Peter Molyneux is ready to launch his biggest (crypto) scam, and he means it with all his heart.
First, let's start with a quote:
“I’ve never really understood if Peter is a genius visionary who intends to make his claims come true, is a compulsive liar, just fantastically eager to please or perhaps even a crazy megalomaniac who believes his own hyperbole,” said ex-Bullfrog employee Mike Diskett. “I suspect it’s a little of all of the above.”
Now I'll start this by saying that I don't know Peter Molyneux directly. I know him through his statements, his recorded public words. I have worked directly with multiple people who worked with him. I won't repeat anything that I have heard there in confidence. I don't think that he's a bad person. I do think that he has a history, a long and documented history of bullshitting his way through things he doesn't know, things he hasn't planned, and things he hasn't discussed with his dev teams. I don't think he can help it. There is a massive public record of this for 20+ years going back to Black & White.
So Peter Molyneux is getting ready to launch his latest game, a game that is essentially his ultimate crypto scam game Let's explore this story through his headlines and his own words over the last 15 years. These words are what we in the game industry call "Molynuexisms". I'm not joking. There ois an accepted understanding that he blends broken promises, unfilled expectations, unbridled enthusiasm, things he's pitching to his own team, not quite lies, and out and out bullshit.
Peter Molyeneux is one of, or perhaps, THE 'great white hope' for blockchain gamification. A rambling former game dev legend, who is not lying, but rather bullshitting endlessly. Below, let's take a walkthru some of Peter's Molyneux-isms in his own words.
While you are reading through this public journalist history of Molyneux, think on this. Molyneux has crowdfunded his next game to the tune of $54 million. Now even considering the likely factor of 30-50% of that amount being wash traded market manipulation of unregistered securities. SEC, please take note, if you're going to go aftera blockchain gamification project, this is one to explore. This was the largest raise by Gala Games, and the most obviously wash traded. So still, he probably had about $30 million to make a game for retail investors who all want 10x return on their money. So the game really needs to generate at least $300 million in sales and secondary sales JUST TO BREAK EVEN... for the outsized expectations of the retail investors who funded this scam.
What is the game(ification)? It's a market economy sim. Yeah, I'm sure that regular game consumers really want to rush in to feed the renting and loansharking of retail investors for a matrket economy sim from a former game legend who has overpromised and under delivered for a solid decade now. I might want to fund a game about watching paint peel from above Will Wright's garage, doesn't everyone? This isn't even counting that the Legacy coin tanked during the pandemic down to 9.99% below original launched market value. So I hope that Peter took all the dev money out of Legacy coin, out of Etehreeum, and out of Gala store coin, out at the peak, between Dec 2021 and Feb 2022, and put it in Greenbacks. After all he still has to make the game funded by these ill-gotten unregistered securities
Take a read thru the recent past, below. This is all public journalist article documentation... and Peter Molyenux's own words, what we call Molyneuxisms. There is literally a subsection of internet memes for describing Molyenuxisms. I have grabbed a selection to illustrate. This is the community's perception of Peter Molyneux. Do you trust this man to make a game involving real money output? Should you?
Kotaku: "The Man Who Promised Too Much"
(Jason Schreier) (March 11, 2014)
"Peter Molyneux is crying. I’m not sure how to react to this. Legendary game designers don’t often get emotional with the press. But here’s Molyneux, who has made so many games and done so many interviews over the past two decades, openly weeping into my voice recorder.
We’re talking about promises. Molyneux, who has helped design a string of hits including Fable, Dungeon Keeper, and Populous, is a fascinating paradox, known both for his formidable creative accomplishments and his tendency to make big, lofty claims that never quite deliver. Through 20 years as the face of three different companies, Molyneux has earned a reputation as something of a huckster, a big talker whose best skill is making headlines. When you type “peter molyneux” into Google, the first auto-fill result is “peter molyneux lies.” His quotes, delivered regularly and with aplomb, are both brilliant and nutty.
So it’s a little strange to see him cry in front of me.
“If I ask people to be interested in [my newest game] Godus, if there’s one reason for them to be interested,” he says, breaking into tears, “it’s that I could not do anything that would not make my son proud.
