Read below interview with Sega Europe Data Scientist, Stanley Wang. Without a doubt, Sega Europe wants to implement this in future CoH games. Remember to vote with your wallet.
Sega Europe is working with Data Scientists to improve player retention and monetization.
This was one of the reasons Sega/Relic cancelled new content for DoW3.
As a Live-Ops Director, you will…
▪Manage and design content, campaigns and features that maximize acquisition, retention and monetization throughout the product life cycle
▪Conduct and communicate in-depth analysis of in-game economy using data insights and strong business acumen to set and achieve KPIs
▪Seek in-depth player insights and develop new content strategies through data- driven analysis
How SEGA leverages in-game data to keep players coming back
22 November 2019
“We thought they’d been very good about what had happened in the past. But there’d been fewer questions about how that past informs our future,” Wang said.
“We’re all part of this data revolution here— it’s a great thing to be part of, but everyone has the responsibility to use the data in a way that will enhance the lives and the experiences of the community around us.”
*SNIP*
Data comes in two raw types; the first is monthly sales insights data from Steam— a digital distribution platform that hosts millions of concurrent users, where SEGA games are available to download.
But the second is data from in-game player activity. Wang and his team work with SEGA’s developer studios to add in-game events into the products, which allow insights and analysis to be drawn on how players play the game, ultimately shedding light on aspects of the game that can be improved on.
“With this data, we get about 5,000 events per second,” Wang told us.
*SNIP*
All this fine and granular insight help SEGA’s developer teams continually craft and update experiences that surpass user expectations.
“We can take this data to analyze clusters of player behavior and understand what the main groups of play styles are on the game,” Wang said.
“This has been a huge success, and it’s great for us and it helps us to make improvements to the game in the future and better content for the game that the community actually wants.”
While this forms the basis for in-game insights, the data team explore all sources available to them to better understand their users, across each unique community, and what keeps them coming back. That can include using machine learning to scour games reviews for keywords to analyze the sentiment the game is evoking.
Transformers players spending $150k grabbed headlines, but Yodo1's GCAP talk raised tough questions about responsible monetisation in mobile
"I always used to think that if you monetise your audience too hard, they'll leave the game. But it's actually the other way around"
“It’s hard, as a PC game,” Loftis said in reply. “We want to make it great on PC. But then, I think the whole concept of platform is about to change with Xbox.
“We are working hard to make sure to visualize all the different ways that people are going to want to experience Age [of Empires]. But our number one priority is to make it work great with keyboard and mouse.”
I pointed out that the recent release of 2K’s Civilization 6 on Xbox One and PS4 shows there’s an obvious demand for RTS games on console. Isgreen nodded in agreement.
“We’re going to explore our options,” he replied. “Once we have our wonderful PC game, then we’ll start looking at other ways that we can show up.”
Posted byu/acAltair
It's very rare for someone to infuriate me so much with their garbage propaganda that I have to voice myself. A little background: Tim Sweeney seems to play the role of "I want everything to be open and available, all platforms" bla bla. Yet his actions say otherwise.
Recently it was announced DX12 will come to FortNite. This is not a big issue but consider this...Vulkan API, which is the API that doesn't lock you into an OS, is more in spirit of PC platform but is not prioritized. It was also revealed that development for Vulkan for Unreal Engine has been archived. To reiterate, Vulkan works across many platforms (MacOS through MoltenVK, Switch, Linux, Windows, Stadia). A future where games are easier to port and available on all platforms will happen if Vulkan is adopted. So it's slightly odd that a person who wants "openess" and all that great stuff would at the very least not give Vulkan the same care as DX12. He also expressed interest in games running on Linux through a launcher/compatibility layer manager called Lutris. You know what helps games run on Linux tremendously well through a compatibility layer? Vulkan.
Previously he has used vague statements to imply games that went exclusive for their store are having great success. Like the 2x sales statement for Metro Exodus. Ignoring factors like sequels of established franchises often do better than previous entries. Trying to sell people the idea that sequels to Borderlands sold well on EGS because the store is great when the truth is two fold, sequels sell more and game is only available on that store. Deception.
But if there is one thing that makes him absoutely repulsive person to me is something else. Let's completely discard EGS controversy with it's exclusivity and simply stand behind Sweney and say "That's a shitty practice for consumers but as a businessman your aggressive approach is a good call". Let's say taht and discard that we detest exclusivity. What is unforgettable is this snake is trying to sell PC gamers the idea of "Multi store future!". Gaming has been for a long time multi store. We have GOG, Itchio, Steam, Origin, Uplay, etc. Yet he continues to try sell the idea that this hasn't been around until EGS was established in similar fashion to Brie Laurson gloating about how Captain Marvel is such a ground breaking movie because it features a woman in lead when Wonder Woman and many other movies before had done that. Worse is that the exclusivity deals affects not only Steam but also GOG. Yet the games are made available on all other stores. Multi-store future ladies and gentlemen, except if the stores are GOG or Steam...which are two of the best stores currently!
Another tweet he made, which was about GOG's new iniative to unify all platforms, is more than it appears to be. On surface it may seem like he is just happy for what GOG is trying to do. But if you ask me it is with a motive. One of reasons many people prefer Steam only, in contrast to me (I use all good stores), is because all of the games are conveniently located there. Having to buy games on other platforms treatens that convenience. You have to install another store and also register, and your friends may not use that platform and so on. Convenience is key here. It holds a portion of people back from buying from other stores, which favors Steam. Not that it's a good or bad thing, afterall they were the early bird and so they reaped the benefits. If GOG eliminates the inconvenience that comes with having many launchers and stores, which is what they aim to do, it open peoples mind up to buy on other stores. Which favors? EGS among others.
