A Legacy of Excellence in Game QA and Beyond
Press Start to Launch game: our humble start in a promising yet competitive industry
Let’s paint a picture….It’s 2006. You’re seated at your Dell XPS 700 computer, eagerly anticipating your first experience with Call of Duty 3, one of the latest and most popular games. Buying the game wasn’t easy, but after navigating store shelves and getting your hands on a copy, you’re now watching the progress bar slowly fill, hoping your computer can handle it without crashing. If only there were a step-by-step tutorial to learn how to navigate through the game – but YouTube tutorials are just gaining popularity, and the idea of artificial intelligence assisting you in real-time is nothing more than a distant science fiction dream.
This is the gaming world in which Quantic Lab started. Before becoming the successful company of today, we began as a simple team of passionate gamers with a vision to customize and improve our own – and later, other gamers’ gaming experience. Since the beginning, we set ourselves to provide quality assurance, localization, and user experience consultancy, helping millions of players enjoy smooth and immersive gaming experiences. Today, we are at the helm of gaming services, after a 19-year journey of continuously evolving to meet this industry’s ever-changing demands.
Learning to master the industry’s mechanics
As Quantic Lab’s CEO Stefan Seicarescu admits, since Quantic’s launch, “Game development has become more and more professional and therefore big projects are more complex and more expensive.” This competitive industry also involved lots of potential financial risk. Given the situation:
“QA has become more organized, with clear processes. Concepts from software testing have been implemented and although a recognized educational path is missing, the investment in training has been significantly increased. Because of the size of projects and the multitude of platforms, the costs related to QA have also increased. The QA field is not a starting point for other jobs in the video games industry any more, it has itself become a viable career path.”
As the years passed by, our company has built an extended professional network with industry leaders; we relied on transparent communication and strong integration with the development teams, and we created a strong team of professionals who anticipated the potential losses and took measures to prevent them from unfolding.
One of our most significant contributions was identifying major risks in a game that could have led to severe financial losses:
”Without giving names and further details, using KPIs and tracking the performance of the Development team plus feedback of QA and play-testers, we could identify major risks that would have caused significant financial losses. Based on our recommendation, the project was delayed. The final product has been received very positively by the community, and the delay accepted. Improvements that were recommended during playtests and in our analysis, have been proven to be reflected in positive comments in the community.”
Strategize, adapt, overcome
For us, the gaming industry can be compared to any videogame: the player needs to explore and understand the game’s universe, then develop a strategy to reach its purpose and achieve success. That explains why we remained flexible and adapted to the new industry changes we came across throughout the years, while bringing innovative methodologies that kept our notoriety in this industry.
Technical Director, Pap Szilvester, highlights the rapid evolution of QA methodologies at Quantic Lab. As we work in outsourcing, each new partner comes with new particularities and challenges but at the same time, rewards which help us to evolve. From basic manual testing, the team has embraced structured test case execution, compatibility testing, and agile methodologies.
“We have integrated user feedback while leveraging our FQA UX Reports, consistently redone in order to have a clear track of the project evolution. Throughout this time we have also worked on VR projects and have a good VR headset fleet. We have also focused on Audio QA so that we comprehend, upgrade or change this aspect to provide even better user experience and higher accessibility for sense impaired players.”
Further on, Pap Szilvester expressed his belief that Quantic Lab plays an important role in terms of shaping the direction of the industry. He mentioned that Quantic Lab’s strategy for staying ahead of the competitors is to surpass the contemporary technological advancements. He also talked about the employees thorough training and responsivity to these advancements, and how Quantic Lab provides them with professional mentorship before allowing them to start working on a project:
“In terms of processes that ensure scalability and reliability, we focus on the basics, having strong onboarding procedures for each project which help us maintain the quality of our services. We also make sure that our testers are Academy vetted before “stepping into the fire” as well as maintaining our Academy training to the highest standards in order to assure that each of our team members stay up to speed with the latest practices. A specific period “LTO” (license to operate) system is in place, along with shadowing, buddy and mentor programs.”
Coronavirus Pandemic: from a potential breaking point to a successful breakthrough of the company
One of the major world-wide changes we had to surpass was the 2020 pandemics. Neil Soane, UK Managing Director, points out that the gaming industry has shifted since then, as the partners began to have more limited budgets to spend on projects, and as a result, the projects themselves began to be often smaller in scale or scope.
“The needs of partners have changed rapidly since Covid, most hoped that the trend would continue upward however that wasn’t to be the case and budgets, team sizes and project scope have all been reduced. This of course directly affects the services we offer and we must now be very aware of partner requirements; to work within tighter and more controlled budgets and to ensure we deliver the best ROI for our partners to ensure long-term success and growth for both parties.”
To meet these evolving expectations, QA and localization teams must:
– Embrace change
– Apply agile methodologies
– invest in automation
– foster cross-functional collaboration
– prioritize player experience
– stay updated on emerging technologies
Localization is another key focus area, ensuring that games resonate with players across different cultures. ”Just localizing the product is not enough, an understanding of local trends, social acceptances, religions and beliefs form part of our relationship and we can, and do, provide guidance on elements that may not work in specific territories. We succeed when our partners succeed so we do all we can to guide them in the best manner forward to releasing their product. Cultural appropriateness is a key part of the bigger picture and the more we can do to help them, the better!”
Overcome & Conquer: a 2024 retrospective
After growing our team and managing to remain relevant despite socio-economic and industry-related changes, we stepped into the role of professional mentors for others. Besides investing in AI-driven testing solutions, expanded VR capabilities, and enhanced user experience analytics, we also launched a new initiative to educate and support game developers: we offer a completely free consultation to help novice game developers to create successful video games and business apps. We allocated a particular section on our site for that sole purpose, where we mention free consultation through diagnosing challenges and providing actionable insights.
Some other significant achievements that can be noted down for last year’s accomplishments are:
– our contribution to Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2. The game received widespread acclaim for its immersive gameplay and polished mechanics, a testament to Quantic Lab’s rigorous QA and testing processes. Working alongside industry leaders like Plaion, Paradox Interactive, and Ubisoft, we have solidified our reputation as a go-to partner for game developers worldwide
– our active involvement in the game industry by developing games, creating strong partnerships, and participating at events like Playcon 2024. Here, our CEO Mr. Stefan Seicarescu, presented insights on avoiding common gaming development mistakes, and the BD team hosted consulting sessions
– our attendance at Develop: Brighton 2024 and Develop North in Liverpool, where we collaborated with diverse industry players, from indie developers to global leaders
Reflect and reload: reviewing our own performance and getting ready for new challenges
We are proud that a team of 12 video games enthusiasts turned into a successful service company that works with gaming industry leaders such as Plaion, TEchland, Paradox Interactive, THQ Nordic, Ubisoft, and many more.
However, our journey does not stop here. In fact, we could say we’re only just getting started! We want to continue doing what we do best, and that includes quality assurance, user experience consultancy, localization and support services.
We are eager to see what the future has in store for our company, and it was a pleasure to rewind through the most successful moments of Quantic Lab. Time to get back to the game! Insert Coin to continue….
