Maybe not pathological liar, but more of a pathological exaggerator.
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How is this poor joke of a man still relevant?
[Edit] Okay reading further, this is really rude and uncalled for. Poor guy.
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Kudos to you for being open-minded with that edit. The guy has issues (I see him as someone who sees the world the way he wishes it was; his dreams are to big for reality, and he doesn't notice), but yeah, no one should be treated like that by the press.
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Not wanting to defend PM, but what the hell was he thinking when he didn't drop the interview after that first question? I'm not a doctor like the OP, so I wonder if that kind of shit can be considered professional journalism.
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Appears to be a direct transcript of the interview.
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Storming out of an interview wouldn't have helped his cause either...It might even have made a better story for the interviewer.
Anyway, his reputation is now at an all-time low, and continuing to head south...
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Everyone lies. Even more so when money is to be made.
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I feel bad for Molyneux... :/ I know many games don't deliver what is promised, even when it has a publisher, but it weighs more on Molyneux because of his reputation. And, of course, because he fantasizes waaaay too much... and he knows that, but it's just hard for him to keep his feet on the ground, it seems.
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Yeah, I kept flip-flopping throughout the interview. It's weird. I believe he deserves a certain amount of scrutiny, but I also don't doubt his passion for his projects or gaming as a whole. However, he comes off at times as completely delusional.
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I also don't think he lies. But he does need some sort of filter for his promises. Way too often he goes too far with things which he promises...
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I'd like to think that everybody is delusional to a certain point. Some are simply delusional about how delusional they actually are. ;)
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Molyneux is a dreamer, and fails to deliver what he promised. Yes, that was starting to get really annoying and i imagine people who backed his projects are probably even more tired of his lies.
But damn, what an ass this guy was, he just kept on quoting him. Can this even be called a professional interview? The guy has no idea what his talking about, he has no idea of the process behind game developing, it just gives him pleasure to bring the man down, and gives a hell of an easy interview in the process - profit
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You are seriously defending this shit? As a programmer, and someone who has been involved in the development of software that has major implications in the healthcare field, I know first hand that you always understate the deliverable and remain humble throughout the process. Molyneux is known for hyping the shit out of his projects and NEVER delivering his vision. This man is supposed to be a professional in his field, yet he comes off as an armature, petulant fucking child with no idea of what he is doing.
"But damn, what an ass this guy was, he just kept on quoting him."
You mean he held Moly to the standard that, he, himself set? the horror!
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No im not defending Molyneux
I just dont really caré for this kind of journalism
I also already knew him a little too well to know kickstarter would make people hate him even more.
But idk. I guess i just dont hate him as much as everyone else
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Did you read the interview? The opening question may seem like snark initially, but he is only referring to previous quotes by Molyneux himself and asking if he should be held accountable for those words.
I think the questions asked are honest and on point. It isn't a smear piece if it's referencing previously published quotes, it's only Molyneux who acts like he's being attacked.
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To me it looked like that, though i'm somewhat on a neutral side, I guess he had something like this coming for quite awhile, but his not exactly a liar and that's practically the first thing the interviewer said, it's a little to aggressive and unfair if you ask me, and every one knows this about molyneux which makes it even more obvious this was mostly a Vengeful interview, he has always been like that, he over promises every time, but that just because his too ambitious and never thinks aout the consequences of his word, the problem is that know there are backers to his projects.
of course i've been always distant to when it come to kickstarter and Molyneux so I don't have as many reasons to hate him.
But then again, at the end of the day, I don't think there will be changes, even him saying he wont talk to the press anymore is somewhat questionable. so i wouldnt even count this as a learning experience
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Its always a good idea to under-promise and over-deliver. The problem with PM is that he's a relentless optimist with completely unrealistic expectations for everything around him. That kind of person can be great to work with, but is a terrible personality type for someone who is supposed to be in charge. They need to be able to analyze the situation, keep things progressing reasonably, and never assume something is getting done.
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This is pretty much my opinion on Molyneux, but i still think this interview wasnt fair to him
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I didn't back Godus and didn't really look into the game so I don't really care that much but I did skim through it. I can see Molyneux's point, you say something and you WANT or plan to happen it this way and when it doesn't you look like a liar. But with his experience you'd assume he would know more wouldn't he? And the whole cube thing that came up lately, with that guy winning a life changing event or w/e. Didn't the guy call/email every month or so and not get a single response?
