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[Ollie Pooch]

Hopefully his mother will give him a clip round the ear and tell him what needs to be done.

If Godus has done as well as claimed that is a lot of money.

I'd consider hiring a forensic financial analyst too, at this point cooking the books in a troubled independent studio might not out of the question or before they go insolvent leaving no way to recoup.

Troubled? Didn't they just make a heap of $$$ off the game?

 

[Yagharek]

Molyneaux is a snake oil salesman.

Next time he has PR to peddle, media should tell him to fuck off.

Even Bethesda's quality control is more reliable than this scam artist.

 

[monpiece]

By the time Curiosity was running, there was a flood of interviews and articles with Molyneux in gaming sites. I told some friends of mine that I believed Molyneux was using the interviews to promote his projects for free, since many of the people interviewing him acted like fans interviewing their idols. I remember complaining about famous people using their fame to promote their games on kickstarter, and I couldn't see anything special about Molyneux projects that deserved articles and interviews three times a week.

Now the current situation is even worse than I expected it to be, but I could foresee that Curiosity was just a publicity stunt to help him back his projects. Too bad Godus ended being worse than it looked like it would be and Bryan Henderson and all the other people who dedicated their time to Curiosity were fooled.

 

[SlipperyMoose]

I'm so glad this guy left Microsoft Game Studios. He always bothered me with his empty hype.

 

[GoaThief]

Troubled? Didn't they just make a heap of $$$ off the game?

Depends how much they've spent over the years?

Given that it's been revealed that Godus development is now down to two staffers (one a freshly hired kickstarter backer, I bet he has an interesting contract) largely due to finances and the 24 man studio have moved on to a new project - I wouldn't want to hang around attempting to get the money I'm owed if the upcoming game doesn't do well. It can take a long time if you're pursuing legal matters and 22cans have been quite forthcoming with their shortcomings and being beholden to a publisher who has taken some blame for their ills. It doesn't have an aura of a company in rude health, and this seems to be reflected in the state of Godus.

I could well be wrong and will happily retract but it makes some sense to me reading between the lines of recent public communications.

 

[Ollie Pooch]

Depends how much they've spent over the years?

Given that it's been revealed that Godus development is now down to two staffers (one a freshly hired kickstarter backer, I bet he has an interesting contract) largely due to finances and the 24 man studio have moved on to a new project - I wouldn't want to hang around attempting to get my money back if the upcoming game doesn't do well. It can take a long time if you're pursuing legal matters and 22cans have been quite forthcoming with their shortcomings and being beholden to a publisher who has taken some blame for their ills. It doesn't have an aura of a company in rude health, and this seems to be reflected in the state of Godus.

I could well be wrong and will happily retract but it makes some sense to me reading between the lines of recent public communications.

Ah, ok. Makes sense. I wonder how much of the Kickstarter money actually went on Godus before they (seemingly) abandoned it.

 

[Piers]

I feel bad for the guy but I don't think anyone who knew about Molyneux beforehand would be surprised. Hopefully there will be a day when people stop giving him money to make games full of empty promises. It was kind of funny at one point but now it is just sad.

That, and the winner doesn't really seem to care either way -- so maybe it's for the better that he won't become a god of gods, because his lack of any enthusiasm doesn't paint him as a good candidate.

If there is a game that could potentially have hundreds to thousands of players, I'm not sure all of them would be settled on the idea that the omnigod, who is getting a cut of money, got bored of the game within 2 weeks and went back to FIFA or whatever.

And I say this after questioning the article's presumptions on the poor guy.

 

[Jackpot]

Depends how much they've spent over the years?

Molyneux: "It still made tens of millions of dollars."

AAA costs have ballooned but this is still a game capable of running on mobiles and tablets. San Andreas cost $50 million to make and I doubt this game's expenses are a tenth of that.

Given that it's been revealed that Godus development is now down to two staffers (one a freshly hired kickstarter backer, I bet he has an interesting contract) largely due to finances and the 24 man studio have moved on to a new project - I wouldn't want to hang around attempting to get my money back if the upcoming game doesn't do well.

