First Time User Experience
☻Qualitative Method:
Explore how players feel and behave through interviews, observations, and open-ended feedback. (with optional quantitative metrics)
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Best Stage: Early development → Soft launch
Primary Goal: Ensure new users understand what to do and want to continue
Effort: Low–Medium
Overview
First Time User Experience (FTUE) refers to what a player sees, feels, and learns during their very first session with a game. It’s a critical window where players decide whether to keep playing or drop off, often within minutes.
If you're conducting FTUE research, you're essentially asking:
“Does the first 10 minutes of our game teach, excite, and retain the player?”
In game user research, FTUE focuses on evaluating:
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Onboarding and tutorials — Are instructions clear? Are players learning core mechanics effectively?
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Clarity of goals — Do players understand what to do and why?
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Emotional response — Is the experience engaging, confusing, or frustrating?
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Early retention risk — What causes players to quit early, and how can we fix it?
A strong FTUE builds player confidence and curiosity. Research methods like think-aloud testing, first-session observation, and D1 retention metrics are often used to identify friction points and improve early engagement.