At PlaytestCloud, our mission has been the same since the beginning: help game creators (meaning you!) make games that players love.

This has been the consistent driving force behind every single new feature, every new product we’ve created and launched, from longitudinal studies to playtesting with kids, always aiming at giving every single company out there access to all the playtesting tools they need. After all, how can you make sure you’re making games that players love, without hearing and gathering feedback from the players themselves?

Now, as 2023 begins, we’re taking that one step further with the launch of Player Interviews, our new service that will allow you to easily find and speak to your desired players, giving you unprecedented access to the people you’re making your game for. More than 1.000.000 players in our global player panel will be available to you, at the distance of a few clicks.

Along with this, we'll soon also be taking things further with the upcoming launch of our new Live Playtesting feature, now in early access! Join players and see how they play your game, in real-time!

But back to Player interviews... Want to jump right into it and start talking to players?

Sign-up now if you’re new to PlaytestCloud, and start scheduling those interviews! Already have an account? Then head here and start talking to players. Want to know about pricing and availability? Head over to our pricing page. Or have a look at our dedicated product page for more about our new service.

Also: want to stay up to date on all the relevant playtesting and games user research news and best practices? Then sign-up for our newsletter!

Want to know more about Player Interviews? Then just keep reading below.

In this blog post:

  1. Player Interviews: What is It?
  2. How Does it Work?
  3. Why Player Interviews?
  4. From Producers to User Researchers to Game Designers, Player Interviews is for Everyone
  5. A Collaborative Way of Working
  6. Conducting Interviews: Our Best Practices
  7. Player Interviews: Bridging the Gap

Player Interviews: What is It?

Previously in the pilot phase and now fully-released to everyone, Player Interviews allows you to gather feedback and insights from the people who matter the most: the players.

Through Player Interviews, you’ll be able to easily set up one-on-one video calls with players, all based on your targeting and chosen day and timing. This is all seamless, with no work from your side: you tell us what kind of player you want to talk to (Someone who loves a specific game? Someone from a specific market?), when you’d like to have the interview, and everything else will be set up quickly and automatically – including the incentives for the players. Our platform will both find the players and organize the interview, making sure you can focus on what matters: talking to and better understanding the people you’re making your game for.

In the video call itself you’ll be able to share your screen in order to get feedback on anything you need, from gaming habits to design to storylines. Other colleagues will also be able to join in without being seen by the player through our Observer Mode, making sure the player is as comfortable as possible while still giving you and your team all the insights you need. You’ll also be able to automatically and with just a click add any player interviews to your calendar, and access them directly from there, too.

Interviews scheduled at PlaytestCloud

How does it work?

If you’ve used PlaytestCloud in the past, the process won’t seem new to you. You can order Player Interviews through a dedicated order form, as you’d usually do with a playtest, choosing your target audience and preferred time. From there, we’ll give you access to a dedicated page where you can immediately and directly access and begin all your scheduled interviews – or, when the time comes, you’ll just access them from your calendar! There’s no need to use any other tools, as everything will happen under one roof: ours. No external software is needed – just open your browser, head to PlaytestCloud, and all you need is there

You’ll conduct the interview comfortably from your desk, players will join in from their phones through our app, and once in the interview you’ll have full control, with the ability not just to share your screen or invite other colleagues (which you can do even before the interview starts), but also to end the interview at any chosen moment, and also to let us know directly if something goes wrong. All of it is seamless, automatic, and with no admin hassles from your side. We’ll even schedule extra slots with backup players, in case another player has to cancel or doesn’t show up, guaranteeing you get all the insights you need.The days of looking for players to talk on Craigslist or social media are dead and gone: now, PlaytestCloud can do all that for you. The advantages remote playtesting brings to the table now translate to user interviews too, making things easier than ever – for both you and the players.

Afterwards, the interview recording will be available in your PlaytestCloud account, along with transcripts and all our usual video tools. Player Interviews works in conjunction with all our other services, allowing you to create exactly the interview you’d like. Why not use it to interview your own handpicked players, for example, by using it in conjunction with Bring Your Own Players? Or why not have a games user researcher help you with the questions or even analyze the answers for you, using our User Research Services? The possibilities are endless.

Why Player Interviews?

When it comes to making great games, playtesting, along with the feedback and insights it provides, is essential. Every single company out there, no matter their size (or budget!), deserves access to the best playtesting tools out there, so they can create the very best game they can.