Game journos should be asking questions as to why a game that made at least more than $20,000,000 isn't even having its Kickstarter goals fulfilled.

 

[Hahs]

Wow! Read the whole article - it just seems like poor planning overall on 22cans/Molyneux. They obviously didn't look that far before making the damn contest in the first place.

 

[Ollie Pooch]

Wow! Read the whole article - it just seems like poor planning overall on 22cans/Molyneux. They obviously didn't look that far before making the damn contest in the first place.

To me it just seems like he cynically lured people into his previous shitty 'game' by promising the world to them if they won - now someone has won (and now he's also got hundreds of thousands in funding off backers via Kickstarter) the stuff they promised doesn't even exist in any form whatsoever, this lying asshole has seemingly made millions, and they've moved on to creating another game and slashed the staff on Godus basically ensuring this kid doesn't get a cent.

WHERE'S MY ELEPHANT.

 

[samn]

Molyneux: "It still made tens of millions of dollars."

AAA costs have ballooned but this is still a game capable of running on mobiles and tablets. San Andreas cost $50 million to make and I doubt this game's expenses are a tenth of that.



Game journos should be asking questions as to why a game that made at least more than $20,000,000 isn't even having its Kickstarter goals fulfilled.

Well, as he said, Apple/Steam, and his publisher, all take a significant chunk out of that. Taxes as well, like VAT.

But yeah, still millions and millions should be left over and they don't seem to be doing anything useful with it. Do they honestly think Godus can be completed with only two people working on it? What the hell is going on?

 

[MikeE21286]

This guy is the absolute worst.

 

[Kevin]

I use to like Lionhead studios but as time went on their promises got bigger and their games got worse. Eventually I came to know Peter Molyneux as pretty much a scam artist and downright liar. I use to respect the man because I thought he really really tried to live up to the promises that he made until eventually I just accepted that's he's full of BS and nothing more.

 

[Jarmel]

Fucking scumbag.

 

[_Ryo_]

Does this game have micro-transactions? I don't trust Molyneux so I sure am not going to download his game to find out. But it seems to me that if does have micro-transactions that 22cans should have came to a compromise and paid Byran a percentage of that.

Also... I'll never forgive him regarding Shenmue on Xbox.

 

[railGUN]

What a fucking prick!

 

[Harmen]

Did not even know this. This guy is scum and gaming journalists should call him out on failing on delivering any promise time after time.

 

[thepotatoman]

Fun fact, Molyneux's original business was selling baked beans under the company name Taurus. Commodore thought they were a networking company called Torus which they wanted support from, and Molineaux went through with the lie to get the free hardware and transition into making games.

So in a way, he owes his career to lying. Why would people be surprised when he continues to lie?

 

[InfernoNR]

Finally got around to reading this. Excellent article. It's really too bad that he's had this fall from grace, considering his Bullfrog lineage. Seems like he just needs someone to reign him in or something, force him to make definitive creative decisions earlier. I've enjoyed many of his games (magic carpet, populous, black and white, I'll give him Fable), however this behavior he's displayed for the past 15 or so years is just inexcusable. I'm glad he's getting this bad press, maybe the pressure will make him change.

 

[Smellycat]

Fun fact, Molyneux's original business was selling baked beans under the company name Taurus. Commodore thought they were a networking company called Torus which they wanted support from, and Molineaux went through with the lie to get the free hardware and transition into making games.

So in a way, he owes his career to lying. Why would people be surprised when he continues to lie?

No freaking way. It is so fitting..

 

[Haunted]

"I totally and absolutely and categorically apologise. That isn't good enough and I'll take it on my own shoulders that I should have made sure he was communicated with. We will from today onwards do that."

He confirms the Godus development team has shrunk considerably to just a few people as resources are diverted to a new game, called The Trail.

Still, Molyneux insists he has not abandoned Godus, and hopes to expand its development team with new hires so promised features, such as Hubworld, will eventually arrive.

"But, we are - and this is going to sound ridiculously excusey but it's the actual truth - we are now working on combat, which is the piece of the puzzle we need in the game before we start working on the Hubworld and the multiplayer," Molyneux says.

