The most recent BAFTA Fellow has urged games press to look more closely and celebrate the people behind the games, not just the leaders.
“I dearly wish that things like the Develop 30 under 30, that pull people out of obscurity, were noticed a bit more,” he said to IGN.
Develop 30 under 30 is meant to highlight the careers of up and comers in the gaming industry. Molyneux hopes that spotlighting more people like that will encourage studios. He sees the current standard of keeping developers away from the press as inherently wrong.
He refers to Markus Perrson, the man behind Minecraft. “People like Markus – and there are some people in the social side – I feel there's a real talent there.”
“I think Minecraft's the best thing I've played in the last ten years, and what's so brilliant about it – and I've met Markus and he's a real inspirational person – he did everything on his own, and I think how brilliant and inspirational that is, to not need the full force of publishers and marketing people.”
“I wish you – people in the press – would focus on some of that up and coming talent, because there isn't enough focus on it in my opinion. People like Markus Persson who did Minecraft, he's a fantastic person to talk to, and I think Minecraft is a complete work of genius.”
1 Comments
March 21, 2011
It's a bit tough to focus on "some of that up and coming talent" if developers and publishers are shielding them behind a wall of producers and directors.
Also note how many companies, multiple price winner Rockstar San Diego included, just had the music, sound, story or design team named for the GDC Awards at this year's GDC. There is no interest to have people stand out ("It's all a team effort") or have them demand a raise or see them snatched up by competitors.
I wonder, though: I never hear the "team effort" excuse in Hollywood. With gaming going the way of the core group of devs contracting services from external providers, this isn't the best development.