Choose the right reference points
Build a defensible comparison set around design, platform, release context, and the question your team needs answered.
FOR INDEPENDENT STUDIOS & PUBLISHERS
See where
your game fits.
Research into comparable games, player reception, and the relationships shaping the games industry.
A clearer view of the landscape.
Start with a decision you need to make. Build a comparison you can defend. Keep the evidence—and its limits—in view.
Read an example research noteRESEARCH WITH A QUESTION IN MIND
The Game Landscape Report
A scoped research engagement for teams deciding how to position a game, understand its reception, or explore a market.
Understand the response
Examine critic and player assessments, recurring review themes, and available progression evidence.
Find the relevant connections
Explore studios, publishers, genres, and release histories to place a title or portfolio in context.
A clear question. A sourced comparison. A useful deliverable.
Scope can include an annotated game shortlist, a written report, an interactive view, and a discussion of findings. Methods and limitations travel with the results.
01 / EXPLORE
The research collection
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No games match these filters. Try a different title or reset the map.
| Game | Checkpoint | Critic mean |
|---|
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READING THE CONNECTIONS
A map for asking
better questions.
Start with a game
Select a point, then follow a connected title. Change the connection to see a different neighborhood.
Keep the evidence in view
Research links compare the records in this collection. Similar scores suggest a comparison, not shared audiences or causation.
02 / THE RESEARCH
What happens
after release?
A working study of trophies, critic reviews, and player reviews around a game’s first anniversary. The collection is still being checked and completed.
—title folders
—CSV records
—with all three CSV types
+1 yearintended observation window
WORK IN PROGRESS
Read the methodology Collection coverage is not research completeness. Capture dates, platform matches, DLC boundaries, and review sampling need validation before one-year comparisons.
NEXT CHAPTER / THE INDUSTRY AS A NETWORK
From individual games
to an interconnected history.
01
Follow the makers
Trace publishers and studios across games, platforms, and eras.
02
Trace the lineage
Separate sequels, remakes, ports, and spin-offs. Give every connection a source.
03
Watch genres evolve
Explore how game design changes through time, with regional releases kept distinct.
Explore 717 SNES and 296 Nintendo 64 North American retail entries, with publisher, developer and genre connections. Completion times and review scores carry their own source, date, and coverage notes.
BEHIND DATAWYRM
Clark Petri, PhD
Computational social scientist, educator, and gamer. I study complex systems and networks. Datawyrm is where that curiosity meets the games industry.
More about ClarkAn independent project.
Built around evidence.
Driven by curiosity.
LET’S START WITH YOUR QUESTION
What are you trying to understand?
Tell me about your game or portfolio, the decision ahead, and your timeline. We can shape a research brief around it.