Project Overview
This project analyzes historical video game sales to identify the strongest predictors of commercial success for 2017 campaign planning. I cleaned and standardized the dataset, evaluated platform lifecycles, compared genre performance, built regional market profiles, and validated assumptions through hypothesis testing.
The objective was to convert large-scale historical sales data into practical recommendations for platform focus, genre targeting, and region-specific campaign strategy.
Key Findings
Platform Lifecycle Drives Forecast Relevance
Older platforms follow a clear rise-peak-decline cycle. To avoid outdated signals, the most relevant forecasting window was narrowed to 2012-2016, where active platforms and recent market behavior are strongest.
Top Platform Signals for 2017
PS4 and XOne were the strongest current-generation options in the selected period, while prior-generation leaders like PS3 and X360 showed clear decline. Platform cycle timing was more informative than long-horizon historical totals.
Genre Performance Is Not One-Dimensional
Action led total market size, while Shooter led per-title upside. Role-Playing and Sports remained high-value supporting categories. This indicates campaign strategy should balance volume genres with efficiency genres.
Regional Preferences Require Regional Strategy
North America and Europe showed stronger PlayStation/Xbox patterns, while Japan leaned more toward Nintendo and handheld-oriented profiles. A single global message would miss meaningful regional demand differences.
Ratings Context Varies by Region
ESRB rating patterns were more informative in North America and Europe than in Japan, where many titles have missing or non-ESRB categorization in the dataset. Rating-based targeting should therefore be applied regionally, not globally.
Strategic takeaway: For 2017, prioritize PS4/XOne titles in Shooter, Action, Sports, and Role-Playing, while tailoring platform and genre emphasis by region.
Analytical Approach
- Data cleaning and type correction, including treatment of missing and tbd review values
- Feature engineering with total global sales aggregation
- Temporal release trend and platform lifecycle analysis
- Platform, genre, and regional market share comparisons
- Review-score correlation analysis for sales signal strength
- Two-sample hypothesis testing for rating comparisons
Tools & Technologies
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Explore the complete notebook, code, visualizations, and statistical tests:
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