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Could you fucking IMAGINE if we had actual reporters asking hard hitting questions like this of our politicians? What an amazing sight that would be.
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Wait, is Peter Molyneux the Richard Nixon of the game industry? :O
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It would take Peter Molyneux himself to imagine something that utopic. :P
But then again, he'd go ahead and imagine it and promise it to the world if he himself were a reporter. :P
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Unfortunately this guy is gone.
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well, solution is simple: never invest in anything he makes until it is fully released an reviewed.
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Lol
"Hindsight is always 20/20 and more news at 11 with your local weather."
More seriously though, it's a shame projects like Godus detract from successful crowd funding campaigns and discourage faith in a system that has been proven to work (albeit, under the right circumstances).
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well, it is ok to invest in kickstarter and early access.
but if a developer scams the community once, do not be stipid and let youself scammed another time by the same guy/company.
- godus let me blacklist everyting Peter Molyneux will be involved in.
- Spacebase DF-9 did set everything that comes from Double Fine Productions on my early-access blacklist.
- AC:Unity and Watch Dogs prevent my from buying any ubisoft game until its out long enough to be fixed and on discount.
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Actually I would say the Godus is a success story. I don't think I remember a game that I helped fund that did not blow past its release date. At least this guy is still at it and dedicated to fulfilling his promises of an amazing game no matter what it takes.
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I always considered the release dates on Kickstarter as developers' dreams.
When I back a game, I want it done well. As long as the game is finished at some point, I'm fine; after all, I'd backed the game so that the developer wouldn't be forced to publish an incomplete product because someone decided the game should be out before Christmas, no matter what.
I didn't back this game, so I'm not well-informed about the issues here, but if this guy biggest crime is not following through on the release date, cut him some slack. We all fall victim to the planning fallacy.
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I didn't back this game, so I'm not well-informed about the issues here, but if this guy biggest crime is not following through on the release date, cut him some slack. We all fall victim to the planning fallacy.
Heh, did you read either article?
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I read the quotes from the original post. I saw no reason to read further.
I also don't care to get myself informed any better than this because a) I have no vested interest in this project, b) it seems to be a failure anyway, so any time spent on it will be a waste, and c) I don't like the tone of the quoted parts of the article.
I was, however, replying to another post that wasn't discussing anything pertaining on those issues.
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Well I'm glad that even if you don't care enough to inform yourself on the topic at hand, that you still feel qualified enough to weigh in on it.
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Since I provided proper hedging in my statement, and was replying to a very specific comment, I see no problem with it. If the antecedent in my line of logic is proven to be false, I'll say "okay then", and that will be that. In fact, I can say it now: okay then.
Happy now?
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its not about release dates.
- the game is practically abandoned for pc and turned in a f2p mobile game with lots of micro transactions
- he doesnt stand up to 90% of his promises
- stays 'early access' infiniteley to milk out some more money
- currently looks like it never will get completed
- all new features seem to be more ways to spend those gems (the in-app-purchase currency)
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In that case, fuck him.
He's right in one thing, though: KS backers did not in fact purchase a game. They did back its development, and may be completely disappointed with the result.
I don't think he'll be able to get anyone's money for his next project, given the circumstances. Though there is one born every minute...
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Gotta love that first question!
- RPS: Do you think that you’re a pathological liar?
- Peter Molyneux: That’s a very…
- RPS: I know it’s a harsh question, but it seems an important question to ask because there do seem to be lots and lots of lies piling up.
- Peter Molyneux: I’m not aware of a single lie, actually. I’m aware of me saying things and because of circumstances often outside of our control those things don’t come to pass, but I don’t think that’s called lying, is it? I don’t think I’ve ever knowingly lied, at all. And if you want to call me on one I’ll talk about it for sure.
My god, truly this guy now has a bad reputation in the industry for the pile of dissapointing projects... I think he's last big success was Fable 2 back in 2008
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Actually could argue Fable 2 was the start of his decline of his repuation. Nearly 75% of the features that seemed to have been planned (or even promised) for Fable 2 never made it into the game at all.
Wish more journalists were as harsh as RPS. Nice to see someone actually making a person accountable for a change rather than brown nosing them.
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Really? I didn't know that he started to miss his big goals with Fable 2, however I do think his last big success as a finished product was Fable 2 since his other projects of the last 6-7 years have rather failed miserably.
