More Developer Morning Rants

Scribbled on March 8th, 2007 by Jonah Falcon
Filed in GDC, Industry News, WTF

I'M MAD AS HELL...! Chris Hecker wasn’t the only one ranting and raving during the “Burning Mad: Game Developers Rant” seminar, of course. While his “Fear of a Wii Planet” rant was the most controversial (and entertaining) rant during the talk, other developers got a chance to complain, too.

Alex St. John (CEO and co-founder of Wild Tangent) took aim at Microsoft Vista, and its security software. Richard Hilleman (Electronic Arts) complained about the lack of leadership in the industry. Nicole Bradford (Global Director of Vivendi Games) brought up the issue that there wasn’t enough education, saying “That is the national security issue, not whether or not I bring mascara on the plane.” Jason Della Rocca (Executive Director of the International Game Developers Situation) says that game developers are too insulated and socially unaware, and that they should pay more attention to media issues.

Lee Jacobson (Business Development for Midway) accuses most people in the industry of being outright thieves and liars:

A few notable examples involved a developer pocketing milestone money; another developer paying his employees less than what they told the publisher (and pocketing the difference); a contracted studio that said they owned the engine they were developing the game with — which they didn’t; another team switched senior guys to junior guys when developer wasn’t looking. The best example involved a developer who said they had two teams: “We visited a studio. The people on team one were the same as team two — just wearing different clothes … If you’ve ever wondered why publishers are worried about their assets and asses — now you know.”

Greg Costikyan (CEO Manifesto) says that retailers are about to be cut out of the video game industry already, and that digital distribution would dominate the market (see: Xbox Live Arcade).

So, what about you? What are your biggest gripes about the industry?

(Thanks, Joystiq.)

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