Ubisoft × EDHEC · 2025
Understanding What Keeps Players Playing.
Using community conversations and player research to explore retention in competitive multiplayer games.
A marketing analytics project developed for the Ubisoft × EDHEC Data Innovation & Intelligence Challenge, investigating why players stay, leave and move between games.
Challenge
Ubisoft × EDHEC Data Innovation & Intelligence
Focus
Player Retention & Behaviour
Research
Reddit + Player Survey
My Role
Research Support · Survey Development · Reddit Community Research · Presentation & Visual Design
The challenge
When players stop showing up, where do they go — and why?
Ubisoft challenged us to investigate player circulation across competitive hero-action games and understand the motivations that make players stay with or leave a title. The objective was not only to analyse behaviour, but to develop a methodology capable of producing practical insights for market analysts.
01
Stay
02
Disengage
03
Switch
04
Return
Understanding not only when players leave — but what motivates them to stay.
From conversations to data
Listening to players where they already talk.
The team combined community conversations with quantitative research to understand both what players were saying and what factors were associated with retention.
1,000+
Reddit posts & comments analysed
130+
Player survey responses
Multiple
Competitive gaming communities
The research explored communities around titles including Rainbow Six Siege, For Honor, Valorant, Apex Legends, Overwatch and Marvel Rivals.
Methodology
- Text analysis
- Player survey
- Insights
The analysis
Turning thousands of player conversations into patterns.
The team's analytical workflow combined text embeddings, clustering, sentiment analysis and topic modelling to identify recurring themes across gaming communities. Survey analysis was then used to examine the factors associated with satisfaction and retention.
01
Text embeddings
Representing conversations as comparable data
02
Clustering
Grouping recurring discussion patterns
03
Sentiment analysis
Reading tone across communities
04
Topic modelling
Surfacing recurring themes
05
Survey analysis
Examining factors linked to satisfaction and retention
Team methodology
Player insights
Players weren't staying for rewards alone.
01
Community
Connection & belonging
02
Mastery
Progress & competence
03
Fun
Enjoyment of the experience
The survey analysis identified Community, Mastery and Fun as significant positive predictors of retention, while rewards were not statistically significant once the other factors were controlled for.
Retention wasn't only about giving players more.
It was about giving them reasons to care.
The opportunity
Content brings players back. Community gives them a reason to stay.
Across the research, content freshness and community belonging emerged as central themes in sustaining engagement.
Fresh content
Social connection
Longer-term engagement
Proposed concept
Vanguard Trials
Unite and Conquer.
A proposed recurring cross-title event designed to bring players together through limited-time, collaborative challenges.
The concept envisioned monthly squad-based challenges, changing themes and recognition through cosmetics, badges and other rewards — connecting content freshness with community participation.
What I took away
Data becomes valuable when it changes how you see the player.
This project showed me how behavioural research, community conversations and quantitative analysis can work together to uncover the motivations behind engagement.
My contribution focused on identifying relevant Reddit communities, supporting survey development, and shaping how the team's findings and recommendations were communicated visually.
It also gave me exposure to more advanced analytical approaches that I want to continue developing, particularly Python-based analysis and quantitative research.
The process
- Community data
- Analysis
- Insight
- Strategy
Ubisoft × EDHEC · 2025
Data Innovation & Intelligence Challenge
Academic context
MSc Marketing Analytics · EDHEC Business School
Models in Marketing · Advanced Consumer Psychology
My Role
Research Support · Survey Development · Reddit Community Research · Presentation & Visual Design