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[amardilo]

I wondered in the latest 22Cans' video why he mentioned the publisher getting a cut... I don't believe Curiosity or Godus had a publisher. I mean, I understand the point he's making, but it's doesn't seem entirely applicable in this particular instance.

This stood out as strange for me:

But why has it taken so long? Molyneux says Godus' publisher forced a server switch back in November 2014, which then forced 22Cans to build new tech in order for people to keep playing the game. This set the development roadmap back months, Molyneux said.

Seems very odd as I thought going the Kickstarter route meant they could develop the game without a publisher being involved also on Steam there is no mention of a publisher (no idea about mobile stuff though) so it all seemed to be self published to me.

Also must be some mammoth server change to have months of impact, sounds like it could have been some sort of server platform/stack shift (if they just moved servers I'd of guessed they wouldn't need to do anything other than a DNS or IP change).

That shiny new thing in Molyneux's words?
The Trial, will be an “experience never seen before"...will 'build on feelings and emotions untapped so far.”

Maybe we are all playing The Trail right now as the emotions I feel are slight sadness for the Bryan Henderson to not get anything (yet) and disappointment to not see Godus (and 22cans and Molyneux himself) not live up to expectations.

Oh well... I hope they turn this all around and get it sorted.

 

[Kerned]

Is impossible to give him the benefit of the doubt anymore. He's a conman, plain and simple.

 

[exmachina64]

Well, there's this, there's 22cans unable to deliver on all their Kickstarter promises (including a Linux version), and there was Curiosity selling DLC to get to the centre faster, when it later transpired there were infinite layers until the powers that be decided the experiment had gone on long enough and it was time to flip a switch and create an end point. I once had a conversation about this with someone from 22cans on Eurogamer - I think his name was Sam - and when I raised this point he didn't respond further.

They just strike me as slimy and dishonest, and Molyneux overpromises and underdelivers so much that he's a goddamn joke.

Sam posts on GAF as SamVT; he's not with 22 Cans anymore.

 

[Danneee]

Just don't give him any attention and he'll dissappear soon enough.

 

[Uncle Rupee]

How the mighty have fallen. From games like Populous and Dungeon Keeper to a living joke. Project Milo?

 

[Roto13]

I am *shocked* that Peter Molyneux lies to individuals as well as audiences. Completely *shocked*

 

[orthodoxy1095]

Just don't give him any attention and he'll dissappear soon enough.

I don't think ignoring him is enough. Inform those who don't know about him and take an active stance against his nonsense.

 

[Darksol]

What a scumbag

 

[OléGunner]

Still can't decide if Molyneux's possessed of a charming, childlike naiveté about how the industry works and an inability to accurately assess the viability of his lofty goals or if he's just a cynical con man.

That was a fantastic read. I can't decide if Molyneux is wildly ambitious and poor at planning/managing money or if he's the world's loudest snake oil salesman.

Either way, I'm glad the winner is apathetic and not beat up over the whole thing. It all feels wrong.

Both of you...take a guess and claim your prize!!

Edit: How did I miss this gem?!?

 

[Green Wiggly]

While Bryan is unable to discuss the terms of the deal, Eurogamer understands he was promised a royalty of one per cent of revenue from Godus for the period of his role as God of Gods. (This God of Gods feature hadn't been developed yet, but there was an expectation it would be at some point.) However, there is wriggle room in the language that means 22Cans is under no time pressure to fulfil its obligation - unfortunately for Bryan.

Pretty slick, Pete.

 

[JumpJeff84]

Man, kinda shitty. It's ridiculous that people keep giving Peter a pass because 'oh he has a charming British accent!'.

Honestly, Fable II is the only game of his I've ever enjoyed. I know he's made some great ones, but I tend not to be into God games.

 

[Sir_Crocodile]

Man, kinda shitty. It's ridiculous that people keep giving Peter a pass because 'oh he has a charming British accent!'.

No, he's given a pass because Bullfrog made some of the finest games of all time.

But at this point he has burned any residual goodwill three times over.

 

[TimorousPanda]

Its becoming absurd how much this guy fails to deliver

He never fails at failing to deliver!

 

[gutterboy44]

What a shill. People like him, who's words are utterly meaningless, aren't worth the bucket of piss they wallow in. That personality type, of just constantly spouting 100% bullshit, drives me crazy. You aren't some horrid criminal or anything, but at a personal level, it is a low of lows imo. He never had to promise a huge prize, he never had to hype it, he never had to bring Bryan into the fold, but he did, and he patted himself on the back the entire time, and self promoted at every turn. You are a joke Pete. Fuck off and let some more deserving developers step into the limelight. I hope he gets booed if he ever makes a stage appearance at a conference again.

 

[More_Badass]

Pretty slick, Pete.

Wow, what a dick move! Here I was thinking the guy would be getting some $$ from the mobile version profits.