Molyneux pauses. Sniffles. His voice is cracking. Part of me wants to give him a hug; another part of me wonders if he’s just putting on a show.
“He’s a gamer,” Molyneux says, “and if I ever make a game where he turns around to me and says, ‘You over-promised that,’ it would just kill me.”
In interviews leading up to the game, Molyneux had made ambitious promises—that Fable would let you have children; that the game would span your hero’s whole lifetime; that you could knock an acorn off a tree and slowly, over the course of the game, watch it grow into a tree of its own. None of those things happened.
It isn’t just promises—Molyneux’s 20-year career in the video game industry has been a whirlwind of quotes ranging from the ridiculous to the more ridiculous. “I’d have sold my children for multi-player versions of Railroad Tycoon or Civilization,” he said in a 1993 interview.
Fans and pundits have criticized his behavior, questioning his motives and authenticity. But friends and colleagues describe Molyneux as a genuine, passionate, talented designer whose words tend to get him into trouble.
“I think he intentionally tries to say things to make them happen,” said Gary Carr, who currently runs the video game studio Lionhead and worked alongside Molyneux for close to two decades. “That’s him trying to retain control of his creativity… I think sometimes he does it to help push the team to shoot for the moon, really.”
“There was always this sort of joke between everyone—’the bullshit in the press again,’” said Sean Cooper, one of the first employees at Molyneux’s first game company, Bullfrog. “But it wasn’t really bullshit—it was more stretching the truth.”
“I’ve never really understood if Peter is a genius visionary who intends to make his claims come true, is a compulsive liar, just fantastically eager to please or perhaps even a crazy megalomaniac who believes his own hyperbole,” said ex-Bullfrog employee Mike Diskett. “I suspect it’s a little of all of the above.”
“The trouble is, I’m a terrible PR person,” Molyneux told me during an interview last year. “I’m just this person that absolutely loves what they do, I just love what I do, and when you get someone who loves what they do so much, you get them to talk about what they’re doing, of course I’m gonna come across as enthusiastic.”
(keep reading)
RockPaperShotgun: "Peter Molyneux Interview: "I haven’t got a reputation in this industry any more. I don't think I've ever knowingly lied"
(John Walker) (Feb 13, 2015)
"RPS: Do you think that you're a pathological liar?
Peter Molyneux: That's a very...
RPS: I know it's a harsh question, but it seems an important question to ask because there do seem to be lots and lots of lies piling up.
Peter Molyneux: I'm not aware of a single lie, actually. I'm aware of me saying things and because of circumstances often outside of our control those things don't come to pass, but I don't think that's called lying, is it? I don't think I've ever knowingly lied, at all. And if you want to call me on one I'll talk about it for sure.
RPS: During the Kickstarter for Godus you stated, regarding that you don't want to use a publisher stating, "It'll just be you and our unbridled dedication (no publishers)." And five months later you signed with a publisher.
Peter Molyneux: Absolutely. And at that time I wish we had raised enough money to not need a publisher.
RPS: But you got more than you asked--
Peter Molyneux: We could have gone and we were asked to by publishers to publish the Steam version, but we turned that down. The economics of doing Godus, unfortunately Kickstarter didn't raise enough money. Now the trouble is with Kickstarter, you don't really fully know how much money you need and I think most people who do Kickstarter would agree with me here. You have an idea, you think you need this much, but as most people will say with Kickstarter, if you ask for too much money up front because of the rules of Kickstarter, it's very, very hard to ask for the complete development budget. I think Double Fine have gone back and asked for more money because development is a very, very, it's a very confusing and bewildering time, and it's very hard to predict what will happen.
RPS: Yes, but you know that. You've been working in the industry for over thirty years, you know how much money it costs to make a game and you put a specific amount--
Peter Molyneux: No, I don't, I disagree John. I have no idea how much money it costs to make a game and anyone that tells you how much it's going to cost to make a game which is completely a new experience is a fool or a genius.
RPS: But you have to have enough experience to know the basics of budgeting a videogame, you've been doing it for thirty years!"
Peter Molyneux: No, I disagree. See this is where you're wrong. I think even Hollywood struggles. Lots of films go over budget.
