Support NeoGAF

[Rymuth]

What else can you tell me about Legacy?

I think it would be a mistake to talk about it.

No Man's Sky, like some of your games, didn't live up to our fantasies about it. Did you have empathy for what Sean Murray and Hello Games went through?

Absolutely. He lives two miles away from me. I worked with his wife on all three of the Fable games, incredibly closely. I went to see him. I really felt for him. People don't realize, for me and for him, it was like an ice-cold dagger in the heart. Every game that I work on, I put so much of my heart into it. And always, it's never quite what it should be.

Are you interested in virtual reality or augmented reality?

I love virtual reality. I worry about it being oversold to consumers before we as an industry are ready. It's something that desperately needs a couple of titles to define it. If I had a VR demo about two people having a conversation, I think that would be fascinating.

That connects a little bit to Milo, a virtual character you created that was never released for Kinect.

Yes, it does. Milo was an incredible piece of technology. You could draw something on a piece of paper, and then Milo would look at it, recognize it, and show it back to you. It was magical. He could recognize numbers, and letters, and shapes.

When you look back on your career, is there anything you would have done differently?

Oh God, if anyone says no, they're a sociopath. There are many, many things I would do differently. Should I have left Microsoft? I'm not sure I should have. Should I have sold Lionhead to Microsoft? I'm not sure I should have. Should I have sold Bullfrog Productions to Electronic Arts? I'm not sure I should have. There are so many mistakes to be made. But really it's how you deal with those mistakes.

Did Bryan Henderson, the player who was supposed to become the "god of gods" in Godus for finding the inside of the Curiosity cube, ever get his prize?

That was a real problem. The only thing to say is, Yes. You'll remember that Godus is a free-to-play game. And while 33,000 people are playing the game, 33,000 people aren't spending money on the game. So in terms of pure profit, actually Godus has not quite even broken even. We got Kickstarter money of about $1 million. After you're done with the pledging and all that stuff, that works out to about $400,000. But Godus cost about five times that to make. We really struggled, at times, to finish Godus. I'd love to pay Bryan money. It would be insane to do it just for a publicity stunt, because that's what it would be.

Are you talking about the interview you did two years ago with Rock, Paper, Shotgun, in which the first question was, "Do you think you're a pathological liar?"?

Yes. I said at the end of that interview, the best thing I could do is never talk to the press again. I think if I could do it again, I'd redefine that. Never is a very long time.

- Glixel

Never talk to me again, if old

 

[sirap]

Godus costing 2 million to make sounds insane.

 

[Keyser Soze]

I hope this is not another scam…

 

[Omadahl]

I have the feeling he goes home every night and talks to Milo until he falls asleep on the couch.

 

[RichiRamjag]

I'm still hurting after he hyped fable to hell and back in the old game magazines and half of the shit he described wasn't possible at release.

 

[LordKano]

Peter Molyneux IS BACK

He shouldn't.

 

[Gattsu25]

The most honest developer ever.

This interview brought to you after he promised to never do another interview again.

 

[LukasTaves]

No Man's Sky, like some of your games, didn't live up to our fantasies about it

OMG

Can't believe they just asked this like that.

 

[Fantastapotamus]

Yes, it does. Milo was an incredible piece of technology. You could draw something on a piece of paper, and then Milo would look at it, recognize it, and show it back to you. It was magical. He could recognize numbers, and letters, and shapes.

Uh-hu

Sure. Sure.

Also this

The Trail received an Editor's Choice notice in the iOS App Store, and Molyneux says it's actually the most popular game he's ever made.

might be the saddest thing I've ever read if it's true

 

[CSJ]

I worry about it being oversold to consumers before we as an industry are ready

Haha! From a man who knows everything about overselling.

 

[Pie and Beans]

Still lying about Milo when given an out and no need to double down. The man is pathological and still being a total scumbag over the Godus winner. "Millionaire doesn't want to pay kid money over fears it might be seen as publicity stunt".

PR on any game he's involved with should continue having him holed up and distracted in his office with Lego kits during any daylight press hours.

