Retaining Lapsed Users and Building a Daily Habit Loop
Context
Diablo Immortal is a mobile multiplayer RPG. Players who return after being inactive for 4+ weeks are classified as “returning players” and are offered a limited-time catch-up event with bonus rewards.
Only 14% of these players remained active after 7 days. Our goal was to improve this retention rate by redesigning the returning player experience—tailored to different player segments and motivations.
Collaboration
I partnered with:
A User Researcher and a Data Analyst to uncover player pain points and retention gaps
A Game Designer and a Product Manager to define strategy and user flows
An Engineer to align on technical constraints and implementation paths
A Producer to scope milestones and manage the release timeline
Research
Quantitative insights revealed that while 30% of all returning players stayed through Day 1 (D1), retention dropped to 23% among those under level 60 who hadn’t completed the main story quest—especially during their first sessions (D0 and D1).
User testing showed these players felt overwhelmed by the volume of information and struggled to re-learn core gameplay systems.
Goals
Metric:
Raise 7-day retention from 14%
Close the retention gap between <Lv.60 and ≥Lv.60 returning players
Design Objectives:
All Returning Players
Get to combat faster: Only 30% fought within 3 minutes; 50% left without a single kill. We reduced blockers like notifications to prioritize action.
Show what’s playable now: Early sessions were blocked by asset downloads. We surfaced content available in the base install to answer “What can I do right now?”
Cut first-impression clutter: Players spent ~15 minutes clearing menus. We reduced tooltip noise and red dot fatigue to ease re-entry.
By Player Segment
<Lv.60: Guided players back to the main story—a proven motivator—by removing competing distractions.
≥Lv.60: Re-onboarded endgame players to daily systems with lightweight tutorials—no need to restart or reroll.
Get to Combat Faster
Solution: Launch a mini-dungeon on re-entry
We tested a combat-focused mini-dungeon for returning players, which saw:
80%+ opt-in rate
~1% absolute lift in D7 retention
Why it works:
Delivers immediate action—no tutorial required
Engages both <Lv.60 and ≥Lv.60 segments
Reusable for repeat re-engagement (70%+ of winbacks are now returning again)
Show What's Playable Now
Solution: New interactive gameplay during Asset Download
A focused 10–15 minute narrative quest immediately follows the Mini Mad King's Breach dungeon, occupying player attention within downloaded content while other assets download.
Why it works:
Clear direction: Replaces ineffective task lists, which saw steep drop-off in completion.
Combat-focused: Extends the momentum from the initial dungeon with minimal friction.
Distraction-free: Instance-based format avoids red dot clutter and competing menu prompts—lessons drawn from FTUE best practices.
Low asset load: Set in Ashwold, a starter zone already included in the base download, minimizing wait time.
Cut First-Impression Clutter
Solution: Stagger and Suppress Notification Clutter
We redesigned notification timing and visibility to support a smoother first impression:
Hide all red dots and tooltips during the Mini Dungeon and Ashwold Questline.
Delay non-critical red dots in batches to later sessions.
Revise tooltip logic to suppress irrelevant or redundant messaging.
Why it works:
I conducted a pseudo-card sort activity to evaluate stakeholder priorities regarding feature surfacing.
Research showed the first session sets the tone—players overwhelmed early were more likely to churn.
Insights from my Red Dot System project showed players struggle to self-prioritize when flooded with notifications.
This approach breaks down info into digestible segments, easing re-onboarding without dumbing things down.
Guide <60 Players to the Main Questline
Solution: Emphasize Main Questline in UI Hierarchy
Increased the visual priority of the main questline to guide returning players back into core content.
Why it works:
Returning players struggled to re-orient in a complex, feature-rich UI.
By making the main questline more prominent—using bolder visuals and a subtle glow pip—we drew attention without overwhelming.
This helped players quickly identify the core objective, reinforcing where to look in future sessions and reducing decision fatigue.
Re-onboard >60 Players to Daily Habit Loops
Solution: Re-onboard Post-Story Players via Improved Return Hub
Redesigned the returning player hub to help players who’ve completed the main story re-engage with daily systems.
Why it works:
User feedback on the existing hub highlighted key UX gaps.
This update addresses those directly, guiding players into a sustainable daily loop without overwhelming them.
Currently in development—stay tuned! 👀
Results & Next Steps
We conducted user testing on the final playable version and validated our solutions across both player segments. The updated re-onboarding experience is set to launch in early June. Following that, we will be re-orienting and iterating.
Next, we’re focused on Phase 2: completing the final step of re-onboarding for post–level 60 players, centered around improving the returning player hub.