Game Analytics: Retention and Monetization in Free-to-Play Mobile Games

by Russell Ovans

Mobile games are big business, and the landscape is more competitive than ever. With an in-depth focus on the core areas of user retention and predicting customer lifetime value, Game Analytics contains the hands-on SQL queries, R scripts, statistical theory, full-colour Tableau visualizations, and insider tips and tricks you need to succeed as a data analyst, product manager, or user acquisition manager in free-to-play games.

Game Analytics describes in detail how successful game studios make money, collect and query player data, define key performance indicators (KPIs), build dashboards and predictive models of retention and monetization, measure and predict return on ad spend (ROAS), and use statistics to analyze A/B tests designed to improve retention and monetization.

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301 pages, Paperback

Published August 19, 2023

About the author

Russell Ovans was the founding CEO of social game studio Backstage Technologies. He was born, raised and educated on Canada's west coast, including a Ph.D. in computing science from Simon Fraser University in Vancouver. Before starting Backstage, Russell was the senior software engineer responsible for leading a team of developers at two successful Internet startups. Dr. Ovans has taught computer science at Camosun College and software engineering at the University of Victoria. His conversational writing style is peppered with humorous anecdotes, particularly about himself. A pop culture junkie and trivia buff, he is a self-proclaimed expert on early '80s British synth-pop.