老青蛙BNB (@oldfrog)'s insights

I used to work at a company that made apps, and during that

老青蛙BNB · 2026-04-22T01:40:15.000Z

I used to work at a company that made apps, and during that time we chased DAU every day. The boss would ask one question at the weekly meeting: how many users were retained the next day, how many after 7 days, and how many after 30 days. He once told us something I remember to this day: he said acquiring new users relies on budget, while retention relies on the product. Whether a product is good or not isn't determined by how many users come on the first day, but by how many are still there on the seventh day. Applying this standard to @Pixels , the answer is more complex than many think. #pixel reached 1 million daily active users at its peak, dropping to 45,000 in 2025, and then rising back to over 120,000 at the beginning of 2026. The fact that it could rebound from such a low point shows that the product is excellent, not just a hollow project that can't recover once it drops. Monthly spending in the game reached 10 million coins $PIXEL , indicating that those who remained weren't just idling but were willing to spend money as active players, which is rare in blockchain games. In the staking system, deposits consistently exceeded withdrawals, and holders weren't in a hurry to cash out, which is another form of retention. However, the downside must also be made clear. The drop from 1 million to 45,000 indicates that a significant portion of the early users came for the rewards, and once the rewards decreased, they left. They weren't truly retained by the game content, exposing the fact that Pixels' product appeal is more dependent on token incentives than it appears. The redesigned Stacked reward system in 2025 and the Chapter 3 Unions gameplay aim to address this issue. Stacked ties rewards to player behavior rather than simply distributing tokens, while Unions provide players with a reason to collaborate with others. The goal of these two designs is to encourage players to stay not just for the money but because there are things to do and people to do them with. My boss also said that products with high retention rates may not necessarily earn much, but products with low retention rates will definitely not earn for long. Pixels is currently working to move from the second situation to the first, and how far it can go depends on the project's future operations. In the games you've played, what was the reason that kept you around the longest?