Crucially, Molyneux cannot guarantee multiplayer will ever see the light of day in Godus.

"Guaranteeing is a very strong word," he replies when I press him on the matter. "There are so many new technologies we are trying to implement. If all goes well, absolutely it should happen. I want it to happen. I think we need it to happen. With all the press that went on with Bryan, why wouldn't we make that happen?

"We've still got a team dedicated to Godus and taking the gameplay forward. They're doing combat next, and that will be the enabler for the God of Gods role and the multiplayer. But we need to get through combat."

Eurogamer has heard from a number of sources close to 22Cans that there is scepticism internally about multiplayer ever coming to Godus, given most of the 24 or so staff at the studio have been moved onto The Trail. For those who are working on Godus, the focus is on the mobile version, we've been told.

Deflection, quick apologies, fake sincerity, empty promises without ever mentioning any concrete date or deadline to avoid actual accountability (like for the past two years).

Grade A+ politician material.

 

[Seventy70]

There's some kind of messed up stuff in that article. He stole money from his grandmother to buy a Pong machine, lied to Commodore so they would give him a bunch of Amigas and shot kids with BB guns at close range apparently sending a couple to the hospital.

Dude sounds like a psychopath.

That combined with him crying crocodile tears for sympathy leaves me with no doubt that he is.

 

[Lime]

WHERE'S MY ELEPHANT.

So isn't that what we're all asking in our own lives – "Where's my elephant?" I know that's what I've been asking.

Spoiler

Post of the thread

 

[seat]

I really think this is the worst thing Peter has done, and that's really saying something. He didn't just disappoint all the people who played that stupid cube game, but he has now personally screwed over one individual, in public, with the broken promise of changing his life. What an unbelievably shitty thing to do.

 

[Baron_Calamity]

Fun fact, Molyneux's original business was selling baked beans under the company name Taurus. Commodore thought they were a networking company called Torus which they wanted support from, and Molineaux went through with the lie to get the free hardware and transition into making games.

So in a way, he owes his career to lying. Why would people be surprised when he continues to lie?

So he has never been punished for lying? Awesome. (not)

 

[Uthred]

Peter Molyneux has passed some kind of self-parody horizon where every joke you make about him turns out to be true

 

[Pinko Marx]

I really think this is the worst thing Peter has done, and that's really saying something. He didn't just disappoint all the people who played that stupid cube game, but he has now personally screwed over one individual, in public, with the broken promise of changing his life. What an unbelievably shitty thing to do.

He also screwed over legions of fans who donated their personal money to get one of his games made. A game he made a mobile version of, and only half delivered a full game on PC before leaving the project to make another "life-changing" experience.

What a prick.

 

[neshcom]

I didn't realize Godus has a publisher. That paints a pretty plausible story:
Godus gets funded, but--either through mismanagement or insufficient preproduction--needs publisher backing to finish getting made. At some point, the scope of the game proves impossible for what was promised (along with Molyneuax's claim the publisher demanded a server switch). Godus mobile starts bringing in just enough money through microtransactions where they need to maintain a sinking ship to pay back or fulfill a contractual obligations or milestones (this instead of calling it quits on a huge, unfulfilled Kickstarter). Turn what little goodwill is left into pitching this new title that the team actually wants to make and wait for Godus to be forgotten or ended by the publisher.

Clearly they've been given money for this new title, they don't expect for it to pay for Godus, a product they can't or won't finish.

 

[Azure Dream]

I didn't realize Godus has a publisher. That paints a pretty plausible story:
Godus gets funded, but--either through mismanagement or insufficient preproduction--needs publisher backing to finish getting made. At some point, the scope of the game proves impossible for what was promised (along with Molyneuax's claim the publisher demanded a server switch). Godus mobile starts bringing in just enough money through microtransactions where they need to maintain a sinking ship to pay back or fulfill a contractual obligations or milestones (this instead of calling it quits on a huge, unfulfilled Kickstarter). Turn what little goodwill is left into pitching this new title that the team actually wants to make and wait for Godus to be forgotten or ended by the publisher.

