An introduction to Product management and Data Analytics and advice how to start your career in these areas. Sahil Gupta and Thomas Hulvershorn talking to Students at Abertay University in Dundee / Scotland

1. A career in Product Management and Data Analytics
Abertay University, Dundee, Scotland 2019-03-21
Sahil Gupta / Thomas Hulvershorn

3. What are you
guys doing here?

4. High Demand
for Product Managers and
Data Analysts

5. 22/03/2019 Confidential. © 2019 and ™ Outplay Entertainment Ltd. Do not duplicate or distribute. 5
Data

6. Daily Data Production Yield
9 Million Events
500 Million Data Points

7. Established 2011 in Dundee
Outplay Entertainment is the largest
independent Mobile Games Developer in the UK

8. Metagame
Story
Core Game
Match 3
Progression
Saga Map

9. Analysis of Player Behaviour
Generic id
Country – Device - Platform
Campaign Attribution
First Game Launch
Session Account
Level Account
Match Account
Event Started / Ended
Tutorial progress
Shop visit
Revenue
Ads watched
Crash Log
DLC Log
Framerates / Loadtimes Sign Up
Social Event

10. Games as Service
Product Management
Regular Updates
- New Feature Releases
- Content Updates
- Soft Config Changes
Data Driven Insights
- Prioritisation
- Growth hacking
- Sprint Planning

11. Real Time Data
Operation
Crash
Detected
Cause:
New Release

13. Game as a Service
Service
Planning, Running
and Measuring of
Events / Sales
Refining the in-
game Economy
with A/B Tests

14. Evaluating A/B Tests
Variation of difficulty changes between
Level 30-34 on the LTV of players split by different stores

15. Example: Impact of a new Release
With every
release we’ll
check the
impact on
Game
Performance

16. AI and ML to predict Player behaviour

17. Strategic Roadmap
Strategy
Trended KPI
Analysis and
Business
Intelligence
drives Decisions

18. Management Information Tool

19. Game as a Service
Operation Service Strategy
Data Analytics

20. Profit = - CostsPlayers LTV

21. Data Science Careers in
the Games IndustryThis is complex!

22. Profit
+ Income
- Costs
Operational
Acquisition
Partner
Players
LTV
Paid
Unpaid
Discovery
Cross Promo / Viral
Direct Acquisition…
Indirect Acquisition…
Store Ranking
Organic…
Retention
Player Type
∅ Ads
1d On-boarding
7d Mid Term
30+d Long
Term
Customer Support
Stability and Availability
Community Management
Game Design…
Adverts…
Game Content
∅ IAP
Region
Social
Demographics
Products
Appeal / Ease / Value for Money
Pricing
Provider
Appeal
Type
Condition / Model
Frequency
Content
F2P
Dependencies
Map
Marketplaces
Technology / Devices
Strategic Partner
∅ App. Purchase
Live Ops / Events

23. Product Manager
Features - Economy - Live Ops

24. Decision Making Process

25. “I want us to add
more Levels!”
“We need to have
Daily Challenges”
“The Tutorial is
too long”

26. 22/03/2019 Confidential. © 2019 and ™ Outplay Entertainment Ltd. Do not duplicate or distribute. 27
Sad truth
Too many ideas
Never enough time
We need to Prioritise

27. >What is the Goal?
>Who can help you?
>What Impact do you expect?
>How can this be done?

28. Increase
Revenue
Doily Challenge
More Levels

29. Increase
Revenue
Increase
Retention
Doily Challenge
More Levels

30. Increase
Revenue
Increase
Retention
Players who played
more than 1day
Players who reached
the end of the game
Want to return
next Day
Enjoying more
content
Doily Challenge
More Levels

31. Increase
Revenue
Increase
Retention
Players who played
more than 1day
Players who reached
the end of the game
Want to return
next Day
Enjoying more
content
More interesting
stuff to do
Doily Challenge
Tournament
Timed Freebies
More Levels
Challenges
Trophies
Leaderboard
Add Game Modes
VIP League

32. Increase
Revenue
Increase
Retention
More IAPs
Players who played
more than 1day
Players who reached
the end of the game
Want to return
next Day
Enjoying more
content
More interesting
stuff to doPlayers who
paid already
Players who
never paid
Doily Challenge
Tournament
Timed Freebies
More Levels
Challenges
Trophies
Leaderboard
Add Game Modes
VIP League

33. Increase
Revenue
Increase
Retention
More IAPs
Players who played
more than 1day
Players who reached
the end of the game
Want to return
next Day
Enjoying more
content
More interesting
stuff to doPlayers who
paid already
Players who
never paid
Doily Challenge
Tournament
Timed Freebies
More Levels
Challenges
Trophies
Leaderboard
Add Game Modes
60%
3%
5%
95%
VIP League
Example numbers, not reflecting real world

34. Increase
Revenue
Increase
Retention
Players who reached
the end of the game
Enjoying more
content
More interesting
stuff to do
More Levels
3%
VIP LeagueMost engaged
users in game Very high
monetization potential
Released
every 2 weeks
Consumed
within 5 days

35. Introduction of VIP League
- Highly successful
- Keeps most engaged
players busy
- Goal to aspire to for all
players

36. Product Management
Careers in
the Games Industry

37. Sahil’s career path
• Bachelor’s Degree, Computer Science and Engineering
• Master of Business Administration, Marketing and
Strategy
• Software Engineer (2 years)
• ‘Young Leader’ (~ junior Product Manager) Panasonic
• EA: Product Manager (2+ years)
• Ubisoft: Assoc. Product Manager (<2 years)
• Outplay as Product Manager since 12/2017

38. Knowledge and Preparation
• Awareness of Player behaviour
• Analytical mind and not shy of Maths
• Deep understanding of In-Game Economy
• Ability to connect data with impact
• Awareness of Competitor space
• Knowledge of the products of the company
• Passion for Games!

