Gameopedia manages one of the largest commercial video game databases in the world, and is uniquely positioned to help video game e-retailers and tackle their game data needs. In this case study, we will examine how our services helped an e-retailer bolster their video game offerings and see a notable improvement in terms of visitor engagement and sales.
Introduction to The Video Gaming E-Retailing Industry
With e-commerce threatening the survival of brick-and-mortar stores, the video game industry is no exception. This high growth industry has seen its retail arm shrinking over the years, with gamers steadily adopting a digital-first approach to their purchases. However, there is still a robust market for games on physical media , along with collectibles and memorabilia. Traditional game retailers are now focusing on offering a personalized experience on their e-commerce portals, thus transforming themselves into video game e-retailers.
e-Retail has now become a mixture of digital and retail sales. Pre-orders for big game launches are a major draw, with collector’s editions being sold exclusively on certain portals in certain regions. Console gamers are known to prefer buying physical media from these e-retailers, as they can trade in or sell them later.
As consumer purchasing shifts increasingly towards digital, the main challenges faced by these companies in the video game industry include:
- Competition from big, established, and in some cases, official digital distribution platforms like Steam, Playstation Store, and Origin, for instance.
- Competition from other, more established brick and mortar stores now expanding into e-commerce, as well as e-commerce giants like Amazon.
- The sheer volume of games coming out on a yearly basis, each requiring frequent updating of content and metadata.
- Generic recommendations that result in sub-optimal discovery and personalization.
About The Client
A leading e-retailer located in Europe, specializing in selling gaming products.
Goals & Objectives
The client was on the lookout for a solution that would improve the customer experience on their website. They wanted to find an optimal method to provide accurate and relevant information to their visitors that apart from answering their queries would also improve personalization and discoverability while boosting conversions.
The client’s earlier methods of directly scraping video game data from the internet did not cut it. The client then approached Gameopedia with the objective of getting access to video game metadata that:
Challenges For The Video Game e-Retailer
The retailer was facing a handful of hurdles before they reached out to Gameopedia:
- Sourcing game metadata for over 1000+ released games. Finding a way to get accurate and timely data for upcoming games.
- The client was finding it inefficient to invest in and maintain an in-house team for content curation & management. With thousands of games, accessories, and hardware components released each year and the subsequent high cost involved, the retailer was looking to outsource.
- The video game e-retailer client was unsure of the legalities involved with collecting and using certain aspects of the data, such as cover images, trailers, and screenshots. Each game required careful inspection of proper sources from which these media could be taken legally, without repercussions from the IP owners.
- The current database was not optimized to answer certain customer queries, such as the genre(s) of a game, the gameplay elements and so on. Presenting a game along with relevant answers to a potential customer’s queries was crucial for the retailer.
- The final challenge for the customer was to update the respective product pages with the metadata within a 3-month timeframe.
Prior to using Gameopedia’s data, the client had a bitter experience with a different vendor, who could not keep up with the volume of constantly-changing data in the video game industry’s market.
Our Solution
Once the terms of game coverage and the 3 month delivery timeline was agreed upon by both the parties, the Gameopedia team set up an internal 7-part project charter with the intent of addressing the client’s major pain points.
Requirement Gathering
Our core team of gaming experts understood the major pain points of the client and devised a delivery schedule that would address their need for released and upcoming games. A gap analysis was performed on the coverage of gaming products. Our team created a data collection, curation, and quality assurance process tailored to the client’s specific needs.
Forming A Team
An 7 member team was set up to meet the requirements of the video game e-Retailer. The team comprised 1 Engineer, 1 Product Manager, 3 members from the Data Curation team and 2 members from the QA team
Action Plan
We charted out the major releases in the video game industry for the current year and devised an action plan for sourcing metadata for all the games within 4 hours of the game’s release. For the released games that were already part of our database, we established a QA process for validating and updating the metadata.
Data Collection & Curation
Quality Check
The data provided was cross-checked by our QA team, ensuring that every minor detail was precise and accurate. A second quality check was performed before the data was shared with the client. This ensured that the client didn’t face any pushback from their customers regarding inaccurate data.
Delivery
The rapid turnaround time allowed the client to ingest the data into their system and update the content on their website. With our expert team and streamlined processes, we were able to deliver the requested data 2 weeks early.
Indemnifying The Client
Our curated data indemnified the client from any potential copyright claims, as our team ensured that all data was compliant.
Results
Upon integrating, the client was able to ingest data through our APIs. With rigorous quality checks, comprehensive coverage, and rapid turnaround times, Gameopedia exceeded the client’s expectations. Following were some outcomes of the project:
- Significant boost in game discoverability on search engines, helped in part by detailed descriptions and key features for each game. The client is now better positioned against their competition in the video game industry, offering a more welcoming and personal experience to their customers.
- Better onsite personalization and recommendations for the client’s customers due to more detailed metadata and accurate taxonomy for each gaming product.
- Owing to swift data delivery, data accuracy, and other eventual benefits to their business, the client extended the contractual services multiple times and is till date a Gameopedia customer.
- Not only is the client still a customer, but the overall coverage for games has increased by a whopping 800%.
A robust delivery pipeline ensures that the incoming data can be ingested into the client’s database in a quick and efficient manner. The team at Gameopedia continues to provide essential services to the client and takes pride in the fact that our data helps people find the right gaming products at the right time.
Reach out to our team at [email protected] for more information on our services.