The rumor (I know, rumor, but they seem to have been pretty accurate from certain people) was that they went to Nintendo with it, but it would've taken an extra $10m just to keep SK open in addition to the game itself. A similar situation to that of Factor5 before it closed.
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Denis Dyack Addresses Kotaku Allegations [Silicon Knights]
- Thread starter Shiggy
- Start date
The rumor (I know, rumor, but they seem to have been pretty accurate from certain people) was that they went to Nintendo with it, but it would've taken an extra $10m just to keep SK open in addition to the game itself. A similar situation to that of Factor5 before it closed.
ahahaha shots fired
Night_Trekker
Member
He denies that in this video.
Delusibeta
Banned
What a strange video. I'm mean everything, the timing, the context, Dyack's body language and rambling. Strange.
Dyack himself looks like he's being held with a gun to his head. Half way I though I was expecting him to start blinking Morse code.
Dyack himself looks like he's being held with a gun to his head. Half way I though I was expecting him to start blinking Morse code.
dead
I tease because I love.
Night_Trekker
Member
Gee, maybe he's both nervous and embarrassed? I'm sure he didn't want to make this video.
Zabant
Member
I don't think anyone doubts how hard Totilo, or any of the kotaku staff work on the content you guys put up, if they do they are underestimating the amount of verification and research these kind of articles take.
What people have an issue with is the ethics and seeming willingness to throw people under the bus for the sake of clicks. I'm all for more actual journalism in the gaming industry (a nice change from the glorified PR role most sites take on) but unless you can be transparent and 100% sure what you're putting up is true and has a underlying cause that attention should be brought to, not just speculation or hearesay like a certain article recently accusing Sony of being sexist, then the professional thing to do would be not to run the story.
Too many people claim kotaku are nothing but a sensationalist tabloid equivalent as it is, dyack coming out and pretty much denying all the allegations posted in that article does not help that image.
You should do some real journalism, like finding out where the guys from FatBabies are now and if they are willing to kickstart another site.
I'm not sure which disturbs me more:
The "my word against theirs" position taken here, with Dyack vs 8 ex-employees.
Or the fact Kotaku isn't banned here for posting an unverified story that was passed up by other publications.
Edit: After reading Jason's reply, I guess it isn't fair to lump all of Kotaku in one collective heap. But still, if Wired passed on this story due to credibility issues, it should have been reason enough for his peer to be cautious and just not post it.
Personally, I'm interested if more employees come forward.
The "my word against theirs" position taken here, with Dyack vs 8 ex-employees.
Or the fact Kotaku isn't banned here for posting an unverified story that was passed up by other publications.
Edit: After reading Jason's reply, I guess it isn't fair to lump all of Kotaku in one collective heap. But still, if Wired passed on this story due to credibility issues, it should have been reason enough for his peer to be cautious and just not post it.
Personally, I'm interested if more employees come forward.
Dyack's history of self promotion and aggrandising leads me to believe he's not the nervous or easily embarrassed type.
And Chris Kohler disagrees.
FaustsBoon
Member
Did you ever notice that this team of nine or so guys, seems to have four or five people calling themselves "Directors" of something or other? Yeah.... funny how amorphous their chain of command is.
In his video, Dyack quotes an ex-employee who was in charge of labor allocations at SK. This individual denies that he improperly allocated people from XMD to ED2. Did any of the anonymous sources provide emails or screenshots to the contrary?
and i laugh because they're full of themselves
Night_Trekker
Member
8 anonymous sources > 1 Dyack, clearly they're right due to statistics 'n such
Nicely done there.. tasteless and juvenile.. You must be such a bad-ass.. Maybe you should start write for Kotaku.
I have no idea. I didn't work on this story. You'll have to ask Andrew or Stephen.
I don't really like or trust Dyack, but the Kotaku article reads more like a hit piece on him personally rather than a truly interesting look at game development IMO.
1. Silicon Knights took on a licensed X-Men game in order to keep the company afloat.
2. Dyack's involvement and feedback on the game was minimal due to a number of factors (ED2, Epic Games lawsuit, etc).
3. Activision didn't really give a shit either and just wanted the game released on budget and on schedule - presumably to ride the hype of X-Men: First Class DVD release.
This all seems like fairly standard stuff for a licensed game.
