Support in the Service of Game Development
Maksym Kordonets
- Hall:
- Business Track
How do you build an in-house support team from scratch, and why is it better than outsourcing? During the session, I will explain how support helps not only development but also game design in solving the tasks at hand. This is possible when you use relevant support tools and know how to improve support metrics.
What the talk is about
Maksym Kordonets explains why Belka Games chose an in-house support team over outsourcing and how to build one. The benefits he names are no delay in reacting to bugs and incidents, a lower cost per ticket, staff who know their project deeply, more control, and low turnover. The key points are careful hiring, solid onboarding with mentors, and rotating tasks so agents don't burn out. The second pillar is tooling: Zendesk with player segmentation (whales, payers, non-payers), priorities, tags and templates aimed at resolving an issue in one reply, an internal admin tool for player accounts, and a bug tracker shared with the developers. He also covers handling of bugs and incidents, key metrics (one-touch rate, CSAT) and reporting. In the Q&A he advises never promising players anything and answering honestly. Useful for studios planning their player support.