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[Meia]

I don't think that is a way a proper way to treat him, its not fair to single him out like that.

How about doing the same to Bioware and all their lies before ME3, Sony and PS+ version of Driveclub, MS PR and their pile of lies?

Have some respect. Trying reaffirm themselves as journalist using a small dev as a punch bag is pathetic.

The whole Peter Molyneux over promising thing was a funny joke, now its ruined.

Small dev?


The point is this has to start somewhere, and someone who's been flat out lying(or telling non-truths, if you prefer that) is a fine place to start. Someone who's gotten away with THIS MUCH over the years certainly paves the way for others in the industry to do it since they see he gets away with it, is that so hard to see?


The interview was rough, but I think it was designed to be to never make the person being interviewed feel comfortable, and keeps them off-balance. Doing this usually causes a person to blurt out the first thing they think of, which hey, usually winds up being more truthful than something said in response to a softball. I'd imagine that we should be way past the point of pleasantries when it comes to PM...

 

[mugwhump]

That's awesome, PM deserved to be shat on a bit.

I also think RPS often deserves to be shat on, but hey, 1 out of 2 ain't bad.

 

[Risible]

Meanwhile on Twitter the dev community is slamming RPS for this interview.

CIRCLE THE WAGONS!

 

[Nafai1123]

I said DAMN at some of those questions and responses. This interview is straight ether. Major props to RPS.

 

[aeolist]

Godus is a shitty situation to be sure, but from what I've been told, game development is hard. Maybe cut him a bit of slack as a human being if nothing else, instead of referring to him as a "pathological liar" out of the gate. RPS was built on the backs of men like Molyneux.

i think "pathological liar" is totally fair and actually sympathetic if you think about it, because it means he does it without meaning to or having real control over himself. the guy has mental and emotional problems, and being in the spotlight doesn't help.

i don't like this interview though, the way it lead off basically meant it would become just a shouting argument that was almost incoherent. hold people's feet to the fire with fact, but do it civilly.

also people should stop interviewing molyneux entirely, for his own sake and everyone else's. report on his games, review them, interview other people at 22 cans, but for fuck's sake stop giving him a microphone.

 

[CTLance]

Man, that is a harsh interview. Jeez.

If the victim was anybody other than Molyneux I'd probably come to their defense regardless of the reason for the harshness, but to be quite honest, he had a public smackdown coming, and for quite some time to boot. The guy will never better himself if he doesn't feel the heat from his repeated over-ambitious PR disasters. Plus, a celebrity like him (ab)using Kickstarter is a matter of concern, so his project needs to meet his promises, or this interview is the least of his worries. Steal the money from your fans and you'll be hounded no matter where you go.

I just hope it's one of those things where everybody involved in the clusterfuck grows a bit from the experience. Nobody looked good, and there's ample amounts of food for thought to be had in hindsight.

 

[StoOgE]

John Walker has done numerous interviews where he has asked questions that are extremely tough and challenging to the subject, to the point where he will call out the inconsistencies throughout and make them answer to them. He posted links to two of them earlier today in response to someone.

The difference today in this one is that it was personal, and it clearly inspired him to go beyond even his normal bounds, something he realized and acknowledged himself. John Walker doesn't need a defence force, he already knew the interview was going to be more divisive than anything he'd done.

The persistence in trying to frame people uncomfortable with the tone of this particular interview as automatic supporters of weak, publisher-PR wank material is pretty disappointing all around.

Exactly.

You can read him back quotes where he has contradicted himself and ask him to explain the inconsistency. You can even push hard if he tries to dance around the question.

But you don't do it with the tone this interview was conducted with.

I'm not a huge fan of our last president, but if given an interview I wouldn't open it with "So, how do you measure up to Polpot?"

RPS has clearly had an axe to grind with Godus for a bevy of reasons and has put out a number of hit pieces already. This just cements to me the fact that they went into this interview with a point to make, and made sure that the tone of the interview supported it.

