Main Takeaways: -What are the best ways to apply to get your dream job in the gaming industry? -What is the difference between the role of a Product, Project, and Program Manager? -Insight into a day in the life of a Gaming PM.

1. www.productschool.com
PM and Analytics in the Gaming Industry by
Zynga Product Lead

2. CERTIFICATES
Your Product Management Certificate Path
Product Leadership
Certificate™
Full Stack Product
Management Certificate™
Product Management
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3. Corporate
Training
Level up your team’s Product
Management skills

4. Free Product Management Resources
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JOB PORTAL
COMMUNITIES
bit.ly/product_resources
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5. PRODUCT MANAGEMENT AND ANALYTICS
IN THE GAMING INDUSTRY
VIKRANT (VIK) AGARWAL
LEAD PRODUCT MANAGER
ZYNGA

6. AGENDA
My Journey – From CMU to Zynga
Product Management 101
• Strategy
• Analytics
• PM Questions
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7. MY JOURNEY
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8. MY JOURNEY
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9. PRODUCT MANAGEMENT 101
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10. PRODUCT MANAGEMENT 101
What does a Gaming Product Manager do?
• Strategy
• Execution
• Leadership
What’s the difference?
• Product Manager (PM)
• Project Manager (Producer)
• Program Manager (PgM)
• Product Marketing Manager (PMM)
Game PM
• Strategic AERM
• Features & Design
• Live Operations – Events, Sales
• Technical
• Analytics 10

11. PRODUCT MANAGEMENT - STRATEGY
Platforms
Business
Model
Metacritic
Score
MAU
(2019 Avg)
Revenue
(First 6 Mo)
Revenue
Life to Date
Overwatch
Released May 2016
PC & Console Premium 91 11.3MM $680MM $2.0B
Call of Duty: Black Ops IV
Released Oct 2018
PC & Console Premium 83 14.4MM $797MM $936MM
Apex Legends
Released Feb 2019
PC & Console Free to Play 88 38.2MM $215MM $215MM
Destiny 2
Released Sept 2017
PC & Console Premium 83 3.2MM $455MM $866MM
Battlefield V
Released Nov 2018
PC & Console Premium 81 4.7MM $240MM $262MM
PUBG
Released Dec 2017
PC, Console & Mobile Premium 86 12.2MM $700MM $2.0B
Fortnite
Released Dec 2017
PC, Console & Mobile Free to Play 82 49.5MM $1.2B $4.3B
Source: Superdata, through June 2019
PM Question #1: The Battle Royale (BR) market is a red ocean dominated by 2-3 successes and
scores of failed titles.
If you were making a new game today, would you make a new Battle Royale game? Yes or No?
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12. PRODUCT MANAGEMENT - STRATEGY
If you are looking at game titles for comparison, always remove the Top 3 titles from the
chart. They are the runaway successes.
• Learn from them, aim for them, but don’t compare to them
• E.g. Fortnite made $4b. If I make a new BR, I’m sure I’ll make at least $1b..?
• Also, learn from the rest of the titles. What makes them successful? What should they do better?
Think about the details. What makes Fortnite so popular?
• Accessible Artstyle
• Competitive game
• Teen Virality
What made Apex so popular?
• It’s marketing strategy at launch or something else?
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13. PRODUCT MANAGEMENT - ANALYTICS
Analytics
• Basic Metrics: Daily players (DAU), daily revenue (ARPDAU)
• Game Metrics: Players who completed level 16, Players who bought the “Warrior” Character.
• Segmentation: Spend by Minnows ( <$5), Dolphins ($5 - $100)and Whales (> $100) based on player age.
• Analysis: We see a lot of players are buying this new character, but they are not playing it. Why?
• Deep Dive ML Optimization: How do we figure out the right ELO for a player quickly?
• AERM Funnel: Acquisition, Engagement, Retention and Monetization
• A/B Testing: What will players like better, if I offer 100 food in the Warrior bundle or 100 wood?
Roles:
• Marketing Analyst
• Game Analyst
• Data Scientist
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14. PRODUCT MANAGEMENT - ANALYTICS
PM Question #2: Your Manager comes and tells you, the revenue fell by 50% overnight!
Look into it ASAP!
What do you do next??
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15. PRODUCT MANAGEMENT - ANALYTICS
1. Is the revenue still low / falling?
2. Is the game working?
3. DAU
4. Sales released in the last 24 hours
5. Active Payers
6. Average Payer Revenue and Cohorted Payer revenue
7. User Acquisition countries
• Any drops in the install funnel?
8. Is the Analytics system actually reporting correctly?
… and what else?
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16. PRODUCT MANAGEMENT - STRATEGY
PM Question #3: What do you think of the Fortnite Battlepass system? Do you think it is
good or bad? How does it help Epic?
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17. PRODUCT MANAGEMENT - STRATEGY
Conversion vs. Monetization vs. Engagement
• Large user base
• If they have 50m MAU and 1% convert @ $10 each, that’s $5m/month
• 950 V-Bucks. But $9.99 gives you 1000 V-Bucks?
It’s only Vanity, not Pay to Win (P2W)
• Skins, Emotes, Llamas
Make your money back – Pay 950 V-Bucks, Get 1300 V-Bucks on completion!
Check out www.deconstructoroffun.com and medium.com/ggdigest
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18. THANK YOU!
If you have additional questions, you can reach me at:
www.linkedin.com/in/Vik-Agarwal/
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19. www.productschool.com
Part-time Product Management Training Courses
and
Corporate Training