We have reached a period in time where rising acquisition costs, softer user acquisition economics, and increasingly saturated engagement mechanics are forcing mobile studios to rethink growth. This has put retention at the forefront of the  industry's new battleground.

In Hamburg, this was central to the discussions had at Gamesforum, and particularly to one panel discussion, "Cheat Code for LTV Growth: Reward All Users, Not Just New Ones.’’ This panel brought together experts from across the mobile gaming ecosystem to explore how embedded real-money rewards are evolving beyond user acquisition and becoming a tool for retention, engagement, and long-term lifetime value (LTV) growth.

The session examined how studios can move beyond traditional rewarded user acquisition and build reward systems directly into gameplay experiences for both new and existing players.

Retention Is Becoming “The New UA”

The discussion comes at a pivotal moment for the mobile games industry. 

According to ZBD's recent Retention & Engagement Challenge study of 195 mobile gaming industry leaders, 80% of developers believe current engagement and retention strategies are becoming stale. At the same time, 50% of studios have increased retention and re-engagement budgets over the past year, while 90% have considered implementing in-game reward systems, including real-money rewards, to improve player engagement.

The findings from this report suggest that studios are looking to adjust their strategy for traditional LiveOps mechanics to search for new growth levers.

The data highlights a broader shift in mindset within the industry. Rather than relying solely on acquiring new users, studios are increasingly focused on extracting more value from players they already have. It shows that studios are now recognising that growth is no longer primarily a marketing problem.

It's becoming a product problem.

During the panel, Peggy Anne Salz, Founder of Mobile Groove stated, ‘’it's not just about bringing in more players, it's about bringing more value, extracting more value from the players.’’

The Limits of Traditional LiveOps

While LiveOps, battle passes, events, and in-app purchases remain effective, panelists argued that many studios are reaching a point where they are unable to see any return value.

The panel highlighted that successful engagement strategies now require a more sophisticated, layered approach. Rather than relying solely on isolated features or one-off events, developers need systems that connect progression, player motivations, personalisation and rewards into a cohesive engagement loop.

Oxana Fomina, founder & LiveOps Monetization Expert at Gradient Universe highlighted that, "right now you need to create the system and the engagement loop inside your game that connects progression inside the game, players behavior, their motivation and the live ops and personalisation.’’

This aligns closely with the report's findings that 39% of developers struggle to tailor experiences to different user segments and 45% believe stronger personalisation will be one of the biggest drivers of future retention improvements.

From Renting Loyalty to Owning It

One of the strongest themes throughout the discussion was the distinction between rewarded user acquisition and embedded rewards.

Rewarded UA has become a proven acquisition channel, but it primarily benefits new users. Players earn rewards through third-party platforms, while the game itself has limited visibility or control over how those incentives influence long-term behaviour.

Fomina later states that "you need to look at the embedded rewards not like a feature, but some additional layer to the system that you already have." 

Instead of "renting" retention through external channels, studios can build direct relationships with players by rewarding engagement inside the game itself. More importantly, they can extend those rewards to their entire audience and not just newly acquired users.

By bringing rewards in-house, developers gain greater control over when rewards are delivered, which users receive them, and which behaviours are encouraged. 

Hajar Noreddine, VP of BD at ZBD stated ‘this is, I would call it, renting the retention, or borrowing the loyalty and the retention from external channels.’’

The result is a more flexible retention tool that can be aligned with specific business goals, whether that is increasing session frequency, improving reactivation rates, driving monetisation, or extending player lifetime value.

Rewarding Behaviour, Not Just Activity

A recurring point from the panel was that studios should rethink what rewards are actually designed to achieve.

Rather than simply rewarding users for completing actions, successful implementations identify behaviours that correlate with long-term retention and reinforce those behaviours.

That could mean encouraging players to participate in social systems, engage with progression mechanics, return after periods of inactivity, or interact with specific features known to increase long-term value.

The key is understanding player motivation.

Different player segments engage with games for different reasons. Some are achievement-driven, others seek competition, social interaction, mastery, or relaxation. Reward systems become significantly more effective when they align with those motivations rather than acting as generic incentives.

The panel emphasises that the most successful reward systems feel less like external promotions and more like a natural extension of the player experience.

The Power of Control

Álvaro Zorrilla, Head of Growth at GAMEE shared a practical example from GAMEE’s experimentation with reward-based mechanics. After removing a small rewarded leaderboard feature, the company saw a 10-15% drop in ad impressions despite the relatively modest prize pool attached to the system.

They learned that players were not simply responding to the rewards themselves. They valued having agency and control over the outcome. Unlike random prize draws, leaderboards gave players a sense that their effort directly influenced their ability to earn rewards.

That feeling of ownership became a powerful engagement driver.

The example reinforced a broader theme from the session: rewards work best when they complement core player motivations such as competition, achievement, progression, and status.

Personalization Is the Next Frontier

The panel repeatedly returned to personalisation as the missing ingredient in many retention strategies.

The ZBD study found that 45% of developers believe stronger personalization and segmentation tools will drive the greatest improvements in retention over the next two years.

Embedded rewards create new opportunities for that personalisation.

Studios can identify users at risk of churn, reward high-value spenders differently from ad-driven users, and tailor incentives based on individual player behaviour rather than treating every player the same.

Because rewards are integrated directly into the game, developers can determine precisely when, where, and how those incentives appear.

Rewards Are a Multiplier, Not a Fix

Despite the excitement around embedded rewards, panelists stressed that rewards are not a substitute for good game design.

Zorrilla stated that ‘’adding the reward layer should be a multiplier, but if the value is zero, zero value from adding rewards. You're just going to give money away.” 

Studios must first ensure that onboarding, progression, retention systems, and core gameplay are functioning effectively. Only then can rewards amplify the strengths already present in the experience.

The panel also highlighted practical considerations around fraud prevention, reward visibility, communication, and user acquisition strategy,all of which become more important as reward systems scale.

A New Playbook for Growth

The discussion reflected a broader industry reality captured by ZBD's research: mobile gaming's traditional engagement playbook is showing signs of fatigue.

Developers acknowledge that growth will not come from acquiring more users alone. It will come from creating deeper, more valuable relationships with players who are already engaged.

Embedded rewards are emerging as one potential answer.

Not because rewards themselves are new, but because studios now have the ability to integrate them directly into gameplay, personalise them at scale, and extend them across their entire player base.

As retention becomes the new growth engine for mobile games, the winners may not be the studios with the largest content calendars or acquisition budgets, but those that find the most effective ways to reward behaviours that keep players coming back.