 

[echoshifting]

Gross hit piece. Just gross, couldn't even finish it. I can't believe I'm saying this, as I hate Molyneux's recent work and his awful hype machine....er, filthy pack of lies, I guess we're calling it now...but there was a better way to go about this. That opening question is like something he should expect from a reddit ama, not a journalist. How about: do you believe you overpromise and underdeliver?

It didn't take a genius to see kickstarter was a really bad fit for PM.

 

[Empty]

absurdly mean-spirited interview. molyneux should be held to account and shouldn't be treated as a harmless weird uncle but this is way too intense and makes normal development stuff sound like lying about wmd's. walker comes across as a jeremy kyle figure here.

 

[faceless007]

So your idea of good journalism is coming in with a pre-conceived bias and framing the argument to make sure that it backs up your original assumption?

Of course the journalist has a bias, but it is your job to try to be impartial and ask the hard questions and as it becomes clear that someone is being cagey to start shifting your approach.

He was acting like the DA in a poorly written TV procedural with a hard hitting cross examination that makes the witness scream out "I did it, ok I did it". Theatrics isn't journalism.

I haven't read the whole interview because RPS is down and I'm not familiar with the specifics of what happened with this KS, but while Walker's tone is somewhat more hostile than I would like, I don't see how this is substantially different from what would happen if, for example, a company was publicly exposed producing a defective and dangerous product (poisoned baby formula, bad tires, etc.) and an executive did an interview to try to quell the fire. In these cases, the interviewer would not start from a purely impartial or investigative fact-finding mission because most of the relevant facts as far as the public are concerned would already be known; the interview would be confrontational from the beginning because there would be no dispute that what the company did was wrong. Starting such an interview with something like "What is wrong with your company?" or "How could you let this happen?" is not out of line.

Obviously a failed Kickstarter is not poisoning children, but I don't think the line between "impartial journalism" and "outraged advocate" is as clear as you describe. Consumer advocacy has to inherently combine a little of both.

 

[Black Mantis]

This is probably going to be an unpopular opinion but I think the interview was needlessly confrontational. There is a way to ask the hard questions without coming across like that.

100% agree. The interviewer was reaching a lot with some of those "lies" as well.

 

[Lime]

Won't somebody please think of the unchecked lying con artist!!

 

[Sephzilla]

Of course devs would circle the wagons and get mad at RPS for this. Some probably don't want to see the trend of journalists grilling them continue on and want to continue the cycle of gaming press being a glorified PR division. That being said, the reason I don't think interviews like this RPS one will continue on is entirely because nobody else deserves to be scorched on the level Peter did. RPS's interview was harsh, probably too harsh, but Molyneux absolutely deserved to have this happen and it's honestly overdue.

 

[Future PhaZe]

Thinking about it, I think the pathological liar question was one John could ask... but he should have saved it for the end of the interview.

At that point, he could have pointed out the very inconsistencies in the interview already conducted and gotten a more interesting answer. Plus, he wouldn't have set an unnecessarily hostile tone right out of the gate.

That opening question was a fair warning. Tough question over the phone. If you don't want to interview, say you don't like where this is going and hang up. Nobody would have blamed him.

 

[Chindogg]

I understand the need of asking hard hitting questions, but some of this went straight through hard hitting and reached into completely unprofessional territory. Badgering your interviewee looking for gotcha moments is really in poor taste and it's really lowered my opinion of Walker as a journalist.

It's stuff like this that really makes me wonder if "journalists" in gaming really understand what journalism is. A journalist is supposed to capture the heart of the story while eschewing as much bias as possible. Walker sounds more like a prosecutor ready to hand down judgement.

 

[CecilRousso]

As much as I wished that I hadn't backed it, what 22 Cans did was to use $30 of my money, and delivered something that wasn't quite what I had hoped for. There is a limit for what I wish on people for sums like that. And this massive wave of hate that's rolling on the internet now is very much above that limit.

