Side, a seasoned services provider formerly known as PTW, has entered into a six‑month memorandum of understanding with Denmark‑based artificial‑intelligence specialist Modl.ai. The agreement sets the stage for a joint effort to build a quality‑assurance platform that leverages AI while keeping human expertise at its core.
Modl.ai, a relatively new entrant to the gaming industry, was founded in 2018 and secured $1.7 million in seed financing two years later. Side, on the other hand, brings decades of experience in outsourcing and testing services. "The MOU essentially fuses the strongest capabilities of both companies into a singular, differentiated offering," explains Martin McBride, Side’s chief commercial officer.
"One of the most coveted breakthroughs for game developers today is an AI‑enhanced QA workflow that genuinely adds value. Nobody has cracked it yet, and we believe we are on the cusp of doing so." Earlier AI‑based QA tools, including Modl.ai’s own previous version, required developers to ship full builds or even provide source code so that the testing platform could integrate via plugins and SDKs. This approach created considerable friction, as the founder Christoffer Holmgard notes: it was cumbersome and became increasingly untenable as projects grew in size. The newly envisioned system eliminates the need for any internal code access.
"We treat the product exactly as you would hand it to a QA tester or eventually to the consumer," Holmgard says. "You load the game onto a device that mirrors the target hardware, and our AI watches the screen, mimics player inputs, logs every event, and then hands the collected data to a second AI layer that flags potential defects. That layer escalates findings to a human reviewer for final validation." The first phase, dubbed "building game knowledge," involves developers uploading assets, design documents, screenshots, and other relevant materials.
Through a conversational interface, the AI ingests this information in natural language, gradually forming a contextual model of the title. "We simply chat with the system about our game, supplementing the dialogue with images or design docs, and it starts to understand the world we’re building," Holmgard explains.
Once the AI has a baseline comprehension, developers specify the testing scope. This can range from traditional test‑case execution to more exploratory scenarios that play to the strengths of the AI engine. "Here human insight is indispensable," Holmgard adds.
"You need to craft prompts and guide the AI so it performs the right actions and focuses on the right areas." During a test run, the platform records textual logs, video snippets (referred to as "evidence"), and comprehensive telemetry. These artefacts are compiled into a bug report and passed to a seasoned QA specialist. The specialist reviews the findings, determines severity, and decides the next steps in the production pipeline. A persistent challenge for any automated tester is distinguishing a genuine bug from an intentional feature.
Holmgard says that continuous feedback from human testers helps the AI refine its judgment. "Prompt engineering, pre‑built game knowledge, and iterative feedback all converge to teach the system what constitutes a defect versus a design choice. Over time the model becomes more attuned to the nuances of each title." Side envisions this collaboration reshaping career trajectories within QA. Rather than remaining confined to repetitive test execution, staff can evolve into AI engineers who design prompts, interpret model outputs, and fine‑tune algorithms.
"Our people can climb the value chain, earning higher salaries and gaining new skill sets," McBride notes. "When we elevate their roles, we also create the possibility of bringing jobs back to regions where low‑cost testing has previously driven work offshore." Both companies agree that AI is not a replacement for human testers but a catalyst for more strategic work. McBride points out that the tool automates the drudgery of smoke tests and routine verifications, freeing testers to focus on analysis, gameplay assessment, and creative exploration.
"When the repetitive load is lifted, our team can think more strategically and grow professionally," he says. Benedikte Mikkelsen, Modl.ai’s chief product officer, echoes this sentiment: "Many current tests are mind‑numbingly tedious. You don’t need a person to repeat the same flow ad infinitum.
Instead, they can concentrate on higher‑order tasks like evaluating game feel or devising novel test scenarios, which is where real value lies." McBride stresses that the pricing pressures in certain low‑cost regions mean that a complete AI takeover of QA is unrealistic in the near term. "There will always be a place for human testers, especially where testing costs are driven down to unsustainable levels," he says. "Providing our people with AI‑augmented toolkits extends their careers and keeps talent within the organization longer." Side’s philosophy treats AI as a "sliding scale"—a spectrum where human involvement never disappears entirely.
"Our ethos is that there will always be a human in the loop," McBride affirms. "The technology amplifies our capabilities, reduces manual error, and lifts overall quality, but it never supplants the critical thinking that only people can provide." When asked about the types of games the solution currently supports, COO Oliver Deslandes is candid: the platform is best suited for simpler titles—puzzle games, card games, or any experience with repeatable mechanics and modest pacing.
Fast‑paced 3D open‑world or fighting games remain on the roadmap for future development. "We’re targeting clients willing to embark on this journey with us, understanding that early adopters may have modest expectations while we continue to refine the technology," Deslandes says. In summary, the Side‑Modl.ai partnership aims to blend AI efficiency with human judgment, creating a QA workflow that is faster, less error‑prone, and more rewarding for the people who run it. The six‑month MOU marks the beginning of a pilot phase that will test the approach on real‑world projects, gather data, and iterate toward a scalable solution for the broader gaming industry.