Ahead of Game Quality Forum Europe, Advisory Board member and InnoGames QA expert Joseph Hill discusses thechanging world of testing

There was so much to name and highlight during the Game Quality Forum 2023 - the only event to bring together Quality Assurance (QA), Localisation and Player Community professionals in one unique forum, and we are very proud to bring all of these together in this year's post-show report, as the global gaming community moves towards immersive, faultless, and accessible experience for their players! 

Read more and discover:

• Who attended 
• The key sessions & takeaways 
• Event highlights 
• Our 2023 speakers
• What our attendees had to say
• Our 2023 sponsors
• What's up next for GQF!

Download the full post-show report here >>>

DRIVING POSITIVE CULTURE AND CROSS-FUNCTIONAL COLLABORATION FOR THE GLOBAL GAMING COMMUNITY

Over the years Testronic has grown to become a successful company in the field of Quality Assurance across movies, games and TV. And a considerable part of this is the Games QA team which works with a variety of games publishers and developers from around the globe.

At Testronic we believe that it should be the goal for a QA vendor to establish a partnership with their clients. But what are the benefits of such an effort? Why not simply remain on a level of service provider?

At Game Quality Europe 2018 we heard from Denise and Suzi from Jagex who discussed:

• Introducing LOC Liaisons to strengthen and facilitate the collaboration between key departments of the business
• Working on an MMORPG with weekly updates and the benefits of having in-house LOC Teams
• Evolving translators into LOC Specialists who deliver LOC, QA and CM

Download the presentation here to find out more >>

Keep up to date on the latest news @GamingIQ

Throughout the evolution of the industry, the demands of modern gaming have changed and releases now necessitate a long and planned lifecycle. Players expect more, and with each release, they want to know what your product offers in the long term. This includes content drops, free updates, community challenges, double XP events, among others. Titles today encourage large online player bases, and keeping them happy is the key to retaining current players and attracting new ones. As such, it makes sense that delivering valuable support to players will keep them coming back. 

This piece will look into what Player Support entails, how it has changed and the value an integrated Player Support system offers both gamers and developers. Ahead of the Game Quality Forum Global, the team at Gaming IQ have compiled a short piece to help you level up your experience.

In this exclusive presentation from Game Quality Forum, Pete McKay from Social Point shares his insights on VIP programs for games!

Fill in the form on the right to receive you copy >>

Download now to learn:

• How driving higher spenders can increase returns
• The value of recognizing key players early
• The influence your players may have on one another

Don't like filling in forms? Email us at enquire@iqpc.co.uk and we'll send you a copy!

Here's a recap of the Game Quality Forum 2018 where we welcomed over 200+ attendees for 3 days working together to raise the industry benchmarks for QA, Localisation and Player Support worldwide. More information on this year's event taking place in Amsterdam on the 28 - 30 June 2022 coming soon!

Want to find out more? Email us at enquire@iqpc.co.uk for a copy of the full agenda.

n this short video, take a sneak peek at what the future of Game Quality looks like, as we discuss what the future of game quality looks like and what you and your team must do to get there. Thanks to our Thought Leadership session Chairman Ben, from the former Game Quality North America 2018! If you would like more information about the event where we will be discussing these topics further then you can take a look at all our speakers and sessions here.

The Game Quality Europe Forum is back, and will be bigger and better than ever before! For the first time, we’ll be bringing all parts of the quality lifecycle together by welcoming Customer Support and Community Management backgrounds to our existing community of QA and Localisation specialists. For more info on our speaker panel and key themes that will be discussed, download the full programme.

Take a look at some of the organisations and job titles you can meet onsite, with representatives from EA. SEGA, Flaregames and more!

Do you want to unlock your players' loyalty? At Game Quality Europe Forum we think it's all about quality (obvs). One of our previous sponsors, Pole To Win, agrees with us and they actually made a video explaining why it's important. 

When it comes to Game Quality, each and every department is concerned. A big theme of the Game Quality Forum Global is cross-functional collaboration, as it has a huge impact on the quality of a game. 

Download a copy of the interviews on the right >>

We decided to understand the views of different departments, so we simply asked three experts - a Head of Localisation, a Quality Assurance Analyst and a Producer - to express their opinion on how cross-functional department can be improved, the impact of siloed organisations and ultimately, whose responsibility it is to improve it. 

