As the gaming industry continues to grow, it is no wonder that commentators see Big Data analytics as the perfect development tool in this progression. The phenomenal growth of gaming worldwide with an estimated two billion gamers creates a convenient data flow, which if managed correctly can drive user engagement to an even more intuitive experience. Looking at gaming in the USA it is incredible to think that it is bigger than the movie industry, which annually has a figure of $8 billion spent on ticketsales. Compare this with $20 billion in revenue for the gaming industry in the US and you begin to see the possibilities for Big Data in this scenario. The possibilities are immense, Big Data can be used to drive advertising in games and radically increase the player involvement and interaction with the game itself.
Tailored Marketing and the Game
Game players online and offline are constantly leaving behind masses of data which if collected and managed correctly can lead to a more personal experience for the participant. Much like a personalised shopping experience on the likes of Amazon, where you are offered, what may appeal to you, as indicated by your previous shopping pattern, gaming can now provide this individual choice. It is possible using Big Data analytics to develop a marketing strategy built around the individual player or players. This will allow the Game Developers improve segmentation, optimisation and targeting of the different types of players they attract.
The gamer because of their data stream footprint, leave clues to what type of things appeal to them. All the Big Data now has to do, is create an appealing and bespoke collection of options for that player based on the information gathered. A marketing analytics framework can be built upon data received about players and used as an inducement for potential advertisers. Data is streaming from the moment we interact and play with a game, whether that be on social media, PSP, Xbox or on your Smartphone with a mobile App. Data gives the who, what, where, when, and how we play, and with whom. This allows game makers to selectively approach the players with a variety of offerings which may appeal to that individual. The advertising potential is obvious, but other enhanced options for playing may also be offered, maybe linked to the geographical location of the player or players.
User Experience
The competitive among us may require little motivation but with the use of Big Data it is possible to provide real time feedback for all types of gaming scenarios allowing player improve, if they so desire. This could be a logical step for quiz or trivia type games which value improvement as a key factor of the game. A game which encourages you to get the Highest score or be an online champion needs real time data and Big Data could enhance this capability.
Imagine the potential for trivia and quiz games if the player was continually challenged to learn and display evidence of learning as they played. This is bordering on the space of educational free apps which are designed for such tasks. But most quiz fans will recognise the need to learn and increase their knowledge for the next quiz online whether it be in music trivia, sports trivia or just fun trivia questions the pursuit of excellence in knowledge terms is absolute. We all want to enter the trivia quizmaster Hall of Fame.
Big Data and Developers
Obviously more Data crunching gives you more of a work load but with the right analytics onboard this need not be the case. It is possible to use open source licensing models which is an accepted data management activity. Apache Hadoop is an open-source data-processing platform and has been used by such names as Yahoo and Facebook. There are a raft of options available using the cloud or not. All the big players are there including IBM, Microsoft and Google.
The ability for game developers to receive feedback from the players can be immensely useful pointing to bugs in the software or highlighting if the architecture of the game itself is capable of being improved upon. Monitoring and performing analysis on millions of gamers playing your game can provide invaluable insights into which parts of your game are popular and which parts are not. Using Big Data analysis will allow individually styled enhanced versions of a game that appeals to a certain group of players or maybe even an individual.
There is also the predictive possibilities of using Big Data, such as when a game is launched and at peak time of play when the service can either slow down or crash as has happened in the past. This can be anticipated and the capacity can be increased to allow for these peak times, which in turn will improve the gaming experience for all types of players on all types of devices, social, Xbox, PSP, mobile smartphones.
The game now is for developers to keep up with the opportunities open to them using this wealth of information. Big Data creates new opportunities for developers to increase revenue with improved market segmentation and improving player experience, which in turn adds to the bottom line.
Contact us for more details on how we are using Big Data in gaming.