I'm sure many of the allegations in the Kotaku article were true, but they also sound highly exaggerated (which is no surprise coming from a bunch of disgruntled ex-employees). Some of the authors claims also seem exaggerated to me, like the stuff about the initial trailer having SK's name attached "prominently" (it was just a tiny logo shown in the last 3 seconds) or claiming X-Men Destiny was their "biggest public failure" (I think everyone would agree Too Human was).
Again, not defending Dyack/SK here, I just don't think it was that great of an article.
1. Silicon Knights took on a licensed X-Men game in order to keep the company afloat.
2. Dyack's involvement and feedback on the game was minimal due to a number of factors (ED2, Epic Games lawsuit, etc).
3. Activision didn't really give a shit either and just wanted the game released on budget and on schedule - presumably to ride the hype of X-Men: First Class DVD release.
This all seems like fairly standard stuff for a licensed game.
I'm sure many of the allegations in the Kotaku article were true, but they also sound highly exaggerated (which is no surprise coming from a bunch of disgruntled ex-employees). Some of the authors claims also seem exaggerated to me, like the stuff about the initial trailer having SK's name attached "prominently" (it was just a tiny logo shown in the last 3 seconds) or claiming X-Men Destiny was their "biggest public failure" (I think everyone would agree Too Human was).
Again, not defending Dyack/SK here, I just don't think it was that great of an article.
Can you invite them to comment here?
Yeah, this video is kind of weird. He should be focusing on their new game and showing how awesome it is, not bringing out skeletons from the closet that people have slowly been forgetting about.
It would be like the president of Enron starting a new company and then making a video saying how he was not a criminal at Enron. Distracting and not necessarily going to help sell your game.
SenjutsuSage
Banned
Disgusting hit piece, in my opinion. Denis, I wish you all the best. Don't let the criticism get you down or distract you from doing that which you love. Your job isn't to somehow try and get people to like you, but I understand taking extraordinary steps to try and set the record straight. Just know that nothing that you say or do will ever get certain people to give you a fair shake, and if that's the case, then that tells you that their opinion shouldn't concern you.
If the games you make are solid and really well done, no criticism coming from anybody will amount to very much.
Yea, sure, he should just sit there and do nothing while people write disgusting hit pieces destroying his reputation and credibility. A hit piece that many are all too willing to believe without having all the facts. Denis had to set the record straight. I thought he kinda went overboard in the Too Human build up and hurt his game, but this isn't one of those situations.
If the games you make are solid and really well done, no criticism coming from anybody will amount to very much.
Yea, sure, he should just sit there and do nothing while people write disgusting hit pieces destroying his reputation and credibility. A hit piece that many are all too willing to believe without having all the facts. Denis had to set the record straight. I thought he kinda went overboard in the Too Human build up and hurt his game, but this isn't one of those situations.
Morrigan Stark
Arrogant Smirk
Huh? Everyone was asking him constantly about the XMD fiasco and the Kotaku article and this video was announced specifically as an answer to these allegations. What the hell were you expecting?
Night_Trekker
Member
What's strange about it? Dyack is answering questions in this video from people in the SotE forums. They asked about the Kotaku article. They also asked about the end of SK's relationship with Nintendo. In addressing that question, Dyack took a tangentially related quote from the Kotaku article about SK's relationship with Nintendo. He then rebutted the information in that quote concerning SK's relationship with Nintendo.
All they've seen since the campaign started is people saying they don't trust Denis after the allegations against him. He's not bringing up anything, he's trying to put it down.
I do feel a little bad for Denis. Regardless of whether or not the allegations in the Kotaku article were true, I got the impression the article was only published at all because Silicon Knights and Denis himself were such easy targets. Their reputations were pretty much destroyed after XMD and the Epic lawsuit, so there was no real risk burning that bridge.
That said, I would still have serious misgivings about pledging to Shadow of the Eternals even if that article had never been published. The downward spiral SK experienced after the Nintendo days, and Denis's bizarre interactions with the gaming community and press during that period, do not inspire confidence in Precursor's new project. The most reassuring thing about Precursor is that Denis doesn't seem to be involved in the business side of the equation anymore. I'm still inclined to take a wait and see approach; I have no idea what level of quality this team is actually capable of anymore.
