You finally did it! Your game has been approved and can now be downloaded from the Apple App Store and Google Play. What happens now?

Your first problem is marketing. Almost 4,000 new apps are uploaded to Google Play every single day. You need to start generating some serious word of mouth about the game or figure out what you can afford to spend on advertising. Otherwise it will just sit amongst the digital tumbleweeds – no downloads and no players.

Your next problem is managing customer interactions. When your game is only being downloaded by friends and family, it’s easy enough to personally handle the player support processes, but what happens once you have a few hundred players, then a few thousand?

Every developer starts out this way. Even the big companies we all know today had to launch their first game at some point in the distant past. Many of these executives can recall the excitement at seeing the download figures spiking upwards and then realizing – with horror – that thousands of players are now trying to contact them with questions and support requests.

This is why Testronic launched its Player Support service. If you are in the gaming industry then you almost certainly know about our QA and localization work. We won the TIGA games industry award for Best QA & Localization Provider in 2020 – and in 2019. We have specialized in testing for over two decades.

Testronic has earned its credibility in this industry. Lately we have seen many customer service specialists entering the industry, offering their services now to gaming companies There is a misconception that expertise in customer service in other verticals can easily be migrated to player support.

Let’s dispel that myth right away. The customer is not always right when you are managing player support. You are supporting players that are engaging in a digital environment with digital merchandise and oftentimes they will be playing the game for free. Player support specialists need to understand the in-game economy and which type of player interactions may be genuine and which may be fraudulent. It’s not simply a case of smiling and doing whatever the player asks.

But as we mentioned in the introduction, building a player support process can be difficult when this is your first, or one of your first, games. Without a solid revenue stream how can you engage a player support specialist to manage these processes?

That’s where our Flex PS service can help. It allows smaller games publishers to still offer their players a robust, scalable player support service, but without the enormous upfront investment, or ongoing commitment you need to engage with one of the large customer service outsourcers.

With Flex PS, you can use shared agents so you can schedule as little as 20 hours a week of support. Rates are all-inclusive, so no hidden charges and the contract is month-to-month so you are not locked in for years.

If you are just getting started and need a robust and flexible player support solution then why not talk to a company that has decades of gaming experience?

For more information on Testronic and our full range of player support services please take a look at our website here.

CC Photo by Mateo