Read how TapNation efficiently repeats success and builds hit games using accurate, reliable data from GameAnalytics.
Challenge
TapNation faced challenges in their data processes, including the lack of event tracking standardization, making it difficult to compare metrics across games. Scalability issues with standard events limited their ability to conduct in-depth analyses, while inefficient ingestion pipelines caused data duplication. Due to fragmented tracking systems, identifying and resolving crashes or release issues was time-consuming. Additionally, their User Acquisition (UA) and Marketing teams needed better insights to balance ad revenue and IAP trade-offs while optimizing First-Time User Experience (FTUE) and game performance.
Solution
GameAnalytics provided the tools to streamline TapNation’s data processes, introducing standardized templates that eliminated data duplication and ensured consistent metrics. With custom events, TapNation got access to granular insights into user behavior, health reporting and simplified crash investigations. With actionable insights from GameAnalytics, TapNation balanced ad placements, refined onboarding experiences, and optimized their game economy, ultimately achieving a 50% LTV increase across 19 hit games.
About TapNation
TapNation specializes in mobile hyper-casual games. They’ve released 19 hit games and had over 500 million downloads. By working closely with more than 80 studios worldwide, they help test and publish games with high-potential concepts and high-tech data tools.
TapNation, a hyper-casual game publisher, is at the forefront of using data to drive product and marketing decisions. By leveraging GameAnalytics, they have streamlined their data processes and enhanced their ability to understand user behavior, optimize game performance, and inform creative iterations.
In past years, TapNation achieved a 50% increase in lifetime value (LTV) for 19 hit games within just six months, underscoring the role of GameAnalytics in scaling their portfolio.
How TapNation uses GameAnalytics
TapNation integrates GameAnalytics as a cornerstone of their analytics stack, enabling both their publishing and product teams to access critical insights. These teams focus on key metrics such as user behavior, feature interaction, and ad placements while augmenting revenue analysis with other tools. Their workflows have evolved from traditional manual event tracking to a more streamlined, programmatic approach that standardizes data collection.
TapNation uses DataSuite to address data ingestion inefficiencies, eliminating pipeline duplications. Lately, they have been exploring Health Reporting to automate and standardize health events, enabling them to investigate crashes or bad releases more effectively.
Three scenarios of data analysis
TapNation’s Data Analyst, Ilya Chaplinskiy, outlines three primary use cases for GameAnalytics:
Technical metrics: These metrics track the app’s health and technical performance to ensure a stable foundation for the player experience. Examples include FPS, memory usage, boot time, percentage of ad requests resulting in successful loads, and sessions where no levels were attempted.
General behavioral metrics: These provide a broad view of user engagement and retention, based on session, progression, and ad events. Key metrics include playtime, session length, sessions per user, retention by day or level, and ad performance indicators such as impressions per minute or per user.
Feature-specific behavioral metrics: Using Design and Resource events, these metrics focus on how players interact with specific features. Metrics include suggestion rate, conversion rate, frequency of feature usage, time spent on features, and currency spent.
The hierarchy of their investigative process starts with revenue per user and drills down to granular details like retention by session structure or progression retention by day and minute. This approach has allowed TapNation to identify drivers behind performance fluctuations effectively.
We’re trying lots of different versions of our games all the time, making sure that the CPI isn’t rising and that playtime is staying the same or increasing. The data that GameAnalytics provides is highly accurate and flexible when it comes to tracking additional metrics on the fly.
GameAnalytics in action: The improvements
Through GameAnalytics, TapNation has achieved measurable results across multiple games:
LTV increase: A 50% boost in LTV for 19 hit games in six months in 2022, attributed to improved insights from GameAnalytics and other tools.
Challenge completion rates: Adding skins as rewards led to no lift in general metrics but increased challenge completion rates identified through progression events.
App icon level redesign: A redesigned level resembling the app icon resulted in higher completion rates for that level.
First-time user experience: Reshuffling early levels improved retention in the first 11 levels.
SkipIt tickets test: Gifting onboarding tickets negatively impacted rewarded video (RV) revenue despite increasing in-app purchases (IAP). Ad and design events informed this trade-off.
Iterative game economy design: Over three iterations, event data helped identify and resolve design flaws.
Interstitial cooldown post-RV: Ad, session, and progression events revealed no overall revenue loss but significant UX improvements.
Non-invasive meta features: Though no LTV impact was observed, design events quantified user exposure and guided further enhancements.
Whether we analyze a release or an A/B test, it’s mostly the same hierarchy of questions – it all starts with the revenue per user and then we try to investigate what are the factors that impacted the change. We try to decompose it into smaller and simpler metrics, so if we see that the revenue change comes from the playtime rather than the impressions, for example, then we might go deeper into the progression retention by day, retention by minute retention by the session structures or even deeper interaction with specific features. This all thanks to custom events. And if we know that the problem is coming from the ad side then we use GameAnalytics for placements.
Lessons from TapNation
Blueprints for success: TapNation emphasizes the importance of standardized event templates for analysis, ensuring efficiency across multiple products and educating stakeholders. Their hierarchy of metrics—starting from revenue and drilling down to granular user behavior—provides a structured approach to uncovering actionable insights.
Visual storytelling with data: Ilya highlights the importance of translating game performance into clear user behavior narratives. This requires well-defined tracking, robust event design, and visually compelling charts.
TapNation continues to refine their data practices, doubling down on custom events and programmatic solutions to simplify processes. By integrating advanced analytics and leveraging tools like GameAnalytics, TapNation is poised to drive innovation in hyper-casual gaming.
