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[Mael]

He planned it for 9 months and that planned failed. Was it his fault it took longer? I don't know. That still doesn't make it a lie or a scam.

Reread the interview, he knew perfectly well that the money he asked for wasn't nearly enough to cover for the dev.
If he was halfway as competent as we give him credit, he should have known that he would need another money injection.
He knew perfectly well he wasn't going to stay without a publisher.
We're not talking some random guy, we're talking with someone who dealt with EA, MSFT and the likes before.
Before even making the Kickstarter he had to know he wouldn't stay independent.
So he either lied to his pledgers for the KS or he's that incompetent.

 

[fernoca]

Great interview. A few more like this (Reggie/Iwata on NOA) would be great!

 

[Haunted]

That's how you do an interview, it's just that the whole gaming industry is so used to journalism being free PR that such an interview ends up being a shocker.

"I could name at least 10 features in games that I’ve made up to stop journalists going to sleep and I really apologise to the team for that."

"I’m not aware of a single lie, actually. I’m aware of me saying things and because of circumstances often outside of our control those things don’t come to pass, but I don’t think that’s called lying, is it? I don’t think I’ve ever knowingly lied, at all."



well then

 

[kiguel182]

First of all there are a lot of Journalism Experts in this thread - as I expected. People who know exactly how to do an interview and have much criticism regarding Walker's job. This is why I come to the internet, to hear from you experts. Thank you, thank you, thank you. It's very generous of you to turn away from an actual career and instead give your time to critiquing how other people do their job. Where would we be without you... besides hanging out in a message board thread with what is obviously our ample free time.

I love how you say this and then go ahead and criticise the way someone does their job while being on a message board and like you have the authority to do so.

Apparently saying you didn't like the way he did an interview is wrong but saying Molyneux is this or that is okay on your book.

 

[Resseh]

Not quite sure its a great interview - didn't exactly learn much or gain new Information

 

[jblank83]

He called him a pathological liar... even white lies count, he can't stop himself as seen in above quotes.

That's just the ultimate con.

"I know I did that before but I swear I'm not doing that now. Now let's talk about my new product. It's going to be amazing."

 

[Ingueferroque]

This guy is a moron, he has no clue how to run a studio or make a game

HAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAH. His ability to make games is not the issue. Do you judge Francis Ford Coppola by Twixt? Or by the Godfather/Apocalypse Now?

Theme Park
Dungeon Keeper
Syndicate
Populous...

'It's over, I will not speak to the press again'

D'oh.

 

[Caronte]

He planned it for 9 months and that planned failed. Was it his fault it took longer? I don't know. That still doesn't make it a lie or a scam.

He knew it would cost more but he didn't ask for it because he was afraid the game would not be funded then. That's lying.

 

[TheLegendOfMart]

HAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAH. His ability to make games is not the issue. Do you judge Francis Ford Coppola by Twixt? Or by the Godfather/Apocalypse Now?

Theme Park
Dungeon Keeper
Syndicate
Populous...



D'oh.

Didn't realise he was the only developer on those games?

 

[dakun]

this is the interview i waited for years.. finally somebody who isn't an ass kiss jornalist who's afraid to be put on some kind of black list for asking real questions..

yes he was confrontational. He needed to be for PM not be able to spin and twist his way out of answering.

 

[Sephzilla]

HAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAH. His ability to make games is not the issue. Do you judge Francis Ford Coppola by Twixt? Or by the Godfather/Apocalypse Now?

Theme Park
Dungeon Keeper
Syndicate
Populous....

On that note, do you still judge George Lucas by the original Star Wars and Indiana Jones or do you judge him by the Star Wars Prequels and Indiana Jones 4?

 

[flatearthpandas]

I don't know if I'd go so far as to say it's morally wrong, but everyone holding it up as the "paragon of what an interview should be" should really want more than that out of their journalists.

I've said as much a few times, but with this community, I lean more toward morally wrong. Truthfully, just irresponsible.

It's a community famous for being irrational, angry, and sometimes threatening. It's a community that demonstrates over and over a lack of capability or perhaps just an unwillingness to act in even its own best interest, much less anyone else's. Posting an interview like this, leaving the critical thinking to the masses, and framing it as a trial with a mob as the jury, all just seems irresponsible.

It's too easy to miss the forest for the trees and inevitably leads to knee jerk reactions and congratulations passed to aggressiveness and confrontation—some of the most famous negative aspects of the community.

 

[Ingueferroque]

Didn't realise he was the only developer on those games?

He was the designer. These were small teams, 3-5 people involved.. sometimes less, sometimes more.

