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SPOnG recently posted an article featuring comments from game designer Will Wright on the relative usefulness of focus groups to decide which game concepts to pursue. If Wright and Electronic Arts had listened to early focus group reaction to The Sims the game would never have started a blockbuster franchise.

"That's when I learned not to trust focus groups," says Wright. "I'm more suspicious when somebody says, 'That's a great idea!' than when they start pushing back and say, 'That's a horrible idea!', because if they say it's a horrible idea, then I know it's unexplored territory.""

Will Wright is the innovator and he was speaking about initial focus group reaction to the idea of The Sims - it was uniformly negative. His reaction also speaks highly of Electronic Arts which, despite the negativity, supported the game and reaped the rewards.

SPoNG: Will Wright, I Distrust Focus Groups

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