1. Analytics In Gaming Industry
A Peek into Gaming Marketing Statistics
Ice-creams,chocolatesandvideo-gamesare perhaps3most popularuniversallyunderstoodwordsthat
can bringjoy to anyone between5-60yearsof age!
Analyticshelpsone take datadrivendecisionsandisbeingincreasinglyutilizedtoengage customers,
increase profitsandreduce costsacrossindustries.Whilemarketing,supply-chainandhealthcare are
consistentlyinnewsforadopting analytics,adark-horse inthe mix isthe gaming industry.Alongwith
marketing, it’sanearlyadoptertoutilizinganalyticsandmake a seriousbusinessoutof it.
PerEntertainmentSoftware Association(ESA)1
,42% of Americansplayat least3 hoursof videogames,
average age being35. Interestingly27%of playersare over50 yearsof age,comparedto 26% of players
whoare under18. More so womenthatare 18 yearsor olderaccountfor 33% of playerscomparedto
15% of boysunder18 years. Cumulatively more than155 millionpeople playvideogamesinAmerica
and 4 outof every5 houseshave adedicatedgamingdevice.
Apart fromvideogames,statisticsare equallyastoundingformobilegamingplatform.Perresearchfirm
Statista, numberof mobile gamersinUSA alone were 164 millionplusin2012 and weeklytime spentby
childrenonthemisaround7 hours.In fact as pernewZoo3
,mobilegamingissettoovertake console
gamingby the endof 2015. While console gamingisexpectedtogenerate revenueinexcessof 26 billion
dollars,mobile gamingisexpectedtocross30 billiondollarsworldwide.Combinedtogether,the three
gamingplatforms – console gaming,pcgamingandmobile gaming(includingtablets)isexpectedto
cross 91 billiondollars!!
Nowthat I expectthose numberstogetyouseriousaboutgaming,we’lldiscussthe role of analyticsin
increasingthe reachof gamingindustry.
Need for Analytics in Gaming
Since the adventof internetandmore sowiththe rise of social networkingsites,gameshave beenused
for more than justentertainmentof kidsandadultsalike.Itassumedthe role a utilitarianor
intermediate applicationforthe followingbusinessintent:
1. Userengagement– From megaengaginggamessuchas ‘Halo’,to the casual ‘snake’game on
the firstNokiamobile,owninga‘Farmville’onFacebookorindulginginthe ‘candycrushsaga’,
these gameshave playedahuge indirectrole inthe initial successof theirassociatedcompanies.
2. Marketing- Initiallythereusedtobe onlystaticmarketing,like particularcarbrandsusedin
NeedforSpeedora particularcompany’sshoe showninsoccergame.Howeverwithincreased
technological prowess,companiesare beginningtomove towardsdynamicadvertising.Asper

2. Miami Universityresearch,on anaverage 35% of playerscouldrecall advertisedbrandsina
controlledcarracing game.
Apart frommarketingdirectlytousers,‘E-Sports’istakingthe potential of game marketingtoa
whole newlevel.Asperinc.com5
,lastyearmore than32 million peoplewatched‘Leagueof
legends’worldchampionshiptournamentonlineinSeoul.
In totality,companiesare goingtobet$7.2 billionin2016 onlyon dynamicadvertisingasper
ESA4
.
Nowthat boththe potential andstake sohighinthe gamingindustry, itbecame imperative tohave a
betterunderstandingof notonlytraditional gamersbutalsoof those whoengagedinsocial andcasual
gaming.
Sourcing Data for Analytics
The followingsimplediagrammayhelp ingettingaquickunderstandingof variousdatasourcingpoints
for anygame:
Player Data
Device/System
Data
In Game/Session
Data
•Publiclyavailableinformation
•Social Media&
•Behavioral Analytics
•Performance assesment
•Interface &Platformanalytics
•Involvementassesment
•EngagementAnalytics

