StarBerry Games is a mobile gaming studio based in Berlin, known for titles like Merge Mayor. With a lean team where one person handles both analytics and engineering, they needed a data platform that could keep up without requiring dedicated data engineering resources. We spoke with Kerem Pilav (Data Analyst) and Antti Hattara (CEO & Co-Founder) about how Bruin changed the way they work.

The Moment It Clicked

For Kerem, the moment came the day after migration. He went in expecting at least a few broken pipelines or edge-case errors — the usual aftermath of any data stack change. Instead, everything ran cleanly. What stood out even more was that he could immediately move on to the next steps without firefighting. Normally you spend days stabilizing things, but with Bruin it just worked from day one.

For Antti, it clicked about a week or two after the integration, when everything was running smooth and the team was convinced they didn't need to spend time on data engineering anymore. The second big moment was seeing the AI analyst on Slack giving answers to fairly complex data questions.

Life Before and After Bruin

Before Bruin, Kerem would often postpone data engineering tasks or fixes because they were time-consuming and mentally heavy — especially being the only person handling both analytics and engineering. Those tasks felt like a burden that kept getting pushed down the priority list.

After Bruin, those tasks became part of his natural workflow. Instead of avoiding them, he handles them quickly and moves on. It removed a lot of friction and made the whole data process feel much more manageable.

“It's like having a second analyst to bounce ideas off. I mainly use it to kickstart SQL queries, validate my thinking, and explore alternative approaches.“

AI Data Analyst in Action

Kerem uses Bruin's AI Data Analyst to kickstart SQL queries, validate his thinking, and explore alternative approaches. But the biggest impact, according to Antti, has been on the product team. They now have a way to ask basic data questions themselves, which significantly reduced the number of ad-hoc requests coming to the data team. That alone freed up a meaningful portion of Kerem's time.

What Surprised Them Most

The ease of migration surprised both of them. Moving an entire data pipeline usually feels risky and time-intensive. But with Bruin — and the support from the team — they migrated quickly and had a clean, working pipeline the next day. On top of that, they even fixed some legacy data issues during the process.

Antti highlighted the close collaboration and genuine interest from the Bruin team to provide a fitting solution. That builds trust quickly, and everything works faster and smoother when that's the case.

The Numbers

From a time perspective, the data setup and pipeline work for StarBerry's new game took roughly one-third of the time they would normally expect without Bruin.

Over 1.5 years of operating Bruin, the team estimates savings of around 50k on data engineering freelance costs, another 50k on more efficient data pipeline and analytics work (roughly 3k per month), and — as Antti puts it — the priceless benefit of keeping their Data Analyst focused on insights and higher-level things.

Overcoming Skepticism

There was some initial skepticism internally — mainly because there are more established tools backed by larger teams. What changed that perception was the speed and quality of support the team received. They consistently got fast, helpful responses, which built confidence very quickly.

“I already recommend Bruin — even when people don't ask. For gaming studios in particular, where speed and iteration matter a lot, it just makes sense. Especially if you don't have a large data team, the leverage you get is hard to ignore.“

“Easy recommendation to give to any studio wanting to set up their data pipeline on a solid base. Data Engineers are expensive, today you don't need one if you run on Bruin... save money, save time!“