I hope people will see how two faced this man is. I reiterate even if we dismiss all our objections to EGS exclusivity, the fact he is trying to sell us the idea of a "multi store future" is deceptive and rubbish behaviour.
Friendly advice to Sega/Relic... Path of Exile Mobile
In terms of marketing, this is how you announce a mobile game to PC players with some honestly and a sense of humor:
0:10 - "Mobile games are kinda BS" quote Jonathan Rogers Co-founder
0:39 - "Mobile fall guy" | Trevor Gamon
0:51 - Chris Wilson Co-founder, "We didn't just farm it out to an external studio...
Bellular News | Blizzard Should Be SCARED: Path Of Exile’s Humiliating Takedown of Diablo Immortal:
Feral Interactive
@feralgames
In Company of Heroes for iPad, the Tactical Map has been enhanced with additional detail: munitions, fuel and manpower stats. Tapping any unit displays their type, health, and squad numbers. Company of Heroes deploys to iPad this year.
Nov 20 2019
Unfortunately, good ideas fail not because game designers don't care but because we can't sell the ideas to the higher-ups/money suits.
The modus operandi today do not serve fandom nor creative devs but big business or worse authoritarian censorship which stifle innovation. Perhaps Sega executives has not sold out yet but with new Chinese NetEase partnership with Creative Assembly this is now a ticking timebomb.
Gamers fear censorship and access to Steam games after Creative Assembly partnered with NetEase for China release. Total War: Three Kingdoms is extremely popular in China, so it made sense when NetEase announced that it would become the official publisher of Total War games in China. You might think this would make China’s Total War fans happy, but things aren’t so simple in China.
This corporate greed is what we are up against to avoid intrusive MTX: Statement by a former developer on Ragtag (Visceral & Amy Hennig fighting EA's greed):
"She was giving these massive presentations on the story, themes,” the developer said.
“EA executives are like, 'FIFA Ultimate Team makes a billion dollars a year. Where’s your version of that?'"
Current state of the AAA game industry
Below is a good insider commentary/quote from a lower-tier developer (Plamen Todorov) that work on big franchises such as Assassins Creed.
Credit: https://www.linkedin.com/in/plamen-todorov-289863106/
The gaming industry is failing apart.
The wrong people are in charge and all they care about is money.
The good people that care about making good games are leaving and are getting replaced by people that do not care.
AAA for the most part at this point is how much money is thrown at a game not quality.
More and more games will fall victim to bad management and sloppy execution. The state of some studios is horrible. The game industry is bleeding talent and is taking unqualified developers that will not question the status quo or bad decisions. The Bioware that made great games is gone. The people that made it what it was are gone.
The biggest waste of money is not graphics or things of the sort. It's incompetence and poor decisions by people who have no idea what they are doing or talking about.
For the most part it's because someone did not do the job they had to do or did not listen to someone that knew what they where talking about. Most studios will push out a broken product that is not working instead of scrapping it to get some money back. That's on the executives not the developers. The top level management also meddles in game development often to the detriment of the game. And it's a strange occurrence but sometimes some people invest more time and energy in finding reasons not to work instead of just getting the job done. For the most part the big studios are not what they started out as anymore. Blizzard is full corporate now so is Bioware. And corporate studios are a (I hate to use that word but it fits perfectly) toxic environment. Talent gets crushed and "yes man" thrive. That's why good people are quitting.
As a Live-Ops Director, you will…
▪Manage and design content, campaigns and features that maximize acquisition, retention and monetization throughout the product life cycle
▪Conduct and communicate in-depth analysis of in-game economy using data insights and strong business acumen to set and achieve KPIs
▪Seek in-depth player insights and develop new content strategies through data- driven analysis
I hope Relic becomes transparent about future business models. Become pro-active and create a consumer friendly marketing plan that serve both the community and make the "money suits" happy (win-win deal).
Does Relic have good writers and designers that can build on the commercial success of CoH1 campaigns?
Perhaps look into Starcraft 2 Co-op mode.
I think Starcraft 2 Co-op mode is the big RTS Revolution to target the casual players.
For Relic/Sega Co-op is a good way to make money from paid-commanders (not pay-to-win but pay-to-help). AI are getting more advanced with OpenAI as used in DOTA 2.
The aim of INTEGRATED REPORT 2019 is to explain to stakeholders the challenges that
emerged while pursuing Road to 2020 and the initiatives we are taking in response.
Company Of Heroes and Dawn of War (hello NetEase partnership? you don't have phones?) is again both mentioned as "major IPs" from Sega NA studios.
Source: page 52, 53, 55
Sega writes (page 52), investing into Sega Europe Studios/Major IPs:
"Investing toward Bearing Fruit in the Long Term"
Relic Characteristics (page 53):
This studio, based in Vancouver, Canada has produced several high-quality games with movie-like graphics and highly strategic gameplay.
Age of Empires IV is currently aiming to release in 2021:
https://www.altchar.com/game-news/age-of-empires-iv-is-currently-aiming-to-release-in-2021-apEJH9V4ePwp
*SNIP*
In the post, FairlyEmpire revealed a couple of bits of info, which the devs revealed at XO19 event in London and the release window is one of the information that they've mentioned. "Age Of Empires IV is currently aiming a 2021 release. It's been in active development for about 3 years," ResetEra user wrote in the post
FairyEmpire said:
Couple fun bits of info I gathered by talking to devs and such at X019. Some of this is probably known but here you go:
Age Of Empires IV is currently aiming a 2021 release. It's been in active development for about 3 years. The Age Of Empires 3 remake is currently planned for mid-2020.
Denmark
SturmTigerCobra
DonnieChan
Inane EliteVideoGameMasturbater
SturmTigerCobra
Relic Entertainment
