They needed a solution that had the high performance and high fidelity required to remotely demonstrate the truest gaming experience. They tried many alternatives, but none were able to emulate local gameplay, which was essential for both the greatest possible control and the most accurate feedback.
“Parsec has been an absolute lifesaver – it gave us a whole new way to test our games outside the confines of our physical labs to deliver the high-quality, local gameplay required for our research,” said Daniel Gunn, Director of Users Research for Xbox research. “Without them, we would not have been able to continue remote playtesting at the same level of quality.”
The solution:
After successfully using Parsec for the playtest Halo infinityXbox Research used Parsec to begin the next playtest Age of Empires release. The first round of testing has shown that Parsec’s seamless gaming experience has resulted in meaningful user research.
Xbox Research found no evidence of reduced testing quality or quantity after using Parsec for remote playtesting for a year. Their reports looked like these trials were run in person as usual. And now that Parsec has enabled them to test again with gamers around the world, Xbox Research can focus on scaling virtual playtesting. Without the limitations imposed by local hardware, they were able to run tests with up to 60 simultaneous players on Microsoft Azure Virtual Machines (VMs).
Using Parsec has taken us beyond what we ever thought possible for playtesting and usability,” said Brian Walker, principal research operations lead for Xbox Research. “We’re leading the gaming industry with our ability to do remote testing at this level at scale, and it’s all made possible by Parsec.”
Using the numbers:
- Xbox Research was founded in 2000
- Number of workstations running Parsec at the same time: 120
- Number of playtests (of different games) running simultaneously: 20+
- Number of test takers per month: 150+
How Xbox Research conducted virtual playtests using Parsec
Needs-based scaling: Personal play testing on dedicated hardware has fixed time, space and numerical limits. Only a limited number of people can fit in a test room at a time, and budgets can restrict access to machine hardware. Virtual playtesting allows Xbox Research to reach players regardless of geography, allowing the team to run as many back-to-back tests as needed at a lower cost. During their initial efforts to use Parsec for Teams Enterprise and Microsoft Azure to create VMs for game testing, Xbox Research was able to maintain methodical control over their testing and meet game studios’ demands.
Play Without Limits: For remote playtesting to provide statistically useful feedback, gameplay in a gamer’s living room anywhere in the world needs to feel the same as it does in the Redmond lab. Xbox’s rigorous research methodology requires a predictable and consistent gaming experience across geographic boundaries with near-zero lag and latency – which Parsec delivered brilliantly. Parsec for Teams Enterprise allows Xbox Research to connect with multiple markets and gamers of all skill levels, knowing the user experience will be virtually identical.
Secure Connections: Intellectual property protection is a major concern for game developers. Leaks and piracy threaten the success and reputation of multi-billion dollar franchises. With Parsec for Teams Enterprise, Xbox Research has granular control over what both internal team members and guests can access in the system and when. Additionally, Parsec connections are peer-to-peer and end-to-end encrypted, allowing game studios to run content securely.
“Game testing is such a complicated endeavor given the interactive content and the hardware requirements,” Walker said. “Parsec has made remote playtesting efficient, reliable, and more secure.”
Next up: Deeper integration of Parsec with Microsoft
Xbox Research’s success is a true testament to the value of Parsec for real-time 3D applications. So much so that the Microsoft Studios developer ecosystem, in partnership with Microsoft Azure, has continued the broader adoption of Parsec for Teams Enterprise. Through the Azure Marketplace, creative teams can deploy preconfigured VMs in five minutes or less with Parsec.
Parsec will allow us to scale into scenarios that we’ve never been able to do before,” Walker said. With Parsec we can set up a lab for Azure virtual machines anywhere in the world. This is our future.”
Ready to test your games from anywhere? Try Parsec for free.