Game makers use artificial intelligence to profile players and keep them hooked

Tokyo

IN the game industry of today, titles such as Clash Royale and Pokemon Go are free for most people because there is a small number of players who pay for extras like special weapons and more lives. Game developers have to strike a delicate balance in this free-to-play model between drawing the masses and encouraging big spenders - and they need both for a successful title.

Silicon Studio Corp is trying to help by providing game makers with deep-learning algorithms to create what amounts to a psychological profile of each player. The Tokyo-based company's software predicts how long people will play, what levels they might achieve, how much money they might spend and on what. Even more important, the technology lets game creators mould player behaviour to keep them hooked.