May 2, 2019
We can’t stress this enough: do not ignore your audience!
User Testing is “Paramount” ⛰
You might’ve seen a popular blue video game character in the news lately, Sonic the Hedgehog gets his own movie! Normally, video game movies don’t make headlines. However, the overwhelming backlash creators faced after revealing Sonic’s new design sent fans into absolute hysteria.
We asked ourselves: ”Why does this happen?” It’s as if the movie creators never played Sonic, or at least, researched existing material. Imagine spending 90 million dollars to create a new Sonic movie, then commit to a full redesign a few months before the movie is to be released because the entire audience was offended. Now, creators are working on a tight timeline and no budget at all because they failed to talk to the people who matter the most — Their Audience!
We can’t stress this enough: do not ignore your audience! Here are some of our examples of what happens when audiences are ignored:
- Alita: Battle Angel (2019). Fans didn’t enjoy her crazy eyes.
- King Kong (2005). King Kong’s appearance was originally sculpted to be “tougher” by Peter Jackson.
- The Last of Us (2013). Fans thought Ellie from The Last of Us looked like Ellen Page.
You can avoid the emotional and financial distress that these producers made for themselves, by simply testing with your audience.
We ran a test with video game enthusiasts to surface the feedback that the Sonic producers could have used to prevent their own downfall. Here’s what we found!
Crush your week,
Christian & The Helio Team