At our core, we believe that real insight drives real impact.
For nearly 50 years, we’ve helped brands understand their audiences - what motivates them, what influences them, what channels they use, etc – so we can shape perceptions, change behaviours and drive better results. That same thinking now sits behind our latest venture: Playful - a structured playtesting service designed to help game studios build better games.
Playful connects indie and mid-sized game developers with engaged players to test their ideas, prototypes and builds, delivering feedback that’s actionable and grounded in real player experience. It’s a strategic creative approach to game development that sharpens design, strengthens storytelling, and validates gameplay.
And in a world where funders, publishers and self-publishing platforms are demanding more proof that games are market-ready, tested, and community-validated, Playful gives local studios exactly what they need to succeed.
Strategic creative thinking meets the gaming world
Over the past few years, we’ve taken our strategic-creative approach into the gaming space - developing and launching our game on global platforms like Meta and Steam, and building specialist licensing partnerships. We’ve experienced firsthand the pressure game studios face: balancing time, budget, and team capacity while trying to build something fun, engaging, and commercially viable.
Too often, player testing happens too late, or not at all, meaning major gameplay, UX or narrative issues go unnoticed until release. That’s a big risk in an industry where development timelines stretch across months or years, and even small missteps can sink a promising title.
Playful changes that by putting audience insights front and centre - just like we’ve always done.
Why playtesting matters more than ever
Some of the world’s most successful games owe a huge part of their success to playtesting. Global mega-hits like The Sims (Maxis/EA), Fortnite (Epic Games) and Gran Turismo (Polyphone Digital) have all acknowledged that player testing shaped major aspects of the final game. The Last of Us (Naughty Dog) refined entire sections of gameplay on tester feedback, particularly around pacing and emotional connection to characters. One major adjustment was softening the lead character’s personality early in the game to build empathy, after testers struggled to connect with him. Halo: Combat Evolved (Bungie) famously rebuilt its entire tutorial level after testers couldn’t work out the basic controls.
These are games that found success not just through great design, but through structured feedback loops that helped developers see what players really needed.
Playtesting isn’t just about fixing bugs. It’s about discovering friction, fine-tuning difficulty, spotting moments of confusion, testing story beats, checking pacing, validating art direction, and confirming that your game is actually fun to play. It’s real audience insight - and that’s something we’ve built our legacy around.
What Playful offers
We’ve built Playful specifically for the needs of indie and mid-sized studios. It’s designed to be:
-
Structured – every test is guided by clear objectives and robust methodology.
-
Affordable – pay for what you need, no fixed overheads.
-
Targeted – matching games with players from their intended audience.
-
Actionable – feedback reports that go beyond likes and dislikes, offering detailed insights and opportunities to improve.
Whether studios are testing early concepts, alpha builds, or final polish, Playful offers a safe space to gather feedback, explore creative options, and validate they’re on the right track before hitting publish or sending in their funding submission.
Why does this matter to you?
You might be wondering, “Why are we talking to marketers and comms people about a game testing service?” Because Playful is a natural extension of the insight-driven, audience-first approach we bring to every project, whether it’s a brand or EVP campaign, investor comms programme, or digital experience. It’s about designing with the end-user in mind. Listening. Iterating. Building better.
And in the gaming world, just like any other sector, better audience understanding leads to better products, and stronger commercial outcomes. For funders and publishers, that means less risk and more confidence. For self-publishers, it means a better shot at success. For players, it means better games. And in your world, it means better results, leading to better outcomes for you personally and professionally.
We're getting ready to play
Playful isn’t officially launching until late October, but we’re already out in the world talking to studios, gathering feedback, and refining our proposition. In a way, we’re playtesting Playful, validating the idea and fine-tuning the service with the very audiences we’re planning to engage.
We’re also getting ready to recruit a whole lot of game-lovers, across ages, locations, genres and experience levels, to help shape the next generation of games.
It’s an exciting time. If you’re curious, connected to a studio, or just want to follow along as we build, we’d love to be playful with you.
