AVOIDING THE TRAPS OF CONCEPT TESTING
Understanding player behavior early is crucial, and Steve Bromley is here to explain how you can use research to deepen your understanding sooner rather than later
C
oncept testing is one of the hardest types of studies to get right. With a prototype, you get observable behavioural data about how players actually react to your game. But during the
concept phase, there’s often nothing playable - just a pitch deck and an idea. The biggest trap in concept testing is asking “Would you play this?”.
While players will answer, their responses (“Yes, I like this genre” or “No, it doesn’t sound fun”) will not predict real purchasing behaviour. And that’s the real question we’re hoping to answer - before investing three to five years of development. This doesn’t mean concept testing is pointless, and with care can be
an invaluable tool. Early decisions shape the game’s future, and data can guide your team - if collected the right way. This article shares safer, more effective ways to run concept tests.
USER RESEARCH, NOT MARKET RESEARCH Market research looks at broad trends - “Is there demand for this genre?” or “How should we position this?” - but it’s typically removed from development decisions. User research aims to inspire and inform design and production
decisions. We work with the team’s creative vision, identify where confidence is low, and provide useful player data to support decisions. At the concept stage, that vision may still be evolving. This makes it an interesting time for user research - understanding players better will inspire creativity and test reactions to early ideas.
PLAYERS CAN’T PREDICT THE FUTURE Players can’t predict future decisions, just as you can’t say what films you’ll watch years from now. Time, money, and context all shape
42 | MCV/DEVELOP June/July 2025
what players end up playing - and they can’t foresee those today. What players can tell you is the past: what they’ve played, why they liked or disliked it, and what made them choose one game over another. Your concept test should act as a prompt for these reflections, which are based on past behaviour, and much more reliable. This approach not only surfaces risks early but also deepens your
understanding of your audience - how they think, what drives them, and how to make more player-focused decisions throughout the rest of development.
BEST METHODS FOR YOUR CONCEPT TEST Concept tests work best as qualitative research: 1:1 interviews that explore past behaviour and honest reactions. Interviews offer richer insights than surveys or focus groups and avoid the surface-level or biased responses those methods can produce. Stats like “65% play for competition” don’t help with making actual design decisions. What helps is hearing why a real player found competition enjoyable (or not) in specific games. These stories fuel real design decisions. As always appropriate recruitment is incredibly important (because
you need to trust the data represents your true players). Ignore demographics and focus on player behaviour - do they purchase & play games from your competitor set should be the primary drive for who you speak to. Incentivise well to avoid skewing toward the loudest online voices. You will hear divergent opinions during your interviews. Some
teams might combine interviews with a wider survey after to see ‘how representative the opinions are’. However the true value is in knowing these opinions exist, so if you only have time for one - do the interviews!
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56
