Cliff Bleszinski Labels Notch a "Pouty Kid" - Updated

[Andy Chalk]

Cliff Bleszinski Labels Notch a "Pouty Kid" - Updated

Gears of War creator Cliff Bleszinski says the cancellation of Minecraft for the Oculus Rift is a "bratty and petty move."

Update: Notch has replied to Bleszinski's blog post with a single, succinct tweet:

[tweet t=https://twitter.com/notch/status/449298586493521920]

Original Story:

Emotions have been running high in the wake of Facebook's acquisition of Oculus VR [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/133231-Facebook-is-Buying-Oculus-VR-for-2-Billion-Update-4], as everyone tries to figure out what it means and how it will affect the future of the device. Probably the highest-profile doomsayer is Markus "Notch" Persson, the creator of Minecraft, who very quickly canceled the development of an Oculus Rift version of his famous game. "I did not chip in ten grand to seed a first investment round to build value for a Facebook acquisition," he said.

But on the other side of the coin is Cliff Bleszinski, he of Gears of War fame, who doesn't think the Facebook acquisition is a bad thing at all. Facebook certainly bears criticism for its cavalier treatment of privacy, but it also offers reach and resources that Oculus needs if it's going to flourish.

"Your device is only as good as the store and community around it; if users can't say shut up and take my money, if developers can't post their work then the device will ultimately flounder," Bleszinski wrote on his blog. "Facebook can assist with this sort of thing, as well as having a multi billion user reach. That's pretty damned important."

He also noted that outrage among Kickstarter backers angry that they supported Oculus but won't get to reap the rewards is misplaced - "donating to a Kickstarter gets you whatever reward you're told when you donate, you don't get equity, you don't get to participate in the fruits of a sale of a company" - and he had some choice words about the cancellation of Minecraft for the Oculus Rift as well.

"Notch, your cancelling Minecraft makes you look like a pouty kid who is taking his ball and going home," he wrote. "It's a bratty and petty move and it saddens me greatly."

Name-calling notwithstanding, the post is definitely worth a read; Bleszinksi makes some interesting points about the buyout and the future of VR from his side of the fence. Catch it in full at Clifford Unchained [http://dudehugespeaks.tumblr.com/post/80832803371/riftbook].


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[Roxas1359]

I find it funny that Cliff is the one saying that given how often he used to whine about "the internet pirating my games" all the time...only for the 360 versions to be pirated like crazy.

I can understand why Notch would be upset, he wanted to help out a small and young company and was excited so he put in $10,000. What he didn't want is for a huge company like Facebook to come in and just completely buyout the company. Hell, honestly I wish Oculus would have released the retail version, and then Facebook could have come in later and bought them, but then again Zukerberg is trying to get the "next best thing" always. I mean hell, $19 billion for an app, and I thought Balmer was crazy when he bought Skype for $8.5 billion when it wasn't really profitable, and still isn't really.

 

[Jumwa]

I find it funny that Cliff is the one saying that given how often he used to whine about "the internet pirating my games" all the time...only for the 360 versions to be pirated like crazy.

Yeah, enter the games industry guy that's continually more obnoxious than Notch. Which is an impressive feat in and of itself.

Regardless, there are plenty of good reasons for why a game maker wouldn't want to do business with Facebook that are neither petty or bratty. I mean, the reason so many Facebook game makers went bankrupt or had to move on was because of the platform dicking around with the rules and breaking their finance base. That's not to mention their track record on privacy, or how their revamped algorithms for filtering makes facebook a useless platform for almost all businesses now.

 

[SonOfVoorhees]

Why should anyone have to make a game for Oculus? So what if Minecraft is cancelled, its the developers right to do that with his property and im sure he has his reasons. He probably didnt mind doing so as it was an indie/gamer invested machine and he wanted to help them. Now its been bought by FB he feels he doesn't want to support it now they have all that backing. Cliffy B needs to get over himself, sorry but the GoW series are not classic titles and he is no Bioware or P Moleneux.

 

[Kmadden2004]

I'd be more inclined to listen to "CliffyB" sling mud at another developer for being a "pouty kid" if Cliffy here hadn't previously thrown a hissy fit at the used games market and bitched about the gaming community for Microsoft's backtrack on its always-on DRM policies.

