Digital platforms widely implement gamification strategies such as points, badges, leaderboards, and challenges to increase user engagement and improve business performance. Despite their popularity, there is limited understanding of how these mechanisms influence user motivation, engagement, and measurable outcomes, given the psychological, technological, and organizational complexity of gamification. This study addresses this gap by examining the impact of gamification on digital business performance and the mediating role of user motivation and engagement. A sequential mixed-methods design was employed, beginning with conceptual model development through a systematic literature review and expert interviews to integrate theoretical perspectives from marketing, psychology, and information systems with practitioner insights. In the second phase, quantitative validation was conducted via a structured survey administered to 428 active users of gamified platforms, with structural equation modeling (SEM) used to test the hypothesized relationships among gamification features, user engagement, and business outcomes. The findings indicate that gamification mechanisms significantly enhance user motivation and engagement, which in turn positively affect digital business performance metrics such as purchase frequency, loyalty, and platform retention. Moreover, the effectiveness of gamification strategies was found to depend on contextual factors including platform type and user experience. The results provide theoretical contributions by clarifying the mechanisms linking gamification to business outcomes and offer practical guidance for designing engagement-driven strategies in digital platforms. These insights enable both academics and practitioners to implement gamification more effectively and optimize digital business performance. Keywords: gamification, user engagement, digital business performance, motivation, structural equation modeling.