MAU Monthly Active UsersPlayers
Distinct users who interacted with a game or service at least once in the trailing 30-day window. Industry default activity metric for live-service games.
The metrics, models, and acronyms used by analysts, investors, and operators in the video games market. Plain language. No fan slang.
Distinct users who interacted with a game or service at least once in the trailing 30-day window. Industry default activity metric for live-service games.
Distinct users who played at least once in a given calendar day. The DAU/MAU ratio (stickiness) is a primary engagement KPI: 20 percent is healthy, 50 percent or more is exceptional.
Highest number of simultaneous players in a defined window. Steam Charts publishes CCU. Steam peak CCU is the widely cited scale benchmark for PC titles.
The percentage of users who return to play after a fixed interval. D1, D7, D30 retention are the standard touchpoints. Mobile F2P benchmark: D1 above 35 percent, D30 above 5 percent.
The percentage of users who stop playing within a defined window (typically D7, D30, or D90). Churn is the inverse of retention. For live services, D30 churn under 70 percent is healthy.
Total revenue divided by total active users over a period. ARPU is the headline monetization metric for premium titles.
Daily revenue divided by daily active users. The standard mobile and live-service economics metric: 0.05 USD is mid-tier, 0.20 USD or more is top-tier.
Revenue divided only by users who actually spent money. Useful for spotting whether a game's economy depends on a small whale population versus broad-base monetization.
Projected total revenue from a single user across their full play lifetime. LTV vs CAC (customer acquisition cost) is the primary unit-economics ratio for F2P titles.
Marketing spend divided by net new users acquired. Tracked by source (Meta, TikTok, Google, programmatic) to optimize spend mix.
Percentage of active users who make at least one in-game purchase. Mobile F2P benchmark: 2 to 5 percent is healthy, 5 to 10 percent is strong.
A small subset of paying users (often the top 1 to 5 percent) responsible for a disproportionate share of revenue (typically 50 to 80 percent). Whale-dependent economies are higher revenue but lower-resilience than broad-base monetization.
A business model where the base game is free and revenue comes from in-app purchases (cosmetics, battle passes, gacha pulls, ad views). Dominant on mobile, increasingly on PC and console.
A game designed for continuous post-launch updates (seasons, events, content drops) and ongoing player monetization. Examples: Fortnite, Genshin Impact, Apex Legends, Call of Duty Warzone.
A time-limited progression track (typically 60 to 90 days) where players unlock cosmetic and gameplay rewards by playing. Sold as a one-time purchase. Pioneered by Dota 2, mainstreamed by Fortnite.
A monetization mechanic where players spend currency for randomized item pulls. Originated in Japanese mobile gaming (Puzzle and Dragons). Dominant in Asia, mainstreamed in the West by Genshin Impact and Honkai Star Rail.
An in-game container with randomized contents purchased with real or in-game currency. Subject to growing regulation (Belgium, Netherlands, EU PEGI, several US states) due to gambling concerns.
Small in-game purchases (cosmetics, currency packs, boosts, battle passes). The revenue backbone of F2P titles and a significant secondary revenue line for many premium titles.
Microsoft's gaming subscription service offering a rotating library of titles for a monthly fee. Strategically tested whether subscription economics work for AAA gaming. As of 2026, repositioned with day-one Call of Duty removed and price cut.
Post-launch paid expansions or content packs. Standard revenue extension for premium titles. Modern equivalents include season passes and battle passes.
A pre-purchased bundle of DLC content released across a defined window (typically 12 months). Common on AAA premium titles to lock in post-launch revenue at sale time.
The total revenue opportunity for a product or category if every potential buyer were captured. In gaming: typically scoped to a specific platform (e.g. PC TAM), region, or genre to be useful.
The portion of TAM a company can realistically serve given its product, geography, and channel constraints.
Cumulative number of consoles or devices in players' hands. The primary denominator for attach rate and software TAM calculations.
Average number of games purchased per console owner. Used to forecast software revenue from hardware unit sales. Healthy console-cycle attach rates run 5 to 10 over the lifetime.
Units sold to end customers, distinct from sell-in (units shipped to retailers). The number that matters for actual revenue and franchise health.
Units shipped from publisher to retail and platform channels. Higher than sell-through during launch windows. Publishers report sell-in; analysts care about sell-through.
Steam (and other storefront) feature letting users mark titles to follow pre-release. Wishlist count is the primary pre-launch demand signal for PC titles. Industry rule of thumb: 10 percent of wishlists convert to launch-week sales.
A game developed and published by the platform owner (Sony, Microsoft, Nintendo). First-party titles are the primary system-seller lever during console hardware launches and refreshes.
Games developed or published by a company other than the platform owner. Most of the games industry by volume.
Multiplayer compatibility across multiple platforms (PC, PS5, Xbox, Switch, mobile). Standard expectation for live-service titles since 2020.
Game content created by players using in-game tools. Roblox and Fortnite Creative are the dominant examples. UGC platforms shift the cost of content production from the publisher to the player base.