Along with this comes our belief that every game creator out there deserves access to the people they’re making their game for: meaning, players. Playtesting is nothing but a way to connect creators to their audience, helping them gather all the insights they need from the people who will, ultimately, play (and hopefully love) their game. Player Interviews is a natural next step in this, allowing creators to interact and talk directly with their audience, creating a bridge that wasn’t there before.

This opens unparalleled opportunities for every single aspect of game making, and for every single person involved in it.

From Producers to User Researchers to Game Designers, Player Interviews is for Everyone

From concept testing to competitor research, from producers to games user researchers, Player Interviews creates a bridge between those who make games and those who play them, allowing PlaytestCloud users not just to create the best games possible, but also to understand players better than ever.

In a nutshell: the use cases for this new service are infinite, such as:

  • For producers or game designers starting work on a new game(or debating if they should do so), it’s ideal to get direct feedback from a player on your concepts and ideas.
  • For market researchers or directors trying to decide what game to make next and better understand what players want, it solves any issues – you can just go and ask the players themselves!.
  • Or maybe you want to better understand what players think of a competitor, and use those insights in your own game? Then just schedule a call with a click, and a player will tell you all you need to know.
  • For any game user researcher, it’s the perfect (and easiest!) way to talk to and better understand players, with more time spent on actual research and no time spent on finding players
  • The opportunities are limitless!

From conceptualizing a game, to creating it, to its release and even post-launch, Player Interviews can help every step of the way, providing needed insights to anyone in the industry, no matter their position or the stage their game is in.

A Collaborative Way of Working

Just like all our other tools, Player Interviews is made to allow collaboration between different teammates, different teams, and just about anyone you’d like to involve.

Not only does Player Interviews come with all our other capabilities, such as Video Reels, which allows you to share specific clips of a recording (or an interview, in this case!), or annotations, it also brings some new features of its own.

You can invite colleagues to the interview before or while it’s happening, allowing more than one person to interview each player. Or, if you want, you can also have someone join in using our Observer Mode, which makes them invisible to the interviewee, ensuring they’re as comfortable as possible. Afterwards, of course, you can share the recording with your teammates. This will allow you to mold the interview to your liking, and also to share gained insights quickly and efficiently.

As we mentioned above: Player Interviews was designed for everyone, including the way how different teams and different colleagues work together throughout game development. By incorporating these abilities, we want to ensure these different teams can collaborate and work together the best way possible – all the way from scheduling an interview to looking at its recording.

Conducting Interviews: Our Best Practices

All this raises the question: how should you conduct a player interview? And how should you analyze the insights, after?

We understand not everyone has experience talking to players directly, which is why Steve Bromley, renowned Games User Researcher, crafted for us a few articles with all the best practices regarding Player Interviews, from what to ask to analyzing the answers:

  1. Overcome the fear - Preparing for your first playtest interview
  2. Running great playtest interviews - Making the most of your time with players
  3. Analysing playtest interviews - Making sense of the data

When it comes to talking to players, preparation is key, along with knowing exactly how to transform your goals into questions and, afterwards, translating the answers into actual, powerful insights. With this service aimed at helping everyone from game user researchers to game designers to producers, it’s important to us that every user can take from Player Interviews as much as they can, independently of their previous experience.

Which is why our Games User Research team is ready to help with anything you need, from helping you create an interview, to analyzing the results, to even conducting it for you or just giving you all the best practices you need. Reach out to let us know how we can help.

Player Interviews: Bridging the Gap

We hope you’re as excited as we are with this release, in what will be a big year for us (and you!) here at PlaytestCloud. Player Interviews aims at bridging the gap between you and players, bringing your teams and your games new, until now untapped potential. As we mentioned above, our mission at PlaytestCloud has always been to help creators make games that players love. And now, finally, players themselves will be able to sit down, jump on a call, and help you understand how to do just that. All of this automatic, at the distance of a few clicks, with no work from your side. We have more than one million players available, all of them ready for a chat.

Ready to get started? Sign-up here if you don’t have a PlaytestCloud account yet. Already a PlaytestCloud user? Then just head here and start talking to players. Have a look at our dedicated product page too, to know more about this new service.

Are you doing player interviews already and want to know how we can help? Interested in switching your interviews to Playtestcloud? Or want to know exactly how Player Interviews can help you and your team, and what it offers? Then reach out to us for a free consultation or any questions using the form below. Just like players, we’re just a few clicks away!