Gearbox President: "I Have Always Profited From Criticism"

[RA92]

Whatever you think about Pritchford, he is damn eloquent and handling himself better than many companies (looking at Bioware and couple others).

How is accusing critics of 'showboating' being eloquent?

OT: Sterling earns yet another developer's ire, and my respect.

To be fair he is accusing Sterling of showboating.
I love Jim and his show but I do have to say that Pritchford isn't wrong in that regard.

To me he sounds more frustrated that Sterling didn't contact him first with questions about why it turned out the way it did and just went on to create his video on Aliens: CM. Don't get me wrong Jims A-lie-ns video was perfectly justified and I agree with almost everything in the video but I do understand the tone that Pritchford is taking.

That's the thing about Jim. He's not going to consult with the developer or the publisher before tackling their anti-consumer behavior. In fact, I believe he is doing it at his own expense, since I can't see Gearbox being too enthusiastic about giving his publication exclusives in the future, not to mention Jim genuinely seems to like Randy. Same with Konami - he loves their games, but because of his criticisms, he's banned from their press conferences or something the last I heard. Was he being boisterous and outspoken about a certain shady industry practice? You bet, and that's exactly what we need in the post-Doritosgate industry.

...

Looking back, it's kind of funny how I raged about Jimquisition when it started and was asking the site to boot him out.

 

[Pat8u]

I want to like randy, but he just keeps making mistakes, its a shame in all his interviews he seems so innocent and passionate, ah Screw it Im going to be intentionally naive and think that he is innocent and passionate.

 

[Terramax]

He profits, but the consumer doesn't.

 

[plainlake]

The tragedy of colonial marines is that it is obvious to see that at least the PR people knew EXACTLY what we wanted, but the finished product have so little of it.

 

[Norrdicus]

I want to like randy, but he just keeps making mistakes, its a shame in all his interviews he seems so innocent and passionate, ah Screw it Im going to be intentionally naive and think that he is innocent and passionate.

"Intentionally naïve"?

There's a word for that, "delusional"

 

[Blood Brain Barrier]

Just goes to show what I've suspected all a long: all Randy cares about is profit!

If that's true, he's not a very smart dude. You would think if you only cared about profit you would make the best possible game you can, not a sabotaged one which has put off tons of potential customers through incredibly bad public reception.

 

[BrotherRool]

Whatever you think about Pritchford, he is damn eloquent and handling himself better than many companies (looking at Bioware and couple others).

How is accusing critics of 'showboating' being eloquent?

OT: Sterling earns yet another developer's ire, and my respect.

To be fair he is accusing Sterling of showboating.
I love Jim and his show but I do have to say that Pritchford isn't wrong in that regard.

To me he sounds more frustrated that Sterling didn't contact him first with questions about why it turned out the way it did and just went on to create his video on Aliens: CM. Don't get me wrong Jims A-lie-ns video was perfectly justified and I agree with almost everything in the video but I do understand the tone that Pritchford is taking.

but the thing is, what Gearbox are basically doing is they#re trying to rake in as many sales as possible, before people realise the game is crud. They release a deceptive demo, hold back the reviews and now the game is out and the word is getting around they ask the people calling it out as crud to 'talk personally with them'. When you're actively trying to slash and burn to get some money, you've lost the right to have a personal question with you because they're relying on selling games before people go public with stuff like this.

 

[pirateninj4]

Good for Jim, without the guys blowing the whistle loudly so we can all see, these companies would get away with essentially what amounts to fraud, false advertising and flat out lies. The dodgy business practices of the early 2000's have got to GO!

 

[barbzilla]

Sterling didn't contrast the game and the demo, he simply showed the demo and derided the game. I found the video fairly useless quite frankly because not seeing the game itself I've nothing but his word to know that it differs greatly. And to say that something from the demo is not in the game does not prove the game itself is lacking, it's simply saying it's different.

Half Life's demo differed greatly from the game. But it was still a decent game.
Fear's demo differed from the game. But it was still a decent game.

If the aliens have better AI in the demo then show me an example.

etcetera

This is what people refer to when they speak of entitlement. You are acting as though you are entitled to receive all of the relevant information without having to work for it. I saw the same video you did, and had similar questions afterwards. The difference being the video encouraged me to investigate for myself, and the video looks as though it encouraged you to want something you didn't get.

As for your comments about Half Life and Fear's demos, I don't see how that is actually relevant. Jim said through out the video that it was a vertical slice, what he was on about is how the environments changed so much from the video to the released game, and for the worse at that. You don't make an amazing set piece and then throw it away to make a new worse looking one. That would be counter productive and pointless. The fact is those set pieces were fabricated just for the gameplay demo, but gearbox can cover its ass with bullshit excuses to keep them clear of false advertising claims. Our only hope for retribution is from Sega, since some of the A:CM funds were misappropriated to be used on Boarderlands.

 

[Dryk]

He profits, but the consumer doesn't.

