Game Management: The Art and Science of Free-to-Play Paperback – February 6, 2026

Game Management: The Art and Science of Free-to-Play is a comprehensive guide to building, analyzing, and operating modern free-to-play games. It distills the end-to-end craft of running a live game into clear frameworks, practical examples, and data-driven methodologies.In these pages, you will learn:How to form your product vision and lead your team to achieve itHow to forge a product roadmap that will exceed your business goalsHow to leverage data to build trust and inform product strategyHow to analyze, predict, and boost your player retentionHow to manage a virtual economy by cultivating your active payer baseHow to deconstruct and upgrade your player lifetime value (LTV)How to master the black art of new user acquisitionHow to evaluate and level up your feature and LiveOps strategyHow to tame RNG to create compelling player experiencesHow to execute and evaluate powerful hypothesis testsThis book is written for product managers, data scientists, producers, game designers, and anyone responsible for guiding a game to success over months and years, not just on launch day. It offers both seasoned professionals and newcomers a structured way to understand, analyze, and improve the performance of complex game systems. More importantly, readers will gain the strategic perspective and analytical toolkit needed to steer their game confidently through uncertainty, creating experiences that delight players while driving long-term sustainability for the studio. Read more