GameShadow launches metrics service

Oxford-based GameShadow has revealed its new GameShadow Metrics service, which promises to deliver real-time data on players’ hardware, software and playing habits.

The company already produces the GameShadow auto-patching system, which automatically downloads and applies patches, driver updates and extra content to users’ PCs. This application also collects data on the hardware and software set-up of the system, as well as monitoring play habits – all of which can be useful for developers.

As a demonstration of the type of data captured, GameShadow’s results suggest that, for example, Call of Duty 4 players are more likely to play other realistic shooters than more sci-fi ones. It’s also revealed that NVidia series 8 cards are the most predominant in the audience, and that 20 per cent of gamers have less than 1Gb of RAM.

“Our engine checks all the versions of games users have loaded on their PC to deliver a one-click patching service," said Tony Treadwell, founder and COO of GameShadow.

"This enables us to build a great profile of the games they play and in return for providing a great service to our users we can report on how genres or sequels are connected. We can even track ‘unknown’ versions and review driver hardware.”

He added: “We realised that this level of accurate data is an incredibly valuable marketing tool for publishers, developers, ISVs and hardware vendors to understand gamers’ habits. The data is structured to allow customers to drill down and perform analysis dynamically. And we fully protect our gamers so that nothing can be tracked backed to individuals. We’ve created an easy to use, online service that gives access to the core data – every publisher and developer can check up on their titles alongside the other 2600 titles in a matter of seconds.”