That’s a bit harsh of him, but he didn’t just call them idiots. He called them “f___ng idiots”…

In an interview with PocketGamer.biz, John Riccitiello said it about developers who reject monetization efforts in their games: “Ferrari and some of the other high-end car manufacturers still use clay and carving knives. A tiny portion of the gaming industry works that way, and some of these people are my favourite people in the world to fight with—they’re the most beautiful and pure, brilliant people. They’re also some of the biggest fucking idiots.”

It was not taken well, especially by indie developers: one of them (who works on Faraway Fairway) said, “I strongly disagree with Riccitiello; what that scumbag doesn’t realize is some people enjoy making games for fun or to educate, or to share a thought, idea, or experience. Those creators and games are valid, and their process should not be condemned.” Another developer  says they are an idiot, to which he says Riccitiello is a greedy little capitalist pig who only cares about money and is fed up with people who ruin the things they enjoy. And a third developer pointed out that Riccitiello was the CEO of Electronic Arts before he ran Unity!

Regardless, Riccitiello elaborated on what he meant, and it’s fair to include this quote: “It used to be the case that developers would throw their game over the wall to the publicist and sales force with literally no interaction beforehand. That model is baked into the philosophy of a lot of art forms and medium, and it’s one I am deeply respectful of; I know their dedication and care. But this industry divides people between those who still hold to that philosophy and those who massively embrace how to figure out what makes a successful product. And I don’t know a successful artist anywhere that doesn’t care about their player’s opinion. This is where this feedback cycle comes back, and they can choose to ignore it. But to choose to not know it at all is not a great call.

I’ve seen great games fail because they tuned their compulsion loop to two minutes when it should have been an hour. Sometimes, you wouldn’t even notice the difference between massive success and tremendous failure, but for this tuning and what it does to the attrition rate. There isn’t a developer on the planet that wouldn’t want that knowledge.”

Regardless, the ex-Electronic Arts leader has gone off the hook again…

Source: PCGamer