American McGee on Publishers: "News Flash: Things Cost Money"

[lacktheknack]

"Simply put, this shit is hard."

So is my dick, now suck it!

*sigh* I'll probably get a warning for that but fuck it, its worth it.

I'm so sick of the shit we get told by anyone in the game industry, as if publishers and developers weren't enough of a pain in our collective ass as it was. Now we have to put up with their dishonest whining about money, these guys get thrown hundreds of thousands if not millions of dollars to do a job and all we hear back is "oops, where did it all go?" and "but its so hard!"

Fuck 'em! I am so glad I haven't done anything with kickstarter yet, I understand that its an investment, I understand that there are risks, that's all fine and dandy, that's life in a nutshell. Mistakes can happen, misfortune can happen, accidents can happen, that is all acceptable risk when you're doing an investment. What I can't stand is the utter incompetence, the dishonesty, and the whining and especial the down talking to the people that gave you and your idea a chance of life, THAT is unacceptable.

So you bet your ass people are pissed, as they should be.

Where's the dishonesty? Where's the incompetence on McGee's part? Heck, where's the whining? None of this is whining, he's just pointing out a simple double-standard that many people don't realize they have.

He's addressing THESE people:

Gamers can't have it both ways. They can't expect Skyrim and pay with spare change that a mobile app would ask for. They can't hate publishers yet somehow ONLY love big budget games only publishers can fund. Gamers are also far too removed from development to the point their huge unreasonable expectations are not grounded in reality.

Use a publisher? Now you are a "evil corporate pig who should die." Gamers hate you.

Use early Access or sell pre-orders with alpha access? Suddenly you are a scammer or greedy asshole who sells unfinished games. Still somehow a "puppet." Your game is also called shitty and that's why publishers won't touch it. Gamers still hate you.

Use kickstarter? Gamers give you spare change to try to create the second coming of christ. You suddenly find you don't have enough. Gamers still hate you because "games can't cost that much."

Its not just the "evil" publishers who lost the ability to stick to reality. Gamers' higher and higher expectations, catch 22s, and double standards also drove us here. No matter what, gamers will always hate you and fight you every step of the way.

(Thanks, Ultra!)

(Back to Valderis) Are you one of these people? No? Good, then he's not talking to you.

Unless you're thinking that he's whining about all the money he's lost from not managing his Kickstarter right. Well, his Kickstarter isn't even DONE yet, so if that's what you're thinking, then you're just projecting.

There was no lying on his part or Double Fine's. There was no whining on his part or Double Fine's. There was no freaking "talking down", unless you think the words "it's more expensive than you think it is, and there's good reasons I want a publisher" are exclusively "talking-down" words. And also, there was no incompetence on McGee's part.

Now put it back in your pants, that's freaking disgusting.

 

[IceForce]

Uhhhhh... I've never heard of people abandoning the forums because of probation... so, uh... bye, I guess?

Actually, I've heard of someone doing that.

 

[Charli]

Actually American we don't understand. Because a good amount of indie hits are being made to massive success on the price of... well barely a fraction of that. Triple A games are bloated and unsustainable, and this is why kickstarter exists for games. To get medium titles off the ground where investors and publishers representing them would never take the risk. Not so you get to justify making more bullshit to them.


You, and the rest of your buddies pulling this shit have lost sight of how to make a good title anymore and to cover up that, you throw MO MONAY' at the problem.
And that's the naked truth isn't it? Too hard of a pill to swallow so you shout and complain to media websites about how all your naysayers are ignorant. Start hiring some of these new blood game creators into your companies. Maybe they'll show you how to actually carve a good game at a base level for half the time and price before you begin shoveling all the expensive pretty things ontop of it. And I say this as a creator of the expensive pretty things element! But I know where selling force in a game has to come from. The gameplay.



Don't give money to these people, it's that simple. They're gambling.

Publishers are the greatest mishandlers of money in the entire gaming industry. And they know it.

And do not crucify Indie developers for honesty and openess. THAT is true. But on the internet there will always be a hotbed of trolls and disgruntled idiots who don't know what they're getting into. It's them that we should be condemning and defending the people who dare. Yes not every project will work, which is why the crowd of investors should work carefully. Independent, but carefully.

 

[lacktheknack]

Uhhhhh... I've never heard of people abandoning the forums because of probation... so, uh... bye, I guess?

Actually, I've heard of someone doing that.

Well, that didn't last. He's kept right on posting.

 

[lord.jeff]

If people are going to crowd fund they need to realize that developers regularly require extra money and time from what was originally quoted, it has has been a regular issue between publisher and developers and now the crowd funders are preforming some of the responsibility of the publishers we need to learn to deal with this type of thing happening because it's gonna happen again.