Do you think Godfather would have worked without the vision of the director?

On that note, do you still judge George Lucas by the original Star Wars and Indiana Jones or do you judge him by the Star Wars Prequels and Indiana Jones 4?

I will always respect him for the Star Wars trilogy. I will not call him a 'moron' or act like he has made no gigantic contribution to pop culture and changed our world in doing so?

 

[GavinUK86]

That was brutal.

I don't think he's a liar.

He just promises stuff that he can never deliver on yet he always thinks he can.

 

[Alienous]

Peter Molyneux, regarding the Kickstarter for Godus, essentially said 'I did not know how much the game would cost, but I asked for less than that on purpose as a Kickstarter tactic to get any money at all, and I didn't keep track of the Kickstarter promises".

It makes it hard to feel sympathetic for the situation he found himself in. I hope selling his credibility was worth it, because he is just as likely to be remembered as a developer who consistently lied as he is to be remembered as a guy who introduced a new gaming genre.

 

[kiguel182]

Man. You fucking suck at analogies. That isn't what going on here because in your situation, the director put out a finished product.

Godus is still being worked on and he finished all the other games. So maybe you fucking suck at seeing what's going on here.

Reread the interview, he knew perfectly well that the money he asked for wasn't nearly enough to cover for the dev.
If he was halfway as competent as we give him credit, he should have known that he would need another money injection.
He knew perfectly well he wasn't going to stay without a publisher.
We're not talking some random guy, we're talking with someone who dealt with EA, MSFT and the likes before.
Before even making the Kickstarter he had to know he wouldn't stay independent.
So he either lied to his pledgers for the KS or he's that incompetent.

He knew it would cost more but he didn't ask for it because he was afraid the game would not be funded then. That's lying.

I asked everybody here, how long do you think we’ll need to develop the game in full. We all agreed that nine months was about the right amount of time to complete the game. We did the due diligence on it. We asked ourselves if there were any technical questions and it all seemed to make sense. This wasn’t me just plucking a date out of the air.

The reality came along when we chose our middleware, we had problems with the middleware. When we started implementing some of the features that were on paper, they just didn’t work. Now I wish that every single idea you ever had when you’re developing a game works first time, but they don’t. When we first released Godus in May, to some of the pledgers, we had taken an approach to this thing called the timeline and it just didn’t work. People were just not motivated by it. We went back to the drawing board on that. What I’m trying to say without going through every sort of, every bad story about development, when you’re creating something new, it’s like walking through a foggy forest. You’re never sure if you’re taking the wrong route or the right route.

He thought they could do it but things went wrong so he needed more time/money and since he didn't ask for much he didn't have that time/money.

 

[GlamFM]

I've said as much a few times, but with this community, I lean more toward morally wrong. Truthfully, just irresponsible.

It's a community famous for being irrational, angry, and sometimes threatening. It's a community the demonstrates over and over a lack of capability or perhaps just an unwillingness to act in even its own best interest, much less anyone else's. Posting an interview like this, leaving the critical thinking to the masses, and framing it as a trial with a mob as the jury, all just seems irresponsible.

It's too easy to miss the forest for the tress and inevitably leads to knee jerk reactions and congratulations passed to agressiveness and confrontation—some of the most famous negative aspects of the community.

.

Thank you

 

[Kintaro]

On that note, do you still judge George Lucas by the original Star Wars and Indiana Jones or do you judge him by the Star Wars Prequels and Indiana Jones 4?

I judge him by both. Then you throw in American Graffiti...and he comes out ahead.

I judge Spielberg for Indiana Jones 4. And even then he comes out ahead of his bad productions.

It's interesting that people are taking away credit from Peter on his landmark titles ("was he the only developer on those titles?!") but want to pin the blame solely on him for his missteps (In which he was not the only developer on those titles either). Be fair here people.

Just wanted to comment on this...

it is harsh, this is what walker posted on twitter

If you're going to go after every company or man who takes the money of hard working gamers, John Walker has a LOT of work to do. I hope to see more interviews like this with Ubisoft, EA, and more. =P

 

[JDSN]

So it's an US vs THEM mentality? Devs are out to screw you, lie to you? They're the bad guys? Really?

I dont think I said such thing, there is room for softball and candid interviews since those are also engaging and useful, but you as a customer should not care about the "preferences" of both parties involved, mind you, im not saying you should lack empathy but the playfield should be even and that is not gonna happen if we start the Q&A by saying "Mr Peter, do you have a list of topics you want me to cover?".

The implication that RPS will not get any interviews again is also a continuation of this odd way of thinking.

