Peter Molyneux: Working For Microsoft Is Like Taking Antidepressants 164
SmartAboutThings (1951032) writes "Peter Molyneux is one of the most famous personalities in the history of gaming, especially recognized for having created God games Dungeon Keeper, Populous, Black & White, but also the Fable series. After creating the Fable series, Molyneux announced in March 2012 that he will be leaving Lionhead and Microsoft to start another company – 22Cans. During a recent interview, the former Microsoft employee has shared some interesting details regarding the time when he was working over at Redmond. Here's the excerpt from his interview: 'I left Microsoft because I think when you have the ability to be a creative person, you have to take that seriously, and you have to push yourself. And pushing yourself is a lot easier to do if you're in a life raft that has a big hole in the side, and that's what I think indie development is. You're paddling desperately to get where you want to go to, but you're also bailing out. Whereas if you're in a big supertanker of safety, which Microsoft was, then that safety is like an anesthetic. It's like taking antidepressants. The world just feels too comfortable.'"
If it weren't for Microsoft... (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Thanks for peptuating (Score:4, Interesting)
Before I started taking anti-depressants there weren't any ups. Now there are plenty. There are still downs but they don't stop me from functioning.
Re:Well, that sort of explains Windows 8... (Score:5, Interesting)
I agree that Win8 is a product where Microsoft didn't give a rats ass about what their customers thought of it, but it also has the feel of a product where the developers own input was disregarded. The entire metro interface feels like a design that was created by committee (that never has used it) and forced on the developers by order of management.
I honestly don't believe developers would have done half of the BS that's in Windows8 if left to their own devices and even if certain features were dictated there would have been settings to reset the behavior to previous standards. That those settings don't exist screams of management dictating behavior.
Que Sera, Sera (Score:4, Interesting)
This is not a commentary on Microsoft so much as it is a commentary on Peter Molyneux's personality and work habits.
Some of us are self-starters and don't need constant crises or deadlines to get work accomplished or be creative. Others require that sense of the world will come to an end to be motivated. Hell for me would be to constantly be in crisis mode. Hell for him is to not be... To each their own...