RPS: I understand budgets can go--
Peter Molyneux: I'm running a business and god I wish to god that I could predict the time and I can assure you every single person has worked their ass off to try to make this game as quickly and effectively as they possibly can and everybody here is incredibly dedicated and still is.
(keep reading)
RockPaperShotgun: https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/peter-molyneux-interview-godus-reputation-kickstarter
Eurogamer: "Molyneux apologises for Fable missing bits. He just gets so excited." (Jan 17, 2008)
"If I have mentioned any features in the past which, for whatever reason, didn't make it as I described into Fable, I apologise. Every feature I have ever talked about was in development, but not all made it. Often the reason is that the feature did not make sense."
"I have come to realise that I should not talk about features too early so I am considering not talking about games as early as I do. This will mean that the Lionhead games will not be known about as early as they are, but I think this is the more industry standard," he concluded.
Eurogamer: "Molyneux: "Sorry if I've over-promised. Admits telling fibs to keep journos awake." (Mar 16, 2011)
"I'd like to thank the press, by the way, for listening to my stuff," said Molyneux while accepting an academy fellowship at the annual BAFTA ceremony in London earlier this evening.
"Sorry - I've slightly over-promised on things on occasion," he continued.
"I could name at least 10 features in games that I've made up to stop journalists going to sleep and I really apologise to the team for that."
Eurogamer: Peter Molyneux teases new project with idea that's "never been seen in a game" before. "I'm so tempted just to tell you..." (Jul 6, 2023)
"Legendary game developer - and game development tease - Peter Molyneux has discussed his next project, and talked up its gameplay as featuring a mechanic that's never been seen before.
Speaking to GameReactor at the recent Gamelab conference in Barcelona, Molyneux was reluctant to give many firm details of the game or this idea to avoid - in his words - people subsequently getting "very annoyed and angry" when their expectations of Molyneux's words are met with reality.
"In days gone by, I would just start telling you about the whole game and the whole game design and why it was going to be the most brilliant game in the world," Molyneux said. "I'm not going to do that."
"Every part of me wants to tell you everything about it," he concluded. "But, you know, that would be silly."
Eurogamer: "Peter Molyneux says he regrets over-promising his games. "What I should have said in every interview is 'everything I say, take with a pinch of salt'." (Sep 5, 2023)
"For me doing press interviews back then was all about showing the passion that you had for a game, the passion for the thing that you were creating. What I should have said in every interview is 'everything I say, take with a pinch of salt'. I may not even tell the rest of the team about it. And when I used to go back after interviews, a lot of the team members would say Peter, we didn't know that we're going to have this feature in the game until they read it in the press."
ArsTechnica:"Players invest $54M in Molyneux’s NFT game Legacy in hopes of earning even more. But are these games a brave new world or a FOMO-driven gold rush bubble?" (Dec 16, 2021)
""Peter Molyneux's 22cans studio and blockchain gaming company Gala Games announced the first limited land sale in Legacy, an NFT-powered game being sold as "a creative entrepreneur’s dream come true." Less than a week later, early player-investors have already poured over $54 million into the virtual-land non-fungible tokens that make up the game, which isn't expected to launch until sometime next year."
In the end, investing in a pre-launch NFT game comes down to trust that the companies involved can create a functional and fair in-game economy in a game that people will want to play. In Legacy's case, this is where Peter Molyneux comes in.
Molyneux made a name for himself in the '90s and '00s with god games like Populous and Black and White and RPGs like the Fable series. In more recent years, though, he's earned a reputation as being a serial over-promiser. His ambitious crowdfunded god-game Godus was largely abandoned before many promised features were finished; it's still available as a buggy "early access" version years after its successful Kickstarter campaign.