 

[Sephzilla]

I judge him by both. Then you throw in American Graffiti...and he comes out ahead.

I judge Spielberg for Indiana Jones 4. =P

On that note you should probably judge Spielberg for Indy 1-3 too and not Lucas

 

[Broder Salsa]

That's the original? I thought it was the one where Final Fantasy XIII became multiplatform.

Edit: This one.

Haha fuck. I just searched for square enix just shot themselves in the foot, and thought it was the original one without actually reading the whole post.

 

[Ingueferroque]

I judge him by both. Then you throw in American Graffiti...and he comes out ahead.

I judge Spielberg for Indiana Jones 4. And even then he comes out ahead of his bad productions.

It's interesting that people are taking away credit from Peter on his landmark titles ("was he the only developer on those titles?!") but want to pin the blame solely on him for his missteps (In which he was not the only developer on those titles either). Be fair here people.

I've said as much a few times, but with this community, I lean more toward morally wrong. Truthfully, just irresponsible.

It's a community famous for being irrational, angry, and sometimes threatening. It's a community that demonstrates over and over a lack of capability or perhaps just an unwillingness to act in even its own best interest, much less anyone else's. Posting an interview like this, leaving the critical thinking to the masses, and framing it as a trial with a mob as the jury, all just seems irresponsible.

It's too easy to miss the forest for the trees and inevitably leads to knee jerk reactions and congratulations passed to aggressiveness and confrontation—some of the most famous negative aspects of the community.

Very well said.
I also get the feeling that John Walker's questions/answers were edited for maximum punchy-ness, and Peter Molyneux was just copied 1:1, making it feel a little more awkward.

 

[Zuhzuhzombie!!]

I called it over a year and a half ago.

Peter Molyneux is a hack and should be thrown out of the industry (Cube Opened)

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=568541


I'll say it again. Molyneux is a hack and should be thrown out of the industry.

 

[Novel Mike]

Honestly I'm really surprised its taken this long for someone to really take this kind of approach with Peter and after all hes said over the years no I really don't think starting out by asking him if hes a compulsive liar is out of line.

It's not like this the first time Peter has over promised and under delivered, hell its likely not even the 10th time. The guy admits he lies about his games to keep press interested, there is no reason anyone should defend him in any situation ever.

I'd go as far to say I think at worst hes a con man, a man who might have some brilliant ideas but he has NEVER actually made any of the those ideas a reality and he has conned gamers and publishers time and time again making it seem like he can do these amazing things which have never been done before and frankly he is not that good of a designer to ever be able to make any of his ideas a reality. Even in this very interview you can catch him lie in several different questions that are asked one after another. It's crazy that the press HASN'T called him out for this before. Hes lied to everyone in this industry even his own teams and yet the guy actually still got as much money as he did from his kickstarter and now clearly will never actually give the proper rewards out to the backers.

----

And with that said, I wish we had more people in games journalism who would take the stance this article does with Peter for other developers and publishers. When Mass Effect is eventually going to be shown off this year or next does anyone think the press is going to actually take Bioware to task about how they directly lied about how the ending of ME3 would play out? What about EA in general with everything they did with Dungeon Keeper publishing them saying it was 'to innovative' rather then calling them out on the scam that the game was. What about BF4 and how the reviews were set up to give an optimal experience at the review events only for the game to be broken 6 months after it launched.

Hell look at EVERYTHING that came out late last year, Unity, Halo MCC, Destiny, Dragon Age, ect. I like several of those games but they came out with god knows how many problems or just were not actually what they were originally advertised to be (Destiny in particular in this area) and the only reporting we got about this was largely just 'yeah this happened and what can you do' instead of actually lighting a fire under Activision and Bungie for the outright LIES they promoted the game as having.

We need more journalists like this and less ones that just say whatever the PR of whatever publisher wants them to say.

 

[Alienous]

Very well said.
I also get the feeling that John Walker's questions/answers were edited for maximum punchy-ness, and Peter Molyneux was just copied 1:1, making it feel a little more awkward.

That's one heck of an accusation.

 

[Guri]

I do think it is important to call a dev out on something if they screw up on what they promised. If I do that, both the press and consumers should call me out. However, the way that interview started wasn't, IMO, very professional. And along the way, it got way too emotional. It could have been done in a much better way, also pressing on things that should be pressed. Peter is clearly passionate about his job. The way he defended it is rare. But I feel like being a manager is not really his thing. And that is OK. Nobody should be driven out of the industry because of that. And especially not have their mental health questioned because of this. Imagine how hurtful it can be to have people mocking you everywhere because you are passionate about it, but management isn't exactly your thing. He can do better, yes, but so should we.

