/ Lifestyle

Illuminating the Gen Z High School Experience in Gaming

The Challenge

A popular social simulation video game brand wanted to understand the Gen Z teen experience to develop an authentic new mode that would resonate with gamers across the US.

Path Forward

We started broad learning from experts, to gain foundational knowledge of Gen Z today. We then dove deep in an online ethnography to truly understand teen values, identities and behaviors in and out of high school. Finally, through a series of friendship pairs, we gathered intel on the lives of Gen Z teens today and sought to understand the central themes players wanted to see in the game.

Impact

With a rich understanding of who Gen Z is, our clients were able to sharpen initial concepts bringing to life insights from Gen Z gamers to develop a feature that felt authentic, relatable, and playable.