What is the most effective way to analyze player behavior in mobile games?

1 Define your goals

Before you start analyzing player behavior, you need to define what you want to achieve with your game and what metrics you want to track. Some common goals for mobile games are increasing engagement, retention, revenue, or virality. Depending on your goals, you can choose different metrics to measure your game's performance, such as sessions, retention rate, average revenue per user, or referrals. You should also identify your target audience and segment your players based on their characteristics, preferences, and behaviors.

2 Collect data

To collect data from your players, you need to integrate analytics tools into your game. There are many analytics platforms available for mobile games, such as Firebase, GameAnalytics, or Unity Analytics. These tools can help you track and store various types of data, such as events, user attributes, device information, or errors. You should also implement user feedback mechanisms, such as surveys, ratings, reviews, or in-game chat, to gather qualitative data from your players.

3 Analyze data

Once you have collected data from your players, you need to analyze it to gain insights and identify patterns. You can use different methods and techniques to analyze data, such as descriptive, predictive, or prescriptive analytics. Descriptive analytics can help you summarize and visualize what happened in your game, such as how many players completed a level or how much time they spent on a feature. Predictive analytics can help you forecast what will happen in your game, such as how likely a player is to churn or how much revenue they will generate. Prescriptive analytics can help you recommend what actions to take in your game, such as how to optimize your pricing strategy or how to personalize your content.

4 Test and iterate

After you have analyzed data from your players, you need to test and iterate on your game to improve it based on your findings. You can use different methods and tools to test and iterate on your game, such as A/B testing, multivariate testing, or experimentation platforms. These methods and tools can help you compare and evaluate different versions of your game, such as different features, layouts, or graphics. You should also monitor and measure the impact of your changes on your game's performance and player behavior.

5 Learn from others

Another way to effectively analyze player behavior in mobile games is to learn from other successful games and developers. You can use different sources and resources to learn from others, such as blogs, podcasts, books, or courses. These sources and resources can help you discover best practices, tips, tricks, or case studies on how to design, develop, and analyze mobile games. You can also join communities and networks of game developers and analysts, such as forums, groups, or events, to exchange ideas, feedback, or experiences.

6 Keep learning

Finally, to effectively analyze player behavior in mobile games, you need to keep learning and updating your skills and knowledge. The mobile game industry is constantly evolving and changing, and so are the players and their expectations. You need to stay on top of the latest trends, technologies, and tools that can help you create and analyze better mobile games. You also need to keep experimenting and innovating with your game and your analytics, to deliver a unique and satisfying experience to your players.

7 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?