Metacore Core Talks: Perfecting the First-Time User Experience in Mobile Games
by Angie Dlugopolska
March 3, 2025 at 4:54 PM
Last night, I had the incredible opportunity to attend Metacore’s second Core Talks event in Berlin and celebrate the first anniversary of their Berlin office. Metacore are big fans of PlaytestCloud and are always generous with the shout-outs, and that fandom goes both ways: their game Merge Mansion is one of my favorites! I am sure my IAPs have single-handedly funded more than a few playtests 😂. Is that a circular economy or what?
[me playing Merge Mansion at Metacore]
The theme of the event was Mastering Player Experiences, and Metacore curated such a great lineup of panelists, including:
Antti Hattara (Starberry), Ben O'Donnell (Wooga), Ewa Chrusciel (Trailmix Games), Andre Krug (SOFTGAMES), Maurício Juliano dos Santos (Kolibri Games), and Eric Bolitho, Lloyd Craske, Kimmo Hirvonen and Teppo Soininen from Metacore.
These industry experts shared deep insights into creating the perfect first-time user experience (FTUE) for mobile games—particularly in the merge genre.
My key takeaways:
The Importance of FTUE: A well-designed onboarding experience is crucial for player retention and engagement.
- The panel shared a few examples of their favorite, most solid FTUE (that wasn't from their own game):
- Merge Stories: Well-structured introduction that eases players into the mechanics.
- Crush Solitaire (King): Minimal hand-holding, allowing smooth and natural progression.
- Disney Solitaire & Royal Match: Frictionless early progression, rewarding players from the start.
- Royal Kingdom: Effectively sets up the player fantasy, a great example from the match-3 genre.
- Merge Stories: Well-structured introduction that eases players into the mechanics.
- How Much Hand-Holding is Needed? It depends on the game and its audience.
- Core mechanics should be introduced with clarity.
- New gamers may need structured onboarding, but too much guidance can be frustrating.
- Provide an illusion of control—structured but allowing freedom.
- Core mechanics should be introduced with clarity.
- Testing is Everything! This was the coolest experience, nearly every panelist mentioned PlaytestCloud and how much the platform supports their research. They also shared that:
- Testing with real players helps understand behavior and refine FTUE.
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- Early testing and continuous improvement is critical.
- A/B testing is key—start testing early and iterate frequently.
- Early testing and continuous improvement is critical.
- Refining FTUE for Long-Term Success:
- Merge Mayor: Revamped its FTUE after four years to make it more engaging without completely overhauling it.
- TrailMix: Focuses on stripping games to their core fun while refining UX based on real player feedback.
- Don’t just blame UX if players disengage from the meta—collaborate, analyze, and go deeper.
- Merge Mayor: Revamped its FTUE after four years to make it more engaging without completely overhauling it.
Retention is just as important
The second panel focused on retaining users past the FTUE, and at this point in the evening I stopped my diligent note-taking but really enjoyed hearing how each of the speakers considers qualitative data as important as quantitive app analytics to add context to player behaviors. We've covered retention testing previously, which you can read about here.
Final Thoughts
In the merge game space, onboarding can make or break player engagement. The key to success? Observe real players, identify pain points, refine based on feedback, and test early and often.This event reinforced my excitement about game design and the power of listening to players. If you’re building a mobile game, take this advice to heart—test, iterate, and always keep the player experience at the center!
Massive thanks to Metacore and the event organizers who made this a fun, warm and informative evening. If you have the chance to attend a Core Talk in Berlin or Helsinki, I highly recommend it!
Head of Customer Success at PlaytestCloud
