What do you do if your innovative gaming ideas are met with resistance?

Innovation can be highly subjective when it comes to ideas for games, and what’s most important is “the player experience” and feedback, not your CEO, or investor, but your community. Build your MVP (minimum viable product) - beta test, iterate with player feedback - rinse and repeat.

You need to understand who you need to accept the idea, and then communicate directly with them to develop an understanding of how they feel. They may not articulate it well or even understand their feelings but the better you can, the better off you'll be. Talk to them. Listen to what they say. Also listen for what they mean. The better you understand their concerns, the better you can address them going forward.

What we judge as "resistance" is often not so from the other person's perspective. In such situations, it is useful to practice the art of "realizing empathy." Based on my past experiences of realizing empathy in similar situations, it's likely that the other person has concerns that are left unresolved. If this is true, it's important to earn their trust enough for them to feel safe in disclosing their concerns. Once you are clear what the concern is, ask them what would alleviate their concerns before making your own suggestions. If they don't know how, then and only then work together to come up with a way together.

Make it yourself anyway if you believe in it. sometimes the best games are not interesting till someone plays it and understands it.

Now its time to adjust your pitch based on the feedback you've gathered. You may need to balance disparate feedback in order to address everybody's concerns. Some of it may conflict but there us often a way to either compromise, or convince. Sometimes they may not even dislike the idea but just how you're communicating it, or the presentation style. Help them see where you and they align, and help them understand your thought process, and the ways you've carefully considered their own concerns.

Coalition building is a powerful technique that can often work wonders. Talk to people individually in a more casual setting, outside of external influences. This will not only help you gather feedback but it will help you build a relationship and help them build a relationship with your work. Now when you present again you should have them more on your side than before, more invested in the idea, and more likely to back you up. This also helps you circumvent any social dynamics at play in a group setting. In theory you can get everyone aligned with you before they enter that group presentation setting, which then becomes a formality.

The resistance will have to be based on some or other fact or motivation and I would then have to consider the basis of such resistant and respond to each of the opposing comments sound reasons and where possible some empirical evidence to further support my proposal.

Consumers never really know what they want and they like in a new product. And those wanting it thinks they really like it. Until they have it. Keep on going and prepare them for a Big Surprise. They doubt you before, keep the plan and anticipate the further critics. Create the product that you really love and add something that they may like too. But be flexible enough to adjust to target most of them.

Your idea may not be a good one. Its possible that the experiences of others invalidate what you thought was a good idea. the Games industry is very collaborative and cross-functional and its vary possible that something that seemed like a great solution simply doesnt work when considering other perspectives. Its okay to aknowledge that, learn from it, and progress in other ways.

Understand Concerns: Listen to feedback and identify specific objections or concerns. Communicate Clearly: Use data and examples to explain benefits and address misconceptions. Seek Collaboration: Include stakeholders in the process to increase buy-in. Highlight Success: Share successful examples to build confidence. Adapt and Improve: Be open to feedback and refine ideas accordingly. Develop a Business Case: Create a structured proposal outlining benefits and risks. Stay Resilient: Maintain a positive attitude and persist in advocating for your ideas.