Vocabulary Session 1

Part 1: General Business Vocabulary

1 Leverage — To use something you already have (like a tool, skill, or resource) to achieve a better result.

2 Bottleneck — A delay or block in a process that slows down the whole project.

3 Bandwidth — The time, energy, or mental capacity to take on new tasks or responsibilities.

4 Deliverable — A tangible product, report, or result that must be completed and handed over by a deadline.

5 Mitigate — To make something less severe, dangerous, or painful (e.g., mitigating financial risks).

6 Scalable — Capable of growing or expanding in size and revenue without losing efficiency or profit margin.

7 ROI (Return on Investment) — A measure used to evaluate the efficiency or profitability of an investment.

8 Stakeholder — Anyone who has an interest or a "stake" in the success of a business or project, including employees, customers, and investors.

9 Pivot — A sudden change in business strategy, usually to adapt to new market conditions or customer feedback.

10 KPI (Key Performance Indicator) — A specific, measurable value used to track how effectively a company or team is achieving its main goals.

Part 2: Video Game Industry Business Vocabulary

1 Monetization — The strategy and methods used to make money from a game, such as in-app purchases, ads, or subscriptions.

2 IP (Intellectual Property) — Creative work, characters, or brands owned by a company that are legally protected (e.g., Mario is Nintendo's IP).

3 Crunch — A period of intense, forced overtime work to meet a fast-approaching game release deadline.

4 Localization — Translating and adapting a game's text, voice acting, and cultural references so it makes sense to players in different countries.

5 User Acquisition (UA) — The marketing process of finding, attracting, and convincing new players to download or buy a game.

6 Churn Rate — The percentage of players who stop playing a game over a specific period of time.

7 DAU / MAU (Daily / Monthly Active Users) — Metrics used to measure player engagement by counting how many unique users open the game each day or month.

8 QA (Quality Assurance) — The testing phase where teams play a game repeatedly to find, document, and fix software bugs before release.

9 LiveOps (Live Operations) — The ongoing management and updating of a game after it launches to keep players engaged through events, updates, and new content.

10 Freemium — A business model where a game is free to download and play, but players must pay for premium features, cosmetics, or faster progress.