RPS interview with Peter Molyneux - SO UNCOMFORTABLE

[LOC Veteran]

This interview is one of the most uncomfortable things I've read online bar none. By the end (and it's freaking long, just a fair warning) I kinda felt bad for Peter Molyneux. Though, not that bad I'm not going to link the whole interview in a quote here because it's a massive wall of text then. Either way, some interesting points made by John from RPS (though I think he may have went a bit to far in pushing Peter at points) and Peter Molyneux.

 

Enjoy?

 

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2015/02/13/peter-molyneux-interview-godus-reputation-kickstarter/

[MightyJordan]

OK, I definitely need to follow RPS now. I liked their Godus feature from Monday, and just going from the first few questions - hell, the first question alone would have made me do a spit-take if I was drinking something - it looks like Peter's finally getting a taste of what he deserves for being the king of overhyping.

 

Oh, and seeing as he recently said to The Guardian, "I will not speak to the press again", VideoGamer's kindly allowed all of us to interview him* in a live chat. http://www.videogamer.com/news/interview_peter_molyneux.html

 

* "This isn't actually Peter Molyneux. It is a JavaScript bot we created this afternoon to be funny. The bot has no logic. It just churns out quotes."

[Lingwo]

That interview was intense. There needs to be more interviews like this. In every industry.

I believe Peter Molyneux is just passionate about his projects and he just shoots himself in the foot by over hyping features that don't happen like he explains.

I don't think he is a liar or a bad person. Just not the guy to be a spokesperson for products. He is an industry veteran. So i think he has to be. No one would have cared about Godus or 22cans otherwise.

 

 

OK, I definitely need to follow RPS now.

 

I can't recommend the site enough. They're PC only and have a tonne of content and great articles. Very British as well.

[astropheed Veteran]

I read the entire thing and this was terribly unprofessional and obviously done as bait. I don't like what Molyneux did (I bought Godus), but this form of harassment from the media should not be encouraged at all; where's the class? A man can over dream and under deliver but he never held a gun to my head. I knew the risks and I took them. Shame on me. I won't fall for it again, and Molyneux knows this.

 

Now I foresee people thinking this is how the industry should be. I truly hope not.

[+E.Worm Jimmy Subscriber¹]

I saw Godus kickstarter years ago, and decided to skip it, because it did not look realistic.   I had my share of disappointment with Black and White games, which were decent, but hugely overhyped and undelivered.

 

anyway, i read the whole thing and i have read 3 more recent articles/interviews on the topic.

 

while you might think the guy is being harsh and unprofessional, i think this interview is great.    i can totally see Peter side, but just reading his replies,

he clearly says that he knew there are likely to be delays, and that none other game was developed that fast,

and basically most of the issues could have being prevented with a bit more thought put into the original kickstarter campaign.

 

a bit more realistic goals would have helped enormously!  peter should have known better.  even with all the experience the kickstarter goal were clearly wishful thinking.

 

 

so, who here thinks we will have a good working game (or at least whatever he promised) at easter?

 

who here thinks we will have a good working GODUS (with multiplayer and god of gods) at all?  ever??

[theyarecomingforyou]

I read the entire thing and this was terribly unprofessional and obviously done as bait. I don't like what Molyneux did (I bought Godus), but this form of harassment from the media should not be encouraged at all; where's the class?

I cannot disagree more strongly.

 

We're talking about a man who has repeatedly promised the world and failed to deliver, with countless victims in his wake (the backers of Godus, Bryan Henderson, etc). This sort of interview is EXACTLY what is needed in the gaming industry. The interviewer was sharp enough to be able to point out the contradictions / lies being made, which is tough to do on the spot.

 

I actually read the entire interview

[+E.Worm Jimmy Subscriber¹]

I cannot disagree more strongly.

 

This interview gave me faith that there are some in the gaming media who are willing to ask tough questions to high profile developers. I may have to start visiting RPS regularly.

 

yeah i will have to check out RPS more often too.

 

here is a funny video about the latest update from peter.

[MightyJordan]

 offtopic: why does my youtube videos do not embed anymore. used to work just by posting a link, i got an embed...

I think it's because of the time tag at the end; taking that out embeds it fine.

[theyarecomingforyou]

Peter Molyneux really annoys me. Just look at the video he produced for the winner of the Curiosity Cube:

 

 

He's a self-absorbed, pompous hype machine, utterly oblivious to those he leaves in his wake. His reputation is now in tatters and rightly so.

[+E.Worm Jimmy Subscriber¹]

I think it's because of the time tag at the end; taking that out embeds it fine.

thank you. did not notice that.

[+E.Worm Jimmy Subscriber¹]

Peter Molyneux really annoys me. Just look at the video he produced for the winner of the Curiosity Cube:

He's a self-absorbed, pompous hype machine, utterly oblivious to those he leaves in his wake. His reputation is now in tatters and rightly so.

yeah, i would hate to be in a place of the guy who won curiosity. he was promised the WORLD. then forgotten about for 2 years.

the companies statements about the multiplayer show that the chance of him having ANYTHING are next to nil.

he was promised 1% of profits, but now Peter says that for that he has to be the God of Gods, and for that the game need multiplayer, but this is gonna cost and we don't have money

also, curiousity featured microtransactions, people spending real money, in hope of the grand prize.    which so far turned out to be NOTHING.

Godus mobile game is having millions in sales, and even if the percentage is small, at least SOME money (even if it is $1000) should have went to this kid!

but peter clearly is not keen on telling us the percent he makes, and he pretty much wrote GODUS PC off, in his books. it is bloody obvious to anyone who can thinks about what he says.

passion is not enough, and even then, Peter is not really showing any passion towards PC at all anymore. the whole thing stinks of bullcrap!

