Randy Pagulayan
Director of Xbox Research
About
Randy is the Director of User Research for Xbox and leads a team ensuring consumer voices are inherent in decision-making across gaming at Microsoft. From content, platforms, services, and engagement, Randy’s team is at the center of consumer empathy and understanding. As a pioneer in this space, Randy has led user research efforts on numerous high-profile franchises, including Age of Empires and Halo. Throughout his career, he has co-authored several book chapters on user research methods in gaming, given numerous talks and keynotes internationally, and has been featured in Wired magazine, National Public Radio, and Official Xbox Magazine (OXM). Before joining Microsoft, Randy was part of the Human Factors Group at Motorola, and has been published in several scientific journals, including Journal of Experimental Psychology, Brain Research Bulletin, and Human Movement Science. Randy has a BA in Psychology from the University of Maryland, and a PhD in Experimental Psychology from the University of Cincinnati.
Featured content
Halo 3: How Microsoft Labs Invented a New Science of Play
Sitting in an office chair and frowning slightly, Randy Pagulayan peers through a one-way mirror. The scene on the other side looks like the game room in a typical suburban house: There's a large flat-panel TV hooked up to an Xbox 360, and a 34-year-old woman is sprawled in a comfy chair, blasting away at huge Sasquatchian aliens. It's June, and the woman is among the luckier geeks on the planet. She's playing Halo 3, the latest sequel to one of the most innovative and beloved videogames of all time, months before its September 25 release.
The Xbox Science Machine
There’s some hardcore science happening behind the scenes at Microsoft. Armed with over a dozen PhDs, the Studios User Research Organization has been getting into gamers’ heads for nearly 15 years using one-way mirrors, button-tracking software, and more. We travel to Microsoft’s home campus to tour the labs and talk to the team about turning raw data into real fun.