3. While there canbe variouspointsinthe processof making-playingagame for data capturing,Ihave
attemptedtoclassifythemundertwobroadthemesof systemsdataandconsumerdata froma business
analystsperspective.
From a businessperspective there canbe 2 primaryareasfor sourcingdata fromgamesto be utilizedin
analytics.These are:
1. ConsumerData: Data fromgamersi.e.people actuallyconsumingthe game product
naturallyformsthe focusforcollectingthe largestchunkof data.Behavioral Datacollected
fromconsumerscan be usedto improve both,game featuresaswell asbusinessanalysis.For
example customerschoosingaparticularcharacterin ‘Temple run’,gamers spendingmore
than 1 hourin a strategygame on console ina day, or shortmultiple loginsinapuzzle game
on mobile.
2. SystemData: Data fromsystemsandplatformwouldhelpinunderstandingthe technical
performance of a game.The data pointscan be specificallyrelevanttoonlineandmobile
games,as console gameswouldhave theirowndedicateddata.Consistentperformancedata
ismust forensuringsmoothuserexperienceof agamer.Typical data pointsto be collected
can be clienthardware,operating system,frame rate,internetbandwidthorstabilityetc.
3. In Game Data: Ingame data wouldrefertodatacollectedfromyourusersplayingthe game.
It wouldhave itsownsetof matricesrequiredtobe trackedwhichhave beendiscussed
belowinbetterdetail.Fromestablishedmatricesrelatedtoaverage time spendingame to
ambitiousanalysissuchasstagesor game levelscrossedcanbe clubbedinthissection.The
above twostepsfor data analysismayfall flatif the ‘inGame’dataisnotutilizedaptly.
Significant Data Matrices for Game Analysis
The intentof analysisfromthe available datacanbe verybroadranged. Especiallyitcanvary
fromgame to game,dependinguponthe particulargenre andgamerbase itcan be targetingto.
Data matricesdevelopedforanalysisof anonline ‘Counterstrike’game canbe verydifferent
froma small puzzle game onmobile.
Thoughsome relevantdatapoints whichmustbe developed fromconsumerdatacan be
classifiedin fourthemes:

4. a. Time Metrics:Thismainlydescribesthe directengagementof auserwithyourgame.It
wouldinclude average dailytime spendbyusers,numberof usersperdayor on weekends,
churn outratio afterweeksandmonths. Numberof people churningafterfirstweek,
quarteror year etc.
b. InvolvementMetrics:While time metricswouldhelpyouknow yourusersdirect
engagement,‘Involvement’metricscanhelpgauge the indirectinvolvementaswell. Thisis
where one shoulddevelopandcrunchnumberforsocial mediasharing,community
messages,reviewsandsentimentanalysis.
c. Revenue Metrics:Thiscan be the mostexcitingmetrictokeeptrackof! Typical business
metricssuchas average revenue peruser(ARPU), costtoacquire a new user, dailyand
monthlyrevenue aswellascostmetricswouldcome underrevenue dataanalysis.Though
it’simportantto note thatthiswouldbe businessdatarelevanttoaparticulargame product
and notof the companyas a whole.
d. Event Metrics: While othersmetricsmentionedabove are anindustrystandard,thisone is
perhapsbornout of my experience withgaming. Asaheavygamerduringmyteens,anda
casual gamer on mobiles,Ihave experiencedthatoftenagame can stop beingfunaftera
certainlevel.Itmaybe due to higherlevels,draggingunrelatedadvertisementsoranything
etc.I feel determiningthisfactorcan be crucial in retainingagame'suserbase.

5. Goal of Game Analytics
We have seenthe importance of analytics,how tosource datafor analysis,andwhatmatricesto
develop.Now we come tothe final linkof the chain i.e. whatshouldbe the goal inmindduringour
analysis.Againspecificgoalswouldvaryaccordingtoscope,genre andplatformof the game (console,
PC basedor mobile),one musthave specificgoalsaroundwhichtodevelopthe datamatrices.
Againfroman analyst’spointof viewIwouldwant to have followinggoalsforincreasedengagement
and marketingpotential of agame:
1. Feature Development:Up till 90’s gamesonce soldwere consideredfileclosed.Inthiseraof
strategyand social gaming,asuccessful game once developedisoftenfollowed (ormustbe
followed!) bysuccessive versionswithimprovedfeature set.A pooranalysisor
misrepresentative matrices wouldleadtoweakernew versionof gameswhichwill certainlynot
healthyforthe businessstakeholdersof the gamingandmarketingcompaniesinvolved.
2. Platform Analysis:Thiswouldinvolve analysisof the platformsusersare mostengagingwith
currentlyandplatformstowardswhichthe customersare expectedtoshiftinfuture.With
increasingnumberof gamingandscreendevices,targetingandengagingwithappropriate
platforms,technical andgraphical bandwidthwill formcrucial analysis.
Summary
The above findings,resourcesandanalysisof the role of analyticsingamingiscertainlynotexhaustive.
However,Ihave triedtoobserve anddescribe the crucial juncturesatwhichanalyticshaspotential to
playmajorrole in customerengagementandrevenue generation.Mostimportantthingtoremember
that all analysiswouldvaryaccordingtothe scope of a gamingplatformandgamer profilestargeted.
Hope it wouldhave beenaninformativereadforyou,feel free tocommentorreachme for any
discussionahead. Anyfeedbackorerrorsinformedwill be greatlyappreciated.
References
1. http://www.theesa.com/about-esa/industry-facts/
2. http://www.statista.com/topics/1906/mobile-gaming/
3. http://www.newzoo.com/infographics/newzoo-summer-series-3-the-us-games-market/
4. http://www.theesa.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/Games_Advertising-11.4.pdf
5. http://www.inc.com/oscar-raymundo/6-reasons-the-video-game-industry-will-be-disrupted-in-
2015.html