I know it's sometimes necessary because of the distribution channels involved, but this is an ugly trend with Kickstarters...

"We need your support, because we couldn't get this game made by going through a publisher!"
*the pledges clear*
"Guess what, guys? We have a publisher now! They saw there was interest in the game!"
"Aw, the publisher screwed us over and took lots of the money."

I admit, I don't know if Godus specifically spoke about not going through a publisher (I'm not in the mood to rewatch their Kickstarter pitch to check), but I wouldn't be surprised.

 

[Fox Mulder]

I always dismissed his shit as enthusiasm, as he did create good games.

It's too bad that he's really just a sleazy lying asshole.

 

[Doctor Ironic]

Between this and dropping review scores, Eurogamer has gained a lot of respect from me.

I guess I know where to go to now that Joystiq is dead.

I always dismissed his shit as enthusiasm, as he did create good games.

It's too bad that he's really just a sleazy lying asshole.

I also have to agree with this... kind of. Molyneux was always a crazy man who promised things that were pretty much impossible as done by computers, but he's always just been a silly guy who gets overexcited about his own creations, and the fact that his games (usually) turned out pretty good in the end anyways was a credit.

Unfortunately I think we're running into the same problem we're having with a lot of indie game devs that are using crowdfunding in that they're decent-to-good game developers but absolutely terrible businessmen/managers, because that's just never been their job. I wouldn't go so far as to call Molyneux an asshole, but he definitely bit off more than he can chew here. I can forgive Double Fine for their transgressions given that Broken Age is expanded in scope (and better for it - it's some of the best writing Schafer has done since Grim Fandango) and they apologized and gave away free games for the Spacebase fiasco, but the fact that 22Cans doesn't have any plans to make up for their failures to their backers - and to their God of Gods - is pretty shameful.

I don't hate Molyneux still, but I've lost a lot of respect for him, and I really hope him and 22Cans manage to pull things around. Unforunately I just think this is the game industry's ten billionth example of a little thing called Your Game Idea Is Too Big.

 

[Chobel]

That's really fucked up if true.

 

[Lime]

Game journos should be asking questions as to why a game that made at least more than $20,000,000 isn't even having its Kickstarter goals fulfilled.

What?!??!? 20 million dollars?? Is that Godus? Seriously? 20 million? Where did all that money go?

 

[Keikaku]

Fun fact, Molyneux's original business was selling baked beans under the company name Taurus. Commodore thought they were a networking company called Torus which they wanted support from, and Molineaux went through with the lie to get the free hardware and transition into making games.

So in a way, he owes his career to lying. Why would people be surprised when he continues to lie?

No freaking way. It is so fitting..

I was sure this was fake but I took a look at Molyneux's wiki article and lo and behold:

Due to the game's failure, Molyneux retreated from game design, and started Taurus Impex Limited—a company that exported baked beans to the Middle East[4][5] —with his business partner Les Edgar. Commodore International mistook it for TORUS, a more established company that produced networking software, and offered to provide Molyneux with ten[4] free Amiga systems to help in porting "his" networking software.[1][6] "... it suddenly dawned on me that this guy didn't know who we were", Molyneux later said. "I suddenly had this crisis of conscience. I thought, 'If this guy finds out, there go my free computers down the drain.' So I just shook his hand and ran out of that office".[1] Taurus designed a database system for the Amiga, called Acquisition[4] - The Ultimate Database for The Amiga and, after clearing up the misunderstanding with Commodore, the program was released and became a moderate success.

The Gamespot article that was the reference is no longer up but, given the latest news, I have no doubt that Molyneux would be scummy enough to do this.

 

[thepotatoman]

I was sure this was fake but I took a look at Molyneux's wiki article and lo and behold:

The Gamespot article that was the reference is no longer up but, given the latest news, I have no doubt that Molyneux would be scummy enough to do this.

Molyneux talks about it himself in the G4 documentary about him.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DGy2kQ8x5F8#t=218

 

[Jeremy]

I don't get a chance to say this often so I guess I'll do it here.

Fable 3 was the worst game I've ever played.

