When those sponsors are fortune 500 companies? Oh hell yeah.
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Indie Statik: The Most Expensive Game Jam In History Crashed And Burned In A Day
- Thread starter Barryman
- Start date
When those sponsors are fortune 500 companies? Oh hell yeah.
Is this real life.
SwiftDeath
Member
love how even his boss was surprised in the turn around
Ben Kingsley could so play this guy in the Lifetime TV movie
When hippos attempt to run for parliament.
Completely different. This confused me too.
Edit: oh Christ, on twitter he calls his company a "brand energy company"...
Different guy. I was confused on what he actually is, and apparently he is a CEO for uh... a company that does this:
I had to post this because the nonsense of "immersive, culturally relevant experiences" was just too much.
"We make sure the director does long 1-shots of the main character drinking Mountain Dew" is a little on the nose, right?
It's an ad firm. He wanted to do for Game_Jam what ABRev did for Bud Light with their "Up For Whatever" campaign, which has nothing to do with bud light, alcohol, beer or drinking.
As someone who is in marketing and in this industry, this is the kind of shit I want to one day shut out completely, at least on the stuff I work on. It's startingly prevalent, and we're already getting weird pair-ups with "e-sports" and the like.
This shit is old-school "if we show the brand a lot people will buy it" mentality. It's crock, and people are wise enough to dismiss that shit.
Look, it's a reality of the world that to do cool shit, you often need sponsors. You need cash. But there's ways to do it right. Even the article points out that this could have been salvaged, it could have worked. But you get these old-school guys like this who don't get it, they just want to be something they aren't.
This shit is old-school "if we show the brand a lot people will buy it" mentality. It's crock, and people are wise enough to dismiss that shit.
Look, it's a reality of the world that to do cool shit, you often need sponsors. You need cash. But there's ways to do it right. Even the article points out that this could have been salvaged, it could have worked. But you get these old-school guys like this who don't get it, they just want to be something they aren't.
Putting all the blame on that one over-zealous contractor, I don't buy it. The producers were totally aware of what they were doing and put their money behind it. Those are the true fuckers here.
Maker/Polaris are a joke. But thanks to youtube liberticide policies, they can continue to steal money to many independent content creators and stay around...
Maker/Polaris are a joke. But thanks to youtube liberticide policies, they can continue to steal money to many independent content creators and stay around...
Delusibeta
Banned
Confirmation, Polaris didn't fire the dude, but rather it was a "miscommunication". I'd like to think it was an executive having too much Scotch.
I mean, let's look at this clearly. At the end of the day, they managed to diffuse a potentially damaging situation by cancelling the event, repelling the firing of the whistleblower, throwing the event manager under the bus and ensuring through contractual NDA that no one ever talks about this again.
Maker/Polaris are pretty good producers. Someone over there pulled a magic act if, by tomorrow, we don't remember this story.
this is probably true as well. it's pretty likely that all the behind the camera folks were on board with the guys' antics and he was just the mouthpiece doing the dirty work.
They had no choice but to cancel the event, everyone left. That conclusion had nothing to do with the higher ups being supposedly unhappy with the show, they would've kept going as it is if the indies didn't react and forced their hand.
Fine Ham Abounds
Member
I was thinking he looked more like if Stone Cold Steve Austin filled in for Scott Bakula on an episode of Quantum Leap where Sam becomes a Macy's mannequin
Haunted
Member
Did you read the articles from the other three attendees?
Which part didn't you understand, exactly? I'm sure there's someone in this thread who can help clarify.
The bullshit is strong with this guy and his "works"
Advertising-backed indie showcase went real bad when the advertisers got too "hands on" and the Q&A sessions largely insulted the developers.
Whether he acted alone or not, Matti Leshem is obviously one of those Hollywood pieces of shit who would step on a baby's throat if it was on his path to personal success. The write-ups about what happened at Game Jam and the info/pics of him on Google say it all; this isn't the kind of person who gives a fuck about some indie game folk and Youtube guys. At anyone's expense: just push the branding full force, create as much artificial drama to get people angry and guarantee ratings, make money and connections, up his company and image, and get the fuck out.
Also there were apparently some issues regarding the "safety" of the two female developers? Don't know what that was about, but it was mentioned in more than one account.
Robin's account of what transpired was interesting, bringing up a binary "morality" system that justified walking out of the deal in order to not support the guilty parties. Although if I'm not mistaken, Matti was there on behalf of Pepsi, right? If that's the case, then fighting to make sure that nothing gets salvaged from the footage might have resulted in harming everyone but the responsible parties. Matti is fired either way, Polaris burns up $400,000, and Pepsi doesn't lose anything. What a mess...
styl3s
Member
Looks like bizarro stone cold.
