Nowadays, analytics is one of the most important things in any area. We analyze everything: stock markets, finances, and any kind of progress, and games are no exception. Different companies and organizations are checking out a player’s statistics to make certain conclusions. So, what is game analytics and why is it so important?
To answer the question, we have to pick one game as an example, so… let it be the Valorant. Considering the popularity of that new tactical shooter, we think it is perfect and relevant. By the way, Riot Games already announced free access to the API (analytics) of their game in the future, so players will be able to see their Valorant stats on 3rd party websites.
What is game analytics and why is that so important?
Game analytics – detailed analysis of statistics with certain conclusions. Usually, game analytics consists of such information as kills, deaths, money amount, time in-game, headshots, and more but each game has its stats, so it will always be different. For example, according to rumors and unconfirmed information, Valorant will have the next stats: kills, deaths, assists, headshots, percentage of firing into different parts of the body, time in-game, your rank, victories, failures, etc.
Why is that so important? Who cares about such information? Why do you need to boost your rank in Valorant? Well, it depends on the situation. Sometimes it is important for AI, and sometimes for players themselves or organizations. With players, it’s pretty simple, they want to see their stats to improve their skills and tactics and generally get better.
AI needs this information to control the game’s fairness and ban cheaters. How does it work? For example, let’s imagine a player called Prokill23. In the first five rounds, he’s been playing awfully: he killed only one player and got killed within 20 seconds each time. Suddenly, in 6th round, he killed the entire team with headshots within one minute. AI checking his API and it seems that something is wrong. It analyzes his game, and style and concludes that he has a 3rd party program’s help, so it sends a request to the AntiCheat program, which blocks him.
The next reason – is bookmakers. Many games such as Valorant, CS: GO, Overwatch and others have official competitions and tournaments all over the world with professional e-teams taking part in them. Winners always get a money award or any other prize, and of course, glory. Bookmakers analyze the gaming history of every team and each player, comparing their skills and making the main conclusion – who will win the tournament and what are the chances? Then, they announce a tournament for the people, offering them to make a bid. That’s their work and their money, so bookmaker companies should have been mentioned in the article.
Since we already mentioned e-sport teams, that’s going to be our next topic. Leaders of e-sport teams usually check the stats of the top 100 or top 50 players in the game, to pick the best of the best, and offer this person a place in the team, money, and glory.
Among other examples, we can mention achievements (if the game has them). For example, in Valorant it is called BattlePass. The game checks your API and fills the tasks’ progress line. After reaching 100% you get a certain reward. It can be trinkets, skins, weapons, cards, graffiti, etc.
Generally, the game statistic has many more possibilities, but they are important for developers, not usual users. For example, it helps them find and fix bugs, improve weak spots in the code, etc.
To sum up
As we can see, game statistics, just like any other, is pretty important for everybody – gamers, organizations, AI, and devs. It helps to enjoy playing the games, make them better, communicate with developers, and even earn money.