The damage to 22 Cans reputation was done long ago, and there was no chance of them ever being able to go down the kickstarter route again, so I'm not sure what John Walker was trying to achieve here, when he barely let's him speak. This interview most certainly did more damage to RPS then Molyneux, because a lot of devs are going to have second thoughts about doing interviews with them again.

22 Cans deserved the first piece RPS did on them. What followed, not so sure.

 

[Mael]

Peter Molyneux: But this team isn’t independent of a publisher. And the people who are playing on mobile, some of them are backers incidentally, aren’t independent of a publisher. One of the reasons why we took that publisher on is that they have this server technology which is used to drive the game, which they then drop this bombshell, that we have to change the technology.

In short we have a guy who made his KS promising the world when he didn't even know any way to keep his word.
Seriously why the hell did he go on KS at the state the project was in?

 

[DoktorEvil]

The Last Guardian.
Because that game hasn't gotten any shit from the press or gamers.

I dont think comparing Fumito Ueda to Peter Molyneux is fair.

One is a freelance, the other an entrepreneur.

I'll hold the entrepreneur more accountable than the freelancer.

 

[dehydratedbabies]

I still prefer Ellie Gibson's interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zFfxdEfSBxg

 

[The Blackrose]

I think this interview reminded me of a movie..

Is this by the same people who brought us Star Wars Episode 3: The Backstroke of the West?

In all seriousness though, there's a middle ground to be sought here. Walker was aggressive and antagonistic right out of the gate. In certain areas, he overstepped. Starting the interview with asking about him being a pathological liar set the tone. This was a clear indication that this was going to be the opposite of the PR softball crap the enthusiast gaming press has been more than willing to play.

Then again, perhaps you need to be when you're dealing with someone who has been blowing smoke up peoples' asses for at least 14 years. Especially now that he's utilizing crowdfunded resources to back his latest blunders. Individual people now get to feel a direct cost of the bullshit Molyneux has spewed.

Given the circumstances surrounding Godus and Curiosity, I see absolutely no problem with Walker giving Molyneux no room to maneuver. Good on him for that. However, he could have left some of his personal feelings at the door too.

Thinking about it, I think the pathological liar question was one John could ask... but he should have saved it for the end of the interview.

At that point, he could have pointed out the very inconsistencies in the interview already conducted and gotten a more interesting answer. Plus, he wouldn't have set an unnecessarily hostile tone right out of the gate.

Now that's an interesting idea.

 

[afternoon delight]

And as with all blowhards, once confronted they fall all over themselves and resort to dramatics instead of answering questions in a clear, concise, and civil way.

Truly telling of someone with a psychological problem concerning discourse.

 

[KiefbladeMaster]

Won't somebody please think of the unchecked lying con artist!!

What does this mean? He's created over a half dozen critically acclaimed titles over the span of his career. Sure, he's a tad overambitious, but 'lying con artist' is stretching it quite a bit. Didn't think people would be this bloodthirsty over this poor piece of 'journalism'.

 

[Lothars]

This is what needed to be done and was exactly on point, I don't have an issue with how it was handled with how PM has mislead people with his games for the last 10 years.

What does this mean? He's created over a half dozen critically acclaimed titles over the span of his career. Sure, he's a tad overambitious, but 'lying con artist' is stretching it quite a bit. Didn't think people would be this bloodthirsty over this poor piece of 'journalism'.

If you mean great piece of journalism that really questioned someone that needed to have it asked than yes. I respect PM for some of the games he has done but he has mislead people in almost every single game he has ever released.

 

[VoidVR]

It's harsh, but props to RPS for not making an interview that is just an up-jumped videogame blogger sucking PR dick, which is what "interviews" in this industry usually are.

Just because you did good shit 20 years ago doesn't give you a free ride for the rest of your career, Peter. Own the fuck up.