I kind of feel sorry for him (but not quite), he's either too much of a dreamer or too much of a scammer; one way or the other he has little to no ethics. His Kickstarter backers are going to learn a valuable lesson the hard way... they didn't buy a product and they weren't trully funding partners, they were just donating their money in hope that the Devs returned their trust in form of a game they dreamed to play.
How cute, the visionary dev of that game was Peter Molyneux. Nuff said.
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I backed Godus, because irregardless of the stupid stuff Molyneaux said, I always found his games fun to play, even if flawed. The problem with Godus is that it's just a bad game. It's not fun. The most polished version is on mobile and it's just standard freemium crap. That - more than anything he's said or Brian Henderson - is what is going to hurt him. I really can't see anyone wanting to put significant money into this next game - so good luck to his team with that.
PS I hear through the grapevine that he and his family are getting death threats. If anyone is thinking of doing that, please don't. That's not cool.
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Sending death threats over video games of all things has always struck me as the most absurdly idiotic thing. Unfortunately it seems to be a natural byproduct of people glorifying 'trolling', it sets up a slippery slope, IMO.
Shit's beyond douchey.
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Why does anyone care? not many video games, particularly KS videos games deliver on schedule. If you have a developer who really cares, it always takes longer.
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If only PM straight-out admitted he has a bad habit of exaggerating and coming up short on promises without immediately slipping into full-on defense of everything he has ever done. The interviewer was brutish, but was obviously trying to prompt PM into saying "This is a losing habit of mine, I see it and I'm going to do my best to temper and change it". Instead, it seems PM was more concerned with airing his own woes hoping it would be satisfactory counterpoint. Unfortunately, the "Its backbreaking work!" might buy you pity points, but it doesn't really counter the point that he keeps making bold, unsustainable claims. If anything, those claims are what cause the need for such backbreaking work to keep up the pace.
I can sympathise. It must be a hellish industry to work in. Yet that doesn't really explain nor counter the patterns of hype and dislocated / fractured promises. Pathological liar? No. Pathological exaggerator? A little more accurate. He just strikes me as someone who gets far too amped up about their ideas and visions, and ends up paying for it because he never phrases it as "We want to aim for-", instead saying "It's going to be-" or "We definitely can do this-". Passion is great, but it has to be tempered. Perhaps they need to get a new public relations person out there in his place, or at least to stand beside him to help reign his energy back into realistic claims when he runs the danger of setting himself up for a fall.
The interviewer seems like an intelligent chap, but one that has a personal stake in things, as if they got burned by Godus too, and so injects that frustration into a shitty tone at random points. I mean, the interviewer does stay on-point for a good part of it, focusing on his inability to admit his mistakes without deflecting it with "because reasons" instead of just OWNING the mistake, so he can change. Yet they also stray into bitter territory too. I wouldn't put it past them to have accepted an incentive to do such a thing, but PM isn't relevant any more, so sabotaging his image is really unnecessary. They come off more like a gamer-debater rather than something of a higher standard, complete with the barbs and the focus on player / backer interest.
TL;DR : Oh, shit, that's right, it was a kickstarter. I wonder if the interviewer backed it at a higher tier and is feeling the burn? That would really explain their frustration at PM's inability to just face up to his recurring mistake of self-hyping.
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Pretty sure he didn't back it, they have free review copies for a reason :P
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2 words,1 game "Fable 3" enough said on this subject
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http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2016-01-22-it-was-tempting-to-retire
A followup one year later. Apparently, there's a new Godus game on the way:
"I had the chance to stand back and I tried to get to the core of what that journalist was saying, which was, you're over promising and under delivering. What's the solution? Here, a year later, is the solution."
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http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2015/02/13/peter-molyneux-interview-godus-reputation-kickstarter/
Some tidbits:
"RPS: Your lead developer on Godus said on your forum that, “To be brutally candid and realistic I simply can’t see us delivering all the features promised on the Kickstarter page. Lots of the multiplayer stuff is looking seriously shaky right now, especially the persistent stuff like Hubworld.”
Peter Molyneux: Well, let me explain that. That was Konrad, and he actually is a backer of Godus.
RPS: A backer who pursued the job at your company because he was so dissatisfied with the state of the game. That’s what he said on your forum.
