They needed a solution with the high performance and fidelity needed to remotely demonstrate a true gameplay experience. They tried many alternatives, but none could mimic local gameplay. This was essential to give us the best control and receive the most accurate feedback.
“Parsec has been a lifesaver. It has given us a whole new way to test games outside of a physical lab to provide the high-quality, local gameplay feel we needed for our research.” We did.ā Xbox Research. “Without it, we wouldn’t have been able to continue his remote playtesting at the same level of quality.”
solution:
After playtesting successfully with Parsec Halo InfiniteXbox Research rolled out Parsec to start the next playtest. imperial age release. The first round of testing proved that Parsec’s seamless gameplay experience generated meaningful user research.
Xbox Research found no evidence that the quality or quantity of testing decreased after using Parsec for remote play testing for a year. Their report looked as if those studies were going straight as usual. And with Parsec once again allowing us to test with gamers around the world, Xbox Research can focus on scaling virtual game testing. We were able to run our tests with up to 60 concurrent gamers in Microsoft Azure virtual machines (VMs) without the limitations imposed by on-premises hardware.
Using Parsec has allowed us to do more than we ever thought possible for playtesting and usability,” said Brian Walker, Principal Research Operations Lead at Xbox Research. āWe lead the gaming industry in our ability to do this level of remote testing at scale, and it’s all made possible by Parsec.ā
By numbers:
- Xbox Research was founded in 2000.
- Number of workstations running Parsec simultaneously: 120
- Number of playtests (of different games) running simultaneously: 20 or more
- Monthly test participants: 150+
How Xbox Research Conducted Virtual Play Testing with Parsec
Scaling to meet demand: In-person playtesting on dedicated hardware has hard time, space, and number limitations. He can only fit a limited number of people in one test space at a time, and budgets may limit access to machine hardware. Virtual playtesting allows Xbox Research to reach gamers regardless of geography, allowing teams to run as many consecutive tests at a low cost. During the initial effort to create playtesting VMs using Parsec for Teams Enterprise and Microsoft Azure, Xbox Research was able to maintain methodological control over testing and meet the demands of the game studios.
Games without limits: For remote playtesting to provide statistically actionable feedback, gameplay needs to feel the same as it does in Redmond Labs in the living rooms of gamers around the world. Xbox’s rigorous research methodology requires a predictable and consistent gameplay experience with near-zero lag and latency across geographic boundaries. Parsec has done this beautifully. With Parsec for Teams Enterprise, Xbox Research can connect with gamers of all abilities across multiple markets, knowing that the user experience is virtually identical.
Secure connection: Keeping intellectual property safe is a top concern for game developers. Leaks and piracy threaten the billion-dollar franchise’s success and reputation. With Parsec for Teams Enterprise, Xbox Research has fine-grained control over what and when both internal team members and guests on the system can access. Additionally, Parsec connections are peer-to-peer and end-to-end encrypted, allowing game studios to run their content securely.
āPlaytesting is very complex given the interactive content and hardware requirements,ā says Walker. “Parsec has made remote playtesting more efficient, reliable and secure.”
Moving Forward: Further Integrating Parsec with Microsoft
The success of Xbox Research is proof of Parsec’s value for real-time 3D applications. The Microsoft Studios developer ecosystem continues to expand adoption of Parsec for Teams Enterprise in partnership with Microsoft Azure. Through the Azure Marketplace, creative teams can deploy a VM pre-configured with Parsec in less than 5 minutes.
Parsec allows us to scale scenarios that we couldn’t before,ā said Walker. With Parsec you can set up an Azure virtual machine lab anywhere in the world. This is our future. ā
Ready to playtest your game from anywhere? Try Parsec for free.
