PlayStation

A brief summary of my experience as a contract UX Researcher for PlayStation. Because I signed an NDA, I will avoid talking about critical details and focus primarily on the desk research that I’ve done in support of an upcoming project. 🤫

Role: UX Research Student Moderator

Duration: June 2023 - Present

Team: UX Research

A Dream Come True

I have been an avid gamer since I was a young girl with one of my favorite games of all time being Kingdom Hearts, previously a PlayStation exclusive. Needless to say, I am absolutely elated to be involved. I firmly believe that working for PlayStation has improved my gaming abilities, with a keener understanding of how they are created.

My Contribution

I’ve been doing an comparative analysis on popular open world games to help with improving the user experience of an unreleased title.

The titles that I have researched extensively are:

  • Spider-Man 2

  • Far Cry 6

  • Days Gone

  • Death Stranding

  • Red Dead Redemption 2

For each game, I’ve outlined the key features and breakdown for the following topics:

  • General: Length of gameplay, scores, awards, and overall perception of the game

  • Narrative: Plot, storytelling elements, and user control over story

  • Navigation: Maps, means for traversing the maps, icons and indicators, etc.

  • Content: Golden path v. side missions, open world content

  • Combat: Weapons, Enemies, and Moves

  • Progression: System for leveling up characters and items

  • UI: Unpacking the HUD (heads up display) and menu structure

  • Accessibility: Accessibility features and scoring overall

Going Above and Beyond

To take it to the next level, I interviewed some of my friends!

When most of my friends found out I was working for PlayStation, they were so excited so to get them involved in the mix, I set up some informal user interviews where I asked them about their perspectives on the game to include in my desk research.

I saved the transcripts and included them with the analysis when I submitted it. It was helpful for providing user quotes that is different from just taking a random review from the internet and helped me in my life goal of leaving the door open. 🥹

Takeaway

A supportive company culture makes all the difference.

Perhaps because I'm surrounded by empathetic colleagues, I've discovered how much I thrive in an environment that encourages curiosity. While game development itself isn't my calling, working alongside these passionate creators has been an amazing opportunity to learn about their work and contribute my UX skills.