Peter Molyneux: No. That’s not the case. He actually joined us before we released the version, so that couldn’t have been the case. So Konrad is one of the main architects of multiplayer, and back in late October we – me and Jack – announcing that in November that we would be at last getting through to multiplayer. And Konrad was super excited, we were all super excited, to get on to that. And then in the first week of November our publisher called up and said, well, sorry about this, but the server system that you use called Polargy, we’re going to close down and you need to re-write the entirety of your server code that drives Godus under this new system–
RPS: Sorry, you’re saying that this is the publisher, but the PC version doesn’t have a publisher.
Peter Molyneux: Yes, I know, but you’re talking about everyone in the world playing Godus not being able to play Godus any more.
RPS: But you said that the PC version doesn’t have a publisher, but the publisher is the reason you had to take away the framework that allowed the multiplayer.
Peter Molyneux: Yeah, I know, but John, these things–"
...
"Peter Molyneux: I was wrong. But it’s not a lie.
RPS: No, but it’s frustrating. Let’s go back to Bryan Henderson. The Eurogamer story revealed that you ignored him for nearly two years – that’s awful. And you’ve apologised, but how can that even have ever been a thing that happened?
Peter Molyneux: You’re right, John. It’s wrong. It’s one of those things where I thought someone else was handling it and they were. It was someone – and these are excuses, it’s pointless me writing these excuses – and I thought they were handling it. They left and I assumed incorrectly that they had handed their handling of Bryan off to someone else and they hadn’t.
RPS: But it never crossed your mind to talk to him or anything like that? You were changing his life.
Peter Molyneux: It’s terrible, it’s wrong, it’s bad of me, I shouldn’t have, I should have checked on these things, but there is a million things to check on, John, and that one slipped through. There wasn’t any intention not to use him, or not to incorporate him, but we needed the technology before doing and I am truly sorry and we are writing a letter of apology to him today.
RPS: OK, but only because Eurogamer chased after you.
Peter Molyneux: They, they, they actually did make me realise that I hadn’t checked up on it, it’s true. I am a very flawed human being, as you are pointing out, and I totally accept that I’m a flawed human being.
RPS: Everyone’s a flawed human being, that’s not my point at all.
Peter Molyneux: And when there are thousands of things to check on, you try to rely on your team and this slipped through the net and, you’re right, it shouldn’t have done."
...
"RPS: Let me just quote you from the Pocket Gamer–
Peter Molyneux: Well no, and and– Yeah, OK, you can carry on quoting me. Obviously I can see your headline now–
RPS: I don’t think you can see my headline now.
Peter Molyneux: Well I think I can.
RPS: What I want to get out of this–
Peter Molyneux: What you’re almost going to get out of this is driving me out of the industry.
RPS: No, what I want–
Peter Molyneux: And well done John, well done! And if that’s what you want, you’re going about it completely the right way.
RPS: If you were to be driven out of the industry it would be as a result of your own actions. I’ve done nothing but quote back things you’ve said and done.
Peter Molyneux: No [inaudible] me being hounded, which is what you’re doing.
RPS: I’m quoting back things that you–
Peter Molyneux: I must have given about fifty thousand hours of interviews and I’m sure if you go back over all of them you could– The only result of this is, I’ve already withdrawn mostly from the press, I’m just going to withdraw completely from the press."
...
"RPS: Do you think a year and a half, to two years on, after the estimated deliveries on Kickstarter for things like, an art book and various other pledge items that don’t exist, do you think at this point people can get their money back?
Peter Molyneux: Admittedly we should have done–
RPS: So do you think people can get their money back at this point?
Peter Molyneux: The excuse and, the excuse, and it is an excuse and I’ll put my hand up to it and we are going to make it now, the excuse is that we hadn’t finished the game. So you can’t do– it wasn’t an art book, it was a making of book, and we haven’t finished the game. But you know, Jack has got three terabytes of footage and we have now got someone called Connor who is going to be working on that book. Which is, we’ll probably have that out pretty soon.
RPS: OK but do you not think after this much time that people paid money for a product they haven’t received. Do they at this point deserve their money back – isn’t that just basic business?
Peter Molyneux: No. Because they didn’t buy a product."
Also for reference: http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2015-02-11-the-god-who-peter-molyneux-forgot
UPDATE One year later: http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2016-01-22-it-was-tempting-to-retire Thoughts, regrets, and a new stab at Godus
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