How AccelOne's nearshore QA team tested every game before launch, and delivered a successful platform debut in Argentina and Chile.
In brief: A multinational media corporation entering the gaming industry needed comprehensive QA for a cloud game streaming platform, where games run on servers and stream to devices in real time. AccelOne deployed a four-person nearshore QA team using Zendesk and JIRA to test every game on Windows and Mac, the website across all browsers and mobile, and payment integration. Critical bugs in game startup, saving features, and payment integration were identified and resolved. The platform launched successfully in Argentina and Chile in April 2018, with AccelOne continuing as the QA partner as the platform expanded.
4
Nearshore QA engineers (1 senior + 3 testers)
2
Markets launched, Argentina and Chile
2
Platforms tested, Windows and Mac
Critical
Bugs found and resolved before launch
Ongoing
QA partnership as platform expanded
The client: a multinational entering cloud gaming
A multinational media corporation with established operations in entertainment sought to expand into the gaming industry with a cloud game streaming platform, one of the first of its kind in Latin America. The platform's model was distinct from traditional gaming: rather than requiring players to own hardware capable of running games locally, games would run entirely on remote servers and be streamed to the player's device in real time.
The initial launch was targeted at Argentina and Chile, with plans for regional expansion. The success of that launch depended entirely on product quality, a buggy or unreliable streaming experience at launch would undermine market entry in a competitive, trust-sensitive category.
The client needed a QA partner who could test a novel architecture quickly, scale to cover every game title, and operate under the pressure of tight pre-launch timelines. They contracted AccelOne.
What makes QA for a cloud game streaming platform different?
In a traditional gaming platform, QA tests the application running locally on the device. In a cloud streaming platform, the game runs on a remote server, the player's device only receives a video stream and sends back controller inputs. This architectural difference creates an entirely different set of QA concerns.
How cloud gaming works and why it changes QA
Games are rendered on server infrastructure, not the player's device. What the player sees is a compressed video stream. What the player sends back is input data. The client device could be a low-spec laptop or a mobile phone, it doesn't matter, because the compute happens elsewhere.
For QA, this means the standard "does the application run correctly?" question is joined by a new set of questions: How does the stream behave under load? How responsive is gameplay given the input-output latency of the streaming layer? Does audio sync correctly with the video stream? Does multiplayer function correctly when all players are routed through server infrastructure? These questions don't exist in locally-run software QA.
AccelOne's QA process was specifically designed for this architecture — testing not just whether games functioned, but whether they streamed reliably under the conditions real users would experience.
What did AccelOne test on the platform?
AccelOne's scope covered both the game streaming platform itself and the accompanying website, two distinct systems with different technical failure modes and user journeys.
Manual black-box testing of each game title on both Windows and Mac. Every game was tested against a structured checklist before it went live, including games added to the catalog hours before launch.
Wording · Language settings · Game execution · Loading times · Audio · Playability · Multiplayer · Saving features · Session behavior
Cross-browser compatibility testing across all major browsers, mobile responsiveness testing, and focused testing of the payment integration, the most commercially critical pathway on any e-commerce surface.
Chrome · Firefox · Safari · IE · Mobile · Payment flows · Account creation · Subscription management
Testing of loading times, streaming fluidity, and gameplay responsiveness, metrics that only exist in a server-rendered streaming architecture and that directly determine perceived product quality.
Server loading times · Stream fluidity · Input latency · Audio sync · Network condition behavior
After each bug fix by the client's developers, AccelOne retested the affected area to confirm resolution and check for regressions. The test-fix-retest cycle ran continuously through pre-launch and post-launch phases.
Bug confirmation · Regression checks · Fix validation · Pre-launch sign-off
What does AccelOne test on each individual game before launch?
For a cloud streaming platform, every new game added to the catalog is a potential launch risk, even if the platform infrastructure itself is stable. AccelOne's per-game checklist covered eight distinct areas, each capable of producing a critical bug independently:
✔ Wording and UI copy
✔ Language and locale settings
✔ Game execution and startup
✔ Loading times and stream latency
✔ Audio quality and sync
✔ Playability and input response
✔ Multiplayer functionality
✔ Saving and session features
This checklist was executed against every game, including titles added to the catalog with only hours before the scheduled launch window. The structured approach allowed the QA team to move quickly without skipping coverage areas, and to escalate critical findings to developers with enough lead time to resolve them before go-live.
What tools and process did AccelOne use?
Bug tracking and issue registration. Every bug found in the platform or website was logged in Zendesk, giving the client's developers a single shared system for tracking, prioritizing, and resolving issues. Facilitated real-time communication between QA and development.
Test case management, task tracking, and sprint reporting. JIRA structured the QA workflow across the project lifecycle — from test case creation through execution, bug filing, and retest confirmation. Monthly reports were compiled from JIRA data for client stakeholders.
