Data Analytics at Electronic Arts

As EA closes out 2021, one of the most intriguing stories to come out of the company was the advancement of gameplay analytics that is now possible from the awesome array of EA titles that have been released in recent years. From the most picked fighters in Star Wars Squadrons to the number of goals scored in EA SPORTS™ FIFA to the most common cause of death in The Sims™, the data teams at EA and its studios were called on to provide a huge amount of detailed information so we could give the world a peek at the breathtaking numbers that are behind some our most popular games in the 2021: Year in Gaming report.

What emerged from this effort was a truly compelling story about the evolution of gameplay data and analytics at EA. Each EA studio has its own analytics team that feed into a larger group at EA known as Studio Data & Analytics (SDI). SDI is composed of various teams (Studio Analytics, Data Science and Analytics Solutions) that parse and use gameplay data in different ways.

For example, SDI uses machine learning and artificial intelligence systems to help game developers prioritize development work to maintain the offering of live services, and to better understand the player experience. Another function of the SDI team is data-informed game testing, wherein the data team proposes, develops and deploys intelligent solutions to help game developers make and maintain better games. However, it’s even more interesting to look behind the curtain at the talented individuals at EA who breathe life into the numbers that feed into SDI.

Two of the amazing team members who swim in the vast sea of EA gameplay data work on the data analytics team at BioWare. Isaiah Jones, based in Austin, Texas and Shannon Allen, based in Edmonton, Alberta each took time out of their busy days to talk about their journey to working with data at EA.

BioWare Data Team Member: Shannon Allen

One wouldn’t normally assume that an agricultural and resource economist who majored in nutrition with a minor in marketing and a diploma in culinary arts would find her way to interpreting data on some of the largest video game franchises on the planet. But for Shannon Allen, that’s exactly what has happened. As an undergraduate at the University of Alberta, Shannon quickly realized she had a love for academics and thrived in a higher learning environment.

Upon graduating, she elected to continue her education by pursuing a masters and later a doctorate in agricultural and resource economics. “My undergraduate education led me to a love of economics,” said Shannon. “Most of my graduate level research focused on how people make choices.”

Upon completing her doctorate, Shannon went to work for the Provincial Government in Alberta, where she worked on survey design and analysis and predictive analytics. After honing her craft working for the government, Shannon found herself wanting to take her skills into the private sector.  And that’s when her path to EA and BioWare began.  “I was not a huge gamer at the time,” Shannon said, “but everything in the BioWare job description were things that I was already doing or knew how to do.”

In her new role as a Senior Analyst, Shannon’s job was (and still is) to inform stakeholders within the company what the players are doing with their time in the game.  One of the first major titles Shannon sunk her teeth into was Dragon Age: Inquisition, which had over six years of gameplay data that the studio team simply had not had the bandwidth to sift through.  Over the course of a year and juggling her other duties, Shannon distilled the legacy gameplay data from Dragon Age: Inquisition into a series of reports and insights that are still being used to inform the development of future titles in the series.

BioWare Data Team Member Isaiah Jones

While Shannon sifts through and reports on gameplay data for various titles in Alberta, thousands of miles to the south, in Austin, Texas, one of her colleagues also is hard at work on the BioWare data analytics team. Isaiah Jones, like Shannon Allen, arrived at EA and BioWare by taking the path less traveled. As an undergraduate at the University of Minnesota, Isaiah discovered a passion for psychology.  It was a passion Isaiah would not let go of.  He completed his undergraduate studies at Miami University in Ohio and would eventually go on to earn a doctorate in psychology. “My training was in human behavior and the how and why people behave the way they do,” said Isaiah.

His many years in academia led Isaiah to think he would eventually join their ranks as a professor. But fate had a different path in mind. During his final year of study, Isaiah worked in a program funded by Proctor & Gamble, where he learned about consumer dynamic.  While the ins and outs of the paper towel buying habits of consumers was not the most stimulating thing Isaiah had ever worked on, it made him realize that the private sector had a place for someone with his particular skill set. With his doctorate in hand, Isaiah quickly found himself working for a long-standing toy company. Working with toys was closer to the passions of his youth, but it wasn’t perfect.

And this is when Isaiah noticed an employment ad for a marketing analytics job at EA in Redwood Shores.  Long a gamer in his free time, Isaiah jumped at the opportunity to hone his skill set.  Isaiah saw the job as a fantastic stepping stone that he could use to start a long career in the video game industry. After honing his skills with the marketing team, Isaiah was ready for the next step and took a new position with the BioWare data analytics team in Austin, Texas, where he is hard at work today.

“I make the unintuitive more obvious,” said Isaiah in describing his role at BioWare.  During his tenure, Isaiah has studied gameplay data on a slew of titles, including Anthem, Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic and others. Like Shannon, Isaiah works with these complex data sets to translate them into usable information that is ultimately used to improve those titles, as well as titles yet to come.

The 2021: Year in Gaming report was a herculean undertaking that involved countless people at EA like BioWare’s Shannon Allen and Isaiah Jones. And they are just two of the many extremely talented individuals whose journey to EA is often as compelling as the titles they now find themselves working on.

Marija Radulovic-Nastic, SVP, Development Technology and Services at Electronic Arts

Explore how we came together to play in the 2021: Year In Gaming blog post and infographic.