Gate Me If You Can: The Impact of Gating Mechanics on Retention and Revenues in Jelly Splash

Current free-to-play mobile games use various mechanics to control player progression. Through the game Jelly Splash, we study three such gating mechanics: occasional spikes in level difficulty, chapter gates every 20 levels, and a limited number of lives regenerating slowly over time. Using telemetry data from a quarter-million players, we explore how players approach each gating mechanic, focusing on retention and revenues. We find that difficulty spikes and chapter gates boost revenues at the expense of retention. The life mechanic seems to have no effect on retention and revenues.

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