In the world of mobile games, first impression is everything. If you don’t hook your players immediately, then they’ll find fun and engagement elsewhere. 

There’s a technical term for this: First-time user experience (or FTUE). This refers to the first interactions a new player will have in your game.

You must take FTUE seriously and nurture it with some basic methods. If you do, that first “hello” you give your players is likelier to keep them around for the long haul. Let’s dive in.

Why Is First-Time User Experience (FTUE) Key for Mobile Games?

In mobile games, first-time user experience is all about guiding and engaging your new players. You’re easing them into the game with just the right amount of information. But you’re also making it enjoyable.

A solid FTUE can lead to:

• Higher activation rates
• Higher conversion rates
• Higher retention rates (Average D1 retention across devices and regions is about 24%).
• More word-of-mouth.

But how exactly can you make your game’s FTUE impactful?

5 Tips to Improve First-Time User Experience

We have broken up our FTUE-improving strategy into five areas: Onboarding, narrative, progression, mechanics, and monetization. 

1. Make Your Onboarding Simple (But Fun)

Once your players have downloaded your game, they’ll need to onboard. You absolutely need to get this part right. An effective onboarding will directly impact both D1 Retention and long-term engagement.

Onboarding should:

• Be fun!
• Be as smooth and educational as possible.
• Cover all your game’s core mechanics. 
• Ease new players into basic gameplay.
• Not overwhelm players with text. 
• Guide mainly with visuals.

As time goes on, you’ll collect data about how your players engage with the onboarding process. You might also gather feedback they might submit. So you’ll need to analyze this quantitative and qualitative data.

Games That Do Onboarding Right

Game	Onboarding	Impact
AFK Arena	New players go through a time-limited, guided tutorial with lessons and guaranteed victories.	– High D1 retention (53%) – Builds confidence – Creates urgency and motivation.
Royal Match	Simple, guided levels with match-3 mechanics.	Players understand core gameplay without being overwhelmed.
Monster Hunt Now	Straightforward onboarding, focusing on monster hunting in an AR setting.	New players and veterans can enjoy the game.

2. Give Your Game a Rich Narrative

Many great games out there don’t necessarily have a story. But we believe that this is a must to enhance your FTUE.

Giving your game a bit of meaning can:

• Instantly hook players
• Make them more excited and curious
• Make typically laborious game mechanics resonate more with players. 

Games can hook readers by throwing them into the middle of the action through some kind of storyline. Then, they can only find out what happens next by playing the darn thing.

Games that Aced their Narratives

Game	Narrative	Impact
June’s Journey	Told through cut scenes to tell a fascinating murder mystery story.	Designed to make players emotionally invested.
The Wreck	Explores themes like trauma and looking back at memories.	Provides a powerful narrative experience for new players.
Immortality	Mystery game about the disappearance of a fictional actress.	Non-linear, unconventional storytelling deeply engages new players.

3. Fine-Tune Your Progression and Difficulty

There are two key details of your game you need to strike a fine balance with, especially during the early stages: progression and difficulty. In fact, 67.1% of players continue playing games because of good game progression.

As players progress through onboarding, they should receive:

• Messages of encouragement
• Small milestones
• Checklists and progress bars.

Also, make the early game stages challenging enough for each player to keep them engaged. But not too difficult to the point where they give up. The best games fine-tune progression and difficulty to maintain positive FTUE.

Effective mechanics include effective reward systems for unlocking new content and abilities.

Games Balance Progression and Difficulty

Game	Example	Impact
Call of Duty: Mobile	Gives players experience cards and guns for logging in for seven consecutive days.	Incentivizes returning to the game.
Outlanders 2	Explains mechanics in campaign mode, with each level presenting new challenges.	Balanced difficulty curve lets players learn while staying engaged.
Arcaea	Introduces mechanics at early levels, gradually getting more difficult.	Keeps new players engaged with balanced progression.

4. Ease Players Into Your Game’s Mechanics

For optimal FTUE, don’t overwhelm your new players with all your game mechanics at once. Gradually introduce the most basic mechanics and most exciting, attractive ones first.

Show them the very first thing that attracted them to your game to begin with. This could be:

• Your game’s core loop
• Basic controls
• In-game boosters
• A meta-game you promised in your marketing.

Games That Effectively Introduce Basic Mechanics

Game	Mechanics	Impact
Clash Royale	Guided tutorial teaches basic mechanics such as deploying units and placing cards.	Smooth, engaging learning curve.
Infinity Nikki	– Starts with basic dress-up tasks. – Slowly moves on to combat and exploration.	Keeps gameplay engaging and the learning curve realistic.
Balatro	Players start with basic poker hands, which get more complex with progressive levels.	Allows players to build skills incrementally.

5. Relax With the Monetization

Great, someone’s just downloaded your game. So don’t start asking them to pay for stuff while they’re still figuring out your basic mechanics.

And you know what that means? No ads! That’s right, ads should have nothing to do with your players’ FTUE. Ads will just frustrate new users and distract them from onboarding. 

Instead, hook your players first, and get them to understand and enjoy the game from the get-go. Then you can start adding conversion incentives at later levels.

Provide players with as many freebies as possible early on. You can:

• Reward for completing a tutorial.
• Provide an item to help them get through a difficult level. 
• Give them more “lives” or “try-agains” at an early level.
• Offer boost items to speed up progression.

Games that know how to do monetization right early on include:

Game	Example	Impact
Genshin Impact	– Subtle “gacha” system, allowing players to unlock new items. – Also provides free rewards during early levels.	Builds trust among players, making players likelier to spend later.
Pokemon Trading Card Game Pocket	– Optional in-app purchases – Free booster packs.	Encourages routine engagement without financial commitment.
Raid: Shadow Legends	– Early rewards – Gacha mechanics – Starter pack offers.	Eases new players into spending.

Use Data Correctly to Improve Your First-Time User Experience

When enhancing your first-time user experience, leveraging and analyzing your data is everything. What exactly are players doing during those early stages? What features are they engaging with most? And why are they struggling to progress past the onboarding phase?

Alongside this, you need to ensure you’re tracking the right metrics, such as:

• D1 Retention
• Churn rate
• First tutorial completion rate
• Game economy metrics (sinks, taps)

Being able to answer all these questions helps you make the right decisions to get the most out of your FTUE. To achieve this, we recommend:

• Creating a funnel to track key onboarding steps and drop-off points.
• Analyzing early-level completion rates.
• Leveraging next-gen analytics tools like Keewano.
• Identifying the root causes of players’ early decisions.

With this level of detail and insight, you can optimize various aspects of your FTUE. This includes your onboarding tutorials, early-game progression, and engagement levels.