Razer Cortex: Playtest Program - Powered by Side will facilitate playtests of 100,000+ human players

Cologne, Germany – 21 August – Today, award-winning gaming services company Side, and Razer, the world’s leading lifestyle brand for gamers, revealed an industry disrupting playtest tool. Made possible by leveraging Side’s proprietary AI technology, playtest data is simultaneously used to improve quality assurance results – an industry first. Based on pricing comparisons from major playtest providers, it could reduce playtesting costs by 80% in some cases.

Razer Cortex: Playtest Program - Powered by Side combines traditional playtesting features with QA on a massive scale, making it the first all-in-one testing solution for developers looking for both qualitative and technical feedback. The new tool will launch within Razer Cortex, Razer’s PC game launcher with over 55 million global users, enabling developers to run large-scale, targeted playtests with real players.

Gamers who meet eligibility criteria can opt in to playtests directly through Razer Cortex. Through the launcher, they sign NDAs and receive unique download keys for game builds, ensuring secure and confidential access. During gameplay, Cortex tracks playtime and performance data. After completing specific requirements, players submit their feedback through qualitative surveys and are rewarded with Razer Silver rewards, which can be redeemed for games or gear, creating a meaningful incentive for participation.

The collected gameplay and sentiment data is analyzed by Side’s proprietary AI, which removes duplicate data; the reports are finally interpreted and validated by Side’s expert QA teams, making it possible to deliver actionable insights at a fraction of the costs.

Deborah Kirkham, CEO, Side, said: “Innovation in the gaming industry always starts with a human element - what’s better for our customers and our employees go hand in hand. With our partners at Razer, we are doubling down on that trend with the Razer Cortex: Playtest Program - Powered by Side. Our passion is bringing our clients’ stories to the world, and there’s no better source for feedback than hardcore gamers.

If storytelling is your business, play testers are your shareholders – our unique solution makes it possible to give your biggest advocates a seat at the table, nurturing that initial investment in your IP to ultimately drive sales at launch. Simultaneously, we use the same data collected during playtests, analyzed by our world-class AI, to deliver better QA results on your title. It’s a win win win for the player, developer, and us at Side.”

A New Era of Playtesting

Playtesting is one of the most critical yet resource-intensive phases of game development. Traditional methods rely on small, manually recruited groups and lengthy survey processes, often resulting in limited insights and high costs.

Razer Cortex: Playtest Program - Powered By Side leverages Razer’s massive global community and Cortex’s built-in capabilities as a game launcher to pre-qualify play testers based on how players engage with games, their interests, and general profiles. This allows developers to bypass traditional recruitment bottlenecks and tap into a diverse, relevant pool of testers with greater efficiency.

Quyen Quach, VP, Software, Razer said: “Razer Cortex: Playtest Program - Powered by Side is a new feature within our game launcher that gives developers a cost-effective way to run playtests at scale. By integrating Side’s solution into Razer Cortex, we simplify build distribution, enable targeted player selection, and support structured data collection. This collaboration helps developers connect with engaged players and gather meaningful feedback to support better development decisions.”

Developers can target player pools based on gameplay behaviour, experience, and eventually, broader audience insights. This could also enable player-led Localisation testing in the future.

How it Works:

Human-in-the-Loop AI:

For most AAA titles, QA teams are made up of 5-6 people working in a fully secure environment. There are numerous ways to test games, but unlike play testers who play for fun or completion, QA teams attempt to “break” the game by focussing their time on key moments and areas that players are most likely to interact with.

Razer Cortex: Playtest Program - Powered by Side arms that same QA team with data collected from players who are playing the game authentically for entertainment purposes. This allows the professionals at Side to catch bugs that could have potentially flown under the radar in a lab setting. If a playtest comes back with multiple reports of a crash in the same section, our testers know to start looking for a bug.

The development of this tool reflects Side’s commitment to infuse technology with human ingenuity. Providing playtest reports of this calibre to human QA teams wouldn’t be possible without the company’s significant investment in AI-enabled gaming services solutions. Building AI into our workflows is critical to keeping both our clients and our team ahead, with 87% of developers saying that they were already using AI, according to a recent industry survey.

Dr. Harlan Beverly, Chief Technology Officer, Side, said: “This partnership between Side and Razer is responsible for changing the paradigm of playtesting forever. For developers, it means more testers and more playtest hours at the same or lower cost; for players, it means being closer than ever to the development process and for QA, it’s adding a whole new workstream to their role.

Our QA teams and clients are going to have access to more real players and more useful data – well before a product's Beta test – than they ever thought possible. This shift from the industry standard of small volume, high touch to high volume, low touch playtests allows for a level of AI-based analytics that no one has ever done before. This program is what disruption looks like in real-time.”

Industry Impact:

For developers, Side will be able to provide deeper insights at scale with enhanced sentiment analysis, feedback from target demographics, and functionality testing all at a substantially lower cost than industry norms. Research from the University of Ontario found that playtesting spotted issues in games before they were put in front of the critics. Given that reviews have a huge impact on sales (New York City Data Science Academy), playtesting plays a critical role in preparing a game for commercial success. The ability to run large playtests at a reasonable cost with the added value of expert QA input is what makes the solution disruptive and unique in the gaming services marketplace.

For players, this solution creates the opportunity for unprecedented closeness to the industry they love. They get to share their feedback directly with the developers of the franchises they have invested in – ahead of the public release – an experience usually only available to press and influencers. For developers, it is an invaluable sense check, an opportunity to respond and pivot before official launch.

Razer Cortex: Playtest Program - Powered by Side is just one of Side’s playtesting solutions, their portfolio of services offers a range of playtesting options for both mass and small-scale playtesting.

For more information, please visit Side’s playtesting page.

Notes

About Side:

Side is a global video game development and services provider, offering technical and creative solutions to many of the largest developers and studios around the world. Founded in 2009, Side has grown from their Japanese roots to become a global force in the video games industry, with 20 studios in 14 countries across North America, Europe, South America, and Asia. Headquartered in London, Side’s industry-leading services include art production, game development, audio production, quality assurance, localization, localization QA, player support, community management, datasets and bespoke AI services. For more information, visit www.side.inc

About Razer:

Razer™ is the world’s leading lifestyle brand made For Gamers. By Gamers™.

The triple-headed snake trademark of Razer is one of the most recognized logos in the global gaming and esports communities. With a fan base that spans every continent, Razer has designed and built the world’s largest gamer-focused ecosystem of hardware, software and services. Razer’s award-winning hardware includes high-performance gaming peripherals and Blade gaming laptops. Razer’s software suite, which consists of Razer Chroma RGB, Razer Synapse and more, boasts over 250 million users, offering customization, lighting effects and optimization. Razer also offers payment services for gamers, youth, millennials and Gen Z, through Razer Gold, one of the world’s largest game payment services to over 68,000 games and Razer Silver, the accompanying rewards program.

Razer is committed towards a sustainable future and is taking responsibility through its #GoGreenWithRazer movement – a 10-year roadmap that aims to minimize environmental impact through various initiatives.

Founded in 2005, Razer is dual headquartered in Irvine, California and Singapore, with regional headquarters in Hamburg and Shanghai, and 19 offices worldwide. Razer will be celebrating its 20th anniversary in 2025 with a slew of brand activations. Find out more here at https://rzr.to/20anni.

For more information contact: Sophie McGuiness - sophie.mcginness@side.inc

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