Beyond tooling, the operating rhythm mattered. AccelOne ran daily meetings with the client's development team, ensuring that bugs found on any given day were escalated, understood, and assigned before the next session. Monthly detailed reports gave client leadership full visibility into testing progress, open issues, and trend data over time.
How did AccelOne manage testing under pre-launch time pressure?
One of the defining challenges of the engagement was operational, not technical: new games were sometimes added to the catalog just hours before their scheduled live date. The QA team needed to complete a full per-game test cycle, across both Windows and Mac, in a compressed window without missing coverage areas.
01. Checklist-driven execution
A structured per-game checklist meant every tester covered the same areas in the same sequence, regardless of time pressure. Speed came from process discipline, not from skipping steps.
02. Parallel platform coverage
Windows and Mac testing ran concurrently across the team, compressing the total time to complete cross-platform coverage for each game.
03. Immediate bug escalation
Critical findings were filed in Zendesk and communicated directly to developers in the same session, not batched for the next daily meeting. This gave developers maximum time to fix before the launch window closed.
04. Senior analyst oversight
The senior QA analyst managed the timeline in real time, triaging incoming games, allocating testers, and making judgment calls on severity and escalation priority throughout the pre-launch period.
05. Daily developer sync
Each day ended with a meeting with the client's development team to confirm bug status, discuss open issues, and align on priorities for the next testing cycle.
How was AccelOne's QA team structured for this project?
AccelOne deployed a four-person nearshore team, all based in Latin America, meaning the team operated in the same time zone as the client, enabling the daily developer syncs and real-time bug escalation that the project required.
Project timeline management, client communication, escalation decisions, and oversight of the full test-fix-retest cycle. Primary point of contact with the client's development team.
Per-game platform testing (Windows and Mac), website testing, regression testing, and bug registration in Zendesk. Parallel execution across platforms under senior analyst direction.
The team configuration, one experienced analyst leading three testers, reflects AccelOne's standard approach to QA projects: a senior lead who owns quality and client communication, supported by a testing team that can scale coverage across multiple games, platforms, and test cycles simultaneously.
What were the results?
AccelOne's QA work identified and resolved the issues that mattered most before they reached users.
✔ Critical bugs found and resolved before launch
✔ Game startup and execution issues eliminated
✔ Saving feature bugs caught pre-launch
✔ Payment integration defects identified and fixed
✔ Platform launched in Argentina and Chile, April 2018
✔ Website launch followed July 2018
✔ Client praised testing detail, communication, efficiency
✔ Ongoing QA partnership extended post-launch
The client specifically praised AccelOne's testing detail, communication, and efficiency, the three qualities that matter most in pre-launch QA, where the window to find and fix problems is short and the cost of missing one is high.
The partnership did not end at launch. AccelOne continued as the QA partner as the platform expanded to new features, personal profiles, parental controls, validating each addition before it reached users in Argentina, Chile, and the markets that followed.
Frequently asked questions
What QA services did AccelOne provide for the game streaming platform?
AccelOne provided manual black-box testing of every game on Windows and Mac, cross-browser and mobile responsiveness testing of the website, payment integration testing, and performance testing of the server-rendered streaming architecture. The team used Zendesk for bug tracking and JIRA for test case management, running daily developer syncs and producing monthly reports throughout the engagement.
What makes QA for a cloud game streaming platform different from standard software QA?
In a cloud streaming platform, games run on remote servers and are delivered as a video stream, the player's device only receives visuals and sends back inputs. QA must therefore test streaming-specific performance metrics that don't exist in locally-run software: server loading times, stream fluidity, input latency, audio sync, and multiplayer behavior across the streaming layer. AccelOne's testing process covered all of these in addition to standard functional testing.
How did AccelOne handle same-day game testing before launch?
AccelOne used a checklist-driven approach that could be executed quickly without skipping coverage areas. New games arriving hours before launch were assigned to testers for parallel Windows and Mac testing, with critical bugs escalated directly to developers in the same session. The senior QA analyst managed prioritization in real time, ensuring the most critical areas were covered first when time was limited.
What tools does AccelOne use for QA project management and bug tracking?
AccelOne used Zendesk for bug tracking and issue registration, giving QA and developers a shared system to communicate about identified issues in real time. JIRA managed test cases, task tracking, reporting, and developer communication across the full project lifecycle. Daily developer meetings and monthly detailed reports provided additional transparency at every level.
What were the results of AccelOne's QA services for the game streaming platform?
AccelOne identified and resolved critical bugs in game startup, saving features, and website payment integration. The platform launched successfully in Argentina and Chile in April 2018. The client specifically praised AccelOne's testing detail, communication, and efficiency. AccelOne continued as the ongoing QA partner as the platform expanded to new features including personal profiles and parental controls.
How is AccelOne's nearshore QA team structured?
AccelOne deployed a four-person nearshore team based in Latin America: one senior QA analyst responsible for timeline, client communication, and escalation decisions, and three QA testers executing platform and website testing in parallel. The shared time zone with the client enabled daily developer syncs and real-time bug escalation that the pre-launch pressure required.