Sega taps QlikTech's data analytics to spur gaming business

Japanese gaming company Sega Corporation is using data analytics to generate quick insights, detect problems faster and improve the gaming experience. Swedish software company QlikTech, which is providing business intelligence solutions to Sega, claims that it helped analysts collect, process, and analyse data to generate 450 different reports and reduce the average analytics workload by 170 hours per game for the firm.

After huge losses in the arcade business due to the Covid-19 outbreak, the mobile gaming business is a big focus area for Sega. According to app market analytics firm Sensor Tower, Sega’s revenue from mobile gaming apps was $26 million in May, out of which iOS apps accounted for $17 million. Apps by Sega were downloaded 22 million times in May, out of which 19 million were on Android devices. Sensor Tower’s revenue data usually includes spending on apps, in-app purchases, and subscriptions.  

Some of Sega’s popular games include Sonic Dash, Football Manager, Virtua Tennis Challenge, Company of Heroes, and Streets of Rage.  

Mobile gaming grew in popularity after the pandemic and even surpassed video streaming in some markets. Even after the opening of schools and offices in 2021, mobile gaming remains popular and a key revenue driver for the gaming industry. According to a May report by Data.ai (formerly AppAnnie) and International Data Corporation (IDC), mobile gaming now accounts for 61% of the gaming revenue in the first quarter of 2022.  

Also read: Mobile gaming to generate $136 billion in 2022, accounts for 61% of total gaming industry in Q1

According to Qlik, prior to using their solution, analysts at Sega had to carry out complex analyses on large volumes of game data and external data scraped from various sources, including social media and ads. System engineers had to create algorithms using external data to create routine reports for the company to act upon. “This manual approach made it difficult and time-consuming for analysts to gain insights flexibly and promptly,” Qlik said.  

Qlik’s solutions have enabled Sega to gain new insights about mobile gamer behaviour, which is then put to use by business and development teams to improve user engagement and the company’s bottom line.  

“With Qlik, we free analysts from the routine work of preparing data reports and enable them to spend more time solving complex analytical challenges. By extracting better insights from more data sources faster, our employees can better understand market movements and evaluate game performance from multiple perspectives,” said Masaki Takeuchi, section manager of the Business & Data Analysis Section at Sega.