How we build and maintain the panel

Who qualifies

Panel membership is open to working or recently-working professionals in the video-game industry: engineers, designers, producers, artists, QA, audio, and studio leadership. We accept panelists based in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and the European Union. Applicants must be 18 or older.

Application review

Every applicant completes a structured profile covering role, seniority, shipped titles, platforms, engines, and studio type. Applications are reviewed against the following criteria before a panelist is activated:

• —Stated role is consistent with platforms, engines, and studio type selected
• —Shipped titles are verifiable (MobyGames, Steam, public credits, or LinkedIn)
• —Seniority and years of experience are internally consistent
• —Attention checks in the application are passed

Credential cross-referencing

We cross-reference stated credentials against public sources (game credits databases, LinkedIn, company websites) for a sample of applications and for all panelists invited to senior-tier studies. We do not require documentation for standard applications, but panelists invited to high-value studies may be asked to verify a specific claim before participation.

Who is in the panel

The panel is structured to reflect the real distribution of the industry across several dimensions:

• —Role: engineering, design, production, art, QA, audio, and leadership
• —Seniority: junior through studio head / C-suite
• —Platform focus: PC, console, mobile, VR/AR, and multi-platform
• —Engine: Unity, Unreal, proprietary, Godot, and others
• —Studio type: AAA, AA, indie, mobile F2P, and middleware / tools
• —Geography: US, Canada, UK, and EU

How panelists are selected for a study

When a study is commissioned, we define a screener in collaboration with the buyer: minimum seniority, required platforms or engines, studio type, and any additional criteria. We then match against the panel and send invitations only to panelists who meet all criteria. Buyers do not have direct access to the panelist database or individual profiles.

Ongoing quality management

Panel quality degrades over time without active management. Our controls include:

• —Attention and consistency checks embedded in every survey study
• —Response quality review for async and interview studies before delivery
• —Flagging and review of panelists with repeated low-quality responses
• —Suspension of panelists who provide materially false profile information
• —Re-verification prompts when a panelist's stated profile may have changed

NDA and confidentiality

Panelists agree to confidentiality obligations as a condition of panel membership. For studies involving unreleased or sensitive materials, panelists additionally agree to study-specific confidentiality terms before receiving any materials. Buyers may request custom NDA language for high-sensitivity engagements.

Compensation and independence

Panelists are compensated for their time, not their opinions. Incentive amounts are disclosed before a panelist accepts any study, and payment is not conditional on any particular response or rating. This is deliberately designed to preserve response integrity — panelists have no financial incentive to skew their feedback in any direction.