Game companies know that the games business is now more globalized, complex, and saturated than ever before, meaning robust strategic processes throughout development and publishing are even more crucial.
There is no guaranteed recipe for success in games, as shown by out-of-the-blue hits like Valheim, Fall Guys, and Loop Hero — as well as the game-related challenges faced by some of the biggest tech companies on the planet.
But one thing is certain: making the right decisions — backed up by data — at every stage of a game’s lifecycle gives a strong foundation for success in the future. Newzoo Expert provides such data and insights, and many of the world’s most successful publishers and developers are already using it to get ahead.
Keep reading to discover just a few ways our game dev and publisher clients are using Expert!
1. Seeing the Big Picture: Tracking and Analyzing the Entire Games Market
The games market is becoming more and more platform-agnostic. The world’s most successful game franchises — from Minecraft and Fortnite to Call of Duty and League of Legends — are now on more screens than ever.
Therefore, leveraging key metrics like MAUs across PC, console, and mobile platforms is now essential for a complete understanding of performance — and the market as a whole. Luckily, the Newzoo Platform’s Expert subscription can help.
One recent title doing well across all platforms is Genshin Impact. As you can see in the Newzoo Platform screenshot above, Genshin’s mobile MAUs were huge at launch, and despite some stabilization, the MAU number has remained high.
Meanwhile, on console and PC, the drop-off has been far more dramatic. It’s simple to switch between these metrics in our Platform.
2. Sizing the Market Potential of a Game, Genre, or Idea
Many of our Expert clients use Newzoo’s Games Taxonomy to build out sets of games that reflect their true competitors and sub-genre. And this is possible, quick, and easy to do within the Newzoo Platform.
Combining this Taxonomy with our other game data streams (such as MAU or lifetime players) lets Expert users quickly benchmark a new game idea based on their chosen subgenre’s performance.
Boasting 11 categories of game elements — including genre, game mechanics, and even art style — Expert-level Newzoo Platform users can slice and dice the data into different groups. This makes it simple to pinpoint the exact elements to maximize a new game’s potential to succeed in the market.
Want to see the data in action for yourself?
For adventure titles on console, the average number of lifetime players differs greatly depending on the game’s theme. Our data shows that historic-themed adventure games tend to perform very well, while themes like fantasy and horror have a much lower average number of players.
Want to learn more about how developers can use taxonomy data to build their next big game? Read this article!
3. Tracking Game Performance Metrics Beyond Playing: Viewership and Reddit Social Engagement
Many Expert users utilize the Newzoo Platform to go beyond in-game engagement, branching out into viewership and Reddit social media metrics, which provide a holistic understanding of the market and individual games.
They use this data to help benchmark a game’s marketing campaign — especially those that leverage Twitch channels and streamers for collaborations.
Want to know how Expert users spot trends and rising influencers in the game live-streaming space? Get insights in this article.
Naturally, combining this viewership with Reddit social media data and in-game engagement is useful for patterns in successes and failures of game launches.
Expert makes it easy to quickly spot patterns like Valheim’s amazing rise to the top, which was triggered by a spike in viewership.
The Newzoo Platform screenshot above shows Valheim’s viewership stabilized after the initial boost; yet, player data suggests that MAUs are stabilizing but to a much lesser extent. Again, multiple data sources are necessary for a view of the bigger picture.
4. Understanding a Game’s Player Base with Consumer Insights
The demographics data in the Newzoo Platform allows users to break down the core demographics of a franchise into gender, age, work situation and many other key variables of a player base.
The game overlap section lets users quickly visualize their games’ main competitors and understand the other games that best resonate with the player base.
Thanks to this demographic and psychographic knowledge, Expert users can accurately target audiences in marketing campaigns, know what type of game to build for their audiences, and truly understand the titles their games are really competing with.
For example, 73% of Minecraft players in North America are 35-years-old or younger. What’s more, Expert shows that the top 5 games Minecraft players also play typically:
- Have a bright/fun art style
- Target younger players
- Have an online aspect
- And are free-to-play or very low-priced.
5. Benchmarking Against Top Titles and the Competition
Some of the world’s top publishers also use Expert for benchmarking, especially when it comes to diving deep into a game’s retention and churn rates.
For example, Grand Theft Auto V — a game that first launched in 2013 — averages over 40% d1 retention rates, according to our PC engagement data. The Expert subscription to the Newzoo Platform also boasts d2, d7, and d28 retention rates.
And GTA V’s top markets (by MAUs) include Russia, Brazil, and Indonesia. Although these are large markets by themselves, it’s rare for one game to resonate with players in so many so diverse markets.
Supercharge Your Strategy with Game MAUs, Taxonomies, Demographics, and More
These five use cases merely scratch the surface of Expert’s potential for developers and publishers, and we’re continuously working on our Platform to bring even more exciting features!
Hitting performance KPIs, prioritizing markets for expansion, and validating your product-market fit has never been easier. And there’s a reason we’re trusted by the best in the business — from Microsoft and Riot Games to Tencent and Wargaming.
Reach out to us to learn how else we can help solve your specific challenge — or shoot us a question at questions@newzoo.com.
