Tymon Smektała explained why developers shouldn't fulfill all fan requests

Former Dying Light franchise director Tymon Smektała stated that developers are obliged to listen to players, but should not blindly fulfill all community requests. According to him, the studios' task is to understand the audience's emotions, not to copy ideas from forums.

During his speech at Digital Dragons, the former Techland employee noted that after release, a game ceases to belong only to its creators and becomes part of the experience of millions of players.

Smektała emphasized that developers are obliged to listen to the community, but the popular phrase "the customer is always right" often doesn't work in the gaming industry. According to him, players are often mistaken when they demand specific technical solutions or radical changes to mechanics.

He believes that studios should not fulfill every wish of the loudest part of the audience. Instead, it is important to build relationships with the entire community effectively.

The developer also noted that players rarely make good game designers, but they understand their own emotions perfectly. Fear, irritation, delight, or disappointment — these are the signals that creators should pay attention to.

According to Smektała, if a certain element of the game massively causes anger or spoils the experience, it becomes a clear signal for the studio that the problem needs to be fixed urgently.