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[ClosingADoor]

Fair enough.

There are/were quite a few posts, though, using the datimining as "evidence" that the game never had multiplayer implemented or tested at any point in development. This isn't the same as saying it was a scam from the beginning, but it certainly implies that the poster thinks that Hello Games never even bothered to even try to implement it at any point in development. Quite an accusation based on not knowing the full story.

There seems to have been less of those posts, fortunately, after I explained version control and other developers chimed in regarding multiplayer implementation.

Aside from the simpsons gifs which seem to appear in every NMS thread with plenty of applause, though, it seems we generally agree.

They have only themselves to blame for all the accusations. They had a ton of opportunities to clear everything up. They didn't. So then people make their own story about the events. A message a few months before development with "Sorry, we can't make multiplayer happen how we want it, so it is limited to seeing discoveries of others" would have solved that whole mess.

 

[HonMirin]

I really feel for Hello Games. To me it looked like they had this great idea for a game and they genuinely believed the concept stuff they showed to the public, and Shawn Murray's overly optimistic interviews just went further out of reach.

I can't help but think that it was deadlines and not lack of ability that led to the end product. Perhaps if the team had said as early as possible that it would be a rolling project, with features added throughout the lifetime of the game, things could have been more fairly received.

I don't have the game myself, and didn't have much interest in it to be fair, but reading the comments about them being frauds, thieves and liars is cold. It doesn't look like they set out to con, but they got really out of their depth.

Something I certainly learned from this though. You need thick skin to work in gaming. Your audience will turn on you quicker than a cheesy poof in the hands of Cartman.

 

[Triggerhappytel]

Nope, it makes none of that justifiable. And as I've said before certain things are definitely misleading, such as the trailers still being on the steam page and him saying that the E3 demo wasn't scripted.

Critique the game. Critique their communication (or lack thereof). Ask for a refund if you want. Don't buy anything he makes ever again if you don't want to.

There's just not a need to paint him as someone that lied from the beginning and act like he set out to scam people from the start. It's a ridiculous assumption, as I've said (and backed up!) time and time again. Going "The game was shit, their communication was shit, I'm never buying anything from them again, but you know what, I don't have the whole story so I'm not gonna say he's a scam artist, but I still don't trust him" is a more reasonable response, and there is no downside for you to do that.

The only people I see trying to make the distinction between lying from the beginning and lying at the end are you and maybe a couple of other people defending the game. Not sure why it matters either way?

 

[T-0800]

I had no interest in buying NMS but ending up impulse buying it one night after watching someone play it on PS Live. I have no regrets. I find something soothing about playing it and it is one of my favourite gaming experiences this year.

I'm not saying they don't deserve some harsh criticism but its all gone over my head.

 

[Hektor]

Something I certainly learned from this though. You need thick skin to work in gaming. Your audience will turn on you quicker than a cheesy poof in the hands of Cartman.

Agreed.

You need very thick skin to deal with the reaction you get when you promise a feature, talk about it even on release like it's still in the game despite it not being the case and then go on to refuse to answer basic yes or no questions about this feature still being in the game or not and then go into complete silence just to resurface and make unfunny jokes after somebody's hacked your twitter while still refusing to answer that simple question about this feature being there or not with a simple yes or no.

 

[Jobbs]

I really feel for Hello Games. To me it looked like they had this great idea for a game and they genuinely believed the concept stuff they showed to the public, and Shawn Murray's overly optimistic interviews just went further out of reach.

I can't help but think that it was deadlines and not lack of ability that led to the end product. Perhaps if the team had said as early as possible that it would be a rolling project, with features added throughout the lifetime of the game, things could have been more fairly received.

I don't have the game myself, and didn't have much interest in it to be fair, but reading the comments about them being frauds, thieves and liars is cold. It doesn't look like they set out to con, but they got really out of their depth.

Something I certainly learned from this though. You need thick skin to work in gaming. Your audience will turn on you quicker than a cheesy poof in the hands of Cartman.

Hard to feel sorry for them when they continued to deliberately misrepresent the game right up to release... And even pleaded with fans to not look at the leaked copy so as to save the surprises for themselves...

 

[WordAssassin]

The only people I see trying to make the distinction between lying from the beginning and lying at the end are you and maybe a couple of other people defending the game. Not sure why it matters either way?

Well it's a lot harder to believe they were able to lie from the start because that involves Sony being in on it too, or Sony being completely oblivious/also lied to. It's way easier to believe (and IMO more logical) that they'd start lying as they got closer to release and started realizing everything they'd have to cut/couldn't implement in time.

So to lie from the beginning means you believe that they never had any intention of ever delivering anything they promised, even what they told to Sony to get the publishing deal. But lying towards the end means that, as they got to the end of development and features were, for whatever reason, not in the game, they started to lie about them. Either that they started buying into their own hype or they wanted sales so they were trying to hype what they knew would be underwhelming VS their original pitch or any other number of reasons they could have for lying.

That's just my two cents anyway, I haven't really been too involved with the "when did the lies start" conversation. Personally I think it's kind of crazy to think they were lying from the beginning, I feel like Sean is just a big dreamer/idea guy and his imagination and mouth got ahead of what his team was actually able to do by release.