Keywords Studios buys Japan's Yokozuna Data for $1.5m

Keywords Studios has bought Japanese video games developer Yokozuna Data (YD) and all associated technology and trademarks from Silicon Studio Corporation for $1.5m in cash.

Based in Tokyo, YD has developed a range of cutting edge self-learning, predictive analytic models drawing on AI and machine learning technologies that predict individual player behaviour and adapt themselves in response to changes that are made in the game. These models are used for determining the likelihood of players abandoning the game and their propensity to buy items in the game.

In addition, YD has a management framework solution to allow games companies to adjust key parameters, to record and view results and to monitor key performance metrics of their games in live operation.

Keywords chief executive officer Andrew Day said: "We have been looking for opportunities to establish a foothold in the exciting area of video game analytics for a few years. This acquisition brings industry leading technology and capabilities to Keywords that we believe we can support, enhance and roll out to our clients thanks to the engineering, player research and video game specific data science skills we have within the business. While YD is pre- revenue, it is a rare asset and we expect the first clients to start implementing the software during 2018.

"As games continue to transition to a service model from a product model, the use of sophisticated analytics engines like this to automatically understand player behaviour and trigger real time decisions in-game will become increasingly valuable to our clients. The use of AI to constantly adapt the predictive models to changes that are made in the games, such as when new items, expansion packs and promotions are introduced, is critical to the future of the video games industry so we are delighted to have secured this leading-edge technology."

At 1040 BST, the shares were up 1% to 1,826p.