Gaming Beta Tests

Do you need information on planning a video game beta test? You might want to download our free Software Beta Test Planning Kit

Introduction to Video Game Beta Tests

Video Game beta tests are tests of entertainment software running on a PC or Mac, Video Game consoles such as Microsoft Xbox 360, Nintendo Wii, or Sony Playstation 3, or mobile devices including smart phones like the Apple iPhone and portable gaming devices like the Nintendo 3DS, Sony PS Vita, or Apple iPad. Depending on the game content and genre, the intended audience can vary heavily, from casual gamers to enthusiasts.

MMO Beta Tests

While Video Games generally require different levels of beta testing depending on their complexity and audience, the Massively Multiplayer Online Games (known as MMO or MMORPG) genre is unique in its scale and sophistication. MMO games often execute the world's largest beta tests, beginning with internal friends and family phases, but ultimately scaling to thousands of beta participants—often before reaching the public beta phase, which will likely expand to tens or even hundreds of thousands of participants.

Common Video Game Beta Test Traits

  • Cooperative Testing - Many games feature multiplayer functionality, requiring players to test together to simulate a live experience.
  • Young Audience - Depending on the genre and content, the target participants of a game beta may be a very young audience.
  • Public Betas - More so than most product types, video games often make use of the public beta format, inviting an extremely large pool of participants. Public betas are a common element of a modern video game marketing plan, and as such rely little on direct user feedback (although server performance and other generated data is often collected and evaluated).

Video Game Beta Test Challenges

  • Participant Coordination - In order to ensure participants stress multiplayer aspects of games, it’s important to coordinate players so they’re capable of playing together, focused specifically on your goals. Scheduling and general coordination for a large group of users can be a time consuming task.
  • Platform Lockdown - For console and closed platform games (iPhone, etc.), distributing pre-release builds to live customers can be an extreme challenge. This is primarily due to security concerns of the platform holders, which result in a number of obstacles.
  • Scale - Many games require very large participant pools. These pools can require an enormous amount of coordination, communication, and logistical planning. Seemingly simple tasks such as distributing beta builds becomes increasing complex as the number of participants rises.
  • Limited Feedback - While gaming betas generally have no problem convincing users to try their game, obtaining valid feedback is a much greater challenge. Many players have come to think of game betas as free product as opposed to an exclusive opportunity to provide essential feedback.
  • Audience Age - Many game betas include a younger audience, which can be difficult to keep focused, and may bring entirely different legal requirements than older participants.

Centercode Has The Perfect Solutions for Video Game Beta Tests

How Centercode Connect™ Software Can Help

  • Beta Portal - Connect provides a centralized portal to distribute information to and collect feedback from your beta participants.
  • Private Forums - Private user forums provide beta participants with an outlet to share their excitement about your beta product with other NDA'd users in a secure location fully within your control.
  • Collaborative Wikis - Many video games make great use of wiki technology, allowing customers to collaborate to develop valuable materials for games. Connect’s wiki functionality allows you to harness this technology to allow your beta participants to begin generating these materials prior to the public launch of your game.
  • Tasks - Connect’s Task system provides an excellent mechanism to keep participants on target, focused on stressing the aspects of your game you care about most.
  • Build Distribution - Connect makes it easy to distribute software builds to participants. Connect includes both internal secure file distribution mechanisms, as well as hooks to distribute via external content delivery systems like Akamai.
  • Product Key Distribution - Many games require activation keys, which must be distributed to beta participants prior to using the product. Connect provides a powerful tool to both distribute and monitor these keys.
  • System Integrations - Connect offers multiple mechanisms to communicate programmatically directly with your game. This includes systems for external user authentication (billing, etc.) as well as player feedback directly from your game.

How Centercode Managed Betas and Services Can Help

  • Recruiting - Our Community (OnlineBeta.com) is loaded with gamers who would love to participate in your betas. We’d be happy help seed and build your own beta community.
  • Blind Recruiting - We can recruit a set of participants who meet your target market requirements, without exposing your brand in the process.
  • Offset Your Resources - We’ve run a number of successful video game betas in the past. If your timeline is extremely tight, outsourcing your project to our expert team of beta test managers can produce amazing results at a reasonable price.

Centercode Video Game Beta Test Customers (More Clients »)

  • UbisoftPC and Console Video Games
  • Midway GamesPC and Console Video Games
  • OnLiveNext Generation Streaming Video Games
  • MS Games StudiosVideo Games (Xbox and PC)
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