The world of Hollywood is full of worldwide fame, glamour, and big bucks but there is an entertainment industry which is way bigger. Please welcome video games! The revenues generated by all kinds of video games are more than twice than the financial results of the movie industry. And it is growing at a constant pace. On top of this, gaming is generating a huge amount of data. Electronic Arts have 275 million active users generating 50TB data a day. It is no surprise that gaming industry is utilizing data analytics in its full scope. Technology, financials, gameplay, marketing, strategic, just name an analytics domain and you`ll find it working on high revs in the gaming industry.
In-game analytics metrics
In-game analytics relies on 4 key metrics, says Pankaj Singh in a recent blog post.
- Time metrics
- Involvement metrics
- Revenue metrics
- Event metrics
They are the main data points where a game analyst starts its journey. They reveal the current performance of a particular game and are capable of displaying issues that might be hidden in the data. The numbers of the key metrics also give a base for an informed decision in terms of game development, which is also important having in mind updates, new releases, etc.
Even more data
It is not just about the in-game generated data. You can play particular title on your smartphone, desktop, Xbox or Playstation device, and on social media channel. You can play it off or online. In a team or as a single player. This way, gaming analysts are able to know the sex of particular gamer, device/system preference, location, etc. in order to create interesting behavioral analytics output. This is equal to more efficient marketing approach and higher in-game purchases.
How gaming companies use data analytics insights
The very first bottle neck of every game is its intro. It might be interesting and engaging but it might be too long or boring. Such assumption can be validated at an extremely early stage or even during the game development. A/B testing is capable of brief confirmation or rejection of a particular assumption.
By gathering events data, gaming enterprises can easily understand if their UX design is set on a convenient and converting way. The healthy funnel of game monetization is crucial for the success. If there is a soft sport, it might lead to weak performance.
Online gaming is relying on servers which can handle particular usage load. If there are too many users in particular time frame or even location, servers might drop. Remember when Pokemon Go was inactive for few hours because of servers overload? This can be prevented by predictive analytics algorithms forecasting new users.
Gamers` retention is a crucial element of any game success strategy. If the first level is too difficult or higher levels are too easy, things aren’t going to be good. If a particular game character of a certain hierarchy level is too strong or weak, this might lead to disappointed gamers going to abandon the game. All of this potential weak points are settled by data analytics which is once again – a key tool for any player in the big world of the gaming industry.
