Case studies

Friction doesn't announce itself.
But data always does.

A few of the studios that used Braintelligence to find exactly what was holding them back — and remove it.

Three games. Three hidden root causes. Each one invisible to every standard tool — each one uncovered the moment the full data picture came together.

Case 01
Analytics Playtests Player Feedback

D1 retention plateaued —
despite multiple iterations.

What was found
  • Players unclear about early objective
  • 😶Weak reward feedback in first session
  • 💥Difficulty spike before mastery
Unclear early objective creates confusion and early drop-off — invisible in raw numbers, obvious once the full picture was assembled.
What was fixed
  • Clarified first-session goal — players knew exactly what to do
  • Introduced guided early progression to ease them in
  • Improved reward readability so wins felt earned
How it was shipped
  • Single sprint — no new features, no new content
  • Changes were copy, sequencing, and reward timing
  • Result measured on the following release cycle
+9%
Day-1 Retention players who came back the next day
1
Sprint to ship from insight to live
Mihai Gheza

"Braintelligence gave us the freshest insights on our FTUE we've seen in years, none of the usual tools came close."

Mihai Gheza   CEO, Machinations

Case 02
Analytics QoE Playtesting

Players dropped right after
completing the first level.

What was found
  • 📈Sudden, unearned difficulty spike post-level-1
  • 🗺️Lack of progression clarity — where am I going?
  • ⏱️Poor pacing: challenge escalated before mastery
The difficulty curve breaks player momentum too early — right at the moment they should feel rewarded and excited to continue.
What was fixed
  • Smoothed early difficulty ramp — win before you struggle
  • Adjusted level pacing to build momentum
  • Reinforced progression signals at key handoff points
How it was shipped
  • Zero new content — only existing levels rebalanced
  • Adjustments made to design parameters, not art
  • Low-cost, high-leverage change
+6%
Session Completion players finishing the first session
0
New content required pure rebalancing, nothing built from scratch
Amir H. Erfani

"The pilot basically wrote our next sprint. Taking the next step was a no-brainer!"

Amir H. Erfani   Executive Producer, Phantom Coast

Case 03
Analytics Player Feedback Playtesting

Strong engagement —
but revenue per user kept underperforming.

What was found
  • 😬Players hesitant at the first purchase moment
  • Value of the offer not clearly communicated
  • Offer shown before players were ready to buy
Players don't perceive enough value at the moment of conversion — not because the offer is bad, but because the timing and framing are off.
What was fixed
  • Reframed the first purchase offer around player value
  • Adjusted timing to align with player progression peaks
  • Improved clarity of the value proposition in UI copy
How it was shipped
  • No major feature changes — monetisation flow stayed the same
  • Copy, timing, and trigger conditions updated only
  • Impact measured within the next monetisation window
+0.4%
Conversion Rate players who made their first purchase
0
Major feature changes same product, smarter presentation
Taha Rasouli

"Seeing emotion flow over time helped us design moments players actually came back for — that's where our LTV started to rise."

Taha Rasouli   Product Manager, Ava Games