Playtesting Done Right.
Secure, lab-based and remote playtests with your genuine players.
We’ve run hundreds of user research studies with the world’s most successful games companies.
Book a playtest with Games User Research, led by industry-leading expert Steve Bromley.
Experienced running studies across the games industry
Reliable Games User Research throughout development
Games User Research applies scientific and psychological expertise to remove the bias from traditional playtesting.
By combining qualitative and quantitative research methods, investing deeply in finding your genuine players, and drawing upon over a decade of industry experience, working with studios such as PlayStation’s London Studio, Guerilla Games, Media Molecule, and many others still under NDA, I work with you to run studies from ideation to launch, create conclusions you can trust, and ensure your game achieves its potential.
Typical studies include:
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Concept Testing – Discover player reactions to early game ideas, themes, or mechanics before development begins.
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Prototype & Vertical Slice Testing – Test core gameplay and features using early builds to validate mechanics and design direction in pre-production.
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Alpha Playtests – Learn from real players while there’s still time to make changes..
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Beta Playtests – Finesse the player experience and balancing, leading to a successful launch.
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Retention Optimisation – Understand player behavior to uncover why players stay or leave, helping to improve engagement and long-term play.
If you’re ready to release a game you know players will love, get in touch today.
Playtests that inspire your team
Understanding your vision
Learn things you didn’t already know – We’ll work with you to understand your vision and your most critical development decisions.
Your genuine players
Our participants are double-screened by phone to validate their experience and that they genuinely match your players
Watch players live
Live stream sessions, or watch live in our London based labs and observation rooms
Immediate results
Game development doesn’t stop. We debrief at the end of each day, and send a top-line report 24 hours after the study ends.
Full reporting
A comprehensive user research report, suitable for sharing with your wider team and stakeholders.
Leading to action
Reports are too easy to ignore. We end each study with an action workshop, to help you deice how to move forward.
HIgh IMpact Playtests For STUDIOS & PUBLISHERS
concrete, actionable findings
Steve clearly understood our goals from the outset, and to gather the most thorough feedback, he recommended a mix of lab and remote playtesters with a targeted recruitment profile. This thorough approach resulted in clear data that validated our assumptions with genuine insights.
Steve skillfully transformed our hypotheses into concrete, actionable findings, which have had a direct impact on both our strategy and the user experience we’re creating. Thank you Steve!
10/10 would do again!
Steve helped us get much better insights into our sales funnel, understanding where potential buyers leave, where we can improve our marketing message and what untapped potential there might be. 10/10 would do again!
fast, actionable insights to help us develop a strategy
When we approached our game’s positioning, we had several gameplay features we could focus on, but we needed to figure out how significant each was to the player. We sat down and discussed the problem with Steve, who devised a plan. The result was a series of in-depth player interviews that delivered fast, actionable insights to help us develop a strategy, putting the most compelling game elements at the centre of our campaign.
timely and thorough
We worked with Steve on a playtest for our early beta, and he was incredibly helpful and adaptable to our needs.
The process was timely and thorough, providing us with valuable insights. These insights are now shaping Spellscaper according to our players’ needs and desires.
We highly recommend Steve’s expertise in user research to anyone looking to improve their product.
external, unbiased viewpoint
We contacted Steve after conducting some playtests, as we wanted a more objective viewpoint on our data that didn’t come with the biases we had after working on the game for so long.
After a quick chat, we sent over all our footage and data to Steve, and he quickly generated a full report which exceeded our expectations in terms of detail and execution time.
Steve was able to provide an external, unbiased viewpoint which was invaluable to us!
an expert in his field
Steve is an expert in his field, and his exceptional manner is very suited to working with a range of clients. I don’t hesitate to recommend him.
the experience was exceptional
We asked Steve Bromley to help playtest and analyze the FTUE of our game to improve it, and the experience was exceptional. Steve’s attention to detail and keen observation skills during the playtest gave us valuable insights into the user experience and what was lacking in the game.
What sets Steve apart is not only his expertise but also his clear and insightful communication.
The analysis report we received was comprehensive, highlighting strengths and suggesting actionable improvements. We are very happy and grateful to have worked with him.
