Bioware holding focus groups for new MMO, aimed at casuals?

by Chris Chester Jan 26th 2008 at 9:00AM

Filed under: Events, real-world, MMO industry, New titles

We've received word via an anonymous tipster that Bioware is gearing up efforts on their new MMO, and will soon be conducting extensive market research. Reportedly, they're looking for participants within certain internal channels that meet the following criteria:

Aren't affiliated in any way with the fields of advertising, journalism (d'oh!), public relations, video game hardware or software developers, video or computer game retail.
Can't have participated in more than 3 paid focus groups in the last 6 months
Must own at least one video game console or handheld system, but no more than four.
Must play games on the PC, but have no experience with MMOs
Must own 2 or more video games
Must have purchased 1-5 games in the last year
Must play between 1-9 hours a week

So basically, they're looking to test their ideas on the casual gamer. My initial reaction is to take this as a sort of slap in the face that they would even consider focusing their game on the casual market instead of engineering it specifically to please me personally. Then reason takes over and I remember that this is simply focus group testing for a game that hasn't ever really been formally announced yet. Heralding in the end of days would probably be a bit premature. What's more, they're probably wise to the fact that there isn't an NDA in the world strong enough to keep a true geek from running home and bragging to the internet that he played the new Bioware MMO.

Anyway, we'll continue to keep our eyes peeled for new info on the Bioware MMO, and keep sending in those lovely tips.

Tags: bioware, breaking, casual, focus-testing, hardcore, star-wars

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Rex said on 9:49AM 1-26-2008

oy... Focus groups are notorious for giving misguided direction and communicating simplistic desires. The NGE was the result of focus group testing.

It can be done correctly, but 99.9% of the focus groups that occur just set themselves up for bad information.

Ryan Shwayder said on 10:53AM 1-26-2008

Not to mention, focus groups are useless without multiple sample groups--different ages, different play styles, different levels of experience. If you only had hardcore MMO gamers in focus groups, the game could end up being completely inaccessible to the majority of the market.