Bringing Back Top Spin: User Testing for Fun At First Sight

Top Spin is back. But it had also been very much gone since 2011! How can you give a long dormant (or new!) series entry the best chance it can when players first get their hands on it? How can you do it with science?
At Hangar 13, we had to answer this question when we brought the beloved tennis simulation series in 2024. We combined qualitative user testing, critical analysis, and quantitative methods to pinpoint what was wrong with our early game experience, and recommended effective actions to fix these problems. This comes with one key challenge. How do you fix the first time user experience, often one of the most complex aspects of your game, during the closing stages of development when game production becomes focussed on risk averse solutions, closing down problems rather than opening up new issues? As game scientists, the key to navigating this challenging environment is to accept that it is non-negotiable. We must assume that there is no more time or headcount to be found, and that we must work within these extreme constraints instead of trying to fight them. The question then becomes “But How!?”. In this talk I will show how science and production came together during the frenetic closing months of Top Spin 2K25’s development cycle to ensure that your first hour of play was the best hour that it could be, and leaving you wanting more!