Supercell Levels Up Player Analytics with Snowplow

Background 

Supercell, a leading game developer, was founded in 2010 in Helsinki, Finland. It's known for popular games like Clash of Clans and Brawl Stars. In 2023, it boasted over 200 million monthly players and €1.7 billion in revenue. While the company had a good understanding of player actions in its games from server-side data, it faced challenges in digital analytics, particularly for web interactions. 

The company's traditional packaged digital analytics tool for web analytics created data silos, had data accuracy issues, and raised privacy concerns with respect to GDPR. Moreover, integrating data from the packaged solution with its data lake, Databricks, was challenging. Supercell sought to improve its web analytics capabilities to complement its existing in-game analytics, aiming for a more comprehensive view of player behavior across all touchpoints.

To solve these problems, Supercell needed a solution that guaranteed the company full control over its customer behavioral data and could scale with its high data volumes, especially during game launches and events.

Supercell turned to Snowplow's customer data infrastructure (CDI) to gain ownership of its customer behavioral data and solve the challenges it was facing with its packaged analytics tool. Adopting Snowplow enabled Supercell to enhance behavioral data collection from its websites, front-end interactions, and client-side game data, as well as load the data into Databricks. Supercell also improved its data reliability, data accessibility, and cross-platform analytics capabilities.

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Challenges 

Supercell's journey to Snowplow began after determining the company needed to advance its digital analytics capabilities, especially with client-side and web-based interactions. The company lacked visibility into player behavior on its websites and in-game web views. Boris Nechaev, Data Platform Team Lead at Supercell, highlighted the challenge:

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“We had plenty of data already before Snowplow was introduced, but that data was mostly coming from our game servers. What we did not have was the data from the client side. And, even more importantly, we didn't have any data from various websites that we had.”

BORIS NECHAEV | DATA PLATFORM TEAM LEAD, SUPERCELL

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Prior to Snowplow, Supercell primarily used a packaged digital analytics tool for behavioral data tracking and web analytics. But the data and analytics teams became frustrated with its many limitations:

1. Data silos: Analytics data was stuck in the packaged analytics tool, making it difficult to integrate with other data destinations and sources outside of the supplier’s ecosystem.
2. Data accuracy concerns: Cookie consent requirements limited data collection to only consenting users. Additionally, Supercell's decision to implement sampling in its analytics processes, sometimes processing as little as 1% of events, led to incomplete datasets and potential inaccuracies in its web analytics. This sampling approach, while reducing data volume, impacted the comprehensiveness and reliability of its web-based insights.
3. Lacking Databricks integration: Supercell’s data analysts couldn't easily query and analyze the the tool’s data in their preferred data lake, Databricks.
4. Poor data governance: Supercell's data setup led to inconsistencies in event naming and schema setup for its web analytics data. This highlighted a need for improved data governance practices.
5. GDPR compliance concerns: As a consumer privacy-conscious company, Supercell was uneasy about using a third-party digital analytics tool to track individual user behavior.‍
6. Lack of customer identifiers: Supercell was unable to link web actions to in-game behaviors.

As Nechaev explains:

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“Our previous digital analytics tool was very limited for us. We couldn't fetch the data easily; we couldn't send custom identifiers, and there were GDPR concerns. Most importantly, we couldn't integrate it with our other data sources to get a full picture of player behavior, from marketing websites to in-game actions.”

BORIS NECHAEV | DATA PLATFORM TEAM LEAD, SUPERCELL

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Additionally, Supercell struggled with standardizing tracking across its websites and platforms. It needed a scalable solution to handle high volumes of event data, especially during game launches and promotions.

The company also sought a private managed solution that would allow it to maintain data ownership and control in their own cloud environment. From the outset of its search, Supercell ruled out a packaged customer data platform (CDP) as the solution. As Boris put it:

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“We don't prefer full SaaS, when everything runs on the vendor side. We don't like that for legal reasons and because it is safer when the data is fully in our control.”

BORIS NECHAEV | DATA PLATFORM TEAM LEAD, SUPERCELL

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Lastly, Supercell wanted to improve its ability to measure ROI on community and marketing initiatives. The lack of comprehensive, reliable web analytics data hampered both areas.

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Solution 

Supercell turned to Snowplow’s customer data infrastructure (CDI) to become its primary solution for collecting rich first-party and zero-party behavioral data and loading it into their data platform in real time. This change allowed the company to finally collect all the desired behavioral data from its websites, game interactions, and other client-side activities in a privacy-compliant manner.

The company felt that Snowplow balanced its needs for data ownership with the benefits of a managed solution. Boris elaborated on this point:

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“Our favorite deployment model is when we provision an AWS account and the software is deployed there, but it's fully managed by the vendor. We feel in control because it's our account, yet we don't need to actively manage anything. Snowplow works brilliantly in that model.”

BORIS NECHAEV | DATA PLATFORM TEAM LEAD, SUPERCELL

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Snowplow enabled Supercell to track user behavior across websites and in-game activities using customer identifiers, which was a game-changer. This linkage allowed Supercell to analyze complete user journeys from marketing interactions to in-game actions. Additionally, Snowplow’s scalability ensured that the company could handle large data volumes, particularly during major events like game launches.

Upon implementation, Supercell successfully integrated Snowplow with its data stack, particularly Databricks, to create a central data hub for the organization. Additionally, Snowplow's superior flexibility compared to GA allowed for consistent tracking across websites and in-game views, which simplified the implementation process.

