Update: Mahler has since apologised for these comments in a statement on Twitter, admitting that he had "a bit of a chip on my shoulder" when making them, and "definitely didn’t represent Moon Studio the way I should have."
https://twitter.com/thomasmahler/status/1357445038142324737
Original story: Thomas Mahler, the creative director behind the Ori series, has called out games such as the original Fable and Cyberpunk 2077, comparing them to "snake oil salesmen".
In a lengthy thread on ResetEra titled: "Why are gamers so eager to trust and even forgive the snake oil salesmen?" Mahler slammed multiple developers, claiming they were liars and painting a picture they were unable to deliver on. According to Mahler, the trouble stemmed from Peter Molyneux, the lead designer on the Fable series who was notoriously known for hyping up the series.
"It all started with Molyneux. He was the master of 'Instead of telling you what my product is, let me just go wild with what I think it could be and get you all excited!" - And that was fine, until you actually put your money down and then the game was nothing like what Peter was hyping it up to be."
Mahler moved his rant onto No Man's Sky, citing the game's creator, Sean Murray, as someone who "just loooooved the spotlight". He drew particular attention to how the game went on to receive multiple awards after various updates, which he believed caused people to forget about the "initial lies and deception".
"Obviously there was massive backlash when No Man's Sky finally released and the product being nothing like what Murray hyped it up to be. But what happened then? They released a bunch of updates, so let's forget about the initial lies and deception and hey, let's actually shower him with awards again, cause he finally kinda sorta delivered on what he said the game would be years earlier. Thanks, Geoff Keighley. Rewarding that kinda behavior will surely help the industry grow stronger."
Finally, Mahler switched focus onto the heavily criticised Cyberpunk 2077 and how CD Projekt Red failed to meet the promises they made. After Molyneux and Murray, he claims CD Projekt Red followed in their footsteps and went with it.
"Gamers were to believe that this is "Sci-Fi GTA in First Person". What's not to love? Every video released by CDPR was carefully crafted to create a picture in players minds that was just insanely compelling. They stopped just short of outright saying that this thing would cure cancer. This strategy resulted in a sensational 8 million pre-orders. [...] The product was a fraction of what the developer hyped it up to be and on top of that it barely even ran on consoles that it was supposed to 'run surprisingly well on!'"
The post finished with Mahler saying, "it doesn't matter if the snake oil actually tastes fine. Don't sell me on features that don't exist". As expected, responses are extremely divisive, with some users rallying behind Mahler's comments, while others have criticised his position on the matter due to him being a developer in the games industry. Where ever you sit, it's definitely a controversial take that warrants a wealth of opinions.
What do you think of Mahler's statements? Let us know in the comments below.
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[source resetera.com]
Comments 17
He’s not wrong but I’m not sure why’s he’s gone over to Resetwhatever and had a rant? Seems kinda odd? I stay clear of that awful site.
While Molyneux did come out with some outrageous claims, he also made some great games like Fable. The work Sean Murray and Co have put into NMS to make it what it is today is phenomenal, I feel he’s redeemed himself somewhat.
I don’t think it’s as simple as just labelling them as liars and snake oil salesmen.
Seems quite harsh to me...
Peter made mistakes, yes, but he got death threats over some! Surely OTT.
Sean? Well, NMS had trouble when people started making up features and things that is had never ever claimed to have, so others hyped it!
Cyberpunk might run badly on last gen, but I've absolutely loved it, few bugs, no more than you'd expect
Although I was ultimately disappointed with Cyberpunk 2077 (to me it was nowhere near the masterpiece it was touted to be) I'm going to defend CDPR, Pete Molyneux and even Chris Roberts (Star Citizen) here. It's because of creative talents and pushing the creative envelope that gaming has created so many memorable experiences. Granted, these days it's mostly sequels and taking the easy way to make $$$ but there are still guys and gals out there willing to strive for something new and risky and I applaud them for it.
@Porridge2215 Cyberpunk has a lot more than just a few bugs. Most of them rather immersion breaking (like Cops/npc spawning and despawning randomly) that ruined the game for me. Not to mention that AWFUL AI thats way worse than GTA5 has (and that game released in 2013)
he's not wrong;, let's just enjoy his candor until his inevitable apology.
i just picture him typing his words near an empty bottle of Jack Daniels for some reason....
There quite a few who love the sound of their own lies from Todd "16 times the detail" Howard to Randy "USB Witch Porn" Pitchford bigging up Alien Colonial Marines. Many of these people end up overseeing some truly great games but they really need to shut up in public.
As for Cyberpunk well even without the bugs it was probably a couple of years away from being finished and is noticably stripped back from its initial trailers and promises. Leaving us with a very detailed if uninteractive city, horrible AI for traffic, pedestrians and police. Mediocre gunplay and driving mechanics but a very good story from what I've played so far
Its akin to praising people for losing weight or getting clean and sober. While the clean and sober and the people who eat and exercise properly are like "wtf??" It's a comeback story that people love. There are great golfers out there, but tiger is a great golfer, with drama. You get the idea.
"When you do things right, people won't be sure you've done anything at all." -Futurama
@Carck it's like when people say "I'm just real, that's all" no you're just being a malicious *****. Like you said, you can be real and not a douche.
Peter Molyneux was one of those. More of a thinker than practical. He had the passion in bucketloads just didnt have the practicality to make his ideas work.
Comparing him to a snake oil salesman? Harsh.
@Reyren when Fable was Project Ego one of Peter Molyneux's biggest selling points of the game was things like "see a mountain in the distance you can walk to it" he visioned it as an open world experience which back in that era would have been massive. Instead it was more of a hub world and it didnt sit well with many.
Even if his approach was kinda rough, he's not wrong, not even in the slightest. He's saying what we've been thinking and saying on forums and reddit for years now. It's refreshing.
I agree with the sentiment, just not the severity.
Update with apology:
https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/ori-director-says-he-screwed-up-with-criticism-of-molyneux-no-mans-sky-and-cyberpunk-developers/
It's a bit refreshing to see someone in the game industry talk this way. At the end, everyone wants to extend professional courtesy to their peers, but lets face it: these launches hurt the industry as a whole. Cyberpunk might had broken digital sale records, and might not suffer the damage themselves, but I am sure they eroded everyone else's pre-order numbers for a few years, even if not by a lot, they still have eroded consumer trust on game devs in general.
@armondo36
Well, you've got your wish 🤣 He's already apologised. Link a couple of posts above mine.
The main reason why I don’t play Ori is because of the attitude of the Ori creators.
Maybe it’s actually the same guy who said other stuff he had to apologize for later?
He might not be wrong, but his attitude is just wrong.
Edit: yeah it seems it was also Mahler who showed a crappy attitude in the past and made me highly dislike the studio.
I think he's got it backwards. The early Cyberpunk trailers (which we now know were fake) showed a 3rd-person action RPG like Witcher series. What we got was a rushed buggy first-person GTA clone staring Keanu Reeves with almost no choice & consequence.
@gollumb82 welp, he had to sober up sometime.
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