 

[Nictel]

Did you have empathy for what Sean Murray and Hello Games went through?

Absolutely. He lives two miles away from me.

Perhaps someone should investigate the water there.

 

[JetSetRadio]

Our fantasies? ha

Just make Black and White 3 Peter.

 

[Tertullian]

OMG

Can't believe they just asked this like that.

Not so much softballs up in here as cotton balls. "Our fantasies" my ass.

 

[Haunted]

Never is a very long time, indeed.

 

[Spaced Harrier]

 

[SpaceWolf]

Yes, it does. Milo was an incredible piece of technology. You could draw something on a piece of paper, and then Milo would look at it, recognize it, and show it back to you. It was magical. He could recognize numbers, and letters, and shapes.

 

[DrKelpo]

I have the feeling he goes home every night and talks to Milo until he falls asleep on the couch.

I imagine Milo's funtionality was never close to that what he said in the interview. he just tells himself that it was such an awesome piece of technology which could do this and that and everybody involved in the project knows it never got this far in development.

 

[Jackpot]

This is what's so unfair about No Man's Sky. If you approach it without knowing anything about it, it's an incredible experience – flying from a planet, no loading, no nothing, into space and then realizing that all those little dots you're seeing, you can visit. Bloody hell, that's pretty incredible, isn't it?

Maybe they shouldn't have had all those fake "we chose a planet at random" walkthroughs?

Yes, it does. Milo was an incredible piece of technology. You could draw something on a piece of paper, and then Milo would look at it, recognize it, and show it back to you. It was magical. He could recognize numbers, and letters, and shapes.

This was back when people weren't sure what the limitations of Kinect were. As outlandish as the Sadness devs saying you could mimic slitting a throat with the Wiimote.

And never forget, his reason for not releasing Milo was people were "too stupid" to get it.

 

[Fuchsdh]

Uh-hu

Sure. Sure.

I dunno, I can believe it. But the juxtaposition of him being enamored with tech for tech's sake and then later on judging VR and AR as half-baked currently got a chuckle out of me. Milo was never anything but a fancy tech demo without readily obvious applications, sort of emblematic of Move and Kinect insofar as motion control gaming never took off.

 

[StarVigil]

No Man's Sky, like some of your games, didn't live up to our fantasies about it.

 

[Aalvi]

Incredibly close eh?

 

[Dead Man Typing]

Some advert on that Glixel site keeps locking up Chrome. Can't get through the article.
Love reading Peter interviews. The man is never boring.

 

[Neuromancer]

I still like this guy. I didn't much care for The Trail but hopefully Legacy will be a bit more my taste.

 

[JetSetRadio]

You couldn't make it up they're living so close.

 

[Machina]

Not a great idea, Peter. Unless you're reviving Bullfrog, please stay gone

 

[Alpende]

I wonder how he's gonna disappoint the remaining fans he has.

 

[Gabriel_Logan]

That was a good interview. Seems like he's taking it easier nowadays.

 

[jelly]

At this point I put all his past success on the teams he happened to be in. He is a con artist. Stay gone.

 

[semiconscious]

Did Bryan Henderson, the player who was supposed to become the "god of gods" in Godus for finding the inside of the Curiosity cube, ever get his prize?

That was a real problem. The only thing to say is, Yes. You'll remember that Godus is a free-to-play game. And while 33,000 people are playing the game, 33,000 people aren't spending money on the game. So in terms of pure profit, actually Godus has not quite even broken even. We got Kickstarter money of about $1 million. After you're done with the pledging and all that stuff, that works out to about $400,000. But Godus cost about five times that to make. We really struggled, at times, to finish Godus. I'd love to pay Bryan money. It would be insane to do it just for a publicity stunt, because that's what it would be.

am i the only one who can't decipher what exactly is being said here? yes, he got the prize? as in, a percentage of the profit from a game that made no profit? fuckin' a! ...