Gentleman Jack
Member
It's pretty apparent when this happens on 'actual' reality TV, and I suspect there was a tremendous lack of foresight on how this could affect people who's entire professional career hinges on who they know and what their reputation is. Slimeball branding consultants can just slink back into their element but a small community like indie devs certainly aren't going to gamble on an editor's whim.
Lactose_Intolerant
Member
I would be interested on a follow up on who all got fired. I mean the fake drama and shit is bad but the contests and prizes they had were stupid too. Why couldn't they just make games?
Gentleman Jack
Member
Why can't the cooks of Hell's Kitchen just make food that tastes good?
Why can't the members of Survivor tribes just build campfires and go fishing?
Why can't the guys living in the Big Brother house just have parties and dance with each other?
Reality shows don't give a shit about the premise, they want fights.
SwiftDeath
Member
Eh while you're kind of right. Pepsi ultimately paid to advertise and sponsor that event so depending on the contracts, a lot of that $400,000 might've been their money and they might still be liable to pay it even with the event completely failing
Other than that their reputation is tarnished by this guy for sure although it isn't going to get nearly as much exposure as it should
XANDER CAGE
Member
I was mostly joking, but I also can't imagine how shitty someone would feel if they had to get their regular caffeine intake from sugar water instead of tea or coffee.
chrominance
Member
Read through all the linked articles. What an awful shitshow. I'm glad the developers made the right call to leave and if it helps everyone who left to know that people support their decision, then oh my god YES you all made the right decision and thank you for having faith in yourselves to know when enough is enough.
It's so bizarre to me that something like GAME_JAM could even exist alongside something like the Amnesia Fortnight videos, which were fascinating and entertaining to me.
It's so bizarre to me that something like GAME_JAM could even exist alongside something like the Amnesia Fortnight videos, which were fascinating and entertaining to me.
Hmm, I assumed the sponsors wouldn't be liable to pay for anything unless the event actually gets exposed to the public, but who knows what's in the contract. The devs should have probably inquired about which would take the financial hit in the case of a walkout. Unless they did- which is what prompted their choice.
Which would make me completely wrong. But there's no mention of it in the any of the writeups, and that's frustrating.
No doubt. What I'm saying is that the best producers are the ones who can make terrible situations like this vanish. Polaris, at the very least, is doing a pretty good job of that thus far.
outunderthestars
Banned
Can someone give me a decent summary? I tried to read the article but the first few paragraphs are so poorly written that I had to give up.
I'm with the people who think it was a walk back for now, but he'll suddenly find himself fired all over again when this has blown over in a couple of weeks.
If I were Jared, I'd still be pounding the pavement finding another job.
Kotaku has a writeup
Regarding the Jon/Zoe argument, they apparently started butting heads during the "Let's Play" challenge, when Jon was challenged to play Depression Quest. My guess is that it wasn't his type of game and he lampooned it for comic effect.
EDIT: Wow, wanna resize that?
usernamechange
Member
Man that Matti guy fucking loves terrible scarves doesn't he?
Vinny is way too Long Island to wear velvet pants.
chrominance
Member
Adriel has a much more readable account, though on the other hand you'll be seeing everything yellow for the next few minutes once you're done.
outunderthestars
Banned
That Kotaku article is so much easier to read and understand. Thank you. I would watch and pay for a quality long form game jam documentary without reality show bullshit.
So, let me get this straight: what you are saying is that they are good because they are trying to sweep their sham under the rug (mostly by putting all the blame on that one contractor)?
I was under the impression that good producers would be the ones producing good shows, not the ones dealing with shitstorms because of their awful editorial choices.
The show only ended because the indies decided to end it, Polaris had no power to stop them from leaving. Otherwise it would've released as an awful insulting piece of crap just like they planned and produced it.
Yes. That tells me that they are good at managing a production
I don't know why you would do that. A good producer keeps a show on the air, but also keeps the IP from going toxic. Good producers can keep something that is universally reviled on the air. A great show with a bad producer gets Firefly'd.
Keep in mind, I'm not saying this show was a good idea, I'm not saying that the way the talent was treated was okay, I'm not saying that anyone would have liked it if it had been given a chance or that the production staff handled themselves in professional and upstanding ways.
I'm saying that Polaris and Maker did a pretty amazing job making this go away within HOURS. This is something that should have EXPLODED. People should have been RUINED over this. The real question is, is that amount of time quick enough for the long term. It might not be.
But being on the business end of entertainment, seeing stuff like this is FASCINATING to me. The old money is so fucking afraid of where entertainment is going, through their fingers, AWAY from them, watching them try to clutch and grasp at it is amazing.
charlequin
Banned
Jesus, what a clusterfuck. I saw some vague stuff about this on Twitter last week but the actual story is so much worse than I expected.