Why Players Are Leaving My Game And Not Returning?

Know why players are leaving your game

The success of games most notably depends upon the engagement of the players on a continuous basis. But for most games that remains to be the biggest challenge. Leaving the game after the first experience is a common problem experienced by the majority of games on any platform and experts agree to that.

Less than 40% of gamers return to games after their first gaming experience, as Marc Robinson expressed in GDC 2013. Considering the reasons that impel players in leaving your game means putting yourself in their shoes and considering the game from the gamer’s perspective rather than the developers.

There can be plenty of reasons that possibly make a gamer leave the game. Boredom is the most important area that makes most players make up their minds in a negative way. Frustration in completing game levels is another reason that makes countless players decide to leave the game and try other games.

All in all, it is the sheer absence of enjoyment in playing games that makes gamers leave in the majority of cases. A good flow of game steps or gaming architecture absorbs the gamers into its fold and helps retain them. The game designer’s positive and interesting progression is what every game designer aims for retaining players and engaging them now and then.

Here below, we would provide a comprehensive list of 8 key reasons why most players tend to leave a game.

1. Failing to make a convincing first impression

As soon as a player enters your game app, he must know the game and what is there ahead. Many games simply lose most of the first-time audience just because they fail to make a good impression. However inexperienced, the gamer must know what promise of enjoyment is in store inside the gaming app, which would only positively influence his decision to stay in the game.

The title page, game loading speed, and first-level gaming experience all together would help to make a good impression that can compel the gamer to play on or return to the game at other times.

2. Too long game sessions

In the mobile age, most of us are gamers to some extent, and for some time. On the way to our workplace or just during a meeting break, we can play a game that gives us challenging satisfaction within a span of a few minutes.

For most adult gamers, small gaming sessions mean quick fun and getting back to the game in small breaks between busy schedules. Our life tends to be busier every day, and naturally, we do not have time for games with long sessions that we are forced to leave just because of time constraints.

3. Not targeting the right audience with the right game niche

When developing games, we are bound to consider the gaming experience of players. The game designer cannot satisfy all gamers types with his game design, so he must design his game for a target audience. Secondly, when targeting the audience choosing the right game niche is also important.

If you design a common or similar game to too many games in a particular niche, the players may only come to experience your game on a random basis and leave it in the same manner. Moreover, a niche that is already too crowded with a similar game may be a tough one for a new game to make an appealing presence and retain players.

4. Games released full of bugs

There are too many games that negatively impact the players just because of their faulty performance, and in most cases, it happens because they are released without proper testing. Releasing bug-free games is not just a necessity. It is an important prerequisite to make an impression on gamers.

Even after testing the game and ensuring that the game is bug-free, you must concentrate on optimizing the game’s performance and visual aspects. It would help if you addressed all the prominent and less prominent defects continuously.

5. Hard to play games without an option for customizing the difficulty level

A great majority of players leave a game just because of the too-hard first gaming experience. It is utterly frustrating to play a game that seems to be untamable, and any new player would like to leave it and try a different game. He would like to try another game with an enjoyable difficulty level. Offering sessions with step-by-step increase in difficulty level is what makes an engaging experience.

Furthermore, offering 3 or 4 difficulty levels in each session would make the experience more player-friendly and customized. In this way, according to his skill and appetite for a challenge, the player can choose the difficulty level in each game session.

6. Smooth rise in difficulty level and immersion

Many players feel nervous with a sudden rise in difficulty level in the middle of the game, making them leave the game with frustration. This happens due to poor flow in game design. On the other hand, a smooth rise in playing difficulty continuously makes the game enjoyable.

A complete lack of difficulty also makes a negative impact on the gaming experience. When you no longer feel the challenge in playing the game and winning level, it is nothing but a poor immersion element in game design.

7. Lacks a proper balance between grinding and intrinsic rewards

Without rewarding your players, you cannot offer their gaming actions any worth. Rewards are motivation to play on and progress in the game sessions, and in the absence of them, they are likely to lose appetite for winning a level or session and progress further.

Grinding is one way to motivate them, but that is not enough. Intrinsic reward within the game is also one important factor to let them stay motivated and enjoy the game. Making a balance between grinding and intrinsic game rewards is the key to letting the gamers stay at the spur of motivation.

8. The game is not updated for a long time

Why would a gamer feel to come back to the game app even after completing all the game stages and difficulty levels? This is a question that game designers should ask themselves to retain their players in the long run.

A game app that is updated regularly with new interesting elements is kept alive for the gamers and naturally never actually loses appeal. If the game is not updated for a long time, the players may forget it altogether even when they have not uninstalled it.

Last But Not The Least

Boredom and frustrated in-game experience are the two most deadly factors that make most gamers leave a game app. A good flow is just the absolute and adjacent positive side of these factors for a game designer.

More than anything else, a game designer must concentrate on offering a perfect flow of the game that makes an enjoyable experience preventing boredom and frustration from creeping in.

Image Source: Game Over Boy Flat Illustration

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