Truly this is the generation of "Fuck you, buy our product"

 

[Cpu46]

Whatever you think about Pritchford, he is damn eloquent and handling himself better than many companies (looking at Bioware and couple others).

How is accusing critics of 'showboating' being eloquent?

OT: Sterling earns yet another developer's ire, and my respect.

To be fair he is accusing Sterling of showboating.
I love Jim and his show but I do have to say that Pritchford isn't wrong in that regard.

To me he sounds more frustrated that Sterling didn't contact him first with questions about why it turned out the way it did and just went on to create his video on Aliens: CM. Don't get me wrong Jims A-lie-ns video was perfectly justified and I agree with almost everything in the video but I do understand the tone that Pritchford is taking.

but the thing is, what Gearbox are basically doing is they#re trying to rake in as many sales as possible, before people realise the game is crud. They release a deceptive demo, hold back the reviews and now the game is out and the word is getting around they ask the people calling it out as crud to 'talk personally with them'. When you're actively trying to slash and burn to get some money, you've lost the right to have a personal question with you because they're relying on selling games before people go public with stuff like this.

I agree with most of what you say but I still have some sympathy for Gearbox. In 2008 they had announced that they were developing Aliens: CM, then later that year they announced they were developing that horror story of a development cycle Duke Nukem, Borderlands was still in development, and then they had a ton of layoffs making them one of the smallest AAA developers still in business with 3 AAA titles in their lap at one time. Remember that they are a developer so they have contracts stipulating when a game should come out, how much the game should make, and other criteria that are given by the publisher in order to get paid fully. If they didn't do what they did about Aliens then they would probably owe Sega a LOT of money and most likely would go under as a company. I don't condone them lying but I find it hard to hate them for it when considering all this.

 

[BrotherRool]

I agree with most of what you say but I still have some sympathy for Gearbox. In 2008 they had announced that they were developing Aliens: CM, then later that year they announced they were developing that horror story of a development cycle Duke Nukem, Borderlands was still in development, and then they had a ton of layoffs making them one of the smallest AAA developers still in business with 3 AAA titles in their lap at one time. Remember that they are a developer so they have contracts stipulating when a game should come out, how much the game should make, and other criteria that are given by the publisher in order to get paid fully. If they didn't do what they did about Aliens then they would probably owe Sega a LOT of money and most likely would go under as a company. I don't condone them lying but I find it hard to hate them for it when considering all this.

I guess thats fair enough really, being an independent developer isn't much fun in that sense and they don't exactly get a lot of control. I guess in reality trying to make sure your employees get paid is pretty important

 

[michael87cn]

You know what's really sad about this whole Aliens Colonial Marines being so shit?.

It's this comparison video that explains it all clear as day, crystal clear.

No it doesn't, that video cherry picks. All the footage shown for the 2010 game is of the very beginning, the game actually changes drastically to be much like the 2013 game later on where the tension is lost and you just run n' gun.

I think people are confusing something as well, this game isn't titled Aliens vs. Predator. It's Colonial Marines; it's about marines, its not fair to compare it to an AvP game.

People complain that it plays differently from AvP games... they complain that they were expecting an AvP game....

It's not an AvP game, okay?

 

[michael87cn]

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]

Permalink

To be fair, I don't like how Jim does those little videos either. Not saying he shouldn't do them, but there's a way to calmly express your opinion without, as Randy said "vilifying" someone. And he certainly does come off as needing attention, hes an angry fat guy that pretty much foams at the mouth in almost all of his videos, clearly something he deliberately does because he knows it garners more views. So again Randy wasn't wrong by saying he showboats. He clearly does.

And this post, actually, would seem to indicate we should vilify Randy, and back up Jim, but Jim is really the one who goes all nuts and gets angry, but here's Randy calmly addressing people on his twitter.

Hm.... I side with Randy on this one, and I say Jim should start doing more professional reviews/looks at games.

Edit: To reiterate my point, there's a difference, OP, between "the gaming community" addressing their concerns with a game, and a "gaming figurehead" foaming at the mouth in videos every time something upsets him. By the very rules of this forum, 'gaming' users need to be polite and mellow-headed to each other. If we behaved on here like Jim does in his videos, we'd all get banned.

Basically there's a way to discuss video games without getting all offensive about it.

 

[Treblaine]

He profits, but the consumer doesn't.

Truly this is the generation of "Fuck you, buy our product"

Corporate gangsterism:


It's the indifferent attitude and dismissive contempt he has for people people who pay for his entire livelihood I find galling, people paying when they can hardly afford gas and rent/mortgage payment for someone to fritter it away. I've seen how extensive the marketing has been for Aliens CM, but where were the time and resources to just make the game good?

This wasn't a "Gearbox Presents" this was widely shown as a "This is a gearbox made game".

 

[Treblaine]

I think people are confusing something as well, this game isn't titled Aliens vs. Predator. It's Colonial Marines; it's about marines, its not fair to compare it to an AvP game.