 

 

 

 

 

some people are comparing him to Tim Schafer but I don't think Schafer is as bad....   hopefully he will not get there...   (where is broken age part 2? at least part 1 was good...)

at least when i watch Schafer's videos I don't get an impression of spin, or lies. with Peter,  I do.

[compl3x]

Peter Molyneux really annoys me. Just look at the video he produced for the winner of the Curiosity Cube:

 

 

He's a self-absorbed, pompous hype machine, utterly oblivious to those he leaves in his wake. His reputation is now in tatters and rightly so.

 

 

Curiosity Winner, Once Promised a "Life Changing" Prize by Peter Molyneux, Has Received Nothing

[Guest]

I read the entire thing and this was terribly unprofessional and obviously done as bait. I don't like what Molyneux did (I bought Godus), but this form of harassment from the media should not be encouraged at all; where's the class? A man can over dream and under deliver but he never held a gun to my head. I knew the risks and I took them. Shame on me. I won't fall for it again, and Molyneux knows this.

 

Now I foresee people thinking this is how the industry should be. I truly hope not.

 

It is RPS. They wanted to show Blizzard in bad light related to non-inclusion of women and crap, when we all know that they have had good female characters since forever even though their games are not exactly "female-friendly".

[spaceelf]

I read the entire thing and this was terribly unprofessional and obviously done as bait. I don't like what Molyneux did (I bought Godus), but this form of harassment from the media should not be encouraged at all; where's the class? A man can over dream and under deliver but he never held a gun to my head. I knew the risks and I took them. Shame on me. I won't fall for it again, and Molyneux knows this.

 

Now I foresee people thinking this is how the industry should be. I truly hope not.

I haven't read RPS in ages...and now I probably never will again.

[Dotdot]

Im one of those people who only really heard about Molyneux after Fable. Im also one of those people who`ve never really followed the hype around him.

However I will say this...

He has only ever struck me as a PR guy, a Saleman, the Marketer if you will. His rhetoric seems to be hype and achievement, like a man climbing a building, up he goes, higher and higher, higher and higher. Until finally he gets to the top and has no where to turn. In Peter`s case he`s somehow jumped from building to building. Tho it would now seem his latest is a tad too tall and indeed the foundations are crumbling.

Instead of having your head in the clouds and touting ideas, why not revel in something only once its been achieved. Peter just wants us all to revel in his ideas, ###### real world time scales or hurdles, aslong as a man can dream, he can spout BS!

Enuff dreams Peter, sort your reality out!!

[theyarecomingforyou]

It is RPS. They wanted to show Blizzard in bad light related to non-inclusion of women and crap, when we all know that they have had good female characters since forever even though their games are not exactly "female-friendly".

Do you really consider Blizzard to have good female characters? Whenever I see artwork from Blizzard I see huge, muscular male characters and slight, sexualised female characters. Their games feature predominantly around male characters. The interview in question asked legitimate questions about Blizzard's hyper-sexualised female characters. I'm fed up with interviews always asking safe questions, serving as nothing more than PR pieces for developers/publishers.

[+Audioboxer Subscriber²]

Jim did a video, can't link directly

 

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWCw2Sd7RlYJ2yuNVHDWNOA

[compl3x]

 The interview in question asked legitimate questions about Blizzard's hyper-sexualised female characters. I'm fed up with interviews always asking safe questions, serving as nothing more than PR pieces for developers/publishers.

 

 

I would have thought that asking hard question was a part of that whole 'ethics in journalism' thing everyone agreed was a good idea.  

 

 

Jim did a video, can't link directly

 

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWCw2Sd7RlYJ2yuNVHDWNOA

 

Please don't post videos with swearing

Edited February 16, 2015 by Andrew

[+Audioboxer Subscriber²]

^ It's because of the Neowin swear policy, I can link, but mods will remove the link

[+E.Worm Jimmy Subscriber¹]

it is a pretty fair assessment.    you can see he is spin master just from RPS interview,  but looking at all the facts, there is no doubt.

 

 

he is making money from the mobile game,  probably very decent amount,  yet he could not care less about the other people in his company,

who are on a limited salary, nor does he care about kickstarter buyers.

 

seriously, listen to his update, and tell me he gives a ######.   no, no he does not.  

 

 

all this playing the victim, is just not working.

[compl3x]

^ It's because of the Neowin swear policy, I can link, but mods will remove the link

 

 

Ahh. I thought you were on Mobile and it was awkward or something.

[LOC Veteran]

Between the Guardian interview, the RPS interview and the Kotaku article (wow, Patrick Klepeck works there now, I am disappoint) it's not a good time to be Peter Molyneux to begin with. I hope for his sake he does step away from press stuff, at least for awhile. As the head of a company you can't really not do press I guess. Well you could. It'd be odd though.

[Aergan]

Read the interview. I think that's the first time post-Microsoft that he's been brought into touch with reality - like a sloth falling out of a tree.

[Athernar]

The RPS interview is a clear example of the deeply ingrained misogyny in the games industry, just look at all the misogynist harassment Ms. Molyneux has to put up from that RPS journalist pissbaby in this sad excuse for an "interview".

 

RPS is clearly enabling a hate-campaign against female developers like Ms. Molyneux and you should all go out and buy Godus immediately to support women in gaming.

[+virtorio MVC]

Excellent interview. Molyneux has been getting a free pass on his over-promising (aka lies) for far too long.