The Company
Giants Software is a Swiss-based game development studio renowned for the acclaimed Farming Simulator series. Founded in 2004, the studio has established itself as one of the leaders in the simulation genre.
Farming Simulator involves players managing their own farm, engaging in activities like planting crops and selling produce.
The game’s realistic mechanics and detailed graphics provide an authentic farming experience, making it a favorite among gamers and farming enthusiasts.
The studio utilizes the GIANTS Engine, their proprietary game engine that supports multiple platforms, including desktop, console and mobile.
The Challenge
As part of their efforts to expand the Farming Simulator series, Giants Software developed a standalone VR-focused game. This offers players a more immersive farming experience.
Before the official launch, the studio wanted to conduct a playtest to examine how players interacted with the game in its early stages.
More specifically, they aimed to test elements such as:
🔸 Gameplay experience (e.g., VR motion sickness)
🔸 Navigation through the game
🔸 Understanding the game mechanics
🔸 General aspects such as game graphics, UI, SFX, and others
To achieve the research objective, the studio partnered with Antidote to organize and execute First-Time User Experience (FTUE) playtests.
The Solution
The study was split into two stages: player recruitment and playtest coordination.
The first step required us to find 10 participants from our player community with the following guidelines:
🔸 Gender: Any
🔸 Age: 16-22
🔸 Geographical Location: North America and EU
🔸 Device Requirements: VR Players (Oculus Quest 2)
In addition, we recruited backup players in the event of no-shows to ensure that the studio received enough feedback from the players.
Once the recruitment stage was complete, we set up a private Discord server dedicated to the study and invited the players to join it.
From there, Antidote’s UX team explained:
🔸 The goal of the playtest
🔸 NDA requirements
🔸 Instructions for accessing the game on Oculus Quest 2
The game was distributed via the Meta Platforms keys and access was revoked immediately after the session ended.
The participants were required to play the game for approximately 30 minutes and answer the post-session surveys provided by Giants Software. The surveys aimed to understand players’ perceptions and experiences with the game in a VR environment.
Throughout the project, our team communicated with the players in case they had any concerns or confusion about the study. Additionally, we answered any questions to ensure a smooth playtesting experience for the players.
The gameplay recordings and transcripts were shared with Giants Software’s team via the Antidote platform. In the end, our UX team constructed a high-level report summarizing the results and offering actionable recommendations for the studio.
The Result
The playtest gave Giants Software valuable insights into how players experienced Farming Simulator VR in its early stages.
Carlo Sarti, Product and Release Manager at Giants Software, commended Antidote’s UX report, saying:
“Antidote delivered a near to perfect report, providing us invaluable info on real users’ experience with the game.
This let us react to the point of changing big parts of the game to make it more enjoyable and user-friendly – even at the cost of having to postpone the projected release date.”
The most notable issue uncovered during testing was the tutorial system. While tutorials appeared on-screen when players entered field scenes, many found them unclear, particularly regarding vehicle operation.
Only 25% of playtesters who completed the tutorial felt confident about what to do next.
Based on this feedback, the development team completely overhauled the tutorial system, shifting to a step-by-step guidance approach that ensured players had clear instructions at every stage.
Carlo emphasized this by saying:
“Tutorial and introduction to the game’s mechanics had been completely re-designed thanks to Antidote’s feedback.”
Giants Software acknowledged that Antidote’s findings played a critical role in reshaping these areas, ensuring that new players could navigate the VR experience more intuitively.
Reflecting on his collaboration with Antidote’s UX team, Carlo highlighted:
“The very detailed, but also easy to understand report provided was the biggest highlight during the collaboration, following an already outstanding communication and planning process.”
By refining key aspects of the game’s onboarding experience, Farming Simulator VR became more accessible, intuitive and enjoyable for first-time players.
Why Giants Software Recommends Antidote
We asked Carlo whether he would recommend other game studios to collaborate with Antidote:
“Antidote distinguishes itself for the possibility of selecting ad-hoc testing groups based on multiple different factors.
Having worked on niche target audiences, like kids aged 3-8 or VR, Antidote’s possibility to create testing/user groups within such niche audiences is a huge plus.
Would definitely recommend Antidote because of it.”
By partnering with Antidote, Giants Software was able to:
🔸 Recruit the ideal type of players
🔸 Conduct a FTUE playtest in VR
🔸 Outsource all the logistics of organizing and running the study
🔸 Receive actionable feedback that helped improve the game’s onboarding experience.
If you’re a game studio looking for a user research partner to help you better understand your players, Antidote is here to help.
Interested in learning more? Contact us to discuss your requirements.
