Most game studios halt their playtesting efforts once their game hits the market. Why would you playtest something when it’s already in players’ hands? But as we’ve all witnessed with games receiving bad reviews or sometimes even yanked from the market following release—post-launch can be a phase where issues are first discovered.
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Post-Launch Playtesting
Director of Research Ugo Bui-Xuan
While finding out about your game’s issues on Reddit is…an experience…relying on user reviews, social media feedback, or revenue metrics to gauge the performance of a game means missing a huge piece of the puzzle. These sources can provide some insights, but they fall short of delivering a comprehensive understanding.
Watching players play, and asking them the right questions at the right time will give you the insights needed to make meaningful (and specific) improvements. Playtesting a released game will help you zoom in to specific moments of gameplay and highlight the precise causes of player churn.
Playtesting a released game will help you zoom in to specific moments of gameplay and highlight the precise causes of player churn.
The Limitations of Relying Solely on Community Feedback
Community feedback, such as reviews or Reddit comments, can be misleading. These inputs often represent only the most vocal segment of your player base, which may not accurately reflect the broader audience. Think of what it takes for you to post a comment or review—do you provide general feedback? Or is it only when you have a strong emotional response to something? (Or are you solidly GenX and post nothing at all? It’s OK, we see you. Or rather—we don’t.)
In many cases, the feedback found online typically comes from more engaged or advanced players, leading to survivor bias—where feedback reflects the views of a small, non-representative group. This is the same challenge with product reviews on Amazon, which don’t necessarily capture the opinions of the average customer. While community feedback can certainly guide long-term improvements, it may overlook the specific issues causing high churn rates (or, worse, misrepresent the actual cause).
Reduce Churn and Improve Retention with Post-Release Playtesting
To gain a full understanding of your game’s performance, it’s crucial to complement live metrics with direct, structured and measurable feedback from players. By engaging in post-release playtesting, you can:
- Improve Day 1, Day 3, and Day 7 retention: Identify and resolve FTUE (First Time User Experience) pain points to keep players engaged from the start.
- Increase monetization: Use player feedback to make data-driven adjustments that align with player behaviors and preferences.
- Identify strengths and weaknesses: Understand what players love about your game and where there’s room for improvement, guiding your live operations (live ops) strategy.
- Refine marketing and user acquisition (UA) strategies: Conduct interviews and surveys to better understand your player personas (or uncover new personas!) and leverage their motivations to enhance marketing efforts.
The Best Method for Post-Release Playtests: Longitudinal Playtesting
One of the most effective methods for post-release playtesting is a longitudinal playtest. This approach allows you to observe player behavior over an extended period, from their first moments in the game to several hours of gameplay, providing insights into:
- How players learn game mechanics
- Continued engagement with core features
- Early indicators of churn or monetization opportunities
It’s a chance to observe first-hand the shift as a player transforms from newcomer to veteran, and how their experiences changes throughout that time. By combining qualitative data (such as video recordings and open-ended feedback) with quantitative metrics (from surveys and also your own in-game data), you can quickly identify and address churn points for a more targeted approach to updates.
How many players are needed for a Longitudinal Study?
If you’ve run iterative testing and research throughout the entire development of your game, 30-50 players for a post-launch longitudinal playtest is great. If that’s not the case (no judgment here!) and you need to focus on FTUE usability, understanding, intuitiveness and making sure your players have a friction-free experience, 10 players is a better starting point. You’ll receive enough player insights to iterate and have playtesting budget left to check your iterations once they’re implemented.
If you need insights into likes, dislikes, player perception and opinions (balancing, pacing, monetization options, graphics, interest), a survey with 30-50 players is ideal.
Preparing for the Future: Continuous Playtesting
As our Director of Research, Ugo Bui-Xuan is famous for saying, “Ready to test is often too late to fix.”
Post-release playtesting isn’t just about improving your current game; it’s also about preparing for future projects. As soon as a game launches, studios often shift their focus to developing new titles, and working hard to get a build ready for playtesting. As our Director of Research, Ugo Bui-Xuan is famous for saying, “Ready to test is often too late to fix.”
It’s crucial to start testing new games as early as possible—during the concept phase and continuing through prototype development. This approach allows for iterative improvements and reduces the risk of costly, last-minute changes (or changes that can’t be made, like character art or core mechanics).
Key methods for early-stage testing include:
- Player interviews: Gather qualitative insights from your target audience.
- Competitor testing: Understand what works (and doesn’t) for similar games.
- Player surveys: Collect quantitative data on player preferences.
- Concept testing: Validate your game ideas before full development.
- Prototype testing: Ensure your game mechanics are engaging and intuitive early in the development process.
It’s Important to Test With Real Players—Not Game Experts
Experts can provide high-level recommendations but may miss nuances specific to your target audience—especially when targeting niche demographics like children, seniors, or specialized gaming audiences.
“The benefit of PlaytestCloud’s panel is that the players aren’t researchers, they’re gamers. They’re not looking at this game trying to solve my UX or UI issues, they’re giving a realistic player perspective that helps me fix those things!”
Florian Steinhoff, Magmatic Games
How to Implement Effective Post-Release Playtesting
To achieve the most accurate insights, adopt a BYOP (Bring Your Own Players) strategy. Carefully select a diverse group of players that represent your broader audience. Use a combination of:
- Playtests: Record gameplay to observe real-time player behavior.
- Interviews: Conduct deep dives into player experiences to uncover motivations and pain points.
- Surveys: Gather broad, quantitative data to validate findings from playtests and interviews.
While these methods don’t necessarily have to be conducted on the PlaytestCloud Player Insights Platform™, using an integrated platform can offer significant benefits, such as streamlined data collection and AI-driven analysis.
Optimize Your Game’s FTUE with Fresh Players
Conducting FTUE playtests with new players offers controlled data that can be cross-referenced with live metrics. This approach helps optimize early retention (D0/D1/D3) and lays the foundation for longer-term engagement. The quicker players understand how to play and find value in your game, the more likely they are to stay engaged over the long term.
Conclusion
Post-release playtesting is not just a reactive measure but a proactive strategy to ensure your game thrives in a competitive market. By continuously engaging with your player base and refining your game based on direct feedback, you not only enhance the player experience but also increase your game’s chances of long-term success. It’s never too late (or too early!) to playtest and understand how to keep your players engaged, improve monetization, and build a game that stands the test of time.
