Famed developer Peter Molyneux (Populous, Black & White) has always delivered grand visions and injected new ways of thinking into the video game industry. But he hasn't always succeeded in delivering what's been promised, and certainly not on time, which has led to a lot of harsh criticism over the years.
And that has gotten even worse lately, with broken promises regarding the Kickstarter funded Godus, and with the winner of Curiosity: What's Inside the Cube feeling completely abandoned. In an interview with The Guardian, Molyneux says that henceforth there is only one solution for him - and that's to stop speaking to the press:
"I love working on games, it is my life. I am so honoured to be a part of the games industry, but I understand that people are sick of hearing my voice and hearing my promises. So I'm going to stop doing press and I'm going to stop talking about games completely. And actually I'm only giving you this interview now in answer to this terrible and awful, emotional time over the last three days. I think honestly the only answer to this is for me to completely stop talking to the press."
Molyneux also added that this time the public reaction from fans regarding Godus has been particularly vitriolic, perhaps because this time it's crowd-sourced funding, and not investors money, that has propped up development:
"People get so frustrated with me, so much so that they've threatened me, they've threatened my family and it just cannot go on, it really can't," he said. "I think I'll get this over and done with. I'll answer some of the things backers are saying, but after that I feel the best thing I can do is just ...."
Molyneux has always been an outspoken developer, and that has caused issues in the past that have finally come to the fore. While he is currently under scrutiny for some unrealised promises pertaining to Godus and Curiosity, let's not forget that he's also the creative force behind some of the industry's most innovative games, and that's precisely because of his ability to think big, even if some of those ideas ultimately don't pay off.