analytics with community signals (Discord growth, forum activity) and streaming metrics (viewership spikes, chat engagement) to understand which promotional levers deliver quality users who stick around and spend.

How to measure monetization, localization, and influencer impacts?

Monetization metrics include ARPU, ARPPU (average revenue per paying user), conversion to paying user, and purchase frequency. Localization impact can be measured by comparing retention and revenue cohorts across regions after translating store pages and in-game text. Influencer campaigns should be evaluated not just by installs but by retention and LTV of users they drive: a high-volume influencer may generate many installs but low retention, while niche streamers can deliver fewer installs with stronger long-term engagement.

Segment revenue by acquisition channel and region, and use cohort analysis to spot whether localization or specific influencer partnerships materially change monetization outcomes.

Where can you find partners for promotion and streaming?

Below are well-known platforms and partners game teams commonly use for promotion, streaming integration, and discovery, along with the services they offer and key benefits.

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