Snowplow enables Supercell to link client-side (web data) and server-side (in-game data) data using customer identifiers. It also enables the data team to capture unstructured, zero-party data from the Supercell Creator Platform, where users share content about Supercell's games. This data significantly enhances the gaming company’s understanding of player behavior and preferences.

As Boris explained:

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“We collect server-side game data through our existing systems, and client-side data through Snowplow. By using the same ID for both, we can join these datasets, giving us a complete view of player interactions from web to in-game activities.”

BORIS NECHAEV | DATA PLATFORM TEAM LEAD, SUPERCELL

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Behavioral Data-Driven Business Use Cases

Supercell adopted Snowplow to power several business use cases:

1. Transition from a third-party packaged analytics tool to Snowplow to advance its digital analytics 
2. Enhance behavioral data tracking for its Squad Busters pre-registration campaign, as well as other game launch campaigns
3. Add new analytics functionality to its community platforms and creator tools
4. Unlock deeper insights from product analytics to improve user experiences

Samuel Klinkmann, Community Tech Lead at Supercell, emphasized:

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“Snowplow has been crucial for Supercell. It gives us deep insights into how players engage with our games and events. This has empowered our teams to build better experiences, especially for Brawl Stars, while driving more collaboration and aligning us closer to our community. It’s been a game-changer for understanding player feedback and elevating our product decisions.”

SAMUEL KLINKMANN | COMMUNITY TECH LEAD, SUPERCELL

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Snowplow Support and Managed Service

Snowplow's managed service and support are crucial for Supercell's success with the solution. Samuel pointed out the value Snowplow's support team provides, especially during key events, such as new game launches:

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“During the Squad Busters launch, Snowplow's support was exceptional. Not only did we have dedicated customer success representatives, but a whole team of engineers was on standby to ensure everything ran smoothly. This level of support is something we never experienced with our previous provider.. It's a quality we deeply value in our partnerships.”

SAMUEL KLINKMANN | COMMUNITY TECH LEAD, SUPERCELL

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The support Supercell received during the Squad Busters launch ensured smooth operations during a period of peak traffic for the business. Boris emphasized the proactive nature of Snowplow's support:

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“It's rare to see support teams reach out proactively to say, 'We've noticed you're sending an unusually high volume of data, but don't worry, we're addressing it.' That's exactly what happened with Snowplow. I was impressed by their proactive approach and how professionally they handled the situation. Their support has been excellent throughout.”

BORIS NECHAEV | DATA PLATFORM TEAM LEAD, SUPERCELL

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Results 

Improved Data Accessibility and Reliability

One of Supercell’s most notable improvements has been in data accessibility and reliability. Snowplow's integration with Databricks gives Supercell’s analysts access to the rich data they need in their preferred environment. Additionally, Snowplow has maintained 100% data integrity and reliability, even during Supercell’s extremely high event volume peaks. 

Unlocked Cross-Platform User Journey Analytics

The ability to pass along user identifiers has been crucial, allowing Supercell to track actual user behavior across its games and websites, rather than relying on anonymous page views and cookies. The old setup with the packaged analytics tool simply couldn't provide this level of detail. This visibility is key to understanding user journeys and enhancing the player experience.

Generated Millions of Game Launch Pre-Registrations

The implementation of Snowplow played a critical role in the success of Supercell's Squad Busters pre-registration campaign. By unlocking new cross-platform user journey insights that were previously impossible to uncover with the packaged analytics data, the marketing team could more effectively optimize the Squad Busters campaign to drive millions of pre-registrations very quickly. Samuel Klinkmann noted:

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“We had 40 million pre-registrations in a month, so it's pretty impressive. I think it's definitely one of the top five pre-registrations on mobile.”

SAMUEL KLINKMANN | COMMUNITY TECH LEAD, SUPERCELL

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Snowplow's real-time data enabled Supercell to show players near real-time pre-registration numbers, despite delays in data from Google Play and the Apple App Store. This immediate feedback helped drive engagement and excitement around the game's launch.

Improved Development Efficiency

Snowplow's standardization has significantly reduced the amount of time needed for setting up event tracking in new projects. It's now twice as fast as before. These operational efficiencies allow Supercell's development teams to focus more of their time on making better player experiences instead of dealing with the analytics setup.

Increased Community Engagement

Snowplow has helped Supercell understand and engage its community better. This, in turn, has led to more successful in-game events and promotions across nearly all of Supercell's games.

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Looking Ahead

Supercell is ready to expand its use of Snowplow to support additional business use cases, especially with its creator platform. As Klinkmann explains:

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“We have thousands of content creators on the platform and the fact that we now should be able to use Snowplow to understand their needs better and create an even better platform... makes me super, super happy.”

SAMUEL KLINKMANN | COMMUNITY TECH LEAD, SUPERCELL

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The company is also exploring A/B testing opportunities, particularly for optimizing conversion rates on its creator platform landing page. This demonstrates Supercell's commitment to data-driven decision-making and continuous improvement.

Boris summarizes Snowplow’s overall impact:

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“Snowplow allowed us to unlock a new world of collecting data directly from websites, the front end, and the client side of our games.”

BORIS NECHAEV | DATA PLATFORM TEAM LEAD, SUPERCELL

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This ability has fundamentally changed how Supercell understands and interacts with its players.

With Snowplow, Supercell has solved its data issues and is ready for future growth. The flexibility and scalability of Snowplow's CDI directly enables Supercell's data strategy, empowering the company to successfully launch new games and experiences while supporting a growing community of players and creators.