 

[Scars Unseen]

Can't believe I actually agree with Cliffy B on something. But yeah, Notch is really coming off as a bit of a child right now. He hasn't quite hit Phil Fish's level yet, but he's not far off either.

 

[Ed130 The Vanguard]

Yeah Cliffy and I call you a douchebag but you don't see Escapist articles about this fact.

Yeah, enter the games industry guy that's continually more obnoxious than Notch. Which is an impressive feat in and of itself.

At least with Notch he occasionally says something interesting that isn't flamebait.

 

[RJ 17]

"Your device is only as good as the store and community around it; if users can't say shut up and take my money, if developers can't post their work then the device will ultimately flounder,"

Hmmm, apparently I didn't realize that the Oculus was facing this sort of problem pre-Facebook Buyout. From my understanding, customers were already lining up to say "shut up and take my money", and developers (at the very least Notch ) were looking forward to working with this product as well.

Sooooooooo where's the justification for this buyout again, Mr. Cliffy? Or are you just practicing being a politician by spouting out stuff that sounds "intelligent" (in a loose definition of the term) but really has nothing to do with the issue at hand? I'm not saying that there isn't a justification, indeed from a business stand-point I doubt that there's a single small start-up company that wouldn't cream their pants if someone threw $2 billion at them. All I'm saying is that the justification Cliffy seems to be offering doesn't really seem to fit the situation. That is to say: I don't think the Oculus needed Facebook to have customers and developers excited for it.

To be fair, I haven't read the full post linked in the article because I really can't stand Cliffy B and having to read anything of his beyond a few excerpts in an article would likely give me a migraine.

 

[Kajin]

Really Cliff? Really? You're calling Notch petty? And you're... not, somehow? Remember that epic little fit you had when Microsoft did a 180 on the always online requirements? Was that not petty?

God, Cliff is such an insufferable douche bag. Every time he speaks I end up hating him more and more.

 

[Skeleon]

Good thing I don't give a toss about either of their opinions.

 

[Spushkin]

I didn't know Notch was generally disliked by the gaming community. Can someone tell me why?

 

[hentropy]

The only good point he makes is the same one Jim Sterling already made, which is that yeah, OR was going to get acquired by someone and people acting stunned that it got bought out is a little naive. Still, you can't blame people for being awfully pessimistic, Facebook hasn't really proven itself to be the cradle of innovation, and has never done anything to nurture "serious gaming". Until it proves that it truly does have an interest in making it a true gaming console besides just a platform where people can watch videos and vacation photos and Farmville, people are going to be rightfully skeptical, and Notch is within his reason to do what he did.

 

[rasputin0009]

I kinda agree with Cliffy. Rather than considering the options or waiting to see what Facebook was about to do with it, Notch pulled the plug on the Minecraft adaptation. It does seem pretty childish. If the Oculus somehow becomes a success with gamers, then Notch will be kicking his own ass. Being all extreme about things isn't the best way to do business.

 

[TiberiusEsuriens]

I understand Notch's point of view, but crazy enough I totally agree with Cliffy B here.

Oculus might no longer be as 'indie' or hip but regardless of the acquisition, it's still the exact same product with the exact same user base. Pulling Minecraft doesn't hurt Mojang and it doesn't hurt Oculus: it hurts all the people that were looking forward to playing the game. It's like flipping all of your friends the bird because one of them decided to hang out with that kid.

 

[Johnny Wishbone]

Pot meet kettle?

Cliff reminds me of the type of dorky kid who never really got bullied growing up, but still went home every night and obsessed over his "enemies list" and imagined every possible negative thing that occurred that day as the most horrific injury against his person. And he used these imagined slights as his motivation to 'show the world how awesome he's going to be someday'. So, now he's all grown up and out to prove to everyone that he's the man when nobody really gives a shit. He reminds me of Dennis from Always Sunny In Philadelphia: a massive ego coupled with an equally massive inferiority complex. He's the guy that stands in a room full of people screaming "LOOK AT ME!" while everyone in the room passes by and says "yep, there you are." before moving on and ignoring him.

 

[Keith K]

Oh yay, mud slinging. How non-juvenile.

Hypocrite.