Indie Dev to Epic's Mark Rein: "F**k Off"
- Thread starter Tom Goldman
- Start date
wait wait wait wait....
Also, OT, fuck that guy. I don't rate Epic at all. Gears of War and Unreal Tournament... fuck that. Thanks for the unreal engine but let somebody else take care of the games.
There was a gaming conference in Brighton and nobody told me? I totally would have broken into that.Tom Goldman said:
Also, OT, fuck that guy. I don't rate Epic at all. Gears of War and Unreal Tournament... fuck that. Thanks for the unreal engine but let somebody else take care of the games.
"The sheer overwhelming stench of testosterone would probably give me a headache, combined with the dizzy excitement of exactly what shade of grey our next game's space-marine would wear as he kicked alien butt."
I laughed. I laughed hard. I say more power to this guy for standing up to Epic Games. They're unequivocally one of the shittiest and most overrated developers out there. They haven't made a decent game in years. Their entire success as of late has come from simply imbuing their games with gratuitous amounts of violence and, as Mr. Harris put it, an overabundance of testosterone. Thus, making the game appeal to 'tweens (both physically and mentally). And, since a very large portion of the 360 player community is comprised of this age group, it sells well.
My point is, Epic Games (and especially Cliffy "no talent" B and Mark Rein) are sitting pretty high and mighty on their horses, thinking they're the best developer around, yet they've all but permanently retired most of their key franchises. Think about it. Besides licensing Unreal Engine 3 and making Gears, what else do they have anymore? Pretty much nothing. I'd say losing most of your back-catalog to poor sales is the exact opposite of being successful.
So, I'm with Mr. Harris on this one. Fuck off Epic Games. Don't bother calling until you fire that hack Cliff.
I laughed. I laughed hard. I say more power to this guy for standing up to Epic Games. They're unequivocally one of the shittiest and most overrated developers out there. They haven't made a decent game in years. Their entire success as of late has come from simply imbuing their games with gratuitous amounts of violence and, as Mr. Harris put it, an overabundance of testosterone. Thus, making the game appeal to 'tweens (both physically and mentally). And, since a very large portion of the 360 player community is comprised of this age group, it sells well.
My point is, Epic Games (and especially Cliffy "no talent" B and Mark Rein) are sitting pretty high and mighty on their horses, thinking they're the best developer around, yet they've all but permanently retired most of their key franchises. Think about it. Besides licensing Unreal Engine 3 and making Gears, what else do they have anymore? Pretty much nothing. I'd say losing most of your back-catalog to poor sales is the exact opposite of being successful.
So, I'm with Mr. Harris on this one. Fuck off Epic Games. Don't bother calling until you fire that hack Cliff.
I dunno about anyone else, but reading Harris' rant didn't really give me any kind of confidence in his ability to make any games worth playing. I mean, come on, he went with the "gray colors and manliness" jab? If he's that uncreative, I wonder what popular big-dev games he copies off of for his own games, because it looks like he can't come up with his own original thoughts.
Now that's not to say that the guy from Epic wasn't being a major dick and deserved a nice "fuck off", but if the other guy wants to give himself his own brand of bad PR in the process, good for him, because he did. You won't find me looking up his games anytime soon, because right now he just looks like a whiny 12 year old to me.
Now that's not to say that the guy from Epic wasn't being a major dick and deserved a nice "fuck off", but if the other guy wants to give himself his own brand of bad PR in the process, good for him, because he did. You won't find me looking up his games anytime soon, because right now he just looks like a whiny 12 year old to me.
While EPIC may deserve the Fuck Off,
all I'll say to Mr. Harris : if your game is good enough ,someone will pay you to make it. The reason why no one wants to pay you to make your game now becomes clear.
Oh, and you do sound like a whiny douche, right or wrong, still doucheness.
all I'll say to Mr. Harris : if your game is good enough ,someone will pay you to make it. The reason why no one wants to pay you to make your game now becomes clear.
Oh, and you do sound like a whiny douche, right or wrong, still doucheness.
Although I agree that Mark Rein was a prick, I disagree with Harris on one thing. Crunch time is the best time, I will stay up to ALL HOURS working on a game whether to fix a bug or because I want to, if you aren't willing to lose sleep for something you love, you must not love it very much.
Well, when the gaming industry collapses because the demand for better graphics cannot possibly be met at a profit and indie developers become the only feasible business model... well, I guess they will tell former big devs to fuck off with much more gusto.
I smell primetime drama!
If this was a misunderstanding - chill out on the indie elitism and presumptions already. It's mighty unbecoming. If this was a legit in-context comment heh...though PR-wise this might not have been quite nice, to be honest it's refreshing to get something like this to shake things up a bit. This and Tim Schafer's comments pretty much kinda make a nice change of news, even if its only potential is to go downhill.
But who knows...might actually make someone think too.
If this was a misunderstanding - chill out on the indie elitism and presumptions already. It's mighty unbecoming. If this was a legit in-context comment heh...though PR-wise this might not have been quite nice, to be honest it's refreshing to get something like this to shake things up a bit. This and Tim Schafer's comments pretty much kinda make a nice change of news, even if its only potential is to go downhill.
But who knows...might actually make someone think too.
I disagree with what he said, and the way he chose to say it.
However, I think the amount of people here dismissing his comments simply because Epic are a 'big' company, or because they haven't put out a game you like for a while is ridiculous.
Epic have no parent company (if I remember rightly), technically making them independent. They also started out small, and 'made it' by creating good games and technology and, perhaps more importantly, selling it. Credit where credit is due. Don't dismiss out of hand.
However, I think the amount of people here dismissing his comments simply because Epic are a 'big' company, or because they haven't put out a game you like for a while is ridiculous.
Epic have no parent company (if I remember rightly), technically making them independent. They also started out small, and 'made it' by creating good games and technology and, perhaps more importantly, selling it. Credit where credit is due. Don't dismiss out of hand.
Replying to your customers and making them feel like they are as important to you as you are to them is very important. Twisted Pixel, for instance, has won my undying loyalty and love by doing just that. Hell, they go above and beyond. Not only does their CEO respond to my emails, but they sent me a Christmas card and gave me a gift certificate to Omaha Steaks on my birthday. Not only will I be buying everything that they put out, but I will be convincing everyone I know to do the same. That is how you run a business.