Speaker Spotlight: Skillprint’s Chethan Ramachadran on utilising the power of AI | Pocket Gamer.biz

We recently wrapped up our Pocket Gamer Connect Toronto event, where as always, we had some of the biggest names in the industry joining us.

The event marked the 39th instalment of our Connects conference series and our third to take place in Canada. We welcomed over 750 delegates from 374 companies, 110 speakers and represented 37 countries. This year was even bigger and better than our previous journey to Toronto, with global game industry attendees all gathering to network and learn.

The conference covered everything from Android and iOS, to hot topics such as Web3, VR/AR and more! However, one persitent talking point throughout was the presence of AI in the gaming space. We caught up with Skillprint CEO, Chethan Ramachadran, who spoke at our Toronto conference as part of our AI Advances track to find out more about what the future holds.

Pocketgamer.biz: How was PCG Tornoto for you and what was your talk about?

Chethan Ramachadran: I joined a panel on AI to discuss how developers can utilise the power of AI to personalise games.

People are curious to learn more about themselves – their personality, skills, and other behaviours – so that they can have a sense of ownership and agency. Games that can teach people more about who they are through play and then customise their gameplay to enhance it will appeal to a wide audience. Game personalisation enables immersion by fostering a deeper emotional connection with the player and the game.

For developers, gameplay personalisation is made possible by leveraging cognitive science and AI insights to dynamically tailor game experiences to match each player’s unique playstyle and preferences. By understanding the player’s personality traits, cognitive skills, and motivations, developers can offer personalised game recommendations, optimise gameplay difficulty, progression, rewards, and balance, all in real time.

During the panel, I discussed the transformative potential of AI in identifying and preventing player frustration and boredom and how personalising games leads to increased player enjoyment and fulfilment.

Where are the next big opportunities in the mobile games market?

The next big opportunity in the mobile games market lies in understanding players on a deeper and personal level by leveraging psychology and cognitive science research and understanding each player through their gameplay data. By identifying a player’s cognitive skills, such as memory, attention, executive function, and learning, as well as their personality traits and motivations, and their desire to relax, focus, socialise, and compete, game developers can tailor gameplay experiences to the players’ mind and goals. By identifying the relationship between a player’s mind and motivations and personalising the gameplay, you can avoid the player becoming bored or frustrated and enable them to have more fun and achieve greater fulfilment.

What do you think the next big disruptor in mobile games will be?

The next big disruptor in mobile games is likely to be the personalisation of games. By understanding players’ cognitive skills, personalities, and motivations, game developers can acquire more qualified customers who match their games better. This, in turn, leads to a broader range of players engaging with your game for longer, increased opportunities to monetise, and players being more fulfilled, whether they are seeking to relax, focus, socialise, or feel more creative. Personalisation has the potential to fundamentally change the economics of games by dramatically improving player retention rates for Day 1 retention well beyond the goal of ~40%, which will drive greater success for game developers.

What do you think is going to happen in the next 12 months?

The key trend to pay attention to over the next 12 months is the integration of AI in mobile game development. Although AI applications in the games industry have thus far focused on helping game developers generate game assets and content more cost-effectively, AI has the potential to revolutionise the gaming experience by offering players game personalisation based on their personality traits, cognitive skills, and motivations. Game developers of all sizes can leverage AI to gain valuable insights into players’ behaviours and preferences and enable them to personalise game experiences to a player’s needs.

By combining predictive analytics with psychology and cognitive science research, AI can assess a player’s mind and match them with games that align with their preferences and even dynamically adjust a game’s difficulty for a more personalised, engaging, and fulfilling game experience.