Gearbox CEO On Gamer Criticism: "Some People Are Sadists"

[tzimize]

Wow, two articles in one day that give me cause to say unflattering things about Randy Pitchford? And, er... fulfill my sadistic appetites in the process, apparently?

Oh Escapist, you shouldn't have!

Things is, he's not entirely wrong. Anything popular or widespread is going to have a large number of detractors proportionate to that popularity. Some of them are going to be needlessly petty and venomous. Gamers certainly aren't any better than anyone else at voicing their grievances in an articulate and respectful manner. And yes, some people just plain enjoy shitting in your cereal.

However, pointing to a pile of shit and saying, "That right there is a pile of shit", is not an act of sadism. Hell, I wish I'd been able to derive some form of sadistic thrill from a Gearbox game. Sure would have been an improvement over wishing the fucking thing could end so I can get onto another, better game, or maybe clean the bathroom.

Also, defending something that made people angry by saying, "Hey, we touched them with our finely crafted emotional experiences," is weak bullshit. It'd be like Warner Bros saying that the PC version of Arkham Knight must be a powerful bit of media to have "touched" audiences the way it did.

Yep. Pretty much this.

Also, it really makes me wonder. I feel like people have to be more or less as intelligent as a sponge to draw the conclusions you've drawn here. And I dont say that to belittle your post or your intelligence in ANY way, my point is that I dont understand who the hell he thinks he is fooling with his extravagant bullshit. Did he really mean something else and the quote is out of context? Is he an idiot of cosmic proportions? Or have I once again underestimated humanitys endless capacity for stupidity?

I'm flabbergasted by the whole thing.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

Some people make shitty games, Randy.

 

[Mike000]

People who played Aliens: Colonial Marines or Duke Nukem Forever are masochists not sadists...get your terminology right!

 

[Beetlebum]

Except people didn't destroy your game. Your metaphor is a crappy sand castle and I want to destroy it.
You told everyone your sandcastle was going to be the greatest and that fans of sandcastles would love this sandcastle. You shown pictures of the sandcastle that were in noi means representative of your sandcastle.

When you finally revealed your sandcastle, you charged full price to see it. But you only worked on half of it.. kinda. You did spend a lot of time getting people to pay to see it first and to pay for future expansions.

Then people saw it, and it was a crap castle, and some started shouting to others that they shouldn't pay to see your crap castle.

But no one destroyed your crap castle, you narcissistic hypocrite.

 

[Dalisclock]

Those were sandcastles?! I thought that was just dog crap I stepped in. 60 bucks worth.

Seriously Randy, be glad some people even bought your junk.

It was actually a sandcastle made of dog crap. This is probably where the confusion lies. Which still doesn't change the fact that Randy is full of shit himself.

 

[Dalisclock]

I read it in this way: we moved those people, we touched them - even the person who hates [your game] so much, you've affected them. That's why we fight, we're creating emotion and experience - and some people thrive on that type of feeling, some people are sadists.

Being hit by a car is an emotional experience. It is not however artistic or a good thing. People need to stop pretending that emotions make art. False advertising pisses people off not because of how artistic it is but because it is a dick move. That is why most people were so pissed.

We're creating "emotions"? Oh god, is Randy hanging out with David Cage now?

 

[Metalrocks]

granted: some people can be very over reacting to some games but if a majority including official reviews sites say the game is bad, then you know something is wrong. but apparently for mr. pitchford that is a false accusation and an insult. more reasons to stay far away from any games with gearbox written on them. fine by me. never liked their games anyway.

 

[BeerTent]

Leave the castle up. It's more of a blight on mankind if it remains.

On a more serious note, Is this guy seriously saying we're the bad guys when it comes to ACM and DNF? Does he specifically mention those two games? This is a clear-cut case of someone who has no idea what he's managing, managing something. It's like if I did architect stuff, and people didn't like my building design. "Well, they're just bullies. How dare they kick over my structurally unsound glass tower with gardens.[footnote]Is... Is this joke STILL too soon for Americans?[/footnote]"

On the flip-side, the "Vocal minority" shit has to fucking stop. We have a fuckload of people saying stupid shit as loudly as Bill O'Riley in 2012. Man's got a point. It's nonsense. It's aggressive, and it's vying for more attention. And that's IT. If I had a dollar for every "I'm leaving and never coming back! :C" thread on forums and reddit in regards to gaming, then I wouldn't need to work.

Still, would never excuse the state for those two games.

 

[cynicalsaint1]

Kicking over a sandcastle?
Really?

Listen if I pay you $60 for a sandcastle, and you just dump a bucket of sand on the ground and call it done, I will kick it in any way I please.

Ugh ... and the analogy still barely works ...

 

[The Hungry Samurai]

The amount of times I've seen these professionals say extremely stupid shit is amazing. If you think it's just gamers who have problems then you are in Lala Land, riding the ice-cream unicorn through the gum drop forest.

He didn't just say that according to Jim. He's painted himself like a hero standing against the criticism.

Omg. It all makes sense now! RANDY IS HANDSOME JACK!

Seriously I wish this guy would just stop talking , take his lumps and go back to letting his company make more Borderlands quality games. Every time I hear Claptrap he just makes me feel dirty and sad.

 

[Mortuorum]

Sorry, Randy. When you make shitty games and charge people full price for them, people are going to call you out on it. I'm also looking at you, Dennis Dyack.

 

[Pinky's Brain]

The EU basically forced Steam to do it.

EU no doubt helped, but it was almost certainly the court case in Australia which pushed them over the edge.

 

[Cid Silverwing]

Glass houses, Bitchford.

We're not swallowing your fucking victim narrative, you scummy asshole.

 

[Sleepy Sol]

Yeah, maybe if Pitchford hadn't already lied on a lot of shit and caused a lot of shit games to be made I'd be more inclined to be sympathetic. Some people in gaming don't deserve the mistrust and general mockery that they get, but Pitchford sure as fucking hell doesn't fall in that group.

He's lucky they still have the Borderlands nest egg to fall back on, because they definitely haven't made anything else worth playing in freaking years (and the whole outsourcing and ENABLING awful games thing, that's kind of a big red flag too). And even then that series is just a maybe based on how many people you've got to play with.

 

[Aiddon_v1legacy]

Well, we can prove without a doubt that Randy is a gamer; instead of showing any sign of emotional maturity he instead shifts blame onto others and resorts to arguments that WOULD be reasonable, if it weren't for the context of the person using them. It's the lack professional behavior nowadays that makes me hesitant to take contemporary developers seriously.

 

[Poetic Nova]

Funny that the guy behind ACM said this.
He should leave GBX already.

 

[Remus]

Ahh this explains why certain internet personalities who happen to have a giant purple....tool are re-upping on their hatred for Colonial Marines. Ok, got it. Now I go back to playing what actually is a deep, emotional experience - Alien: Isolation.

 

[Karadalis]

Wha... what? Is that guy serious?

Okay.. you know what? Take it away jon:

 

[Ima Lemming]

I expect the "Anyone who criticizes my work is just a troll who revels in tearing down other people because they can't create themselves!" attitude from people who make terrible webcomics, not the CEOs of major game development studios. Go to hell, Pitchford.

 

[RJ Dalton]

What was it Yahtzee once said? "People who live in glass houses shouldn't make poorly optimized, severely broken games."