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Game Analytics – The Basics

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Game Analytics

Abstract

Developing a profitable game in today’s market is a challenging endeavor. Thousands of commercial titles are published yearly, across a number of hardware platforms and distribution channels, all competing for players’ time and attention, and the game industry is decidedly competitive. In order to effectively develop games, a variety of tools and techniques from e.g. business practices, project management to user testing have been developed in the game industry, or adopted and adapted from other IT sectors. One of these methods is analytics, which in recent years has decidedly impacted on the game industry and game research environment.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. PLAIT Lab, Northeastern University, Boston, MA, USA

    Anders Drachen Ph.D.

  2. Department of Communication and Psychology, Aalborg University, Aalborg, Denmark

    Anders Drachen Ph.D.

  3. Game Analytics, Copenhagen, Denmark

    Anders Drachen Ph.D.

  4. PLAIT Lab, College of Computer and Information Science, College of Arts, Media and Design, Northeastern University, Boston, MA, USA

    Magy Seif El-Nasr Ph.D.

  5. College of Arts, Media and Design, Northeastern University, Boston, MA, USA

    Alessandro Canossa Ph.D.

  6. Center for Computer Games Research, IT University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark

    Alessandro Canossa Ph.D.

Authors
  1. Anders Drachen Ph.D.
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  2. Magy Seif El-Nasr Ph.D.
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  3. Alessandro Canossa Ph.D.
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Anders Drachen Ph.D. .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. College of Arts, Media and Design, Northeastern University, Huntington Avenue 360, Boston, 02115, Massachusetts, USA

    Magy Seif El-Nasr

  2. College of Arts, Media and Design, Northeastern University, Huntington Avenue 360, Boston, 02115, Massachusetts, USA

    Anders Drachen

  3. College of Arts, Media and Design, Northeastern University, Huntington Avenue 360, Boston, 02115, Massachusetts, USA

    Alessandro Canossa

Additional information

About the Authors

Anders Drachen, Ph.D. is a veteran Data Scientist, currently operating as Lead Game Analyst for Game Analytics (www.gameanalytics.com). He is also affiliated with the PLAIT Lab at Northeastern University (USA) and Aalborg University (Denmark) as an Associate Professor, and sometimes takes on independent ­consulting jobs. His work in the game industry as well as in data and game science is focused on game analytics, business intelligence for games, game data mining, game user experience, industry economics, business development and game user research. His research and professional work is carried out in collaboration with companies spanning the industry, from big publishers to indies. He writes about analytics for game development on blog.gameanalytics.com, and about game- and data science in general on www.andersdrachen.wordpress.com. His writings can also be found on the pages of Game Developer Magazine and Gamasutra.com.

Magy Seif El-Nasr, Ph.D. is an Associate Professor in the Colleges of Computer and Information Sciences and Arts, Media and Design, and the Director of Game Educational Programs and Research at Northeastern University, and she also directs the Game User Experience and Design Research Lab. Dr. Seif El-Nasr earned her Ph.D. degree from Northwestern University in Computer Science. Magy’s research focuses on enhancing game designs by developing tools and methods for evaluating and adapting game experiences. Her work is internationally known and cited in several game industry books, including Programming Believable Characters for Computer Games (Game Development Series) and Real-time Cinematography for Games . In addition, she has received several best paper awards for her work. Magy worked collaboratively with Electronic Arts, Bardel Entertainment, and Pixel Ante.

Alessandro Canossa, Ph.D. is Associate Professor in the College of Arts, Media and Design at Northeastern University, he obtained a MA in Science of Communication from the University of Turin in 1999 and in 2009 he received his PhD from The Danish Design School and the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, Schools of Architecture, Design and Conservation. His doctoral research was carried out in collaboration with IO Interactive, a Square Enix game development studio, and it focused on user-centric design methods and approaches. His work has been commented on and used by companies such as Ubisoft, Electronic Arts, Microsoft, and Square Enix. Within Square Enix he maintains an ongoing collaboration with IO Interactive, Crystal Dynamics and Beautiful Games Studio.

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Drachen, A., Seif El-Nasr, M., Canossa, A. (2013). Game Analytics – The Basics. In: Seif El-Nasr, M., Drachen, A., Canossa, A. (eds) Game Analytics. Springer, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4471-4769-5_2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4471-4769-5_2

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