 

[SatelliteOfLove]

This interview couldn't have happened to a better man.

Now watch this get spinned in Molyneux's favor via devil's advocacy, and he won't even have to lift a finger.

 

[Alienous]

As much as I wished that I hadn't backed it, what 22 Cans did was to use $30 of my money, and delivered something that wasn't quite what I had hoped for. There is a limit for what I wish on people for sums like that. And this massive wave of hate that's rolling on the internet now is very much above that limit.

The damage to 22 Cans reputation was done long ago, and there was no chance of them ever being able to go down the kickstarter route again, so I'm not sure what John Walker was trying to achieve here, when he barely let's him speak. This interview most certainly did more damage to RPS then Molyneux, because a lot of devs are going to have second thoughts about doing interviews with them again.

22 Cans deserved the first piece RPS did on them. What followed, not so sure.

John Walker lets Molyneux speak plenty. He just tries to direct the interview away from excuses rather than answers.

 

[U-R]

The real problem is how many fake interviews Molyneux survived before he got called for his complete and utter bullshit in a true one: quite frankly his reputation should have ended with Milo, no more and no less.

 

[Future PhaZe]

As much as I wished that I hadn't backed it, what 22 Cans did was to use $30 of my money, and delivered something that wasn't quite what I had hoped for. There is a limit for what I wish on people for sums like that. And this massive wave of hate that's rolling on the internet now is very much above that limit.

The damage to 22 Cans reputation was done long ago, and there was no chance of them ever being able to go down the kickstarter route again, so I'm not sure what John Walker was trying to achieve here, when he barely let's him speak. This interview most certainly did more damage to RPS then Molyneux, because a lot of devs are going to have second thoughts about doing interviews with them again.

22 Cans deserved the first piece RPS did on them. What followed, not so sure.

Barely let him speak? Peters point was said ad nausem: "Bruh, bruh, I'm trying. We're trying."

And we respect that, we understand its hard, but you made a promise.

 

[Archaix]

What does this mean? He's created over a half dozen critically acclaimed titles over the span of his career. Sure, he's a tad overambitious, but 'lying con artist' is stretching it quite a bit. Didn't think people would be this bloodthirsty over this poor piece of 'journalism'.

No. Lying con artist is appropriate to describe him. He has lied to consumers to sell his game, lied to the press to sell himself, and lied to kickstarter backers to make sure his project didn't fail. I don't care whether he made great games in the past, he did, and he is still a liar and people need to stop excusing his continued lies and enabling him.

 

[watership]

What truth is there with Molyneux? He can't keep his answers straight. First he tells one group that there is only a few people working on Godus now then he says the whole studio is working on it then he doubles back to say that it isn't the whole studio. He is lying through his teeth the game can't ever reach what he promised because there was never an actual design in place he was just shooting from the hip.

Let's all say this again. Molyneux has a problem with delivering on promises, and hype. This is not the real issue here at all. PM should be called out and asked about these things, and he has.

Did you read the Guardian article? They did a similar investigation and interview, and it was just as hard and rough on PM, and it was also respectful and mature.

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/feb/13/peter-molyneux-game-designer-interview-godus

The RPS article is popular because people who dislike or are mad at Molyneux are getting a thrill out of seeing him hit like this. They may also be tired of puff journalism, which sounds like modified PR. Attack interviews like this are not the solution. The RPS interview is just as bad as PR-regurgitation, because it panders, this time to angry or disgruntled gamers.

It is poor journalism.

 

[kuppy]

Geez, that Mayfair question was totally necessary. So many really insulting attempts.
Not sure if the interviewer was too emotionally involved or desperately hunting for a story. This should have been done differently.

 

[Z3M0G]

Damn, Peter's a great creator but he really needs to stay out the press or get some decent media training. This whole interview makes him come across as a disgruntled, defensive, hugely passionate creative. That's not quite what he should portraying.

