Massive Rocket & Creative Assembly (Sega).
Creative Assembly (Sega) & Massive Rocket Customer Story
Creative Assembly (CA), part of SEGA Europe, is one of Europe’s leading games development studios, founded in 1987 and located in West Sussex, UK and Sofia, Bulgaria.
With a heritage of award-winning AAA titles, including the multi-million selling Total War™ series, Creative Assembly continues to build an impressive portfolio of games through world-renowned partnerships; with Games Workshop on Total War™: WARHAMMER®, Twentieth Century Fox on Alien: Isolation, plus 343 Industries and Microsoft on Halo Wars 2.
The studio has won several awards including five consecutive Best Place to Work Awards and accolades from BAFTA, Music+Sound and Develop’s Industry Excellence awards.
Total War is a series of strategy games developed by British developer Creative Assembly for personal computers. They combine turn-based strategy and resource management with real-time tactical control of battles.
The Challenge
Building Mutually beneficial player experiences at scale.
The team at Creative Assembly have obsessed over delivering experiences that are world class and genuinely useful to their players. Benefits of this approach include Customer Loyalty, Community Building and Long-Term Sustainability.
Building and maintaining mutually beneficial relationships with players is an ongoing process. Experiences need to continuously adapt to changing player needs and expectations, and be responsive to evolving trends in the gaming industry. Building trust and showing that you prioritize the player experience will lead to a more loyal and engaged player community.
1. Customer Loyalty & Retention
Establishing a strong rapport with players fosters loyalty. When gamers feel valued and appreciated, they are more likely to continue playing your games over the long term.
2. User Engagement & Community Building
Nurturing relationships with players can lead to increased user engagement within your games and communities. Engaged players are more likely to participate in in-game events, forums, and social media discussions, which can create a vibrant gaming community.
3. Long-Term Sustainability & Growth
Cultivating relationships with players is a sustainable strategy for long-term success. It’s often more cost-effective to retain existing players than to acquire new ones, making player relationships a key part of a sustainable business model.
In order to deliver against these expectations, the business needed a platform that would enable end-to-end understanding of players, the ability to engage and the ability to deliver relevant content.
Our Approach & Solution
There are 3 key elements that the team at Creative Assembly required in order to get started this journey: Building Single Customer View (SCV), automating customer engagement based on preferences and building a dynamic web presence.
Part 1: Building A Single Customer View (SCV)
SCVs provide a 360-degree view of the customer based on the information that player give their consent to share. A Single Customer View (SCV) in marketing is a comprehensive and unified database or profile that combines data from various sources and touchpoints to create a holistic and accurate representation of an individual customer. This unified view allows businesses and marketers to have a complete understanding of their customers, their behaviors, preferences, and interactions across different channels and platforms.
actionable.me | Segmentation Analysis
Massive Rockets proprietary micro-segmentation engine, actionable.me, enables customers to leverage customer behavior data to understand, segment, and engage with customers in a more targeted and effective way. It helps businesses optimize their marketing strategies, improve customer retention, and ultimately grow their revenue by focusing on the customers with the greatest potential value.
Our focus as a business is on getting a deeper understanding of our players to deliver experiences that are mutually beneficial and deliver more value to our players.
Amanda Cuthbert
Live Operations Marketing Director
Creative Assembly
Part 2: Automating customer engagement based on preferences
Automating customer engagement for video game players in real-time involves leveraging player data to customize in-game experiences, notifications, and content according to individual preferences. This ensures that players receive timely and personalized challenges, rewards, and updates, enhancing their gaming experience and fostering player loyalty. By adapting gameplay elements and communications on the fly, this approach creates a dynamic and engaging environment, keeping players invested and satisfied with the game.
Part 3: Building a Dynamic web presence
Creating a real-time web experience for video game players based on their preferences involves using data analytics and user insights to customize the website’s content, layout, and features. This ensures that players receive personalized information, such as game updates, strategies, or community events, as soon as they visit the site. By tailoring the web experience to each player’s needs and interests, it enhances user engagement, provides a sense of belonging, and fosters a stronger connection between the players and the gaming community.
UX Design (User Experience Design)
In crafting a dynamic website for a video game company, UX design is paramount. It begins with thorough research to understand gamers’ preferences and habits. The Massive Rocket UX design team created intuitive navigation, wireframe prototypes, and design visually engaging interfaces aligned with the gaming brand. Usability testing ensures a seamless and immersive user experience.
Development
The development process encompassed both front-end and back-end aspects. Front-end developers bring the UX/UI design to life, using HTML, CSS, and JavaScript to create responsive interfaces adaptable across devices. Back-end developers handle server-side functionality, integrating the headless CMS, ensuring data retrieval, and implementing robust security measures. Performance optimization was key to deliver swift, engaging experiences.
DevOps (Development Operations)
The DevOps team keep the dynamic website running smoothly. Automation through CI/CD pipelines ensures regular content updates, aligning with gaming events and news. Infrastructure as Code (IaC) provides scalability and consistency. Monitoring tools track performance and security metrics, enabling rapid issue resolution. DevOps prepares the website for traffic surges during critical gaming moments, maintaining security through regular audits and patches.
The Results
Mutually beneficial player experiences at scale.
Through the successful implementation of the Intelligent Player Relations platform, the Creative Assembly team has gained the capability to excel in the following areas:
1. Actively Understand & Communicate with Players
The team are now able to actively understand player interests and context in order to adapt communications and deliver value to players at every touch point. Maintain open and transparent communication with players. Share development updates, patch notes, and upcoming features. Address concerns and issues promptly.
2. Reward Loyalty & build long term relationships
Thanks to the platform we’ve deployed, Creative Assembly can now effectively implement lifecycle marketing programs and harness contextual data. This involves tailoring player interactions throughout their gaming journey by leveraging player preferences, and in-game actions. Creative Assembly can deliver personalized experiences, including targeted messages, offers, and content, aimed at enhancing player engagement and retention. Contextual data enables them to predict player needs, whether it’s offering in-game tips for beginners, providing exclusive rewards to loyal players, or delivering timely updates based on individual progress. Consequently, lifecycle marketing with contextual data fosters enduring player relationships and loyalty by consistently meeting their evolving needs and expectations.
How can we help?
You can also write to us at info@massiverocket.com