Early testing indicated low D1 retention.

The game team hit an unexpected bump in the road during early testing—the player retention rate was low, with few players sticking around after day one. This put their game, Plantopia, in a make-or-break position with just a small window of time to fix the problem.

Game designers might fall into the trap of adding more content or more features to get players more excited and engaged. But the Voodoo Games team knew to look deeper. More bells and whistles weren’t the answer—they needed to know what their audience would respond to specifically.

Partnering with Solsten to re-shape their FTUE.

They turned to their Solsten Navigator data and got hyperstrategic, drilling down to understand the game features or changes that their audience would resonate with best. Based on the insights, the Voodoo team reshaped their first-time user experience (FTUE) to foster a sense of progression and productivity earlier in the game, so players would feel a sense of empowerment and accomplishment rather than dropping off.

Small changes yield massive retention results for Voodoo Games.

Voodoo Games now re-tested Plantopia among their audience and saw the player retention rate jump a massive 14 percentage points.

Now, post-launch, the Voodoo team is continuing to use Solsten to continuously optimize and improve their game, solving new challenges as they arise. They have their sights set on improving retention for mid- and late-game players, and they’ve already found the answers they’ll need to achieve it in their Solsten insights.