IR Top Page > Developer Interview 2009 > vol04.Shutaro Kobayashi
- - How many workers are there in the CS Quality Control Division?
- "Kobayashi"
We have 20 corporate members, 40 contract employees and the summed number of workers including part-time workers is about 300. New recruits hired in spring are going to be educated to be workforce in busy seasons from summer to autumn.
- - Well, a few capable members and many part-timers are working together to perform duties.
- "Kobayashi"
Many of the part-timers are not hired temporarily but are working for a long time. The tasks of quality control are not so easy for everyone to do, but long experience is very important in these tasks. I hear some other bug checker companies and software developers have the registration system of staff. In our company, in contrast, we often promote part-timers who have gained technique and experience to contracted or corporate members.
- - Please tell us about the detailed business affairs.
- "Kobayashi"
The focus of them is "bug checking," that is, to check whether a consumer game under development works properly. "Tuning" is also a part of tasks.
- - What's "tuning"?
- "Kobayashi"
It includes some indications of lacking elements and improvements performed by QC members who play games seven to ten hours a day. In short, it "upgrades" the quality of product, in contrast with bug check that "maintains" the quality, you know. Those suggestions are not revolutionary ideas that dramatically reform the contents, but just a partial tuning. For example, "the attacking power of this weapon is now 10, but 12 is better for the total balance." The purpose is to increase overall quality by accumulating small improvements one by one.
What we submit is not "requests" but "suggestions" so they prove vain if the development side won't hear of doing. Thankfully we have understanding developers who willingly adopt our opinions. To think "what to do to satisfy users" in all time is the core of the task of "tuning."
- - What other duties do you have?
- "Kobayashi"
We're also responsible for the task of "monitoring." This is to have a questionnaire in the division, so it is something of a marketing activity. The members of the division range from teenagers to their thirties. It was when we thought "why not use those 300 game fans?" that we decided to do monitoring. These questionnaires collect various items, such as game contents and titles, for surveying the opinions of users before releasing it to the market.
- - You can easily do marketing to the hard-core game fans.
- "Kobayashi"
Yes, but not all 300 members just love games. Some love cars, and some are well informed of digital consumer appliances. A wide variety of individuals provide varied views and ideas. Collected opinions for a fresh trial product may be a good barometer for the afterward developments. We sometimes directly inform a producer of our opinions on a magazine article. Although not everything is reflected, these are in many cases provided as reference data for the promotion.
- - Well, you're providing the opinions to the developers from the user's point of view.
- "Kobayashi"
Yes. Probably our division is the one the largest number of game users belongs in Capcom, so we can give these kinds of opinions more naturally than the other divisions.
- - Is the viewpoint of users naturally different from that of developers?
- "Kobayashi"
Naturally. We feel almost as similar as to users. So there are sometimes very severe opinions. It may be a bit of shock if you find a game you paid several thousand yens unamusing.
- - Do you check not only domestic products but also ones for overseas?
- "Kobayashi"
We're responsible for titles for the Western or Asian market. As for overseas versions, we use hard copies of reference to compare with the game's displays in checking foreign versions, but we sometimes overlook any mistakes in language of the reference. Native speakers are able to point out problems in the reference, resulting in total quality improvement. So we're frequently using overseas companies to check our overseas versions.
- - Are you responsible for anything other than consumer games?
- "Kobayashi"
In addition, we check guidebooks, CD/DVDs and character goods in a comprehensive manner. We can effectively check them because we're deeply involved in the games which they are based on.
