The Playtest Survey 2023
Jackson Davis Herd • 2 minute read
Find the full report at https://gamesuserresearch.com/the-2023-playtest-survey/
Context
I reached out to Steve Bromley of GamesUserResearch.com to help with creating, writing, and analyzing a survey of game developers about playtesting/user research.
Over a few weeks of planning we created a 26-question survey that was sent through Steve and my respective networks.
I also ran multiple one-on-one interviews with game developers to understand their perspective and experience with playtesting. This was used as a lens to help validate the results and feedback from the survey.
Tools
- Qualtrix
- Discord
-
XSplit
Outcomes
We had roughly 50% responses from UX researchers, and 50% from non-researchers (studio/company owners, producers, product managers, etc). Some of the major takeaways we found:
It takes a village: Playtests involve more than just UX. From QA to to art, cross-discipline communication is a must.
Player understanding: Enjoyment and feature testing are important, but checking your game to make sure players understand features, ui, etc, is the most popular reason for research.
The recruitment struggle: It’s understandable that the biggest reported difficulty is participant recruitment. Results showed convenience testing with internal staff, friends, or family was a necessity.
≤10: Almost half of all surveyed teams’ playtests had ≤10 playtesters. There’s no doubt that some of this category is caused by necessity or convenience. But it emphasizes that any amount of playtesting, 2 players or 2000, has value.
The full report, including results on popular tools, third-party agencies, and more can be found at https://gamesuserresearch.com/the-2023-playtest-survey/.
Biggest Achievement: Running one-on-one interviews was incredibly beneficial for my early-stage career. I was able to discuss methods, strategies, and the industry in a live setting, which informed the survey as well as my career education.
Biggest Lesson: Prototype survey testing is invaluable. We tested the survey with around a dozen practice participants, and uncovered many improvements. We would have liked to test the survey with even more people but concerns of cutting into the participants pool led us to publishing the survey sooner rather than later.