"At MPL we are committed to offering the best-in-class security and gameplay experience for our users... Confluent has helped us access real-time data to make informed decisions and stamp out issues before they become problems."
Jaydeep Punjani
Principal Engineer, MPL
Mobile Premier League (MPL) is the world’s leading mobile eSports and digital gaming platform. Established in 2018, the gaming giant now hosts millions of monthly competitions, offering a complete catalog of games with categories ranging from fantasy sports and puzzles to board games and competitive cards.
With over 90 million registered users on the platform, building trust is a big focus for MPL— and eSports in general. In such a competitive space, it is extremely important to offer a safe and secure platform to users so they don’t move to a competitor.
As part of its commitment to offer a safe gameplay experience to users, the team at MPL focused on strengthening their systems architecture to protect users from fraud, keep up with millions of daily transactions, and generate valuable insights to personalize the gaming experience.
After deciding that a fully managed Kafka solution was the best option, the company collaborated with Confluent to transition away from its existing batch-driven systems toward a cutting-edge platform built around real-time data streaming.
This collaboration enables MPL to continue to provide trustworthy and reliable gaming experiences for its growing user base. And with numerous new pipelines providing a continual supply of critical data, the company has the resources to combat fraud and keep users safe, all while giving gamers a personalized experience they can’t find anywhere else.
The Challenge - Slow updates and data collection
MPL needed a data streaming solution that could handle millions of daily events and a platform that could provide real-time data access between multiple data sources like gameplay streams, app activity, authorization services, and more.
After-the-fact access to critical information left data science teams to implement new features, offers, and gameplay tweaks based on hunches and assumed trends, risking relevance to the customer. Also, without a way to detect and stamp out security threats in real time, there was a possibility of fraudsters taking advantage of the situation.
Jaydeep Punjani, principal engineer at MPL, explains, “Collecting data a day late meant our decisions were delayed, our customer offers were not that relevant in a lot of cases, and our deep focus on fraud prevention could be improved further.”
The Solution - Real-time data streaming helps combat fraud and personalize interactions
To support its mission to become the world’s safest online gaming and eSports platform, MPL tapped Confluent to access a fully managed Kafka solution, help move away from cloud dependency, and manage the transition to multicloud.
Confluent supplied MPL with a data pipeline that collects and transmits events from data sources like gameplay streams, player actions, and competition outcomes—all in real time. And the continual supply of data that flows through Kafka has proved invaluable in the fight against fraudulent transactions.
MPL’s data science team connects the relevant app data to its authorization services to detect conspiracy, fraud, money laundering, or suspicious transactions. Once the system identifies users suspected of fraud, the model can block, lock, or suspend users from accessing the platform. These new protections were quick to further enhance MPL’s security.
Rather than attempt to manage its new Kafka deployment independently, MPL opted to have Confluent take over the governance. Outsourcing Kafka’s management was a no-brainer for internal teams, as it eliminated the need to hire additional staff. As Punjani explains, “Without Confluent managing our Kafka deployment, we’d easily need three or four additional employees to keep things ticking along. But now, we can put those resources into app development, new features, and platform improvements.”
Another use case that quickly came to light once MPL set its data in motion was personalization through bespoke offers, guidance, and a tailored platform journey. With data provided by Confluent’s platform, MPL’s data science model spins out specific tasks—like playing five hands of poker or winning a certain number of points.
These tasks are generated regularly, providing users with objectives tailored to their gaming habits to encourage and incentivize continued engagement with the platform. For example, if a customer repeatedly loses on a specific game, the system can detect churn and send an offer to retain them. This guidance especially impacts new users, ensuring they aren’t lost during the onboarding experience.
The Results - With Confluent, MPL continues to achieve some fantastic results, including:
Better engagement and personalization
Confluent provides a continual stream of customer data, which gives MPL the insights it needs to offer guided onboarding, personalized offers, and a tailored experience for every gamer that uses its platform. With relevant offers, challenges, and tasks to complete, gamers have a steady stream of new content and achievements to strive for.
Plus, the readily available user means onboarding can be tweaked and optimized based on the individual preference of every gamer. This gives MPL valuable information on how to ensure that new users start their gaming journey armed with the support and guidance they need to get comfortable with the platform, its features, and games—without getting lost along the way.
Increased trust and platform confidence
With Confluent, MPL has eliminated the guesswork of predicting trends, user intentions, and more. This has bolstered stakeholders’ confidence in the platform, as they can quickly see the impact and reception of new features, games, and improvements.
And when the continual development of fresh and exciting customer-facing apps is so crucial to staying up to date and relevant in such a fast-moving industry, this has proved invaluable. As Punjani says, “Our stakeholders have no issue with greenlighting new app developments, as all of our pitches and suggestions are backed up by the data and insights we’ve collected through Confluent.”
A safer gaming experience
Every gamer deserves a fair chance to get rewarded for their skill, time, and effort. The playing field has to be level, and there needs to be sufficient protections to prevent any users that try to game the system.
Thanks to Confluent, MPL now has the tools to do just that. With real-time data fed into its authorization system, the platform can prevent fraudulent transactions, money laundering, and collusion— before it becomes a problem. As a result, fraudulent transactions have further decreased, so users can focus on playing the games they love, without being deterred by a lack of security and safety.
The Future
MPL now has access to everything it needs to provide a safe, engaging, and rewarding experience for its growing base of avid gamers looking to monetize their skills.
So, what’s next for MPL?
With Confluent’s ongoing support, Punjani and the rest of the team are looking to ramp up their usage and move its suite of sister companies over to Confluent. He explains, “The team at MPL is confident that they can continue to grow and expand their brand, all while uncovering new and exciting use cases that are possible with Confluent.”
