Babel launches International Gameplay Testing Service
Aimed at bridging the gap between market research and full blown functionality testing, Babel has officially launched its new International Gameplay Testing service, having completed four pilot projects for major publishers.
Babel's newest service, delivered from both its Brighton and Montreal facilities, covers the highly subjective areas of level balancing, game play analysis, user evaluation and focus testing. The teams, which can be made up of testers of different experience levels, are deployed to give an independent and trusted opinion to developers and publishers at vital stages in the production process.
"We're able to give an independent and dispassionate opinion to publisher and developer alike at various stages of the process," said Algy Williams, Managing Director. "Using an outside source is particularly helpful when team members may be too close to a project to be entirely objective."
With unique reporting to give qualitative feedback, Babel's teams advise on enhancements and design changes, based upon their experience with other games in the genre or previous versions. Babel's teams have the advantage of seeing top games from the world's leading publishers across all genres. Additionally Babel has helped evaluate current game status against milestone deliverables.
Babel also takes advantage of its world-wide locations and huge range of localisation testers, to give feedback as to how a game will fare in a target market, and to advise on key decisions such as whether localising the audio would sell enough additional units to justify the expense.
Babel is the largest provider of specialist outsourced services to the global videogames and interactive entertainment industries. The Company offers an end-to-end post-production service that supports all game platforms, namely consoles, PCs, handhelds, mobile devices and online media. Babel's specific areas of expertise include functionality testing, localization testing, fully managed translation services, audio casting, voice-over recording and sound effects, and print design and production. Within the mobile market, the Company offers complete mobile game QA, certification and deployment services.
Babel has facilities in Brighton, New Delhi, Los Angeles and Montreal, employing more than 150 full time staff backed up by over 350 contract QA testers, over 350 in-country translators and a global network of audio studios.
Babel is a registered Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo developer, and an approved Microsoft Xbox 360 test house.
Clients include SCEA, SCEE, SCEJ, SEGA, Nintendo, Microsoft, EA, Disney, THQ, Atari, Ubisoft, Eidos, Capcom, Nokia, VU Games, Activision, Namco Bandai, Midway, Konami, Majesco, NCSoft, NovaLogic, Take 2, Square Enix, Rising Star, TT Games, Bethesda Softworks, Rebellion, Climax, Revolution, Warner Brothers, Aspyr, 2waytraffic and Lucas Arts.