A Large-Scale Constrained Joint Modeling Approach for Predicting User Activity, Engagement, and Churn With Application to Freemium Mobile Games

Trambak Banerjee, Gourab Mukherjee, Shantanu Dutta and Pulak Ghosh

Journal of the American Statistical Association, 2020, vol. 115, issue 530, 538-554

Abstract: We develop a constrained extremely zero inflated joint (CEZIJ) modeling framework for simultaneously analyzing player activity, engagement, and dropouts (churns) in app-based mobile freemium games. Our proposed framework addresses the complex interdependencies between a player’s decision to use a freemium product, the extent of her direct and indirect engagement with the product and her decision to permanently drop its usage. CEZIJ extends the existing class of joint models for longitudinal and survival data in several ways. It not only accommodates extremely zero-inflated responses in a joint model setting but also incorporates domain-specific, convex structural constraints on the model parameters. Longitudinal data from app-based mobile games usually exhibit a large set of potential predictors and choosing the relevant set of predictors is highly desirable for various purposes including improved predictability. To achieve this goal, CEZIJ conducts simultaneous, coordinated selection of fixed and random effects in high-dimensional penalized generalized linear mixed models. For analyzing such large-scale datasets, variable selection and estimation are conducted via a distributed computing based split-and-conquer approach that massively increases scalability and provides better predictive performance over competing predictive methods. Our results reveal codependencies between varied player characteristics that promote player activity and engagement. Furthermore, the predicted churn probabilities exhibit idiosyncratic clusters of player profiles over time based on which marketers and game managers can segment the playing population for improved monetization of app-based freemium games. Supplementary materials for this article, including a standardized description of the materials available for reproducing the work, are available as an online supplement.

Date: 2020
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DOI: 10.1080/01621459.2019.1611584

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