The Game Growth Tool Stack: MMPs, Analytics, Market Intelligence, ASO and CRM
A map of the tools most game growth teams use, what each category is for, and how to avoid buying five tools that all answer the same question.
Disclosure: I spent 15 years at Games2win, a mobile games publisher. No company named here paid for inclusion or sponsored this article. I also advise publishers and ad-tech companies, so a company named here may be, or may become, a client or contact.
Attribution (MMP)
AppsFlyer, Adjust, Singular, Branch, Kochava, Tenjin, Airbridge. Attribute installs and events to ad sources, handle iOS privacy frameworks, aggregate cost. See AppsFlyer vs Adjust vs Singular.
Product analytics
GameAnalytics (game-specific), Amplitude, Mixpanel, Firebase / Google Analytics, PostHog, and warehouse-first setups on BigQuery, Snowflake or Databricks. Used for funnels, retention, cohorts and behaviour.
Experimentation and remote config
Statsig, Firebase Remote Config and A/B Testing, platform-native tools inside mediation and analytics products, and in-house systems. Pair any of them with guardrail discipline — see the Test Guardrail Builder.
Market intelligence
Sensor Tower (which acquired data.ai in 2024 and AppMagic in 2026), Appfigures and others — download and revenue estimates, ad intelligence and competitor tracking. Treat estimates as directional, especially for smaller titles.
ASO
AppTweak, SplitMetrics, Storemaven, Appfigures and others — keyword research, store-page testing and competitor tracking. Store-native tools (Apple’s product page optimization and custom product pages, Google Play’s store listing experiments and custom store listings) are the primary testing surfaces. See the Store Listing 4-Second Test.
Engagement, CRM and subscriptions
Braze, CleverTap, MoEngage, OneSignal, Airship for push, in-app messaging and lifecycle; RevenueCat, Adapty, Superwall for subscription infrastructure and paywalls.
How do you avoid tool sprawl?
- Name the decision each tool supports. If two tools answer the same question, one is redundant.
- Define metrics once. A metrics dictionary prevents three dashboards reporting three retention numbers.
- Own the raw data. Event-level exports to your warehouse let you join attribution, behaviour and revenue.
- Review annually against actual usage and decisions made.
More channels and more tools don’t just add inventory — they can dilute signal until teams spend their time reconciling data instead of making decisions.
Related: More Data, Less Signal · When Market Intelligence Becomes Infrastructure · A Dashboard Should Compress a Decision