 

[Wiktor]

WTF is going on with Molyneux? Godus seems like something he should be able to do well on damn autopilot.

Why can indie teams deliver good God games pretty regularly, while a damn father of the genre can't?

 

[glaurung]

Wow, what a dick move! Here I was thinking the guy would be getting some $$ from the mobile version profits.

"You will be getting royalties based on this one feature that we promised three years ago for KickStarter."

"You're probably interested in when we are going to implement this feature, right?"

"LOL NEVER GTFO GOD OF GODS"

WTF is going on with Molyneux? Godus seems like something he should be able to do well on damn autopilot.

Why can indie teams deliver good God games pretty regularly, while a damn father of the genre can't?

Peter's already off on his next doomed-to-fail endeavor called Fable Legends. He don't have time for stupid-ass old games.

 

[Kinyou]

I love Peter Molyneux, he's one of the guys who's just a great visionary. He often under delivers, but at least he can dream up new and intriguing scenarios.

But this strikes a bit more than just an under delivered game, this is imo the kind of promise he and his team were bound to keep.

"LOL NEVER GTFO GOD OF GODS"Peter's already off on his next doomed-to-fail endeavor called Fable Legends. He don't have time for stupid-ass old games.

Molyneux has nothing to do with Fable Legends.

 

[More_Badass]

WTF is going on with Molyneux? Godus seems like something he should be able to do well on damn autopilot.

Why can indie teams deliver good God games pretty regularly, while a damn father of the genre can't?

I think with indie devs, the stakes are higher. Their futures in the industry are on the line. So they have to deliever.

 

[Triggerhappytel]

This stood out as strange for me:

Seems very odd as I thought going the Kickstarter route meant they could develop the game without a publisher being involved also on Steam there is no mention of a publisher (no idea about mobile stuff though) so it all seemed to be self published to me.

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.

Sam posts on GAF as SamVT; he's not with 22 Cans anymore.

Fair enough. Seems he's quite happy to be away from Molyneux; I'd be interested to hear some inside dirt about what it's like working with the guy.

 

[tmarques]

Fair enough. Seems he's quite happy to be away from Molyneux; I'd be interested to hear some inside dirt about what it's like working with the guy.

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.

Not that I needed any reason before, but with this I'll be sure to boycott anything even remotely connected with Molyneux. He could put out Syndicate 3 for all care and he wouldn't see a dime from me. I know some people insisted he was just a man who "dreamed big" but had no intention of lying to people, but after this one I don't see how you could cling to that hope.

 

[More_Badass]

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.



Fair enough. Seems he's quite happy to be away from Molyneux; I'd be interested to hear some inside dirt about what it's like working with the guy.

Well to be fair, it's becoming more common for Kickstarted projects to be picked up by publishers now. Rain World and Ghost Song (from GAF's own Jobbs) got picked up Adult Swim. Noct is being published by Devolver. Publisher support helps with marketing, booth space at gaming expos like PAX, etc.

 

[BibiMaghoo]

I would hope that if the multiplayer never happens and so the guy cannot get paid, that they actually pay him something anyway.

Otherwise I just can't even imagine how that will go down. The guy is correct when he says it would destroy them. PM's rep is bad, but not that bad. Not screwing the guy that won your hugely publicised game prize bad.

Dear god Peter. You better do right by this guy.

 

[More_Badass]

I would hope that if the multiplayer never happens and so the guy cannot get paid, that they actually pay him something anyway.

Otherwise I just can't even imagine how that will go down. The guy is correct when he says it would destroy them. PM's rep is bad, but not that bad. Not screwing the guy that won your hugely publicised game prize bad.

Dear god Peter. You better do right by this guy.

But it's already at "screwing over your 17,000 Kickstarter backers" bad. I don't think his reputation can get any worse. Can it?

From RPS

He also says,

“I take the point that some of the pledges should have been met, and that we should have taken the time to work on them.”

Which is… astonishing. All of the pledges should have been met. If that’s not going to happen, then Kickstarter’s terms and conditions at the time of the Godus campaign suggest refunds should be offered – and the acknowledgement in the video above would seem like all the evidence that’s necessary for backers who have not received pledges to claim one.

 

[BibiMaghoo]

But it's already at "screwing over your 17,000 Kickstarter backers" bad. I don't think his reputation can get any worse. Can't it?

Yes. It can.

Currently, it is only customers his name is bad with. This would shit up his name on a very professional level, with people he potentially needs to work with or for, in the future. That would be more than a minor internet inconvenience for him.

 

[BodiesWithoutOrgans]

He is smug son of bitch ain't he

 

[Clefargle]

God I'm sick of molyneux

 

[gofreak]

Eurogamer understands he was promised a royalty of one per cent of revenue from Godus for the period of his role as God of Gods. (This God of Gods feature hadn't been developed yet, but there was an expectation it would be at some point.)