No it feels morally wrong to do what he did with the whole Curiosity/Godus project, he took people's money through lies. The interviewer just asked a bunch of questions and Molyneux could have simply said "no comment" or deny the interview all together.

Comes off to me like he's just a down to earth guy who'd rather give an honest interview rather than spin PR bullshit... but this wasn't an interview, it was an attack... of course he was thrown off guard, got defensive, and made emotional responses.

Any one of us would have done the same thing without resorting to put up a PR wall, which he didn't want to do.

If he did, and he just said "No Comment" to every harsh question given to him over the past 3 days, how do you think people would be reacting then??

 

[Toxi]

What does this mean? He's created over a half dozen critically acclaimed titles over the span of his career. Sure, he's a tad overambitious, but 'lying con artist' is stretching it quite a bit. Didn't think people would be this bloodthirsty over this poor piece of 'journalism'.

What happened with Godus was indistinguishable from con artistry.

 

[Axass]

Those were taken out of context from an original interview with TechRadar which was also taken out of context.

He was talking about the problems with funding a game with Kickstarter when the game is still an idea and how you are incentivized to change the game to make it more in line with backers wishes. And that it hurts the final product because it starts changing the game.

I'm not a Peter defender by any means. I basically take everything he says with a handful of salt because I know he has a tendency to overpromise and under-deliver.

This interview is such a total hit-piece that I find myself defending him.

I understand the love for Bullfrog games and their importance (hell, I was playing Dungeon Keeper earlier today) and I understand you saying the interview was harsh, it definitely was. What we don't agree on is that it didn't have to be harsh: when consumers' money is on the line, when people get lied or "overprimised" to a million times during the course of 20 years, you're kinda calling for this.

Look at this crap:

Peter Molyneux: I’ll tell you why, John. Because we’re so fucking busy trying to make this game a great game. Everybody here, every single person here is doing something on the game, with the exception of Michelle, and even Michelle who is the office administrator is now acting as a producer to help out. And someone called Peter Murphy who is the finance director. Everyone else is programming, doing art, coding, doing concept drawings, testing, and there isn’t, there’s not, we’re not a big enough company to have someone who looks after the pledges. We did have someone like that and unfortunately they left and went and left the industry. And you know, maybe if we had more money than anybody else, we’d employ lots of support people to handle that. We’re just a small indie developer. If I was Electronic Arts then, fair enough, justified, because they’ve got the infrastructure. You know I think something like 80% of their people are support people and only 20% people are actually people who produce stuff, who make code and art.

RPS: OK, can we just clarify one thing. A number of sites have reported this week that the Godus team has been hugely reduced, there’s very few people left working on it, but you’ve implied that the whole of 22cans is working on it. Where’s the truth in that?

Peter Molyneux: No, I didn’t say that.

He's either a pathological liar or I don't know what else... extremely forgetful? Naive? He has alzheimer problems? I've got nothing. All I know is that I'm not trusting his good faith anymore.

 

[Alienous]

In short we have a guy who made his KS promising the world when he didn't even know any way to keep his word.
Seriously why the hell did he go on KS at the state the project was in?

Starting at 4 minutes and 32 seconds into the video is all you need to know about that question.

 

[aeolist]

Let's all say this again. Molyneux has a problem with delivering on promises, and hype. This is not the real issue here at all. PM should be called out and asked about these things, and he has.

Did you read the Guardian article? They did a similar investigation and interview, and it was just as hard and rough on PM, and it was also respectful and mature.

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/feb/13/peter-molyneux-game-designer-interview-godus

The RPS article is popular because people who dislike or are mad at Molyneux are getting a thrill out of seeing him hit like this. They may also be tired of puff journalism, which sounds like modified PR. Attack interviews like this are not the solution. The RPS interview is just as bad as PR-regurgitation, because it panders, this time to angry or disgruntled gamers.

