Unit economics
Work out revenue per player, store fees and payout timing before you commit to a monetization model.
Microtransactions explained for indie devs: how in-game purchases are structured, what to sell, and the retention and revenue trade-offs behind each model.
Daniel R. Whitaker ·
Set up in-app purchases in the right order: developer account, tax and banking, receipt verification, product IDs, then pricing and refunds.
A battle pass explained: season length, free vs premium tracks, how levels unlock rewards, and why players buy a known quantity for less than a full game.
ARPU is total revenue divided by active users. Learn the formula, what counts as revenue and users, and how to compare cohorts on one number.
Mobile game monetization explained: IAP, rewarded ads, subscriptions and paid downloads, plus the metrics to track and the mistakes that cost revenue.
You can have a million downloads and still lose money. Scale does not fix a broken model; it multiplies whatever your unit economics already say, good or bad....
