Skills You Need to Land a Game Analyst Job in 2025

Some might assume that any data analyst cane can simply step foot into a game company or studio and start working their magic. But the reality is that being a game data analyst requires a very specific set of skills after many years of experience and practice. 

To understand what it takes to land a game analyst role in 2025, we reviewed more than 500 job descriptions across platforms like LinkedIn, Dice, Monster, Glassdoor, and GameJobs. And some of the results were actually quite surprising…

Skills You Need to Land a Game Data Analyst Job

We have categorized our findings based on the most prevalent skills that came up in our search. These include different kinds of analytics tools, qualifications, and both technical and soft skills.

Game-Specific Knowledge (771 mentions)

To be a game data analyst, you need to know your way around a game and understand all the components that make one successful. 

Knowledge	Number of Mentions	%
Game mechanics and economies	214	27.75
Live-ops and event planning	171	22.18
Knowledge of platforms and genres	154	19.97
Understanding player behavior and trends	145	18.8
Other	87	11.28

• Game mechanics and economies: Understanding elements that allow for game interactions. Plus numerical concepts that help players consider different game options.
• Live-ops and event planning: Treating games as a live service and rolling out updates, new features, and events.
• Knowledge of platforms and genres: Analysts must be adaptable in analyzing data across game genres and multiple platforms.
• Understanding player behavior and trends: Identifying drop-off points and why players interact with certain game features.

Other expected areas of game-based knowledge include:

• Knowing emerging trends such as AR and VR technologies and the Metaverse. 
• Understanding monetization tactics such as subscriptions and in-game economies. 
• Being familiar with retention metrics.

Technical Skills (981 Mentions)

Game analysts need specific skills to reveal player trends and enhance their experiences. The following skills are in high demand:

• Advanced SQL (34.96% of mentions): Creating complex queries, optimizing database performance, and analyzing large datasets to draw insights.
• Machine learning and predictive models (17.84%) help analysts identify trends and boost player engagement.
• Creating dashboards and automating reports (16%) to track performance metrics efficiently.
• A/B testing (9.89%) game variables to better understand and tailor player experiences.
• Exploratory data analysis (9.07%): Using game data to find trends, patterns, and anomalies.

Other technical skill (89) include:

• Analyzing player behavior with various tools.
• Proficiency in languages like SQL, Python, and R.
• Handling real-time data processing frameworks.

Game Analytics Tools (150 Mentions)

Analytics tools built specifically for games help analysts better understand many game areas. These include player progression, monetization, and retention rates.

Tool	Number of mentions	%
Unity Analytics	64	42.67
Amplitude	33	22
Google Analytics	26	17.33
Mixpanel	18	12
Other	9	6

Game analytics tools were mentioned in less than a third of the job descriptions we reviewed. These included:

• Unity Analytics: Provides real-time insights into Unity-based games.
• Amplitude: Allows analysts to track event-based data.
• Google Analytics: Provides insights into player engagement and retention rates
• Mixpanel: Analysts can track user actions and engagement funnels.

Other game analytics tools (6%) we found mentioned in relevant job descriptions included PlayFab.

Data Storage Tools (447 Mentions)

Game data analysts need to use tools that collect, store, process, and analyze large data sets.

• Snowflake (30%): Highly scalable cloud-based data warehouse for storing and analyzing data with minimal latency.
• BigQuery (25.1%): Google’s serverless data warehouse that uses SQL for querying. It allows analysts to load and analyze data. Also has ML capabilities.
• AWS Redshift (19.9%): Data warehouse product that handles large-scale database migrations.
• Databricks (15%): The first data lakehouse, using AI to combine the capabilities of a data lake and data warehouse.

Other data storage tools (10.1%) mentioned in job descriptions included Kafka and Cassandra.

Data Visualization Tools (951 Mentions)

Game data analysts need tools to track player flows and visualize data accurately.

• Tableau (39.85%): Targeted data visualization for various business areas. Can create dashboards and automate reports to track performance trends.
• We were surprised to find how often Power BI (29.86%) showed up in job descriptions for this position. But it’s also sought-after for visualizing complex player data.
• Looker (19.87%): Useful for extracting, processing, and visualizing data.
• Amazon Quicksight (5.47%) provides AI-driven data visualizations to analyze game metrics in real time.

Others (4.94%) like Qlik were mentioned multiple times in game data analyst job descriptions.

Other Data Tools

Other tools that game analysts are expected to use to handle data in various ways include:

• Data analysis libraries that run under Python/R (e.g. Pandas, NumPy, and Plotly.)
• Workflow management tools for data engineering pipelines (e.g. Apache Airflow).
• Large-scale data processing tools (e.g. PySpark).

Soft Skills (731 Mentions)

Data analytics in game companies isn’t just about…well…analyzing games. You need to have other skills that set you apart from other candidates.

Soft Skill	Number of mentions	%
Collaboration, communication, and teamwork	256	35.02
Data storytelling	183	25.03
Problem-solving and analytical mindset	146	19.97
Adaptability and time management	97	13.27
Other	49	6.7

• Collaboration, communication, and teamwork: Working across departments and understanding their goals.  And effectively communicating with team members.
• Data storytelling: Identifying trends and finding ways to communicate results effectively to developers and decision-makers.
• Naturally, successful candidates need to have a naturally analytical, problem-solving mindset.
• Game analysts need to be adaptable and manage their time well. Especially in fast-paced game companies.

Other soft skills include researching gaming audiences, and platform and genre trends.

Project Management/Communication Tools (414 Mentions)

It’s not just data-oriented tools that game data analysts are expected to have a strong command over. They also need to communicate with team members and manage tasks effectively.  

• Jira (35.02%): Mainly used to track bugs and manage agile projects.
• Asana (25.12%): Work management platform for organizing teams and tracking task progress.
• Confluence (20.05%): A platform for streamlining knowledge-sharing and collaboration.
• Slack (9.9%): For team collaboration and automating work processes.

Education/Qualifications (578 Mentions)

The first thing you need to tick when pursuing a career in game analytics is making sure you’re qualified for the role.

Qualification	Number of mentions	%
Bachelor’s or Master’s degree	173	29.93
Certifications in SQL, Python, Tableau, etc.	121	20.93
Strong mathematical/statistical background	116	20.07
Years of experience in data analytics or game analytics	110	19.03
Other	58	10.03

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree: Typical BAs and MAs in Data Science, Math, and Analytics are most mentioned.
• Certifications in SQL, Python, and Tableau appeared in nearly a third of job descriptions.
• Having a strong background in mathematics and statistics is a huge factor for employers.
• Having previous experience as a data or game data analyst.

Other qualifications included:

• The need to have attended gaming conferences.
• Completing self-learning courses on platforms such as Kaggle.

So What Skills Do Game Data Analysts Need in 2025?

Employers are looking for game data analysts who have extensive knowledge in game-based areas such as game mechanics and economies. However, they should also have analytics fundamentals locked down, like mastering tools such as SQL and Python. 

They should be able to handle data storage tools like Snowflake and be able to visualize data through platforms such as Tableau. Mastering tools purpose-built for game analytics can also make these jobs easier.
As well as this, today’s game data analysts must be strong team players and be able to communicate and collaborate effectively across departments.