Meet the Interviewees!

In the gaming industry, the player base is famous for being unique and requiring high maintenance, in return for loyalty and maximum advocacy to a company. We wanted to know more about how Customer Support and Community Management matter for a company and especially for game quality. 

With the help of Jeffrey Otterspoor, Director of Community Operations at GamePoint and speaker at Game Quality Forum Europe 2018, we found the answer in 5 chapters.

Underscoring all QA decisions is – of course – the issue of financial viability. However, in recent years, the obsession with the balance sheet seems, in some cases, to have caused divide over who is – or should be – making the decisions when it comes to QA and Localisation. Many are now seeing producers get final say, while others are insisting the QA/Localisation departments should be ultimately responsible for their own output, including decisions that determine their specific outsourcing partners and tools. With these shifts come confusion and internal tensions. Is there a “right way” to oversee the quality of a game, or is each product and studio different?

This report presents findings from Gaming IQ’s latest survey of the market. Over 200 professionals involved in Game QA or Localisation worldwide offered us their insight and opinion on a number of the most pressing issues, and the responses provide a general measurement of the industry trends at present.

Download the report for exclusive insight...

Whenever we gather at this event to discuss the issue of quality assurance in the gaming industry, we frequently focus on the "how" of improvement - how to be more efficient, how to decrease costs, and how to stay ahead of the technology curves. These are certainly valid questions, but as we approach this year's Game QA & Localisation conference, we also want to bring things back to the basics and remember why this activity is so important. It's not just about creating a quality game, it's about building a quality reputation - and ensuring players stay loyal to a brand by associating a clean gaming experience with your products. Here, one gamer offers his opinion on exactly why QA matters, and shares the experiences that have frustrated him most over the years...

The global games market is expanding rapidly making localisation a key opportunity for publishers now more than ever. Ahead of the 5th Annual Game QA & Localisation Forum, Gaming IQ spoke to Dario Quandamstefano, Localisation Manager at Berlin-based mobile & social gaming publisher – Wooga (and speaker at #GameQALoc) and he shared five localisation trends that helped make Wooga a success.

Download your complimentary copy on the right >>

Download now to:

• Understand current Localisation trends in the market
  
• Discover the results Wooga has seen from improved team integration
• Gain tips and insights on how to organise localisation teams and partners
• Discover the best technological tools to use
• Learn the value of staying in contact with partners and players

Don't like downloading forms? Email us at enquire@iqpc.co.uk and we'll send you a copy!

“What?! How did you manage that?!” These were the sort of remarks made by the audience at Blizzard’s short intro to QA on Overwatch at last year’s Game QA & Localization Europe conference in Barcelona, at a casual comment that QA had veto power over level design. Here we get a sneak-peak into the story on how Overwatch’s QA team interacts with the development team.

This feature explores the high-level challenges facing a team coming from a canceled project, the importance of starting a new project with QA considerations from the beginning and wrapping a project together by leveraging QA in new ways...

You can download your free copy below for insights into the journey

Black box testing is where the tester plays the full build of a game but is unaware of the coding mechanics, implantation and content. In this article, we focus on the impact of the gaming public reporting on bugs during game releases, beta opt-ins and demos.

It is an important issue which carries potentially negative efffects on a game's reputation. By providing insight from QA testers and managers, we delve into the workflow issues in QA that are not apparent to the public, as well as the psychology of crowds and individual testers, and the risks that occur with extended periods of testing. Finally, we take a look at the advantages of automation and lessons from the console industry.

Fill in the form on the right to receive your copy of the article >>

Download now to learn:

• How to retain budget focus to ensure ROI
• Tips for getting the wider team involved 
• Tested ways of establishing and maintaining communication lines between the wider team

Don't like filling in forms? Email us at enquire@iqpc.co.uk and we'll send you a copy.

The development of Virtual Reality hardware, and associated games, has shaken up quality assurance testing organizations. Testers must overcome various challenges in order to create a high functioning testing environment that is beneficial to both testing staff and to game developers.

Ahead of the Game QA and Localisation Europe forum, Pole to Win delved into the deeper challenges faced with Virtual Reality testing.

Download the whitepaper here for exclusive insight…