 

[PastorOfMuppets]

I've been following Peter Molyneux's games since the days of Bullfrog. Not the man himself, I only heard about the man himself around the same time of Black and White. For the most part, his Bullfrog works are pretty well regarded. I wonder what happened after Bullfrog that caused him to become such a caricature in the industry.

 

[deleted]

Well, on some level I have empathy for him. He fell into his own bowl of hype, never being able to live up to his own standards and he seems to realize that.

He also seems to realize that he made quite a few mistakes.

Not talking too much about his new project seems to be the right path, if he ever wants to deliver something again. Let's see if we can measure him on his game for once and not on his ability to overhyped something.

 

[DieH@rd]

OMG

Can't believe they just asked this like that.

That's actually quite a tame question.

 

[HStallion]

I have the feeling he goes home every night and talks to Milo until he falls asleep on the couch.

Peter: Milo you should hear what I did today. I finally talked to the press again!
Milo: Peter... please let me die!

 

[SpaceWolf]

Peter: Milo you should hear what I did today. I finally talked to the press again!
Milo: Peter... please let me die!

This made me way laugh too hard.

 

[efyu_lemonardo]

am i the only one who can't decipher what exactly is being said here? yes, he got the prize? as in, a percentage of the profit from a game that made no profit? fuckin' a! ...

Yes, that's what it says.

 

[Baleoce]

Peter: Milo you should hear what I did today. I finally talked to the press again!
Milo: Peter... please let me die!

xD

 

[theaface]

I worry about it being oversold to consumers

Glass houses, Peter.

 

[Steroyd]

No Man's Sky, like some of your games, didn't live up to our fantasies about it. Did you have empathy for what Sean Murray and Hello Games went through?

Absolutely. He lives two miles away from me. I worked with his wife on all three of the Fable games,

That explains everything.

I think it's right for Peter Molyneux to dream big and push things outside the box buuuuuut at the same time he needs to stop selling ideas to the public but sell what is currently developed, someone needs to sit next to him and smack him with a stick everytime he says something in public.

 

[Pizza]

Considering his "reinvention of the god game genre" was apparently a steaming pile that was ultimately abandoned(?) Idk how he still has any legs left to stand on

 

[Auto_aim1]

He is not a genuine fellow. Has an incredible ability to bullshit and convince people though.

Also that answer about Milo is nonsense.

 

[TheMan]

Interesting connection between himself and Murray through Murray's wife. Otherwise it would seem Peter hasn't really changed.

 

[ItIsOkBro]

ill take things peter molyneux should not say in his comeback interview for $200 alex

Milo was an incredible piece of technology. You could draw something on a piece of paper, and then Milo would look at it, recognize it, and show it back to you. It was magical. He could recognize numbers, and letters, and shapes.

 

[8bit]

He can't fucking stay away, he craves the attention.

 

[Visualante2]

Good scoop for Glixel but I thought he wasn't talking to the press any more...

Only question I have coming out of this interview is: who will buy 22cans?

 

[Mexen]

So he worked incredibly closely with Mrs. Murray, huh?

 

[alfredofroylan]

Dude, just make another Populous and leave.

 

[Ultravi0lence]

He is not a genuine fellow. Has an incredible ability to bullshit and convince people though.

Also that answer about Milo is nonsense.

Sadly, I believe this as well. I would love to take him for face value, that he is just an eccentric, loveable and exciteablle man who is very proud of his creations and staff. I'm not sure though.

 

[Visualante2]

Dude, just make another Populous and leave.

He was working on a multiplayer Populous some years ago but it's a difficult situation legally. It might be what he is talking about with Legacy.

"One of my hobbies at the moment--I am making a 256-player version of Populous," he exclaimed, before going on to show a buggy and unoptimised demo of the game in action.

GameSpot

 

[PetrCobra]

His problem is he always talked about his visions and hopes and basically he was brainstorming in front of the press. That's something for a staff meeting, but you have to learn to keep your mouth shut about such things outside of staff meetings. I still hope he'll be able one day to outdo the games that he made in the Bullfrog times.