A new study from analytics firm Swrve shows just how tough it is to have a successful mobile game, as 66 percent of players never load a game again after the first day. Swrve tracked some 10 million players over 90 days starting Novemebr of 2013. All players were new to the games being played, which were more than 30 titles in Swrve’s network.

On average, players spent 45 cents in a game over the 90 day period, though only 2.2 percent of all players spent any money at all. More than half (53 percent) of the spending in games ocurred during the first week. Swrve CEO Hugh Reynolds called these statistics a “word of caution around user acquisition” at a time when companies often spend a lot trying to get new users.

Publishers and developers are going to have to work harder on retention and engagement for mobile games, as these numbers show just how hard it is for free-to-play games to grab and hold the attention of players – and then how hard it is to get them to spend money.

Source: Re/code