 

[StoOgE]

Hard hitting journalism doesn't involve being an ass.

There are also a fair amount of totally unfounded acusations made against Peter during the course of the interview.

I'm sure RPS thought they were going to really impress a lot of people. All they did was act totally unprofessional to an important member of the industry.

Does Peter overpromise all the time? Of course. Does he deserve to have hard questions asked? Absolutely. Is there any need to be an asshole to this degree to ask hard questions? Absolutely not.

 

[Dyno]

I love how you say this and then go ahead and criticise the way someone does their job while being on a message board and like you have the authority to do so.

Apparently saying you didn't like the way he did an interview is wrong but saying Molyneux is this or that is okay on your book.

Jouralism Experts need to be called on their bullshit just the same as Peter.

 

[ScatheZombie]

All this interview has told me is that John Walker doesn't know how to interview someone and has no fucking idea how games are made.

This is the type of aggressive, accusatory interview you get when someone who doesn't know how to interview someone tries to be edgy and comes into the interview with a specific agenda. This is not good journalism, it's just a different form of shit from the typical softball, PR-approved bullshit questions they normally ask. But it's still just as bad. We learned absolutely nothing from this, other than John Walker is going to get a lot less interviews in the future and doesn't understand how game development works.

 

[Tinfoilhatsron]

Godus is still being worked on and he finished all the other games. So maybe you fucking suck at seeing what's going on here.







He thought they could do it but things went wrong so he needed more time/money and since he didn't ask for much he didn't have that time/money.

We are fucking talking about Godus in YOUR own analogy so stop trying to dodge me. In YOUR words, the games is a WIP, AKA not a finished product. Conclusion: You suck at making analogies. Was I wrong?

 

[GlamFM]

I called it over a year and a half ago.



http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=568541


I'll say it again. Molyneux is a hack and should be thrown out of the industry.

Nothing to be proud of...

 

[DoktorEvil]

Hard hitting journalism doesn't involve being an ass.

There are also a fair amount of totally unfounded acusations made against Peter during the course of the interview.

I'm sure RPS thought they were going to really impress a lot of people. All they did was act totally unprofessional to an important member of the industry.

Does Peter overpromise all the time? Of course. Does he deserve to have hard questions asked? Absolutely. Is there any need to be an asshole to this degree to ask hard questions? Absolutely not.

Did you read the full interview?

I thought John Walker gave Peter enough outs for him to look good.

 

[iMax]

Hard hitting journalism doesn't involve being an ass.

There are also a fair amount of totally unfounded acusations made against Peter during the course of the interview.

I'm sure RPS thought they were going to really impress a lot of people. All they did was act totally unprofessional to an important member of the industry.

Does Peter overpromise all the time? Of course. Does he deserve to have hard questions asked? Absolutely. Is there any need to be an asshole to this degree to ask hard questions? Absolutely not.

Were there? His argument was rather cyclical—and apart from the iPhone comment, I don't think he was being an ass.

 

[HellofaMouse]

First of all there are a lot of Journalism Experts in this thread - as I expected. People who know exactly how to do an interview and have much criticism regarding Walker's job. This is why I come to the internet, to hear from you experts. Thank you, thank you, thank you. It's very generous of you to turn away from an actual career and instead give your time to critiquing how other people do their job. Where would we be without you... besides hanging out in a message board thread with what is obviously our ample free time.

you are not allowed to talk about anything you dont have a career in. not allowed to have an opinion. not allowed to analyse and draw conclusions.

if you dont get paid for it just shut the fuck up and watch the show.

 

[Dark_castle]

I am thoroughly entertained by this interview. Please tell me there is a recorded video of the interview.

 

[Eternal Gamer]

The interview was incredible, I am amazed that Peter didn't hang up the phone.

 

[Hanmik]

Hard hitting journalism doesn't involve being an ass.

There are also a fair amount of totally unfounded acusations made against Peter during the course of the interview.

I'm sure RPS thought they were going to really impress a lot of people. All they did was act totally unprofessional to an important member of the industry.

Does Peter overpromise all the time? Of course. Does he deserve to have hard questions asked? Absolutely. Is there any need to be an asshole to this degree to ask hard questions? Absolutely not.

I agree 100%... and with that opening line from John Walker, the interview could only go one way..

 

[Mr Git]

Very well said.
I also get the feeling that John Walker's questions/answers were edited for maximum punchy-ness, and Peter Molyneux was just copied 1:1, making it feel a little more awkward.

