Mark Rein is a jerk

[Todd]

This is something worth reading: http://positech.co.uk/cliffsblog/?p=769
Mark Rein (of Epic Games) is a jerk.

http://www.develop-online.net/news/35418/Exclusive-Mark-Reins-indie-apology
And the follow up apology. It's worth noting, in the apology email:
"What caused me to speak up was when I heard you talk about revealing
important news items about games through 1-on-1 emails and in forums.
My opinion is that doing so runs the risk of these things no longer
being 'news' when you need to use them to get publicity for your game.
Gaming websites and magazines are all about news and getting a 'scoop'
and often won't cover things that are already announced or generally
known. If you release important new details to small numbers of people
you run the risk of not being to get it disseminated to a larger
audience that helps make more people aware of your talents."

I'm not really sure what to think about all of this. Indies basically
need to rely on as many sales as possible, so 1 on 1 communication is
helpful, but does it come at the cost of publicity on game industry
blogs? Ideally, a good, fun game that people like will spread through
word of mouth, though there still needs to be a certain amount of
press to get that started.

[Wes]

True, 1 on 1 communication is limiting but it could be
useful to get the answers you want. Sometimes, a
widespread survey on games just are not good enough
to tell if it's appealing to a certain audience. I'd say that working
on
a game more personally would be a nice route to go career-wise
but I also feel that there are all sorts of game levels out there.
I don't always want to play an epic game with a 130+ hour storyline
and sometimes, some cheesey cellphone games just don't hold my
interest.
However, there are times that I do like one over the other and, there
are lots of collaborative information that can be shared between
indie and AAA game developers. Just so long as the game is
fun and balanced.

Great information thanks!

[Devin Moore]

Mark Rein gave maybe the most politically saturated apology he
possibly could have, what's really surprising is that he expects
anyone to buy this. Here's all you need to know:

StarCraft II has cost 100 million dollars to develop.

What does this mean? It means that AAA titlemakers are now competing
with games with $100m budgets, so they are hopelessly jealous of an
indie game company that can spit out and profit from a game with a
"mere" 6-figure budget (and probably way less than that as well, as we
all know).

These studios are being priced out of their own game of making the
biggest budget games possible, and yet they are too large and
cumbersome to compete with smaller game developers. Thus, I think his
initial insults and apology are a rare glimpse of an AAA titlemaker
showing their hand -- that their strategy may have painted them into a
corner.