Player fit test

An automated test that puts your game in front of 500 Poki players and measures how long they play. It's the quickest way to see if your game holds attention.

How it works

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The player fit test is an automated tool that puts your game in front of a sample of 500 Poki players and estimates its potential from how long they play. Use the results to refine your game and to judge whether it's ready for the big stage.

Setup is much like a playtest: you choose a category, set the orientations for mobile play, and send the test out. The only prerequisite is that you need to upload a thumbnail for the game once. Unlike a playtest, nothing is recorded: the test only measures playtime. Once 500 players have tried your game, it ends automatically and your results are gathered.

A test usually completes in around 5 hours, though the exact time varies with Poki's traffic, the categories you picked, and how many player fit tests are queued at that moment. You can run up to 2 tests per day, so you can iterate quickly between versions.

Unlocking the test The player fit test opens up once you've watched at least 10 playtest recordings. You'll also need a thumbnail on your game before you can run it.

Reading your results

The result is a histogram showing how the 500 players spread across playtime ranges: how many played 0 to 1 minutes, 1 to 2 minutes, and so on. A player who spends a minute and a half, for instance, lands in the 1 to 2 minute bar alongside everyone else in that range. The further right the bars lean, especially the 5m+ bar, the longer players stuck with your game and the better it performed.

You can also select two tested versions at the top of the graph to view them side by side, which makes it easy to compare performance and improvements across builds.

If too few players reach the 3 to 5m+ range, a couple of patterns point to where the problem is:

  • Most players in the first two columns? Players quit early. This usually points to friction in your onboarding or early game experience: confusing controls, an unclear goal, or a slow start before the game gets interesting. Review your first-session playtest recordings to see where players hesitate or drop off, and check load time and first-minute clarity to make sure players understand what to do right away.
  • A peak in the middle columns? Players are interested but something is missing: possibly content depth, possibly a hook. Check whether your current version has enough content to hold longer sessions, reassess whether your core mechanic carries them, and run more playtests to find where interest fades.
What a healthy result looks like An average playtime over 3 minutes, and at least 25% of the 500 plays lasting over 3 minutes. That combination shows genuine interest from a meaningful share of your audience, not just a few superfans. Hit both and you're ready to move on to the web fit test — 3 minutes is the bar to advance, not the target for success; stronger games average 5+ minutes, as covered below.

Didn't hit the numbers on your first try? That's normal, and it's exactly what the test is for. A miss doesn't mean your game is bad; it usually means the concept needs a few more tweaks before it goes in front of a larger part of the Poki audience. Tweak, re-test, compare. The test is free and repeatable.

To check changes before running another fit test, you can request more playtest recordings at any time, during any testing stage. The Playtest tab lives in your game's entry, and the extra recordings are a fast way to see how your changes affect player behavior.

Aim higher 3 minutes is the minimum. Games that succeed on Poki average 5+ minutes (10+ for management and simulation games). See what to aim for.