Yeah, it's not fair, but not fair on the AvP game! A game that only has a third of it's development devoted to the Marines section yet it easily looks better and is in almost every way better than a game that was totally devoted to the Marines experience.

 

[DSK-]

Why do I always read his name as "Randy Pitchfork". I keep getting mental images of a really sexually frustrated pitchfork whenever I hear of him :S

 

[Magicman10893]

Anymore I hate Randy Pitchford. I remember how awesome he was from those Borderlands 1 videos where he humorously explained how his game was for the hardcore gaming audience and not the "casual-I-only-play-CoD-and-smartphone-games" audience. Now he's just a lying asshole. Also, my real reason for replying: a snarky response to his quote!

If he's profited from criticism he could be the next Rockefeller.

 

[Treblaine]

Mild spoiler warnings within.

Basically I reveal a secret character but the reveal hardly "spoils" the game, more "spares" you by the dumbness of it showing why you should completely skip this game and how it obviously cannot be in-canon.

I agree with most of what you say but I still have some sympathy for Gearbox. In 2008 they had announced that they were developing Aliens: CM, then later that year they announced they were developing that horror story of a development cycle Duke Nukem, Borderlands was still in development, and then they had a ton of layoffs making them one of the smallest AAA developers still in business with 3 AAA titles in their lap at one time. Remember that they are a developer so they have contracts stipulating when a game should come out, how much the game should make, and other criteria that are given by the publisher in order to get paid fully. If they didn't do what they did about Aliens then they would probably owe Sega a LOT of money and most likely would go under as a company. I don't condone them lying but I find it hard to hate them for it when considering all this.

I can accept all that.

What is not acceptable is the obvious deception, and I'll go further than "not condoning". This damages the reputation of the entire industry.

They should have been honest that this was beyond their means to fix and Sega needs to man up and stop trying to do this on the cheap, trying to get a skeleton crew developer to make/fix three games at once, including borderlands 2 back to back after Borderlands 1. There is also talk of a Duke Nukem sequel or remake being made at the same time?!?

It's their fault for signing contract stipulations beyond what they could manage, their loyal trusting customers should not be exploited unfairly to cover up for their terrible business decisions.

I mean I don't get them, why did they take Duke Nukem Forever? It obviously wasn't out of any sort of loyalty to that classic gamestyle, they blatantly cashed that in for Halo style gameplay with 2 weapon limit and regenerating health, it pissed off everyone! Aliens: CM wasn't true to the aliens franchise as it is supposedly "of canon" game that completely contradicts the movies such as LV426 not being nuked from orbit, Sulaco remaining in orbit, Hicks surviving and being on LV426.

 

[chiefohara]

I agree with most of what you say but I still have some sympathy for Gearbox. In 2008 they had announced that they were developing Aliens: CM, then later that year they announced they were developing that horror story of a development cycle Duke Nukem, Borderlands was still in development, and then they had a ton of layoffs making them one of the smallest AAA developers still in business with 3 AAA titles in their lap at one time. Remember that they are a developer so they have contracts stipulating when a game should come out, how much the game should make, and other criteria that are given by the publisher in order to get paid fully. If they didn't do what they did about Aliens then they would probably owe Sega a LOT of money and most likely would go under as a company. I don't condone them lying but I find it hard to hate them for it when considering all this.

I can accept all that.

What is not acceptable is the obvious deception, and I'll go further than "not condoning". This damages the reputation of the entire industry.

They should have been honest that this was beyond their means to fix and Sega needs to man up and stop trying to do this on the cheap, trying to get a skeleton crew developer to make/fix three games at once, including borderlands 2 back to back after Borderlands 1. There is also talk of a Duke Nukem sequel or remake being made at the same time?!?

It's their fault for signing contract stipulations beyond what they could manage, their loyal trusting customers should not be exploited unfairly to cover up for their terrible business decisions.

I mean I don't get them, why did they take Duke Nukem Forever? It obviously wasn't out of any sort of loyalty to that classic gamestyle, they blatantly cashed that in for Halo style gameplay with 2 weapon limit and regenerating health, it pissed off everyone! Aliens: CM wasn't true to the aliens franchise as it is supposedly "of canon" game that completely contradicts the movies such as LV426 not being nuked from orbit, Sulaco remaining in orbit, ---- surviving and being on LV426.

A corporate entity will never be honest about its problems. Shareholders and stakeholders would crucify a CEO if he/she started talking down its own product. The Ethics of business at the end of the day is to make as much money as possible and if you screw customers over to do that... well shareholders don't give a damn, and shareholders come first no matter what CEO you are.

Not saying what they did isn't wrong, and it won't bite them in the ass regarding brand loyalty in the future but the industry doesn't seem to be able to see beyond the end of year figures anymore.

Also, spoilers mate... You named the character who survived, edit it out of your post. I was going to rent the game this weekend for that sole reason.