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Why geymindustry need marketing research

Before answering the question why marketing research is needed for the geymindustry, it’s worth answering the question of what research can and cannot do.


Research is conducted by everyone, only they are able. For once, yes, the developer asks your friend or colleague “how do you like this art” or “how do you like this character”. You can also ask friends, colleagues to play and give your feedback - this is a classic. This “study” is called “friends & family”. That's just to criticize the work of a friend or colleague is not so simple. Most likely, people are simply ashamed to tell the truth, or they will not notice at all what the target audience will pay attention to.
Playtest is a marketing research. Many have heard the word “playtest” in the industry, but not everyone understands that this is a classic marketing research. In other markets, products have been testing for at least the last 60 years: TV shows, music on the radio, commercials. But the game is also media content. Yes, a specific, interactive, very dynamic, but the research methodology will not differ significantly for the tested game or commercial. It is also necessary to correctly select representatives of the target audience, show them the content being tested, collect impressions, opinions, analyze the information obtained and compare with other data obtained earlier.

To understand why we need research, we can draw an analogy with the battlefield: you cannot advance until you get intelligence data on the one hand, and on the other hand you are not sure about the effectiveness of your equipment. Behavior in the market is very similar to a real battle, only wars are going on - marketing. Research is an additional sense of the developer, as well as a tool for obtaining feedback from potential consumers. The game industry is just beginning to discover marketing research opportunities, methods that have worked well in other markets. In turn, the industry requires researchers to innovate, adapt, and change.

What can help the marketing research of the gaming industry:
  1. Help develop a product. Get information about the preferences and habits of players
  2. Get an opinion about competitors, identify strengths and weaknesses in the segment
  3. Help to avoid mistakes. Sometimes one ridiculous mistake can become a barrier and a new user will not return to the game, or even remove the application altogether. Bad tutorial, lack of history in the game, incomprehensibility of game goals, paywall at the stage of attracting a player - these are just a small list of errors to which the developer may not pay attention
  4. Understand what the overall impression of the game. It seems that the product is already ready, but the first meeting with the reality on the playtest was confused by more than one game designer who came to our office. “Is it really incomprehensible?”, “Yes, it's hard for them to play,” “too much pace of the game” is only a part of the exclamations of our guests. The game can quickly get bored, not cause interest, the player may not want to play further


Where do errors occur when developing a game? Game designer sees the game holistically, he knows every detail of the game, history and goals. This can play a cruel joke, since the player is far from all “and so understandable.” Each person has the property to slightly exaggerate the range of what seems clear. Only a study involving representatives of the target audience provides an opportunity to understand how much sometimes incomprehensible is left in the game, up to the impossibility to continue playing at a certain stage.
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What can be done with the help of research:
  1. To study the market and competitors. Using special techniques, for example, Customer Satisfaction Index (CSI) or Noriyaki Kano methods, you can deeply analyze what is important for the target audience in the best games of the genre and what is good / bad for your competitors
  2. Rate the prototype of the game. In the right direction you are moving or not. How to assess the art of the basic setting and the first characters of the target audience. This is all you need to know before you draw all the characters and locations. It is also important to understand whether you have guessed with the Core-mechanics of the game, whether your Core-loop works on the target audience, where the imbalance is already manifested in the prototype
  3. Purchase players (Acquisition). Using the assessment of the perception of the game, its main components, game mechanics. Understand whether the perception of the players of the original concept of the game. What are the obstacles to gain gaming experience. What do you like, what do not like. Is there a desire to continue the game after playtest, and if there is no desire, you must understand the reasons
  4. Hold players (Retention). For games that came out in release and gained the first audience, it is important to keep the players, to support their interest. With the help of special techniques and methods of multi-day playtests, one can estimate the potential for retaining players.
  5. Assess the potential of monetization (Monetization). The ideal situation is when the player not only continues to play, but also begins to spend money - “do donat”. We most often deal with free-to-play games, so the success of the game is determined by the success of the monetization scheme originally conceived.

Marketing research has limitations, they are related to the following:

Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/302262/

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