That said, I would still have serious misgivings about pledging to Shadow of the Eternals even if that article had never been published. The downward spiral SK experienced after the Nintendo days, and Denis's bizarre interactions with the gaming community and press during that period, do not inspire confidence in Precursor's new project. The most reassuring thing about Precursor is that Denis doesn't seem to be involved in the business side of the equation anymore. I'm still inclined to take a wait and see approach; I have no idea what level of quality this team is actually capable of anymore.
Broken_Cartridge
Neo Member
Since when did anyone start listening to Kotaku?
Yeah that helps confirm they're at least truthful to some degree for me. Still, if the 45 years of experience among the 8 of them is accurate, they likely were employed there only for Too Human and XMD, I.e. not during SK's best days, so I'm sure they were a little less than satisfied with the products they helped create while there. I can understand why they might not be fond of him.
It's a mistake to assume that the average number of years applied to all eight employees. It could just as easily be the case that one guy worked 10 years with SK and the others worked there for 5 years. Or two guys worked 10 years and the others worked 4 years, etc. Denis obviously prefers the idea that none of the anonymous sources had any particular seniority, but we don't know if that's actually true.
spindoctor
Member
You're not going to get any clearer confirmation than this image right here. This is such damning proof.
WonderbreadUSA
Member
You would think that someone who's been covering this story wouldn't have to have this explained to them.
Didn't one of the sources not like where the article could be going and send Denis a copy of the email he read from? He knows at least one of their identities, I assume if any of them actually knew budgetary information and other sensitive data, it wouldn't be hard to deduce who they are.
Of what? There is nothing shown here that has been denied by Dyack or ex-SK people.
Jonnyboy117
Member
I don't understand what the church image proves. That location was in Eternal Darkness -- if you're developing a sequel that turns into an unofficial successor, it's an evocative scene to create nostalgia and familiarity among any fan of ED.
The fact that Precursor already has these assets, and purchased them from SK, already proves that the game was in development for some time at SK. This was a persistent rumor for years and years before Kotaku's article. It hardly proves that the anonymous source was truthful about everything else.
As several other people have pointed out, the fact that an ED successor was being worked on at SK does not mean resources were being diverted or stolen from X-Men Destiny, which is the specific claim made in Kotaku's article.
The fact that Precursor already has these assets, and purchased them from SK, already proves that the game was in development for some time at SK. This was a persistent rumor for years and years before Kotaku's article. It hardly proves that the anonymous source was truthful about everything else.
As several other people have pointed out, the fact that an ED successor was being worked on at SK does not mean resources were being diverted or stolen from X-Men Destiny, which is the specific claim made in Kotaku's article.
Pie and Beans
Look for me on the local news, I'll be the guy arrested for trying to burn down a Nintendo exec's house.
One interesting aspect of the 2-tier Church being total truth is thats assets and work that the full force of the once operational SK that worked on it and no doubt cherry picked their best workers to do so.
Theyre not there anymore, but due to the whole "buying the assets" song and dance, what Dyack and co get to present for their Kickstarter is something I feel isn't indicative of the sort of work their skeleton squad could achieve nowadays. Worse still of course that the above took "a lot more time than it should have", mixed with episodic nature and more and good lord you can just see this catostrophe in the making from orbit.
Theyre not there anymore, but due to the whole "buying the assets" song and dance, what Dyack and co get to present for their Kickstarter is something I feel isn't indicative of the sort of work their skeleton squad could achieve nowadays. Worse still of course that the above took "a lot more time than it should have", mixed with episodic nature and more and good lord you can just see this catostrophe in the making from orbit.
I dunno, they had to reconstruct everything in CryEngine in a relatively short amount of time. I don't think they're incapable of doing a decent job at delivering.
Messofanego
Banned
This is all super duper fascinating. Can't really come up with a judgement until I've taken all this in.
clem84
Gold Member
I'm sorry if this has been discussed before but can someone tell me what happened to SK? The last we heard about them was that Epic had won the lawsuit and SK was forced to pay a certain amount of money and also destroy all copies of the games that had stolen code in them. And now there's this new company Precursor games? Did SK close its doors? Is Precursor Dyack's new company?
The lawsuit essentially killed SK. They couldn't survive. It only exists today to deal with the aftermath of the Epic case.
Dennis and other SK brass went over to Precursor.