So whats the game, app developers play when trying to acquire users?

Pretty much the game is all about having a clear vision of your users and their life time value and trying to acquire these users cheaper than the profit you stand to gain. Simple.

Theres two main families of user acquisition.

  1. Paid acquisition: the standard advertising channels on social media (Facebook, Reddit, TikTok, Snapchat) and ad networks (Facebook, Applovin, Ironsource).
  2. Unpaid acquisition: users sharing the app, rating the app, etc.

Something to really care about is are you paying less to acquire a user than what they bring in. To help with this user attribution is necessary. These help you connect the cost you paid for a specific user to the profit they bring in.