The importance of Customer Support in video games
We often talk about the game development process, how different teams and roles come together to build a new game, each bringing their own contributions while working in synergy. We focus on the fun aspects of gameplay, on artistic expression, on psychological benefits or just on the entertainment value, and it’s easy to forget that, in the end, games are a product. And like any product, they have customers – the players.
In the late 80’s up until 2005, Nintendo opened the Nintendo Power Hotline, a phone line specifically set up for people who struggled or got stuck in one of their games. Nowadays, we have loads of information available online and there’s nothing easier than comparing notes with others. However, players still require assistance with technical problems, self-help content must be prepared, and communities need nurturing.
So today we’re looking at why Customer Support services enhance the gaming experience, and why it’s important to get the best out of them.
Life after the release
In the process of working towards a bug-free game, Quality Assurance teams use technology and design test cases to emulate real-life environments as much as possible. During testing, we simulate all kinds of player behavior and, when it comes to online games, we make sure the high number of concurrent players and their interactions doesn’t alter player experience. At the same time, UX specialists gather feedback and analyze the target audience, advising game designers on how to polish the gameplay as much as possible.
But intricate test cases, extensive Functionality QA and UX sessions, network simulations, hardware compatibility tests and more, can only do so much to prepare a game for public access.
As soon as the game is out of the developer’s hands and reaches the public, player assistance is crucial. Common challenges and issues after launch can include:
💬Balancing and gameplay improvements
💬Account security and privacy concerns
💬Billing requests and other financial complaints
💬Technical problems
💬In-game bugs and edge cases
💬Player behavior and online toxicity
With all the effort developers and testers put into the quality of a game, the unexpected can still happen after a release. The behavior of thousands of players (or, in the happier cases, even higher numbers), is impossible to predict. Once people from all over the world have access to a game, issues might come up that otherwise wouldn’t even be triggered in the first place.
One thing is clear, working on a game doesn’t stop with the release.
The player assistance quest
If we think about our own experience as players or customers, we’ve probably felt frustration in more than one occasion. Maybe it even led to us closing a game or turning away from a product. But a great customer experience means a great player experience and overall, it contributes to us coming back to the same title.
Embarking on the quest of player assistance comes with many rewards. Among the benefits of Customer Support in games we can mention:
✔️Raising customer satisfaction
✔️Preventing misinformation
✔️Increasing player loyalty and retention
✔️Favoring toxic-free environments
✔️Contributing to positive reviews
✔️Facilitating continuous game improvement
✔️Enhancing the player experience
Like with other products, benefits of customer support in video games are as impactful as is the lack of these services. All players need access to information, bug reporting channels, and safety in the community. And this is exactly what game Customer Support does.
Inventory of game Customer Support services
Generally, customers look for solutions and availability on multiple channels, today more than ever. Fast answers and timely fixes, it’s what we all want, right?
To make sure everything runs smoothly after launch and preserve the overall experience, there’s an array of services designed for player assistance. Apart from traditional channels like phone, email or chat support, we also have to keep in mind that players look for answers on social media, forums and wikis.
The usual inventory of player assistance services includes:
➡️Self-support materials: FAQs, canned responses, help pages, game wikis, anything that enables the player to quickly find an answer, without leading to frustration.
➡️Emails and ticketing systems: Tickets are great for handling a large number of incoming requests and keeping track of their status. Since playing is a permanent game of retention, in-game bug reports and direct contact forms are a good way to keep them inside the game.
➡️Phone and live chat: Sometimes, discussing with players in real time might be more efficient, especially to avoid going back and forth with pieces of information.
➡️Community moderation: Active community moderators on social media platforms (i.e. Instagram, Facebook, etc.) and forums (i.e. Reddit, Discord) help with sharing information, de-escalating situations, preventing toxicity and taking the pulse of the community.
Some issues might be smaller and easy to figure out, others might not be issues at all, but simple misunderstandings. However, serious bugs, toxicity and gameplay faults are a hindrance to the player’s experience, leading to loss of players and negative reviews.
Multi-channel support helps studios stay close to their player base and offer an enhanced experience, while mitigating possible issues.
Which leads us to the next point: who offers assistance?
Outsourcing is a power up for your game
Outsourcing customer support services is not new. Not all developers and publishers want to invest in the operational cost of building their own support teams, when there are external specialists already set up to offer these services. And in the case of smaller studios, not everyone can afford to keep an in-house team in the first place.
So, in order to reduce operational costs, ensure quality of service, and avoid planning headaches, outsourcing can be a real power-up for any game after launch.
When it comes to video games, player support agents are not just experts on the information they provide, they are players themselves. They’re understanding of a situation doesn’t just come from a training – they’ve been there themselves.
🌟Blending gaming experience with a professional framework is the key to building a great support team.
What external support agents can offer:
🟣Empathy
🟣Patience
🟣Technical savvy
🟣Understanding of mechanics
🟣Knowledge of the genre
🟣Passion for games
What external support teams offer:
🟣A pipeline for the service
🟣Fast and personalized assistance
🟣Consistency and quality
🟣Customized support processes
🟣Escalation procedures
🟣Multilingual support
As a company that handles both Quality Assurance and Customer Support, we’ve had the chance to successfully allocate support tasks to the same people who tested the game before launch, and the feedback was always great. While this is not possible in all projects, whenever teams are available to handle both, it can be a major advantage, adding another layer of value to the service.
