Discovery

Documents about Discovery

Article

Game Discoverabilityland: The Season of Discovery

This analysis examines the evolving landscape of video game discoverability and market performance as of mid-2020.

• Wishlists are not a reliable standalone metric for predicting commercial success, requiring developers to monitor a broader range of pre-launch engagement data to avoid overestimating sales.
• The Nintendo Switch marketplace is experiencing extreme saturation, evidenced by a record-breaking 142 digital releases in June 2020 alone.
• New ISBN regulatory requirements in China have created significant barriers to entry for paid mobile games, complicating market access for developers.

Market AnalysisGame PublishingMarketing+1

GameDiscoverCoJul 2020

Article

Is Your Streamer Game Discovery Strategy "On Point"?

This analysis explores modern game discovery strategies with a primary focus on the evolving relationship between developers and content creators.

• Prioritize streamer outreach based on audience genre alignment and engagement metrics rather than total subscriber counts, as creator interest alone does not guarantee player conversion.
• Niche genres like 'chill city builders' can achieve median wishlist conversion rates as high as 15%, significantly outperforming more saturated categories like 3D platformers.
• Wishlist quality should be evaluated by subgenre performance rather than age, as older wishlists do not consistently correlate with lower conversion rates.

StreamingPlayer BehaviorSteam+1

GameDiscoverCoJun 2020

Article

The Hidden Levers of Game Discovery: Supply and Demand

The primary thesis of this analysis is that video game discoverability is increasingly dictated by a fundamental mismatch between supply and demand.

• The number of games on Steam grew from 5,000 in 2015 to over 60,000 by 2022, creating a supply-side saturation that outpaces the 62% growth in daily active users since 2019.
• The market has shifted to a 'no-reset' environment where evergreen hits and Games as a Service (GaaS) titles capture long-term player attention, making it increasingly difficult for new releases to gain traction.
• While Unity reported a 93% increase in game creation between 2020 and 2021, the market has transitioned to a 'hit-driven' curve where the majority of indie titles struggle to recoup costs compared to previous years.

Market AnalysisPCConsole+1

GameDiscoverCoApr 2020

Article

Console Game Discovery: 4 Big Trends in 2022

The console gaming landscape in 2021 is defined by shifting discovery patterns, the rise of subscription models, and distinct platform-specific audience preferences.

• Success on Xbox and PlayStation is increasingly driven by external visibility on platforms like YouTube, Twitch, and Steam, making a strong PC presence a critical precursor to console performance.
• Subscription services like Xbox Game Pass are shifting the industry toward lump-sum deals and curated discovery, though this model complicates long-term revenue projections and makes securing placement increasingly competitive.
• Steam wishlists are inconsistent predictors of first-week sales; titles with 5,000–9,999 wishlists typically sell between a few hundred and 3,000 units, while those with 20,000–50,000 wishlists see sales ranging from 2,000 to over 15,000 units.

Market AnalysisPlayer DemographicsGlobal

GameDiscoverCoNov 2019

Article

The Primary Motivations of Board Gamers: 7 Takeaways

This analysis explores the primary motivations of board gamers, utilizing data from over 90,000 respondents who completed a standardized motivation profile survey.

• Gender is a significantly stronger predictor of board gaming motivations than age, accounting for more than three times the variance in player preferences.
• The 'Need to Win' is the most common primary motivation for male board gamers, yet it is equally prevalent among female gamers (13% vs. 12%), indicating women are just as likely to prioritize winning as men.
• The largest gender disparity in board gaming motivations is found in 'Conflict' (hostile player interactions), which is 3.5 times more common as a primary motivation for men than for women.

Player BehaviorPlayer DemographicsBoard Game+1

Quantic FoundryApr 2017

Article

How We Developed the Board Game Motivation Profile

The development of the Board Game Motivation Profile utilizes factor analysis to identify the primary psychological drivers behind tabletop gaming preferences.

• Quantic Foundry developed a board game motivation profile using factor analysis on 1,468 valid survey responses from board gamers.
• The research identified four primary motivation clusters: Strategy, Fantasy, Social Fun, and Competition, each paired with a secondary sub-motivation.
• Researchers discovered that motivation profiles are genre-specific, forcing the exclusion of tabletop RPG and CCG data to prevent skewed results caused by different player expectations.