Molyneux insists 22Cans is in rude health, with the mobile version of Godus pulling in enough money to keep the company going. But what of the future of the game? 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.

I have rooted for Peter for so long, and I think I will always have a soft spot for him, but this is just wrong.

If I was owing something on my first game (the reward around which the whole thing was hyped), I would feel terribly wrong about moving on to my third game before any of that was delivered on.

I hope I'm wrong but it feels like he was hoping the whole thing would just quietly disappear.

I am also intrigued by mention of this publisher who caused a server backed switch. Who that is, and also why a backend switch would set back development 'months', especially for a game that really isn't all that fleshed out. I can't imagine the backend API was that extensive yet.

 

[More_Badass]

I feel sorry for that intern. Going from a fan providing feedback, to getting a job at the company, to suddenly having this hot mess dropped in your lap as Molyneux moves on to his next life-changing project

 

[FantasticMrFoxdie]

wow. thats messed up

 

[Hupsel]

Terrible. And he was the only person that didnt want to take a pic with me and my friend at E3 take that now Peter!

 

[KaufLive]

Wow, that was a very interesting read! I think Bryan is handeling it very well. It's very disappointing though, especially because the 'secret of the cube' was built up for months... We all should have known...

 

[Megasoum]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eu-8Bip0uao

 

[catapult37]

For Molyneux, it was Tuesday...

 

[Mikey Jr.]

Not sure why anyone believes the horseshit this man spews.

Now he has a new game with The Trial. Yeah, I'm buying that for sure......

 

[Acosta]

I have rooted for Peter for so long, and I think I will always have a soft spot for him, but this is just wrong.

Yes, I'm sadly in this bandwagon too. I have like 50 KS projects under my bell and so far Godus is the most disappointing one, not only for the game itself but for everything around it. And I went to such lengths to defend it here in the KS thread that now feels embarrassing.

I will always admire him, I started having a bigger vision of videogames reading interviews of him in Edge many years ago, he created one of my favorite studio ever and participated in more and less capacity in some of my favorite games. I also really like Black & White and Fable.

But this has been abysmal. I probably will support him in the future buying his new project but I don't think I can defend him anymore in a public forum.

 

[Timeless]

"That's when they made us play Godus for three hours straight. It was our choice when to get up and stop playing, but I didn't want to seem rude."

LOL

Poor guy.

 

[Baron_Calamity]

Fair enough. Seems he's quite happy to be away from Molyneux; I'd be interested to hear some inside dirt about what it's like working with the guy.

His posts on Peter and 22cans seem to take a turn. I wonder if the stories of him funding B&W and DK by himself were completely true?

 

[Nibiru]

Just give the kid 50k and call it.

 

[Grief.exe]

Just give the kid 50k and call it.

22cans is unable to even pay salaries for enough people to fix their broken games. I got the impression their hopes are currently resting on whatever project Peter is currently trying to push out. Glean whatever money they can from it and then move on.

They are well aware they won't be able to turn to Early Access or Kickstarter this time around.

 

[Nibiru]

They are well aware they won't be able to turn to Early Access or Kickstarter this time around.

They need an "Almost there" or "Sooner Access" option for Godus.

 

[goldsoundz]

This isn't a surprise to anyone. It's obvious that any reputation this guy had back in the 90s had little to do with his input and/or direction. Enjoyed the read, even though it completely destroyed what little respect I still had for Peter.

 

[Graphics Horse]

Lots of competitions turn the result into a PR exercise but most have the decency not to fuck over the winner with empty promises.

His posts on Peter and 22cans seem to take a turn.

Indeed.
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=141429862&postcount=167

 

[softie]

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.

Pretty sad to know this apology is worth shit and he's talking inside his bizarro world of dreams, hopes and fantasies. Unfortunately for him, others don't live in his alternate reality...

 

[tonythedemon]

 

[Coral Griffon]

Molyneux has nothing to do with Fable Legends.

No, he never did.

I met Peter at GDC several years ago, and at pubs in Guildford a couple times, but I've never worked him. He was gone months before Legends was even a concept.

 

[Rentahamster]

Holy shit, this story.

 

[Sikamikanico]

Apparently, he just tweeted 'staying at the Mayfair, it's fabulous'...on mobile, so haven't checked. Nice to know he's got the cash to stay at fancy hotels.


EDIT: Back in Jan, but still! Bloody cheek!

@pmolyneux
Staying at the sublime, wonderful Mayfair hotel, going to the fascinating pocket gamer expo. Great for inspiration.

https://twitter.com/pmolyneux/status/555009696973979650

 

[Shiggy]

Interesting article, but why is the writing kind of bad and redundant at times?

 

[jmood88]

Could the video sent to him promising stuff be considered a contract? Sue them for the money that is owed him?

He signed an actual contract.