39. PM Resources
• Predictably Irrational,
Dan Ariely: introduction to behavioural economics, must read.
• Hooked
Nir Eyal: introduction to compulsive design, i.e. how to create
habit forming products, must read.
• Priceless
William Poundstone: introduction to the notions of value and
perceived value.
• Freakonomics
Steven Dubner: explores untraditional approaches to economics.
• The Price is Wrong
Sarah Maxwell: on price fairness.
• Outliers: the Story of Success,
Malcolm Gladwell: tells of non-traditional approaches to
entrepreneurship

40. Data Science Careers in
the Games Industry

41. Looking for the impossible?Eierlegende Wollmilchsau

42. Coder
 
Scientist
Designer

43. Story Telling
Inspired by http://drewconway.com/zia/2013/3/26/the-data-science-venn-diagram
Coder
 
Scientist
Designer

44. Thomas’ career path
• 1st Computer: ZX Spectrum (1983)
• ‘Diplom Physiker’ (Applied Physics)
What? Where? How long? What did I learn?
Client Software Developer Insurance Company 2y First ‘real’ Job, SW Development, Actuarial KH
Application Developer
Test Lead / Test Manager
Head of Business Unit
Business consultant
Actuarial Core
Systems
8y Testing and QA, Leadership, Client – Customer
Relationship, Standard Software Development
and Customisation, Waterfall model
QA Manager
Director of QA and Certification
Games Developer
Publisher
8y Games Industry, Mobile, English, Leading
international teams, Web development and Test
QA and Analytics Manager Outplay
Entertainment
1y Data Analytics and Data Science
Analytics and Operations Manager
(Production)
2y Production in the Games Industry
Agile SW Development
Analytics and Operations Manager 2y DevOps, IT, Customer Support
Head of Analytics
(Insights and Product Management Group)
1.5y Product Management, Insights

45. Game Portfolio
• Mobile (J2ME) all QA
– Fast and Furious
– Pillow Fight
– Fifa
– Madden
– Urban Golf
– Skipping Stone
– Nate Adams FMX
– Jewel Quest
– Colin McRae
– Pogo Games
– The Weakest Link
– …
• PC (all QA)
– Dying for Daylight
– Dream Day Wedding
– Agatha Christie 4:50 from Paddington
– The Great Gatsby
– James Patterson: Women’s Murder Club
– Paradise Quest
– …
• Facebook
– Bubble Town
• Smart Phones (partially FB)
– Bubble Blaze (QA, Analytics)
– Booty Quest (QA, Analytics)
– Word Trick (QA, Analytics)
– Bubble Genius (QA, Analytics)
– Angry Birds Pop (QA, Analytics)
– Idol Words (QA, Analytics)
– Monster Legacy (QA, Analytics)
– Crafty Candy (QA, Analytics)
– Mystery Match (Producer, Analytics)
– Alien Creeps TD (QA, Analytics)
– Castle Creeps TD (Analytics, Operations)
– Castle Creeps Battle (Analytics, Operations)
– Sniper Strike (Analytics)

46. Outplay Data Insights Team
Typical Background of our Analysts
–MSc Artificial Intelligence
–B.Sc. Maths and Statistics
–MSc Information Science
–Ph.D. Geoscience
–MSc Mathematics
–BSc Maths and Physics
–MSc Physics
–MSc International Business
*(not considering technical Analytics)

47. Knowledge and Preparation
• Experience in a Scripting Language, e.g. R or
Python
• Ability to write complex SQL queries
• Excellent knowledge of applied Statistics and
Visualisation
• Knowledge of the products of the company
• Passion for Games!

48. General and Analytics Resources
• Outplay.com
• Twitter @DerHUL
• Further Reading
– ‘The Lean Startup’, Eric Ries
– ‘Storytelling with Data’, C.N. Knaflic
– ‘Data Analysis with Open Source Tools’, P. Janert
– ‘Data Analysis’, Phillip K. Janert
– ‘Impact Mapping’, Gojko Adzic
– ‘Freemium Economics’, Eric B. Seufert
– DataCamp, Udemy, Coursera

49. Applying for a Job
Insights

50. • Gather Job relevant experience NOW
– Jobs in holidays
– Level Design, Beta testing, Forums…
• Use not only Agencies for Applications
• Don’t exaggerate in your CV
• Be honest in your CV
• If you apply for a tester role, make sure to make no
mistake in your CV
Best Practise CV

51. Typical Interview Structure
• Introduction, Small talk
• ‘what do you know about Outplay?’
• Have you played any of our Games?
• ‘Tell me about yourself’
• Specialist knowledge / Scenarios
• Administrational issues

52. Best Practise Interview
• Preparation, PREPARATION!!!
– Know the company you are applying at
– Play their games!
– Imagine you get the job, what do you think will the job entail?
– Identify gaps and weaknesses in your CV and prepare for questions
• Its not a shame not to know everything, make sure they
understand you can learn quickly
• Talk in examples and real life situations

53. Pictures used: pixabay.com