I don't think that's true. It's a full transcription, both speakers have false starts, repetition etc. The difference will be that John Walker had a prepared set of questions and items of discussion.

 

[Ingueferroque]

That's one heck of an accusation.

Er, is it? I don't see it as that severe?

I think the evidence is all over the piece. Peter Molyneux's responses are written as someone talks, lots of awkward little sentences going nowhere.. but John Walker's is written out plainly and matter-of-factly.

 

[iMax]

Er, is it? I don't see it as that severe?

I think the evidence is all over the piece. Peter Molyneux's responses are written as someone talks, lots of awkward little sentences going nowhere.. but John Walker's is written out plainly and matter-of-factly.

Probably because John had them written down (as he says from the outset) along with a bunch of evidence to back up his arguments.

He was prepared, Peter was not.

 

[Frabba]

I enjoyed the article, and I get great amusement from the people trying to defend Peter and his track record.

 

[Zia]

While I do think Molyneux is a liar (although I don't think there's intentional malice, I just don't think he actually thinks about the shit that pours out of his mouth), I feel like I'm the only fan of present day RPS that absolutely cannot stand John Walker.

 

[Ingueferroque]

Probably because John had them written down (as he says from the outset) along with a bunch of evidence to back up his arguments.

He was prepared, Peter was not.

Definitely, anyway, do not want to derail too much.

While I do think Molyneux is a liar (although I don't think there's intentional malicious, I just don't think about the shit that pours out of his mouth), I feel like I'm the only fan of present day RPS that absolutely cannot stand John Walker.

Hehe, not many in the RPS community can.

 

[Jito]

Hard hitting journalism doesn't involve being an ass.

There are also a fair amount of totally unfounded acusations made against Peter during the course of the interview.

I'm sure RPS thought they were going to really impress a lot of people. All they did was act totally unprofessional to an important member of the industry.

Does Peter overpromise all the time? Of course. Does he deserve to have hard questions asked? Absolutely. Is there any need to be an asshole to this degree to ask hard questions? Absolutely not.

That's questionable. Guy worked as part of a team on some great games a long time ago, can't ride on those achievements forever. Nothing he's done lately has been good, Fable series was a joke that never lived up to expectations, Curiousty and Godus have devolved into P2W titles that aren't even finished after 3 years.

 

[devious.one]

Wow, what a read.. one half of me is smiling because some (not all) of these questions really needed to be asked, and the other half is cringing and feeling bad.

I'm torn.

 

[Axass]

Hard hitting journalism doesn't involve being an ass.

There are also a fair amount of totally unfounded acusations made against Peter during the course of the interview.

I'm sure RPS thought they were going to really impress a lot of people. All they did was act totally unprofessional to an important member of the industry.

Does Peter overpromise all the time? Of course. Does he deserve to have hard questions asked? Absolutely. Is there any need to be an asshole to this degree to ask hard questions? Absolutely not.

Is he anymore? The games he made in his last 20 years of activity aren't exactly stellar. He was an important member of the industry maybe, he can't keep lying and going on because he made great games 20 years ago (while member of a team at Bulfrog, mind you).

 

[kiguel182]

Jouralism Experts need to be called on their bullshit just the same as Peter.

Game dev experts are worse.

We are fucking talking about Godus in YOUR own analogy so stop trying to dodge me. In YOUR words, the games is a WIP, AKA not a finished product. Conclusion: You suck at making analogies. Was I wrong?

Yes you were wrong because I was talking about Molyneux in general and not Godus. So maybe you should calm down instead of making an ass out of yourself.

 

[Alienous]

Er, is it? I don't see it as that severe?

I think the evidence is all over the piece. Peter Molyneux's responses are written as someone talks, lots of awkward little sentences going nowhere.. but John Walker's is written out plainly and matter-of-factly.

Almost like one of those two knew what they were going to say and what they wanted to ask.

 

[orthodoxy1095]

And yet it took us 30 seconds to predict that Milo was a piece of shit thats been fed to us with pride and arrogance.

Oh my God. I never connected the dots. I totally didn't realize Project Milo was Moly -_-

 

[2 Slice Toaster]

Peter Molyneux, regarding the Kickstarter for Godus, essentially said 'I did not know how much the game would cost, but I asked for less than that on purpose as a Kickstarter tactic to get any money at all, and I didn't keep track of the Kickstarter promises".

It makes it hard to feel sympathetic for the situation he found himself in. I hope selling his credibility was worth it, because he is just as likely to be remembered as a developer who consistently lied as he is to be remembered as a guy who introduced a new gaming genre.

You shouldn't use quotations marks for something someone "essentially" said.