You're navigating conflicting stakeholder opinions after playtesting. How do you maintain project direction?

When handling diverse feedback, start by systematically gathering and organizing opinions. Establish structured methods like surveys or focus groups to collect a wide range of perspectives. Categorize feedback into themes to identify common issues and prioritize changes that align with the game's objectives and target audience. Remember, each suggestion should be evaluated based on its potential impact on the game's overall success.

Systematically organizing feedback into categories and prioritizing changes based on your game’s core objectives ensures that development is aligned with player expectations and your vision for the game.

After gathering feedback, the next step is to analyze it thoroughly. Identify patterns and trends that provide insights for decision-making. Distinguish between subjective opinions and constructive criticism that can genuinely enhance your game. Utilize this data to guide discussions with your team, and delve into specifics to understand why certain elements may not resonate with players. This analytical approach forms the basis for informed decisions that align with your game's vision and goals.

Change is the static element in the gaming industry. It will always happen! Putting effort into having the right prior is crucial, so we must evaluate how that change will bring us closer to the intended player experience before implementing any change. At the same time, we need to evaluate the impact and the effort which will leave us with a score for every suggested change

I would focus on building alignment over consensus. Creative and technical needs to align in order to create a reality. Consensus is rarely achievable and usually means someone loses.

Building up on Ali Farha's and Marcus's approaches above, implement the changes piece by piece. Then if possible, go back to the original playtesters, and gather their new opinions focusing on the changes you've implemented: Ask to see if the improvements you've now implemented change their opinions and how strongly this change is felt. This gives you, in a way, a new A/B test where B is the new implementation. While you as the team / producer should approach this holistically, it's important that the testing audience focuses on the changes you've implemented. This also emphasizes the very first step of having correctly identified your testing audience.