There is a simple and easy way how to make the next big hit video-game.
Instead of inviting family members and other people to play your game, place the game in an environment with crowds. And, no, Gamestop will not do. This would mean placing your game in a mall or somewhere else to let average, ordinary people come up and play your game.
If people are coming up to your game and are consistently playing it to the point where you can’t get them to stop, you have a big hit on your hands.
What? This isn’t good enough for you? You want to make the BEST SELLING GAME ever? Then a normal crowded place will not be for you. What you do is place that game in a bar. And I do not mean nerdy bar. I mean a real bar with cigar smoke, hot girls, adult beverages, tons of distractions. If that game becomes successful there, then you will have the best selling game ever.
Is this an absurd way to market test a game? Not at all. All the other really big best selling games did this.
Pong was market tested in a bar. Look at those results.
Ten years later, Donkey Kong was market tested in a bar. Look at those results.
Super Mario Brothers was originally sold in North America by NOA employees literally putting the controller in people’s hands as they walked by. Kids were impressed by Super Mario Brothers, and parents wrote it down as the thing to get to put under the tree that Christmas. Look at those results.
Twenty years later, Wii Sports saw NOA employees put the Wii-mote into people’s hands be it at malls, on the street, anywhere. Anyone could pick up and play Wii Sports. Look at those results.
Arcade games became classics precisely because they were arcade games: they were being played in bars, restaurants, in public.
Many games would not survive the “Malstrom test”. No one is going to be playing Halo in a bar. Well, you could, but you would get weird stares, and the proprietor would ask you to leave. But you could get away with playing Wii Sports. In fact, the proprietor would like Wii Sports since it would attract people to the bar. I have seen some Wii Sports make their way to bars. Wii Sports Resort, with its lame sounding theme and all, likely wouldn’t survive in a bar but would do well enough in the typical arcade scene.
NSMB Wii would also do well in the arcade scene. You could place that game in the middle of the mall, throw someone on the game, and people would play.
The ‘Malstrom Test’ quickly figures out what is holding the game back. If it is accessibility, then people obviously aren’t going to pick up and play. If the game is creating a stigma (where people are staring at you like, “Why are you bringing THAT into the public?), then figure out the stigma and remove it.
This is a tough test. But it creates very accurate results. It also gets developers out of their nest and forces them to face people face to face (which they need to do more of) as they play the game. It will also be very humiliating which is also good. It makes the entire thing more fun. If a developer or publisher is embarrassed to be seen in public with their game, then why the hell should anyone want to buy it?
There are a few quirky geographical areas that the Malstrom Test cannot work. This is because the people there are already crazy. You could be dressed up as a Lords of the Rings character while speaking Klingon, and everyone would smile and give you a big thumbs up. An example of such a location where everyone is crazy would be Austin, Texas. I actually ran around there in a jester hat, and I got no strange looks but only, “Wow, how awesome!” As lovable as these folk may be, they will not be helpful in the ‘Malstrom Test’.