 

[Doctor_Thomas]

Fun fact, Molyneux's original business was selling baked beans under the company name Taurus. Commodore thought they were a networking company called Torus which they wanted support from, and Molineaux went through with the lie to get the free hardware and transition into making games.

So in a way, he owes his career to lying. Why would people be surprised when he continues to lie?

I am not sure if I should be impressed or annoyed...

 

[B-B-Bomba!]

The English fucking the Scots over on an individual basis now. Good on ya Peter, proud of you son #teamstgeorge

 

[Mdk7]

Molyneux is just the worst.

This.

 

[SneakyStephan]

These:

He made two of the greatest games ever and his name is tied to several others.

No, he happened to be a part of the studio who made these games, TWENTY YEARS AGO.
Since he left bullfrog he hasn't accomplished anything.

It blows my mind that people keep defending this scam artist.

 

[amardilo]

It appears from the Google Play store that it was published (at least the Android version) by DeNA Corp. Which is definitely odd because I thought that the entire point of making a small indie dev and going the Kickstarter route was to exclude publishers altogether.

Thanks.

 

[Hanmik]

good article..

but this part ..

I have lunch with Bryan Henderson in The Southern pub on Edinburgh's South Clerk Street. He cuts a thin, gangly figure, dressed in unremarkable smart casual garb. There's nothing outlandish or particularly noticeable here. The January air is cutting, and Bryan should have wrapped up warmer, I think. He travelled by bus from his home on the other side of the city, near the airport. I suspect it took a while.

Bryan speaks slowly and in a soft Edinburgh accent. At first he lacks confidence, but as we get to know each other he soon warms up. Bryan reminds me of a young Andy Murray, if Andy Murray had studied computer art and design instead of tennis; so laid back I wonder what, if anything, might jolt him into excitement.

wtf..? is this fifty shades of games journalism or what..?

Bryan gently takes my pencil out of my hands, his rugged hands are hard in motion but feel soft upon touch. The pencil comes closer to his Andy Murray lips, my legs start to shiver. His lips part like Moses parted the red sea, my beautiful british skin becomes hotter.
My Eurogamer branded pencil is in his mouth, he is gently bitting it, I can see the wood splinters between his teeth. I start to regret my choice of not wearing any underwear under these leatherpants.Bryan is the man I can only dream about, a person to wonderfull for my journalistic brain. He truly is the God we human deserve

 

[dejan]

Funny, I remember him defending Molyneux pretty vigorously and taking it personally whenever people criticised the man or said they had no hope of Godus turning out to be a good game. Unless I'm thinking of someone else, in which case I apologise.

I wonder if he ever finished his book.

I think I really need to finish my book...so many misconceptions about the guy.
...

Yeah I'm serious! I've known Peter for what, 14 years now. We've been very close friends for most of that time. Don't know if there's a lot of interest out there, but it's something I've been working on for little under a year now.
...

 

[RSP]

Met the guy in person a while ago.

He played my game on a show floor.

Said he really liked the game and that he wanted to "put it into Fable 3".

Got his businesscard.

Sent a couple of emails.

Never received a single reply.

Tried calling his phone.

Never answered a call.

 

[Branduil]

I hope the Kickstarter backers sue him into oblivion.

 

[Alienous]

Met the guy in person a while ago.

He played my game on a show floor.

Said he really liked the game and that he wanted to "put it into Fable 3".

Got his businesscard.

Sent a couple of emails.

Never received a single reply.

Tried calling his phone.

Never answered a call.

He just gets his gollies off dashing dreams people never knew they had, methinks.

 

[Caronte]

 

[Alienous]

Molyneux talks about it himself in the G4 documentary about him.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DGy2kQ8x5F8#t=218

"I can still remember it vividly. It was like an angel and a devil on my shoulders, one saying "Go on, you've just got to tell the truth. You can't lie like this" and then this other voice saying "Just lie, Just lie, get the machines, go to the (?) place, and just sort it out afterwards.

Of course I ended up lying.".

Never before has a man's career been so easily summed up in a single quote, said by the person themselves.

 

[CountAntonius]

lmeh.

 

[RSP]

LOL