Player BehaviorGame DesignBoard Game+1

Quantic FoundryAug 2016

Article

What Would “Unbroken” App Discovery Look Like?

The mobile app ecosystem is frequently criticized by developers for having broken discovery mechanisms, yet this system functions precisely as intended by platform operators like Apple and Google.

• App discovery is not technically broken; it functions as intended by platform operators like Apple and Google, who prioritize well-funded developers to maintain their own business models.
• Text-based search is ineffective for app discovery because app stores lack sufficient indexable content beyond easily gamed keywords and names, unlike the text-heavy desktop web.
• Deep-linking between apps fails to act as a PageRank equivalent because developers have no incentive to endorse competitors by linking to apps they do not own.

Market AnalysisMobileApp Store Optimization+1

Mobile Dev MemoApr 2016

Article

In Open World Games, Most Players Balance Exploration with Completing Campaign

Research into player behavior within open-world action-adventure games reveals that the vast majority of gamers prefer a balanced approach, blending campaign progression with open-world exploration.

• Only 11% of gamers prioritize the main campaign in open-world action-adventure games, while 55% prefer a balanced approach and 34% lean toward open-world exploration.
• Younger players are more likely to prioritize the main campaign, whereas older players show a higher propensity for open-world exploration.
• There is no statistically significant difference between men and women regarding their preference for open-world exploration versus linear campaign completion.

Player BehaviorPlayer DemographicsGame Design+2

Quantic FoundryFeb 2016

Article

Gaming Motivations Group Into 3 High-Level Clusters

Gaming motivations are organized into three high-level clusters, providing a structural framework for understanding player behavior.

• Gamer motivations derived from a sample of over 140,000 players organize into three primary high-level clusters: Action-Social, Immersion-Creativity, and Mastery-Achievement.
• The Action-Social cluster combines fast-paced gameplay with social interaction, while Immersion-Creativity focuses on narrative and expression, and Mastery-Achievement centers on strategy and power.
• Discovery acts as a bridge between the Immersion-Creativity and Mastery-Achievement clusters, while Power serves as a bridge between the Action-Social and Mastery-Achievement clusters.

Player BehaviorPlayer DemographicsGame Design+1

Quantic FoundryDec 2015

Article

How We Developed The Gamer Motivation Profile v2

The development of the Gamer Motivation Profile v2 represents a data-driven refinement of a psychological framework designed to categorize player preferences.

• Quantic Foundry refined its Gamer Motivation Profile using data from over 30,000 global respondents, confirming that the underlying factor structure of gamer motivations remains consistent across diverse geographic regions including the US, Brazil, Indonesia, and the EU.
• The updated framework categorizes 12 specific motivation factors into three high-level groups: Immersion (Fantasy, Story), Creativity (Design, Discovery), and Mastery (Challenge, Strategy), alongside an Action-Social branch.
• The model introduced a new 'Discovery' factor—defined by the desire to experiment and tinker with game worlds—which was paired with the existing 'Design' factor to form the new 'Creativity' cluster.

Player BehaviorGame DesignPlayer Demographics+1

Quantic FoundryJul 2015

Article

Winner Takes All: App Discovery, Quality, and the App Economy

The mobile application ecosystem is defined by a winner-takes-all dynamic, where discoverability and product quality serve as the primary determinants of commercial success.

• The app economy is characterized by a 'winner takes all' dynamic, where discoverability and quality are the primary drivers of success in a highly competitive market.
• Market saturation and the dominance of top-tier apps create significant barriers to entry for new developers attempting to gain visibility.
• Effective app discoverability is increasingly tied to the ability to maintain high quality, which serves as a prerequisite for sustained user engagement and retention.

Market AnalysisMonetizationUser Acquisition+2

Mobile Dev MemoNov 2014

Article

App Store Discovery Is Not Broken

The prevailing narrative that app store discovery is broken is fundamentally flawed.

• The app economy is a 'winner-take-all' market characterized by a long-tail distribution, where 69% of developers earn $1,000 or less per month and only 3% earn more than $100,000.
• The claim that 'app store discovery is broken' is flawed because 77% of developers are not explicitly pursuing a sustainable, high-revenue business model.
• Marketing is a primary mechanism for app discovery rather than a failure of the store, as evidenced by companies like King spending $400 million on marketing to generate $1.88 billion in revenue in 2013.

App Store OptimizationMobileMarket Analysis+1

Mobile Dev MemoAug 2014