Subscription retention and player retention need different columns

RevenueCat defines retention at subscription level; GameAnalytics documents exact-day player retention. The shared word does not make the two measures interchangeable.RevenueCat methodology; GameAnalytics definitions.

Match the business question to the event

A subscription can remain paid while a player stops opening the game. A player can continue playing while no longer holding a subscription. These possibilities mean a subscription-based game needs separate views of commercial survival and product engagement.

Our recommendation is to build the bridge using your own authorised data: subscription state, activity state and acquisition cohort at a defined observation date. Keep the analysis at an appropriate privacy-preserving level. The result can reveal which questions to investigate without assuming that one metric is a substitute for the other.

Avoid an accidental retention target

Do not copy a subscription-survival percentage into a day-seven player-retention target. Check the unit being counted, the start event, elapsed period, plan duration and treatment of renewals. A long billing term can keep a subscription commercially active through periods without play.

The report is useful for benchmarking a subscription business with comparable eligibility and definitions. It is less useful as a direct target for a free-to-play game whose revenue mainly comes from advertising or one-off purchases. The attached card keeps the two populations visible so a planning slide cannot compress them into a single, misleading retention number.

Inspect the evidence

Download the source-population and comparability card. The extraction separates documented facts from our analysis and unknowns.

Further reading in the existing archive: Retention is a UA metric; The retention curve you should be showing your creative team. These links provide background; this check does not independently verify their full contents.

Frequently asked questions

How should UA teams read subscription retention when it is not the same as player retention?

Keep subscription survival and player return in different columns — the shared word “retention” does not make the measures interchangeable. RevenueCat defines retention at subscription level; GameAnalytics documents exact-day player retention. A subscription can remain paid while a player stops opening the game, and a player can continue playing while no longer holding a subscription, so a subscription-based game needs separate views of commercial survival and product engagement. Build the bridge using authorised studio data: subscription state, activity state and acquisition cohort at a defined observation date, at an appropriate privacy-preserving level. Do not copy a subscription-survival percentage into a day-seven player-retention target. Check the unit being counted, the start event, elapsed period, plan duration and treatment of renewals — a long billing term can keep a subscription commercially active through periods without play. The report is useful for benchmarking a subscription business with comparable eligibility and definitions; it is less useful as a direct target for a free-to-play game whose revenue mainly comes from advertising or one-off purchases.