The Tester: Season 2 Finale Interviews

Interview with Brent Gocke, Sr. Release Manager for SCEA and judge on The Tester: Seasons 1 & 2

PSLS: We know you are a quality assurance Sr. release manager for SCEA. But how exactly did you land the job, and how have you risen up through the ranks to where you are today?

Brent Gocke:  In college I read a book on how to break into the game industry and they recommended QA as a great start to learn about the industry and get your foot in the door. I started testing in 2006 and while in testing, I also kept an eye on other opportunities within the department. Later that year I applied and got a position on the Project Management team that later restructured to the Release Management team. Since then, I have stayed and grown with the Release Management team, as I really enjoy our role and team members.

Can you tell us your favorite project you’ve ever been a part of?

I have been fortunate enough to work on a number for outstanding First Party titles, but if I were to choose one, it would probably be the LittleBigPlanet franchise. LBP is not only an outstanding game, but from a release perspective it is also one of the most challenging and rewarding projects to be a part of because they are always releasing new content to the LBP community.

Some of the contestants have very little to no experience in the field. Some didn’t even own a PlayStation console. Do you feel that the casting process selected qualified individuals? Does SCEA have any hand in the selection process, or is 51 Minds responsible?

I personally have no involvement in the casting process. That is all taken care of on the production side with our internal teams and 51 Minds. That said, I do not necessarily think it should be a requirement to “own” a PlayStation console, but you should definitely know our products and be passionate about games.

While Will Powers is a shining example of how well someone could fit in with SCEA, is there a fear that the winner may not perform well at their new role as a tester? What would be done if that were the case?

One of my main roles on the show is to make sure we ideally get a candidate that would be a good fit within SCEA. So long as the winner starts their job with a positive hardworking attitude there is no reason to think they should not be successful.

So many of the challenges seem completely unrelated to video game testing, is it difficult to properly judge the contestants by their performance during challenges?

All of the challenges typically have a gaming backdrop and focus on key skill sets (i.e. teamwork, communication, attention to detail, etc) that can be used to evaluate a candidate. For example, in Episode 4, our Medal of Honor challenge was meant to focus on teamwork and leadership. Obviously the challenges are setup to be entertaining, but none the less, you actually get a good perspective of an individual’s overall character and potential abilities.

How much does what goes on outside of the challenges weigh in on your decisions?

None of the panelist get to interact with the cast or visit their loft during the main competition, thus our main decision making has to come from what we saw throughout the challenges.

Do you have your favorites early on in the competition? Not to say that you would have preferred anyone over Matt, but was there any contestants that went home that you would have liked to work with?

I think the majority of the contestants had potential; after all they beat out thousands of folks just to get on the show. Since Adrianne and I were fortunate enough to be there for every challenge, obviously we got a broader perspective of their personalities throughout the series.  I like to think the top three contestants made it to the finale, with Matt pulling out the win.

Where does The Tester go from here? What can we expect next season, if there is one?

That is up to the producers, I have no information to report at this time.

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