It is poor journalism.

yeah the guardian piece was much better, as was the monday piece on RPS.

this interview was kind of a train wreck. even disregarding tone it doesn't read well and doesn't convey much information.

 

[HocusPocus]

What a terrible hit piece. Molyneux should have told him to f off. Molyneux has done a lot more gaming than Rock Paper Shotgun could ever dream.

 

[Maxim726X]

CIRCLE THE WAGONS!

Who's ever going to do an interview with them after this?

Interviewer could have approached issues a bit more gracefully, to say the least.

 

[R_thanatos]

Many people has issues with the interview , but i'm having more issues with molyneux answers ..especially since that subject should be something he should know ( and he does ) yet answers much unsatisfactory to me.

I mean i've seen god so many kickstarters ( of games or not ) , so i do think that if a project can't be done in a way , asking less is NOT OK, You plan a project knowing that there would be hurdles along the way .

Heck having setbacks is ok , too , as long as you communicate with them.

BUt this ? i can't accept this.

 

[Freeman]

Small dev?

He isn't the head of a major AAA studio anymore.

 

[Intheflorsh]

Isn't wonderful to see Peter Molyneux back in the spotlight?

 

[Sephzilla]

Who's ever going to do an interview with them after this?

Interviewer could have approached issues a bit more gracefully, to say the least.

They'll still get plenty of interviews, especially after it becomes obvious the Molyneux grilling was entirely because it was Molyneux.

 

[Lothars]

Most people in this thread probably haven't played a single one of his good games, understandably since they're two decades old at this point. He's an easier target. But there are others. Denis Dyack, for example. Or anybody else responsible for mismanaging money and people's livelihoods. There is no shortage of those in gaming. Molyneux's shortcomings in PR and game design are a minor curiosity (har har) in comparison to some of the shitty people managing teams all over the industry.

I disagree, I think most people have played his good games and I am a big fan of his games especially games like magic carpet, populous, dungeon keeper and fable 2. he deserves to be called out on this and I am glad he did.

 

[Archaix]

Drive-by comments like this are the worst.

No, the worst are people who say that he made some really good games twenty years ago, so he can lie as much as he want as long as he's smiling

 

[Jeffolation]

Long overdue. It was refreshing to see this guy taken to task for talking out of his ass for years now.

 

[Seik]

Holy moly, that's what I call a harsh interview.

I can understand the tone though, Peter has been spouting shit at people over and over again, no matter how passionate he can be. There's a line between what can be done and what's impossible.

He's been doing this again and again without ever learning from the mistakes he did.

 

[old manatee]

What a terrible hit piece. Molyneux should have told him to f off. Molyneux has done a lot more gaming than Rock Paper Shotgun could ever dream.

Maybe Molyneux knew he had it coming.

 

[jpax]

No, the worst are people who say that he made some really good games twenty years ago, so he can lie as much as he want as long as he's smiling

I think here is a big misunderstanding. He is not a liar he is a pathological liar. He just cannot help it.

 

[hamchan]

As much as I wished that I hadn't backed it, what 22 Cans did was to use $30 of my money, and delivered something that wasn't quite what I had hoped for. There is a limit for what I wish on people for sums like that. And this massive wave of hate that's rolling on the internet now is very much above that limit.

The damage to 22 Cans reputation was done long ago, and there was no chance of them ever being able to go down the kickstarter route again, so I'm not sure what John Walker was trying to achieve here, when he barely let's him speak. This interview most certainly did more damage to RPS then Molyneux, because a lot of devs are going to have second thoughts about doing interviews with them again.

22 Cans deserved the first piece RPS did on them. What followed, not so sure.

If there's one thing you can't complain about is the amount Peter Molyneux got to speak. Because boy, he gave some long answers in this one. Props to him for that at least, even if there was a lot of spinning and inconsistencies.

 

[pompidu]

Glad someone had the balls to call him out. Peter cannot even keep shit straight during the interview. He's lying all over da place. Hopefully he fades into obscurity