Quantic Foundry is a game analytics consulting practice. Using both data and social science, the company understands what motivates gamers. Their team of researchers understands how to use this knowledge to create more engaging games. We will explore the company’s partnership with Ubisoft and other gaming companies. This article will discuss what gamers want from games and how game analytics can help make them better. To learn more, read on. Let us know what you think in the comments!
Gamer Motivation
Gamers can be categorized into two categories: those motivated by discovery and those driven by competition. The former group enjoys playing games requiring them to learn new rules and experiment with game mechanics continually. On the other hand, those motivated by competition prefer games that offer less visual stimulation and a low level of uncertainty. Some examples of games with high levels of discovery are Fallout and The Legend of Zelda. These games often feature constant but complex rules and a relatively small number of unknown variables.
In the case of the latter group, Quantic Foundry has created a survey that aims to measure the level of gamer motivation. It uses a 5-minute survey to obtain information about gamer motivation. Afterward, it publishes aggregate findings and refines its algorithms. The results are interesting, but they are far from definitive. There is still a long way to go to understand gamer motivation.
The team of Quantic Foundry believes that gaming is a way to get satisfaction from a goal. The research team believes gamers are most motivated by winning and like to defeat an opponent to achieve that goal soundly. For these gamers, winning against a worthy opponent is an important part of the game. In contrast, gamers who score low in this area are more interested in games with unique styles or artistic visions.
Survey
The team behind Quantic Foundry has recently released a survey to determine how gamers view the gaming experience. The research is based on data gathered from more than 10K people in pre- and post-COVID surveys. They looked at factors like gender, age, and whether respondents were casual or core gamers. The survey results show that the desire for harder games is decreasing. The research will be useful to both game developers and publishers.
The results of this study are not surprising. The gamer population is largely male, with female gamers preferring different genres. It shows that younger gamers enjoy sci-fi and fantasy genres, while older gamers prefer real-world contexts and acontextual puzzle games. Unfortunately, the research also shows that gamer engagement declines as they age. A recent study found that only 34% of older gamers play games more than once a week.
Ubisoft’s partnership with Quantic Foundry
A new partnership between Ubisoft and Quantic Foundry is aimed at boosting the development of AAA video games. Nick Yee, the co-founder of Quantic Foundry, has been researching the psychology of gaming for over a decade. He has used immersive VR to explore avatars and applied predictive analytics and social network analysis to World of Warcraft data. He has also worked as a senior research scientist with Ubisoft’s Gamer Behavior Research team.
The two companies will collaborate to help game developers maximize their player engagement and retention. Matt McMillan, the technical lead of Quantic Foundry, explained the partnership to Gamasutra. “This is an extremely important step in maximizing the success of an online game,” he said. “This partnership will help us bring these insights to our clients and drive better game experiences for our players,” he said.