This involves hiring a team (3-4 engineers minimum hosting the infrastructure($2-5k/mo out the gate), and maintaining reports and uptime. Allocating too many resources towards an in house system can leave smaller companies cash strapped and unable to produce a AAA game.
In order to avoid the first mistake, many companies will look to web/app based analytics solutions. The issue is that these services do not provide the added value of customized analytics solutions. There is a tremendous value in analytics systems that are tailored to the unique flows of an individual game.
As a gaming studio, your data is priceless. Losing that data to a competitor could be devastating. Not all third party analytics providers are created equal. At a minimum you should look for a provider that is GDPR compliant, encrypts all data and offers an SDK. Take a good look at the terms and conditions, as well as the privacy policy of any third party analytics service before diving in.
Each and every time an aspect of the game is changed, that change should be A/B tested among two identical player groups to analyze the impacts on KPIs. Updates are generally released to improve game play, but it should not be assumed that just because an update fixes an issue that it could not also have undesirable impacts on KPIs.
Users expect a smooth user experience when playing your game. Any bugs that are not discovered and fixed in the quality assurance process are sure to throw a wrench in any user experience. Fortunately, analytics tools help developers to spot these bugs early on so that the initial game launch can be bug free!
Whether communicating to management, key stakeholders or investors, analytics should be the language of choice. Doing so effectively can be difficult, however. Data analytics is often seen as overly complex, but simplifying with key metrics can facilitate effective communication.Using KPIs to discuss changes and ideas to management will help them understand the impacts on game revenue. Most seasoned investors in the gaming industry closely follow ARDAU (average revenue per daily active user) and retention rate. Planning a presentation with these metrics in mind can greatly increase the odds of successfully closing a deal.