ArsTechnica: https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2021/12/peter-molyneux-raises-54m-on-promise-of-play-to-earn-nft-game-legacy/
And this is who Peter Molyenux is working with? Nothing suspicious here:
Decrypt: "Gala Games Co-Founders Sue Each Other Alleging Corporate Waste, $130 Million Theft. The co-founders of Gala Games are at loggerheads, with rival lawsuits accusing each other of theft or corporate waste that cost the company a nine-digit sum." (Sep 4, 2023)
"Both lawsuits ask for the removal of the defendant and the paying of multiple millions in compensation and relief. Thurston’s suit asks for $750 million, alleging Schiermeyer misused at least $600 million from the company funds, while the CEO’s lawsuit asks for the $130 million GALA tokens allegedly stolen plus damages. "
Blockworks: "Gala Games’ founders engulfed in legal feud" (Sep 4, 2023)
Both Eric Schiermeyer and Wright Thurston are seeking to oust the other from the company’s director position."
"On Aug. 31, Eric Schiermeyer and Wright Thurston, co-founders of Gala Games, sued each other, alleging theft of company assets amounting to millions.
In his legal complaint, Schiermeyer alleges that Thurston and his investment entity, True North United, misappropriated $130 million in GALA tokens.
In a counterclaim, Thurston accused Schiermeyer of mismanaging Blockchain Game Partners, the registered name for Gala Games, including the wasteful expenditure of $600 million in company assets.
Thurston further alleged he diverted millions in company funds for personal use and set up businesses in Switzerland and Dubai to capitalize on opportunities that should have belonged to the company."
And his upcoming overpromised overhyped 'game' thing...
PCGamer: "Peter Molyneux is ready to disappoint us again with his latest game, a blockchain-based business sim. Legacy, a blockchain-based business sim, has already earned millions of dollars in "land" presales." (Sep 29, 2023)
"Molyneux was a true force in the early days of the videogame industry, with groundbreaking games including Populous—the great-granddaddy of the "god game" genre—Syndicate, Theme Park, Magic Carpet, and Dungeon Keeper to his credit. His run continued through the turn of millennium with Black & White and Fable. "
In the 2017 tease, Molyneux said the experience with Curiosity and Godus had left him reluctant to talk too much about Legacy, but in 2021 he confirmed that it was a "play-to-earn" crypto game. That news did not go over particularly well at the time—as editor Rich Stanton noted, "the combination of the most irritating digital trend of the moment and a designer infamous for over-promising and under-delivering does not inspire confidence"—and it's even less appealing now, amidst acrimonious lawsuits and a broader meltdown of the NFT marketplace: A recent report by crypto-gambling analyst dappGambl declared that nearly all current NFT holds are now worthless.
None of that may matter in terms of Legacy's "success." As noted by Ars Technica, 2021 pre-sales of "land" in Legacy were a runaway success, earning well over 13,000 Eth, worth more than $54 million in real money, although that has since declined to about $22 million; one "unique" plot sold for more than 220 Eth—over $900,000 at the time. But in terms of Molyneux's actual legacy? I strongly suspect that Legacy is only going to diminish it even further."
Now tell me. If you read all of that, would you trust this person, from HIS OWN WORDS, to put out a game that will pay back all the retail investors of unregistered securities back so that they can 10x their investment? And do you believe that all the gamers are not burned by Curiosity, and Godus, and Project Milo, and Fable, and all the other things he overpromise and under-delivered on? You decide. Just remember, what i excerpted here is a fraction of his history of Molyneuxism of a decade and a half. There is SOOOO MUCH MORE. Web search is your friend. Peter Molyneux is literally a meme.
#gameindustry #vidoegames #gamedev #gamedevelopment #accountability
#petermolyenux #molyneuxisms #brokenpromises #overpromising
#web3 #web3isajoke #blockchain #gamification #nft #unregisteredsecurity #crypotcurrency #scam
Game Industry Evangelist at Modulate
1mo'Been there, heard that. Yep.
Chief Business Development Officer | We help Founders of Software Development agencies to develop faster with top talents in industry
2moRafael, thanks for sharing!
Cinematic and Gameplay Animation Director
9moYou forgot to add an #NFT tag 🤮
Textures, Materials & Surfacing | Mentor | Teacher | Podcaster
9moAre you watching this Adam Capone?
Charmingly Flawed, Very Creative
9moLet's be honest we've all been doing a molyneux at some point in our life, where our ambition and excitement exceeded our capacity to execute. Or is that just me?