Assessment 3: Research report

Assessment 3: Research report

Instructions

Overview

Length: 2500 words (+/- 10%)

Due date: 28/11/2023 (11.59pm Sunday)

In Assessment 2, Games R Us asked you to investigate graphs for sales data they had obtained and to provide recommendations about the video game direction they should invest in. Combining your reports with a profitability analysis conducted by an external market research consultancy, Games R Us decided to invest in the development of:

Cod on Duty, an Xbox One shooter game;

Cider Punk, a PC roleplaying game;

Pony Hawks Pro Racer, a Nintendo Switch sports game; and

Great Theft Manual, a PS4 action game.

However, a few months into development during a company meeting, the Lead Developer mentions that there are numerous bugs and advises that the team will not be able to work across four projects simultaneously and still meet launch deadlines. Additionally, the accountant advises that the sales for Forest of Animals are slowing down due to the release of its competitor, Crossing of Animals. As such, four projects are no longer financially feasible and there is only enough funding for two games.

Games R Us will need to track whether the sales of Forest of Animals will be sufficient for them to continue operating. Simultaneously, they are even more eager to launch their new games to generate revenue. You are asked to perform an analysis and provide recommendations for which two games should be launched. Given the shortage of funds, Games R Us also wants to refocus their marketing efforts and target demographics most likely to purchase the games.

It is assumed that you have performed data analysis and obtained outputs for three datasets:

the daily sales tracker for Forest of Animals;

the number of mentions of each game across numerous social media sites and articles in gaming websites; and

a marketing survey on recent gaming purchase behaviour, including each shoppers interest in purchasing a game.

Before you begin, download the following 20 output files.

BCO7000 A3.1 File 1 - Forest of Animals sales summary (PNG 7 KB)BCO7000 A3.1 File 2 - Forest of Animals sales (PNG 1.9 MB)BCO7000 A3.2 File 3 - Count of Game mentions by social media platform (PNG 10 KB)BCO7000 A3.2 File 4 - Social media mentions (PNG 12 KB)BCO7000 A3.3 File 5 - Likelihood to purchase Cider punk by favourite feature and platform (PNG 12 KB)BCO7000 A3.3 File 6 - Likelihood to purchase Cider punk by favourite genre and platform (PNG 12 KB)BCO7000 A3.3 File 7 - Likelihood to purchase Cider punk by gender and social media platform (PNG 11 KB)BCO7000 A3.3 File 8 - Likelihood to purchase Cider punk by region and platform (PNG 11 KB)BCO7000 A3.3 File 9 - Likelihood to purchase COD by favourite feature and platform (PNG 11 KB)BCO7000 A3.3 File 10 - Likelihood to purchase COD by favourite genre and platform (PNG 12 KB)BCO7000 A3.3 File 11 - Likelihood to purchase COD by gender and social media platform (PNG 11 KB)BCO7000 A3.3 File 12 - Likelihood to purchase COD by region and platform (PNG 11 KB)BCO7000 A3.3 File 13 - Likelihood to purchase GTM by favourite feature and platform (PNG 12 KB)BCO7000 A3.3 File 14 - Likelihood to purchase GTM by favourite genre and platform (PNG 12 KB)BCO7000 A3.3 File 15 - Likelihood to purchase GTM by gender and social media platform (PNG 11 KB)BCO7000 A3.3 File 16 - Likelihood to purchase GTM by region and platform (PNG 11 KB)BCO7000 A3.3 File 17 - Likelihood to purchase Pony Hawks by favourite feature and platform (PNG 11 KB)BCO7000 A3.3 File 18 - Likelihood to purchase Pony Hawks by favourite genre and platform (PNG 12 KB)BCO7000 A3.3 File 19 - Likelihood to purchase Pony Hawks by gender and social media platform (PNG 11 KB)BCO7000 A3.3 File 20- Likelihood to purchase Pony Hawks by region and platform (PNG 11 KB)Task

Part 1 - Analysis

Interpret the outputs of the analysed datasets as per below:

Forest of Animals daily sales tracker:

Identify and interpret the mean, minimum and maximum sales of Forest of Animals between January 2020 and June 2021. (Equivalent to 50 words)

Interpret and summarise the sales of Forest of Animals. (Equivalent to 150 words)

Rationalise whether you consider it appropriate to fit a linear trend line to predict future sales. (Equivalent to 200 words)

State a lower and upper bound of which you believe sales of Forest of Animals would be in the current year. Provide rationale for why. (Equivalent to 100 words)

Social media activity and mentions of each game in development:

Summarise the information presented in the graphs on social media activity and mentions of each game. (Equivalent to 200 words)

There are two social media platforms for which there is substantially more mentions in the dataset. Consider why this may be, and whether you believe this impacts the credibility of your analysis. Provide rationale for why or why not. (Equivalent to 200 words)

Marketing survey:

Identify profiles and demographics for each potential game purchase by reading the provided graphs. (Equivalent to 350 words)

Select three graphs to include in a dashboard to track daily performance for senior management. Justify your choices. (Equivalent to 200 words)

Part 2 - Report

Write a report to the CEO including:

An executive summary. (100 words)

An introduction, documenting your rationale for each of the analyses conducted. (100 words)

A synthesised compilation of graphs and interpretations for each of the three datasets. (300 words)

Recommendations and rationale for which two games to launch and target demographics for marketing. (200 words)

Explain how predictive analytics can be used to complement your analysis. (100 words)

Write a conclusion outlining how data analytics can be used in the future to inform Games R Us better, and prevent problems with overambitious spending. (250 words)

Supporting resources

APA 7th referencing: Overview(Victoria University Library, 2023)