Proxies to the monthly active user number of Geo AR Mobile games– online search volume as a proposal

Journal article, 2023

Mobile game metrics have received attention since the emergence of big data technology

and data-based decision-making. Among different metrics, the monthly active user

number is usually significant because it shows the level of players’ engagement and the

profit of this game as a business. Therefore, the monthly active user number is valuable

for researchers, analysts, and decision-makers interested in the mobile game industry.

However, the actual monthly active user number data typically have the accuracy,

accessibility, granularity, and cost problems. Therefore, a proxy to the monthly active

user number would be helpful to facilitate the decision-making process. This paper

proposes to capture user activity through the searches on the Internet from an

information-seeking perspective. And the online search volume, wiki page view, social

media posts and views are proposed as potential proxies. This paper proposes that the

online search volume is an acceptable proxy for the monthly active user number in the

context of Geo Augmented Reality (AR) mobile games through data analysis.