Gearbox President: "I Have Always Profited From Criticism"

[MikeWehner]

Gearbox President: "I Have Always Profited From Criticism"

Randy Pitchford takes to Twitter to address Aliens: Colonial Marines hate.

Since the launch of Aliens: Colonial Marines, developer Gearbox has come under a great deal of fire for the quality of the final release, especially given how different the game now appears from the early "demo" videos spread so widely online. Now, perhaps in an attempt to clear the air, Gearbox President Randy Pitchford is addressing concerns via his personal Twitter account, but it appears his responses are generating more heat than they are dissipating.

"As a glass-half-full kind of guy, so I only want positive feelings with my personal twitter. Thanks for understanding!" Pitchford wrote, just before responding to a number of Twitter users, and apparently blocking others as well.

One of Pitchford's more vocal critics has been Destructoid's Reviews Editor and Escapist contributor Jim Sterling, who has helped draw attention to the stark contrast between early Colonial Marines footage and the game that ended up being released for $60.

"You [sic] entire purpose seems angled towards vilification and injury. I am flattered, but ain't nobody got time for dat," Pitchford Tweeted directly at Sterling, following with "Also - you know how to reach me if you want to ask questions. It appears you would rather show boat publicly for attention."

Of course, it seems somewhat silly of the videogame community not to publicly address issues with the game now that it's available for purchase. I'm not sure what good privately addressing the game's very obvious flaws will do to help consumers, but that appears to be the road Pitchford would rather take.

The Gearbox boss also claims that the company is "looking at" why Colonial Marines ended up as it did, noting that he needs to be "very carful at the moment" regarding what he says about the title.

Source: Twitter [https://twitter.com/duvalmagic]

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[Durrsly]

I sense a storm coming...

 

[Ghonzor]

I sense EA levels of douche-baggery

 

[BrotherRool]

When someone tries to deceive large amounts of people, drawing attention to it and showing those people the deception doesn't count as showboating.

I'm sure Mr Pitchford would have loved it if the complaints took the form of personal messages to him, but that wouldn't exact fix the problem would it. It's not as though he was going to turn around and say 'Whoops, it looks like my fingered slipped and I accidentally doctored gameplay footage. Sorry about that'

 

[Sylveria]

I'm very quickly growing to hate this guy. This is a textbook case of false-advertising and he's passing off people calling him on it as showboating.

 

[DrunkOnEstus]

Some may call Jim a sensationalist, but the consumer advocate side of him deserves praise for making this a public debacle. Mike is right that private messages between the two would keep those who dropped $60 in the dark, and I applaud Jim for putting his neck on the line by making it public. The pre-release hype phase of a game like Borderlands 3 is gonna be a little awkward once it makes its way to Destructoid.

 

[Anathrax]

I'm looking forward to Jim Sterling's response. My personal response would be something similar to the reply given in Arkell vs Pressdam [http://prunescape.wikia.com/wiki/The_Reply_Given_in_Arkell_v_Pressdram_(1971)]. Would probably be more formal and less offensive but the general message remains.

 

[Ronin Toshiro]

Too all the people who are calling AC:M bad. Do not be so entitled the MP side of the game is VERY good. they never promised anything of a good story for the SP only that it would become EPIC.

This whole thing reminds me of another company/publisher who did the same thing with not keeping promises and delivering a completely different game then showed...

 

[cidbahamut]

All I'm hearing is: "people pointing out my mistakes lets me correct them".

Is there some context I'm missing here or are people just mindlessly out for blood as always?

edit: nevermind, the other quotes make it clear there's some asshattery involved.

 

[Durrsly]

Too all the people who are calling AC:M bad. Do not be so entitled the MP side of the game is VERY good. they never promised anything of a good story for the SP only that it would become EPIC.

Because that demo that they swore was part of the game didn't have to be in there. And what game are you talking about?

 

[Froggy Slayer]

Too all the people who are calling AC:M bad. Do not be so entitled the MP side of the game is VERY good. they never promised anything of a good story for the SP only that it would become EPIC.

Actually, they outright lied about the quality of the main game, making it out to have features and fabricating an entire demo section with these features to trick people into thinking that they would get a much better game than they did.

Also, a game should be rated upon the sum of its parts; one good section does not excuse a flawed one.

 

[Legion]

It doesn't really matter if Jim was show boating or not, the point is still entirely valid. Motivation doesn't change that.

 

[Darks63]

So what im tking from this is he would rather Jim discuss his issues with him privately instead of talking about it publically since it makes him and his company look like liars.

 

[N3squ1ck]

Spoiler: my reaction

Oh no, I really liked Gearbox and Mr. Pitchford, how did it come to that.
All that stuff that bubbles up lately just kills my liking for them alltogether

 

[Covarr]

They should have done what SEGA did to Sterling after his Sonic Colors review, and sent him a ton of over-the-top gifts related to A:CM. All that goofing off is pure good publicity, and a great way to redeem yourself after a crap game.

Also, it makes Jim Sterling look ridiculous for being involved. That's always fun.

P.S. Thanks

 

[Alandoril]

They're looking into why it ended up the way it did?

They should already bloody know that! What this means is they're wondering who they can get away with blaming for it.