By Jenny McBean, Director at Bryter
In today’s increasingly competitive gaming market, success is no longer just about building a good game - it’s about building the right game, for the right audience, and delivering it in the right way. This is where market research and player insights play a critical role. By grounding game development in data and real player feedback, studios can significantly reduce risk, improve user experience, and ultimately maximise commercial impact.
Throughout a game’s lifecycle - from early ideation to post-launch - there are multiple key milestones where research can help better inform decisions. In this email series, we explore how insights can be leveraged at each phase…
1. Market Exploration & Category Understanding
Stage: Pre-development / Ideation
Before any code is written or art is designed, successful game studios begin by understanding the broader market landscape. This phase focuses on mapping the competitive space, identifying category trends, and uncovering unmet player needs.
Market exploration answers critical questions like:
What features or mechanics drive success in a certain genre?
Are there gaps in the market that a new game or IP could exploit?
What do players currently love or dislike about similar games?
This research helps prevent development in oversaturated categories and guides teams toward spaces where there’s genuine appetite and room for innovation.
2. Market Sizing & Concept Testing
Stage: Pre-production / Concept Development
Once early ideas are on the table, the next step is evaluating their potential. Concept testing allows studios to understand whether players find a game concept compelling and which features or themes resonate most. It also helps measure market potential and identify key target audiences.
Concept testing can answer key questions such as:
How big is the potential audience for this idea?
Who are the primary and expansion audiences? How do we reach them?
Which elements or features drive the most excitement?
By measuring interest across different markets or segments, studios can prioritise concepts that show creative promise and commercial viability. Detailed evaluation of the concept can also help steer development and early positioning, highlighting elements to prioritise.
3. Playtesting
Stage: Pre-Alpha / Alpha / Beta / Early Access
Playtesting is perhaps the most actionable and immediate form of research in game development. It allows developers to observe players interacting with a working build – whether that’s a vertical slice, beta or early access - to spot pain points, confusion, or unmet expectations.
Key areas of insight include:
Onboarding: are players able to pick up and understand the game quickly?
Engagement: are players motivated to continue playing, or do they drop off early - why?
Usability: are UI, controls, and game systems intuitive and smooth?
Emotional feedback: what moments delight or frustrate players?
Regular playtests can help optimise core gameplay loops, ensure balanced progression, validate that the game delivers on its intended promise, and identify any critical issues.
4. Refining Game Positioning & Marketing
Stage: Pre-launch / Marketing Rollout
As a game nears release, the focus shifts to how it’s communicated to the public. This stage is about making sure the marketing - including trailers, box art, game store assets, and taglines - is clear, compelling, and aligned with player expectations.
Research here can help to answer:
Which parts of the trailer are most emotionally impactful?
What language best describes the game experience and USPs?
Which visual assets (e.g., box art or key art) drive the most interest? Do they effectively convey the core essence of the game?
These insights are crucial for maximising early interest and ensuring a strong initial launch. A mismatched or unclear marketing message can hurt even the best games, while well-researched positioning ensures the right players discover and buy into the experience.
See Bryter Case Study
5. Post-launch Effectiveness
Stage: Post-launch / Live Service
After release, research helps evaluate not just the penetration of the product, but why the game is succeeding or struggling. This includes measuring:
Awareness: did the game cut through? What drives awareness?
Consideration: do they understand what it offers and how it compares to competitors? What stood out?
Purchase drivers and barriers: what encourages or discourages purchase?
Robust quantitative research can reveal what marketing worked, what perceptions exist in the community, and what improvements are needed. Follow-up qualitative research can then dive deeper into certain problem areas. For live-service games, this phase is critical for prioritising updates, DLCs, or further marketing strategies.
6. Player Understanding & Segmentation
Stage: Post-launch / Live Service / Community Management
Ongoing player research helps developers build a richer picture of who their players are and how different segments behave. This goes beyond basic demographics, to psychographic and behavioural segmentation.
It can answer questions like:
What do different player cohorts look like, and how do their behaviours and motivations differ?
What causes churn, amongst who, and how can we prevent it?
How do players differ in how they engage with content? What behaviours drive or prevent spending?
Understanding player segments allows for personalised game updates, more targeted marketing, and more meaningful community engagement.
Conclusion
Whether you're an indie developer or a global studio, embedding research at every stage of the development journey can be the difference between a viral hit and a costly misfire. Listening to the players – early and often - is one of the most powerful tools we can use to reduce risk, increase impact, and build games that truly resonate.
You can read more about how to leverage market research & player insights throughout the game lifecycle on our website.
Ready to move beyond guesswork? Get in touch with one of the insights team if you want to learn more about different approaches to market research and to understand which methodology may be most appropriate for your insight needs.
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