Global Video Game Sales Analysis
I performed an analysis of global video game sales data to better understand the market for new games in development and inform marketing budget distribution.​
OVERVIEW:
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In this project, I analyzed data about global video game sales to address a hypothesis about the current state of the market. In order to illustrate my results which disproved that hypothesis, I created some data visualizations. I used my findings to create a presentation on how to distribute next year's marketing budget based on a greater understanding of the market for new games in development.
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PURPOSE & CONTEXT:
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GameCo is a fictional video game company that wants to gain insight on the current state of the global market to inform new game development.
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For a portfolio project, I analyzed real video game sales data to uncover information about the global market.
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I used the results of my analysis to make recommendations regarding genres to prioritize in development, as well as how the marketing budget should be distributed based on the popularity of different genres in different regions.
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DATA:
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Data set includes video game sales data with information about genre, publisher, etc., up to 2016
TOOLS & TECHNIQUES:
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Excel:
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Data cleaning
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Descriptive analysis
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Data visualizations
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PowerPoint:
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Presenting results​
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PROCESS:
First, I cleaned the data and performed exploratory data analysis (EDA). Then, I investigated the validity of the company's current assumptions. I created a visualization to show off the results that disproved their belief and provided an actionable recommendation on how to address it in their marketing budget. ​
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Next, I examined the data and determined the most popular genres, looking specifically at how they performed in each region in order to inform future game development.
THE GLOBAL MARKET
GameCo was operating under the assumption that the proportion of sales per region had stayed the same over time. I analyzed the data to verify the accuracy of this statement. In fact, the data disproved the assumption; the proportion of sales for each geographic region had changed over time. I illustrated the evidence in this graph:​
I recommended revising the distribution of the marketing budget to to reflect the current state of the market: approximately 38% for Europe, 32% for North America, 19% for Japan, and 11% for other regions.
POPULAR GENRES
I determined the most popular video game genres worldwide and created a visualization of the results:
I decided to delve deeper and look at the geographic breakdowns for the three most popular genres: Action, Shooter, and Sports.
ACTION
SHOOTER
SPORTS
Action is the best-selling game genre worldwide. It is also consistently popular in the three largest regions of Europe, North America, and Japan. The safest strategy for GameCo would be to develop an action game, because it would have the best chance of selling well around the world.
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The 2nd and 3rd best-selling game genres (shooter and sports, respectively) vary more widely in popularity by region. For example, if GameCo wanted to develop a game to specifically target European tastes, a sports game might make sense.
RECOMMENDATION RECAP
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Revise the distribution of the marketing budget to reflect the current state of the market: approximately 38% for Europe, 32% for North America, 19% for Japan, and 11% for other regions.
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GameCo should develop an action game in order to have the best chance of achieving popularity worldwide.
NOTE:
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The following data bias was ignored for the purpose of this project: because the sales data only included physical copies, results found do not reflect the movement towards digital purchases, and even more recently to cloud gaming services.
