Xbox Research

Grounded caters to those with arachnophobia in a very unusual way (opens in new tab)

Grounded, a game developed by Obsidian Entertainment, has a unique way of handling accessibility for those with arachnophobia.

Dr. Randy Pagulayan, The Legendary Xbox UR Guru (Koalatea Time 91) (opens in new tab)

Randy sits down for some Koalatea time to discuss his career and insights into the gaming industry.

Hold on to your Butts: A debate on teaching teams to do research | Ian Livingston & Tom Lorusso (opens in new tab)

A discussion between Tom Lorusso from Xbox and Ian Livingston from Blizzard on the topic of the democratization of user research.

A Golden Age of Research (opens in new tab)

Keynote address, 2019 Games User Research Summit. Featuring Randy Pagulayan.

Gaming is for Everyone (opens in new tab)

“Gaming is For Everyone: On Games, Access, and Inclusivity”, Not Your Mama’s Gamer (NYMG) Podcast Episode 176, 2018. Featuring Jerome Hagen and Melissa Boone.

Sea of Thieves and Toxicity (opens in new tab)

“Sea of Thieves team put anti-toxicity strategies into game’s core design”, by Julia Alexander, Polygon, 2018. Featuring Jerome Hagen and work by Joseph Chisholm.

Leveling the Playing Field (opens in new tab)

Leveling the playing field: Understanding players’ experiences with online harassment, lightning talk at the Fair Play Alliance Summit, 2018 Game Developers Conference. Featuring Melissa Boone.

Understanding and Addressing Your Players’ Negative Online Gaming Experiences (opens in new tab)

Talk at the 2018 Game Developers Conference. Featuring Tracey Fuller, Melissa Boone, and Jerome Hagen. Whether they’re playing, streaming, or viewing, you’re probably only hearing about a fraction of your audience’s negative online experiences with your game.

Constructive Conversations about Sexism and Racism (opens in new tab)

Roundtable discussion at #GamesUR, 2018 Games User Research Summit. Featuring Deborah Hendersen, Jerome Hagen, and Melissa Boone.

“Hear Here!” (opens in new tab)

Halo Waypoint News, 2018. Featuring Jessie Thomas

Applied User Research in Games (2017) (opens in new tab)

The Wiley Handbook of Human Computer Interaction Set, Volume 1, First Edition (pp. 299-346). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons Ltd. Written by Randy Pagulayan, Daniel Gunn, Jerome Hagen, Deborah Hendersen, Todd Kelley, Bruce Phillips, JJ Guajardo, Tim Nichols.

How to Playtest Games with Deborah Hendersen (opens in new tab)

Game Dev Loadout Podcast, 2017. Featuring Deborah Hendersen.

“We get our review” (opens in new tab)

Spawn On Me Podcast, 2017. Featuring Melissa Boone.

Behind the Bias Panel (opens in new tab)

Association for Women in Science, University of Notre Dame, 2017. Featuring Jessie Thomas.

Reducing Biases in User Research (opens in new tab)

Talk at #gamesUR, 2017 featuring Jerome Hagen and Melissa Boone.

How Design Can Ensure Impartial Scientific Fairness in User Research (opens in new tab)

Talk at GDC 2017 by Deborah Hendersen

Guidelines for Inclusive and Accessible Games (opens in new tab)

Talk at #gamesUR, 2017. Lauren White and Tom Lorusso.

Quantum Break – A Tour of Methods We Used To Test This Rather Odd Product (opens in new tab)

Talk at #gamesUR, 2017 featuring Deborah Hendersen.

Designing for Gamers with Deafness (opens in new tab)

Talk at #gamesUR London, 2016 by Tom Lorusso.

Fireside Chat PS Loves Xbox (opens in new tab)

Keynote at #gamesUR, 2016. Featuring Kevin Keeker and Randy Pagulayan.

Could Analyzing How Humans Think Make Better Video Games? (opens in new tab)

by Alexandra Ossola. Popular Science, 2015. Featuring Randy Pagulayan.

Why Should Game Stories Make Sense? (opens in new tab)

by Chris Dahlen. Polygon, 2014. (Featuring Deborah Hendersen)

Brain Dump: 9 Creators share “One Weird Trick” to Game Development

Panel at Penny Arcade Expo – PAX Prime 2014. (Featuring Deborah Hendersen)

Research Driven Design

Panel at SIEGE, 2014. (Featuring Deborah Hendersen)

The Xbox Science Machine, by Scott Butterworth.

Official Xbox Magazine, May 2014 print edition. (Featuring Randy Pagulayan, JJ Guajardo, and Kristie J. Fisher)

Learning the Language of Players (opens in new tab)

Giant Bomb Podcast, 2014. (Featuring Deborah Hendersen)

A History of Games User Research

Talk at 2014 Games User Research Summit. (Given by Michael Medlock)

User-centered Design in Games

in the Second Edition (2007) of the Human-Computer Interaction Handbook. (Written by Randy Pagulayan, Kevin Keeker, Thomas Fuller, Dennis Wixon, Ramon Romero, and Daniel Gunn)

Halo 3: How Microsoft Labs Invented a New Science of Play (opens in new tab)

by Clive Thompson. Wired Magazine. (Featuring Randy Pagulayan)

Quantifying “Magic”: Learnings from User Research for Creating Good Player Experience on Xbox Kinect

IJGCMS 6(1), pp. 26-40. (Featuring Tim Nichols & Kristie Fisher)