Allowed us to move forward with confidence
Steve supported us in conducting research for one of our competitive studies across our portfolio. Working with him has been an absolute pleasure.
He was able to take on most of the work independently, based on the briefs we provided, and was extremely thorough throughout both the study design and execution. His support took a significant load off the team’s shoulders and allowed us to move forward with confidence.
In addition to the excellent work he delivered, we also greatly appreciated the mentoring and perspective he brought to the team. During one of our on-sites, we invited Steve to share his point of view on how the industry has evolved over the many years he has been active in it. Hearing his stories, experiences, and reflections as such a seasoned researcher was highly valuable and very much appreciated by our research team.
We would gladly work with Steve again at any time and highly recommend him.
well-structured, informative, actionable feedback
When Wish Studios created the PlayLink concept for PlayStation, we developed a new gameplay paradigm in which casual players would use mobile phone apps as controllers for console games. Such a radical shift, aimed at a non-technical audience, naturally required in-depth playtesting to ensure we got it right.
Steve’s test team provided the answer, delivering well-structured, informative, actionable feedback for our development team to work with.
produced strong insights
Steve is an absolute professional. Working with him was a great experience from start to finish.
He brings positive energy to every conversation and delivers real results. The user test he ran for us produced strong insights, and everything was delivered on time with personalized & thoughtful support. As a small team, his responsiveness and efficiency made a huge difference.
I’d confidently recommend working with him, no matter the size of your company.
practical unbiased tests
I have found Playtesting to become a vital tool in making good development decisions at different times in the project from concept to finishing. It is an additional data point that helps prove out and support ideas and assumptions we have created. It gives me additional information and insight I didn’t have before which is useful both for internal and external discussions around the game.
I worked with Steve on a title where we had many thorny issues that only playtesting could aid us to make headway on.
He has a real clarity of understanding of how to translate your questions and needs into practical unbiased tests and programs to get the understanding you seek.
improved overall quality and player comprehension
We approached Steve in the middle of our dev cycle to validate our controls and difficulty on a platform that we were unfamiliar with.
Working with Steve was incredibly easy and very useful, watching the testing and reading the breakdown gave us great insight into how players were reacting and what they were learning. This led us to make great strives, improving overall quality and player comprehension.
shaped our future roadmap
Steve ran a study for one of our games to understand the impact that usability and accessibility issues were having on our players. Steve’s work was excellent.
He made a huge positive impression with our team and helped shape our future roadmap for game improvements.
Steve’s support throughout the whole project was amazing and we’re looking forward to possible future collaborations
The Boutique Games User Research Agency, led by Steve Bromley
I am an experienced user researcher, specialising in games user research and building new user research teams.
I work with publishers, platforms and studios of all sizes from indies to AAA to run playtests, and integrate user research into the game development process. I’ve spent over 25,000 hours with players!
Prior to this I was a senior user researcher for PlayStation and worked on many of their top European titles, including Horizon Zero Dawn, SingStar, the LittleBigPlanet series and the PlayStation VR lineup.
I wrote the best-selling 5-star rated book Building User Research Teams.
I started the IGDA’s Games User Research mentoring scheme, which has linked hundreds of students with industry professionals from top games companies such as Sony, EA, Valve, Ubisoft and Microsoft. This inspired my bestselling book How To Be A Games User Researcher which shares the expertise needed to work in the games industry, and has over 50 5-star reviews on Amazon.
Work with a Trusted industry expert
Why work with Steve Bromley & Games User Research?
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- ✅ Focused on action. Steve’s 14+ years of experience with game developers means your conclusions will be relevant and actionable – giving a clear direction on ‘what to do now’.
- ✅ Unbiased, external view applying UX and psychology expertise to understand the why behind player behaviour.
- ✅ 10,000+ hours of playtest experience, on top console, indie and mobile games. Steve has led research throughout every stage of game development and deploys qualitative and quantitative expertise to creat clarity.
- ✅ The home of games user research – Steve is author of 5 star rated, best-selling user research books and the world’s most popular games user research site.