The gaming industry moves fast, with millions of players deeply immersed in the experience. Their emotional involvement makes quick and effective support essential—not just for technical issues but for maintaining overall player satisfaction. Gaming customer support comes with its own set of challenges, requiring a tailored approach to meet players' needs.
To meet gamers' expectations, support teams need a deep understanding of the game's dynamics and player behavior. Considering how players think and react is key to delivering high-quality service that drives loyalty and long-term success.
This article explores the unique challenges of gaming customer support and offers effective solutions to keep gamers engaged.
The game industry is one of the fastest growing in the world. By 2026, revenue in this area will be more than $321 billion, according to PwC’s Global Entertainment & Media Outlook 2022-2026.
Games are supplemented with complex functionality and are becoming even more graphically perfect. At the same time, players are becoming more demanding. They need fast and efficient support. Which problems do players often encounter? These can be technical issues, payment-related problems, and many others. Players want to get help ASAP.
Let's look at the most popular problems in the gaming business that you must know how to handle.
Gaming companies don't always manage to provide prompt support all over the world. It is especially a problem for gamers during peak times (i.e. when traffic increases). For example, when new games are released, or temporary promotions take place.
That's why your support team must be able to serve a growing user base. It is necessary to predict spikes in demand promptly. Customer support specialists should also regulate the attraction of additional resources wisely.
Example
In 2020, World of Warcraft from Blizzard Entertainment released the Shadowlands expansion. The company faced many requests from gamers for the support service, which led to delays. Blizzard expanded support capabilities and strengthened infrastructure. Thus, they coped with the sharp increase in traffic.
Customer support staff must know how to respond to complaints regarding technical glitches. Downtime, server crashes, and malfunctions happen pretty often. How can we avoid player frustration and improve customer service in the gaming industry? The support team should provide quick solutions. For example, you can implement live chat, real-time notifications, and helpful troubleshooting guides.
Payment issues, such as declined payments or billing errors, are also a turn-off for players. Multiple support channels and a clear refund policy are the way to handle such issues.
Security breaches such as account theft or personal information loss are serious threats. Implementing security practices such as multi-factor authentication and data encryption is important. Effective response and open communication are essential when a breach occurs. It will help restore player trust. Educating users on proper security practices can also prevent potential security incidents.
Example
The FIFA Ultimate Team game faced frequent payment issues in 2020. The EA Canada company urgently fixed problems with transactions and server connections. At the same time, it strengthened security controls to protect players against account hacking.
As the number of games increases, so does the demand for video game customer support. The gaming community speaks different languages and uses different gaming consoles, mobile phones, and PCs to play. Therefore, the main tasks of the support service are to be ready to answer queries in multiple languages and solve platform-related issues. It is very important to ensure a quality experience for each player.
Example
Fortnite is one of the most popular and favorite games among gamers. Epic Games provides personalized support for fixing errors in this game. Players from different regions quickly receive help tailored to platform-related issues and in their preferred language.
Looking for an experienced gaming customer support team? Turn to Simply Contact and see how we can make a difference.
Book a consultation
Toxicity, fraud, and deception are common problems in games. Players can be stalked and have their accounts stolen. Players can also be subject to abuse. All of this, of course, reduces the desire to continue playing.
What measures should be taken? 24/7 monitoring (with AI tools, for example) to protect accounts from hacking attempts. Take strict security measures to keep players' confidential information. Use the right tools to create reports. Also, offer real-time moderation to resolve issues quickly.
Example
The popular League of Legends game often has problems with fraud. However, the creator company Riot Games knows how to solve such issues with in-game notification and moderation systems and a team of support experts. Reliable account protection in the form of two-factor authentication is also applied to prevent hacks.
In modern gaming, you must ensure timely customer support to win players' trust. The top 10 expert strategies in this section will help the customer support team improve the quality of service. And this, in turn, will provide gamers with a convenient and immersive gaming experience.
Depending on the game in question, players can use different devices. Therefore, you need to consider all types of channels when solving support issues. It could be chats, social networks, and even in-game messages. Stable support on all platforms is necessary to provide high-quality and fast gaming customer service, no matter where players are. The response time to a complaint or request should not exceed the benchmark, which is different across industries. The “good average,” according to Zendesk, is about six minutes.
Forecasting is a good way to improve support efficiency. To identify potential flaws, you should study the statistics and trends within games. Use in-game tips or preventive warnings for players. It will help them avoid difficulties and save your support team unnecessary trouble.
Players often help each other solve common problems. They can use forums and Discord servers to discuss issues together, which reduces the load on support services. It also strengthens the sense of community and increases player loyalty.
Every player wants to feel safe and protected. Real-time moderation allows you to respond quickly to toxic behavior or harassment. Try to resolve such situations immediately. The more comfortable players feel, the longer they stay players.
Are there ways to speed up the resolution of standard player questions? For example, password recovery or account issues. Chatbots are effective here, taking on the lion's share of your support service's work. In the freed-up time, trained staff will solve more complex issues. You should balance instant response and finding a personalized approach when needed.
Every player is unique, and you should be able to adapt. Building interactions that consider the player's preferences and behavior is important. For this, you need customer support tools like Zendesk or Hubspot Service Hub. Using such tools, you can collect and store all user data in the database.
Detailed information about your clients will help you build communication with them. Players feel the attention and care for their questions, improving the game experience.
You can only optimize gaming customer support based on player data. You need to analyze which queries are most popular. Also, study gaming trends to understand player needs. Awareness helps to anticipate potential problems and maintain a high level of service.
Imagine the great duo. Artificial intelligence is processing high-speed queries on one end, and humans, with their empathy and expertise, are on the other. It is an effective interaction model that brings remarkable results with player acquisition.
Providing adequate support across languages and cultures is of utmost importance to gamers. But it's also important to maintain your brand voice across regions. So that every player, no matter where they are, gets the same quality experience.
Outsourcing helps gaming companies grow by optimizing the customer support process. With the help of an experienced outsourcing provider, you can effectively serve the most demanding customer demographics. Partnering with an external team removes the costs of training your own staff. The experienced customer support company will adapt to all your requirements. The thing here to do is select a reliable and reputable provider.
Customer service has reached a new level in the gaming landscape. High-quality gaming customer support can become a major source of revenue rather than an expense item. Great customer service leads to higher player satisfaction, loyalty, and retention. It, of course, impacts the long-term profitability of the game.
Simply Contact is here to help you maintain player loyalty, strengthen your brand reputation, and ensure every interaction leaves a positive impression. Let us handle your player support, so you can focus on growing your business.
Get fast answers to any remaining questions
Thank you.
Your request has been sent successfully.
