JultikaUniversity of Oulu repository

Competition is so fierce in the video game industry that the companies need to find different angles to make their games stand out from the crowd. Game usability provides one such angle which can result in a better overall user experience. The goals of this research were to find out what usability methods are used in North American video game companies, how the companies define the term “game usability”, and are they utilizing heuristic evaluation. The data was gathered by collecting survey answers from 59 North American video game companies. The results indicated that usability is very important to the companies. Playtesting and observation were the most used evaluation methods, but the methods and the way they are used have not yet stabilized in most companies. The respondents emphasized the importance of intuition and the lack of frustration in their game usability definitions. The companies that utilize heuristic evaluation use their own heuristic lists to suit specific games.