Can using data analytics really give you creative freedom? Is ignoring the power of data crunching suicide for a contemporary studio? Will Freeman asks the developers and statisticians playing the numbers game
Game analytics have become increasingly crucial for social and mobile game studios as they look to maximise revenues by creating a polished experience
NOT SO LONG ago, the day a game was released marked the effective end of its developer’s effort. Today, in a world where social
functionality, DLC and in-game purchasing are as everyday as loading screens, that has all changed. A developer’s work is never done, and long after release a project can be tweaked and updated. This is where analytics comes in. In a world
where the options open to studios adjusting games post-release are theoretically infinite, something needs to be done to help devs make the right refinements. “The development process in social games
doesn’t end with the launch; instead the focus shifts to on-going optimisation of the game and the player experience,” offers Matt Begley, data analyst at studio Playdemic, which is behind Facebook title Gourmet Ranch. “This is largely dictated by knowledge gained via analytics, and the feedback that
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this provides on both our games and the way our players interact with them. But it’s crucial to remember that access to the data is only ever half the battle.” And already Begley is at an issue core to
the very concept of games analytics. The data you gather – be it on mechanics of interaction within a game or efficiency of monetisation models – is all-important, but it is the method of interpretation of that information, and the response to it, that truly defines the worth of the analytical process.
NO MORE MR NICETY In the realm of social gaming in particular, analytics has moved from nicety to necessity, and it’s a daunting task for developers faced with not only gathering data, but sifting through it for meaning. Fortunately, a wealth of analytics outfits – backed up by statisticians – now exist to support studios who would otherwise drown in their own sea of numbers.
In reality, the process is a contemporary
extension to the act of surveying, playtesting, QA and working with focus groups. Games analytics, however, offers a far more precise art, and one increasingly available to a greater variety of studios and platforms. It’s also something of a black magic; misunderstood by many and even avoided by some, even though sectors like online retail and consumer banking have used it for years. And yet, say the analytics experts; it remains a relatively simple concept. “For us, the most important role is to
provide a window into the performance of our games on a number of levels, as well as the studio as a whole,” says Begley of the studio at which he works, which has crafted its own analytics technology. “Indeed, the role of analytics has many different connotations, depending on the department you visit. The significance of analytics for top level management may be to simply monitor