Interview: Testronic Labs

CG.biz: Can you tell us a little about what made you decide it was time to set up a new casual-dedicated Testronic facility?

Dan Chisholm: What we really saw over the course of 2009 was a continued and steady growth of the casual and social gaming sector. It’s something we saw in data and in the press, and in conversations with our industry contacts. Obviously that market has been growing a for a few years, but in the past months it’s reached a tipping point and we recognised that the casual and social gamer has become somebody in their own right; a standout segment of the industry rather than a someone in the backseat. Those who were once just playing 15 minutes of a casual game every now and then now offer us a legitimate business that is very much comparable to the core gaming market.

That means that for people in our position it’s time to offer the same quality and the same level of service that those in core gaming are used to.

The industry recognises that this is not a fad, but rather a viable and intelligent business with substantial revenue potentials.  I’m not saying there won’t be difficulties as this young industry finds its legs – I’m sure over the next 24 months we’ll see a flood of much more content than the market can handle - but it’s here to stay, because that demographic is here to stay.

So what will Testronic’s new facility actually provide?

The division will actually encompass several of our facilities to create a unified service offering to our customers.  From a high level operational view, ‘first response’ type strike teams are located in our Los Angeles office to provide quick turnaround and immediate feedback to US customers, while our larger workhorse facilities in Belgium, Warsaw, and
London will provide scalability and niche skill sets

What motivated Testronic to make the new Casual and Social Games Division US fronted?

While we service all major game markets throughout the US and the world, it’s simply hard to argue with market demands. The formation of our Casual and Social Game division was from an overwhelming demand of our services particularly from West Coast companies in this space.

What else does Testronic have underway in terms of business development and expansion?

As a bit of back-story, in 2009 we had two major expansions on the business development front. Early in the year we kicked off a large initiative in the US in games and interactive digital entertainment to grow our presence and customer relationships – this included bringing myself onboard to head up that effort. Likewise, we started a similar expansion into the Japanese market. With our long history of excellence in the European game market we’ve had a strong adoption rate in these new regions.

In 2010, in addition to creating deeper, more symbiotic relationships with our newer customers, our efforts will concentrate on embracing new technologies. From new first party peripheral development – of which we are currently involved in some of these – to our existing fully functioning 3D test lab, to the formation of our CSG division there is simply a lot of amazing, and fun, stuff out there. And, we want our customers to get the most out of each game title they create that leverages these technologies.

What are you most proud of in terms of Testronics achievements?

Our ability to integrate ourselves quickly into acting as an extension of our customers’ own production teams is probably one of our best virtues. And this is why our expansion over the last year has proven so fruitful – if we can understand your daily life and routine as a publisher or developer, then we can fit into your day efficiently, and you don’t have to spend as much time managing us.

Looking at the wider games localisation and testing sector, what are the most exciting developments?

From a personal standpoint I am really excited to see increased requests from publishers and content creators for languages in ‘developing’ regions. To name two, South America and Southeast Asia have steadily become more and more predominant in localisation requests from customers. On a global scale, that excites me simply to know that people from all walks of life and socioeconomic statuses are being given the opportunity to enjoy these games without having to spend large amounts of money.

This new era of socialising with one another in games on a more personal level than a multiplayer map of Medal of Honor isn’t a panacea, but I do believe it will help remove the negative connotations that many of our parents’ generation held about games.  And, somewhere way down the road, I hope it may even help us get past cultural boundaries and learn a little more about the real life people out there in the rest of the world.

What do you see as the key developments in the casual and social gaming area?

Wow, that’s a big topic. On the business side, I think we’re currently at throwing-spaghetti-at-the-wall phase. There are well established casual publishers/portals and some strong market leaders in the younger social games arena, but just like the flood of Guitar Hero copycats a few years ago, we’re seeing more content than the market can sustain. It needs to balance out – and I’m sure venture capital will get more involved in the space before that balancing occurs.

On the tech and development side, I think publishers are only now really teaching the consumer what they can ask for.  Look at Mafia Wars. A fantastic game, but, it’s very basic – which is why it’s so elegant. Companies like Zynga were smart, as the game industry aged through the nineties and noughts and got technically advanced, Zynga stepped in and saw a gap under the technology curve – an area that everyone had left years before. They capitalised on it. The content and mechanics of those games will undergo extreme evolutionary changes this coming decade – and it’s hard to imagine what they will look like in 10 years’ time; and, just as importantly, what the new games will be that come in under the technology curve.

And what about the challenges that currently face the games localisation and testing sector?

From an operational standpoint, companies like ours have to be experts on more and more varying types of content and technology changes, which is both extremely fulfilling and also very difficult for our smaller competitors to leverage any economies of scale. With multiple facilities on multiple continents and strong customer relationships, we’re happy to be able to face those challenges from a position of strength.