This study is an investigation about the usage of the customer-centric approach in the gaming industry. The aim was to discover the importance of players in the game design process and the goal was to find ways to improve the game design process by utilising service design methods and tools. The study was divided into the following stages: introduction, understanding, planning, acting, testing and results.

In the introduction section are: the background of this study, why of the topic was chosen, the goal and aims of the study, and a variety of concepts that will help the reader understand the content of the thesis.

Within the understanding stage are the following: the gathered information taken from interviews and other methods, content about gaming customers, game developers, and the gaming industry culture. Also included is a comparison between the player-centric design processes and the service design processes. A description of the methods and tools of service design which are suitable to the game design process and how the game design process could be improved will also be presented in this stage.

The aim of the planning stage was to find the best way of testing the service design approach. The quickest and most efficient way found was in the concept game creation, using workshops and co-creation as the framework.

A description of the service design methods and tools that are suitable to use in game concept creation, an explanation of why to use them and how to utilize them are presented in the acting stage.

The testing stage was a workshop, which occurred in Brazil, with six game developers as participants. In the first part of the workshop, they were taught about the tools and service design approach. In the second part they tried to utilize the tools and service design approach. The game developers’ objective for the workshop was to create a game concept. This concept was to meet the needs of the gaming industry and the gaming customers. The game developers were observed for the duration of the workshop and notes were taken from their comments for subsequent analysis.

In the results stage of this study, the analysis of the workshop and the results of the other parts of this study are presented. This section will show the importance, results, and benefits of having players as the focus during the game design process. How the conducted research could be improved, considerations for further studies, and discussions related to the topic are also included. At the end of this report is a summary of the whole study and my experience of participating in this research.