Building blockbuster games using your database In-memory databases and video game design don’t often come to mind at the same time. But in the increasingly popular mobile gaming industry, it’s a winning combination. Large numbers of users log into gaming sites several times a week to play. The games are usually free, and manufacturers earn their revenue through optional in-game purchases – the better known and more successful a game is, the more game developers can earn. But developers face a major challenge: to generate revenue over a long period, they need to sustain a player’s interest – people need to keep enjoying the game. This can be achieved through sophisticated statistical analysis of various performance and user-behaviour metrics. Wooga, a Berlin-based game developer, uses EXASolution, an in-memory database, to do just that.

1. Data analysis in seconds rather
than hours
Wooga made its name in the field of mobile gaming
with games like Diamond Dash and Jelly Splash.
With data accrued through the activities of more than
Building blockbuster games using
your database
50 million players every month, the company knows
that it has large volumes of valuable information that it
can use to improve its games. Long before new games
go to market, game developers analyse this data to
successfully design each new game.
“Even during the design phase, we make our decisions
In-memory databases and video game design don’t often come to mind at the same time. But in the
increasingly popular mobile gaming industry, it’s a winning combination.
Large numbers of users log into gaming sites several times a week to play. The games are usually
free, and manufacturers earn their revenue through optional in-game purchases – the better known
and more successful a game is, the more game developers can earn. But developers face a major
challenge: to generate revenue over a long period, they need to sustain a player’s interest – people
need to keep enjoying the game. This can be achieved through sophisticated statistical analysis of
various performance and user-behaviour metrics. Wooga, a Berlin-based game developer, uses
EXASolution, an in-memory database, to do just that.
EXASOL is a registered trademark. All mentioned trademarks are protected and are the property of their respective owners.
© 2014, EXASOL AG | All rights reserved.
EXASOL AG | Fon: +49 911.23 99 10 | info@exasol.com | www.exasol.com
SuccessStory|Wooga

2. based on fact-oriented evaluation,” explains Markus
Steinkamp, head of business intelligence at Wooga.
“With EXASOL’s analytical database, we can perform
design analysis and evaluate data starting at the
prototyping and development phases.”
And it’s not just in Wooga’s development phase that
EXASolution – which can be deployed in the cloud or as
a pre-configured software and hardware appliance –
is involved. After go-live, teams need to evaluate the
extensive, time-critical user data that is vital to long-
term success.
“If you have the choice between waiting several hours
for analysis or obtaining results immediately, the
decision is easy. Using EXASolution has accelerated
our analysis, depending on its nature and scope, by a
factor of 80 to 100,” said Steinkamp.
Butspeedwasnottheonlyimportantselectioncriteria–
so was the ability for various teams to work at the
same time. At Wooga, each development team
works completely independently and has its own
data containers and associated analysts. During their
daily work, different teams submit numerous queries
simultaneously without individual teams noticing
performance dips in the query speed.
With EXASolution, queries can be made at any time
and are carried out independent of a central controlling
department. The results then flow immediately into the
development of games.
higherga
m
ingexperience
complexanal
ytics
competitive advantage
Knowing what matters
Overall, the full-service solution offers Wooga a holistic
and agile option to analyse and store all accumulated
data – for each game and across teams from the
marketing department.
Individual analysts and the developer groups evaluate
billions of records daily. And only now has it become
possible for them to analyse several months of data
at once. With this information, the teams can develop
blockbuster games based on the wishes of the target
audience, promising all players longer-lasting fun.
“If you have the choice
between waiting several hours
for analysis or obtaining results
immediately, the decision is
easy.”
Markus Steinkamp
Head of Business Intelligence at Wooga
EXASOL is a registered trademark. All mentioned trademarks are protected and are the property of their respective owners.
© 2014, EXASOL AG | All rights reserved.
EXASOL AG | Fon: +49 911.23 99 10 | info@exasol.com | www.exasol.com
SuccessStory|Wooga