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September - March 2020
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Internship @ ByteDance
Games Research: informing gaming products' iterations and uncovering market-scale gamer insights
Methods
large-scale survey, in-game intercept survey, user interviews, desktop research, playtest
my role
Independent Researcher
STAKEHOLDERS
Game Publishers, Strategy Team
Summary
I worked directly with the product team to diagnose design problems during pre-launch testing phases, and conducted high-level market and genre research for U.S. mobile gamers to inform business strategy. I independently crafted research briefs, drafted study protocols, and led executions of research that resulted in direct product improvements and positive reception from my stakeholders (full-time return offer received).
Context & Background
I worked on a range of projects with various methodologies and scales:
- diagnosed and evaluated and mobile games product that are current in-development based on current business metrics;
- produced insights to business question through genre and market research; and
- regularly communicated and planned the next phase of research needs with my stakeholders.
Each research study was grounded in either immediate product needs or long-term business needs, and I had the privilege to gain both business and research skill sets. In the section below, I do my best to share my process and learnings with the constraints of NDA.
Processes & Rationale
1 Product-specific Research
I was semi-embedded onto 2 different product teams who each had a mobile game product undergoing the beta test phase. During the testing phases, the product team can face a range of different problems such as
low retention rate (user churn), product usability concerns, and the need to benchmark user feedback in each testing phase.
I was in charge of understanding the business needs from the product side, turning them into research questions, and designing research products that fit within the timeline and budget. Both of the two games I worked on are mobile games that experienced first-day user-churn, and I used appropriate methods to help diagnose the problem. Although I am not able to share project details, my general thought process is as follows:
2 Foundational Research
Besides helping with product iterations, I also led a range of foundation research projects that either enhanced the team's understanding of particular genres or provided insights into the general U.S. gaming market. The amount and depth of knowledge I gained from conducting these generative and formative research are incredible, here I share a bit about the methodology I used.
Impact
Based on my diagnoses of the problem within the games, the development team iterated on the products and have seen around 2 percent increase in user retention rate in the next testing phase. My market and user-group generative research report is included into the research Wiki page to serve as foundational materials to support holistic understanding of the North American market and be used by the whole organization.
Learnings & Reflections
Working in an unfamiliar domain ≠ disadvantage
When I first started my internship, I worried about a lack of domain knowledge immensely because I am not a gamer myself. As my journey went on, I realized that no matter what industry or product area I enter, I will not and should not be the domain expert from the beginning. Rather than feeling daunted by the unfamiliar domain, I should take the necessary time to learn the language of my particular user groups, and then turn my "outsider role" into a leverage - after all, researchers are here to learn from the users, and showing an appropriate level of a lack of knowledge can sometimes be even be powerful in helping users share more authentically if done well.
Effective communication with Stakeholders
All of my research efforts in the end come down to solving certain business questions, which is very different than academic research that views uncovering answers an end of its own. Therefore, it's very important to align the research plan, goals, and concerns with the stakeholders before, during, and after the research. A premise of effective communication is to establish a partnership with the stakeholders through relationship building , and I always try to convey the message: we are striving for the same goals at the end of the day, so let's try our best to be helpful and understanding partners :)
