Randy "Savage" Pitchford is at it again. The outspoken Gearbox Software president has moved on from criticizing Valve and is now focusing on id Software and Crytek, two of the biggest PC developers out there. Randy believes that the two studios have pushed technology to a point where they risk their own doom.
"This is going to be the longest generation we've seen in the last few of them," Pitchford tells OXM. "Some people have invested a lot going to a place that's too far, and the customers aren't ready for that yet because they don't have the hardware for it.
"I was thinking of Crytek, they couldn't find a market because they made a game that very few people could play. I'm not putting words in their mouth, I remember reading something publicly where they said they couldn't put this on consoles because of the hardware ... We see the id guys talking continuously about this, -- 'well, Sony will have a Blu-Ray and I don't know what we'll do on the 360, maybe we'll have three DVDs ... if the publisher will let us do that, maybe we'll errrrahh I dunno.'
"Because they're in this kind of "generation plus" mode, and like nobody knows what the generation beyond this one is going to look like."
I can see what Pitchford is saying, although I think that id, at the very least, is savvy enough to see which way the wind is blowing, as evidenced by the fact that Rage is even coming to consoles in the first place. As for Crytek, who knows? What Randy says is true -- they did make a game (Crysis) that very few people can run properly, and that's just silly.
Contest:
8:20 AM on 11.16.2009
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Crysis 2 is coming out to both 360 and PS3 as well as the PC.
Don't bring the hammer down on Crytek just yet, they still got some tricks...
iD?
Well, next year, or the year after that.
Next-gen is soooo 2007. Atleast CryTek makes it possible to turn down the settings on PC so you can't say that only a few people can play their games.
Typos are hawt!
Well, first of all, I didn't shoot him down, and second of all, I'm not the president of a software company who keeps openly badmouthing my peers.
Plus if it weren't for that Crysis money Free Radical would've died and stayed dead and have been gone forever, instead of becoming Crytek UK.
Imagine where gaming would be today if there weren't people willing to try and push the hardware as far as it possibly could be pushed.
On another note, nice new TV Jim, managed to get MW2 working online yet? Thought that a problem free online gaming system was what people paid for LIVE for? Do people get any money back when they can't use that thar paid for service properly?
Do you ignore my twatter messages? Or am i doing it wrong? I'm new to Twatter you see.
Now... meh.
He made fun of iD too...
After reading again, I guess I was too hasty to post, sorry for the comment.
Good point.
If he wants 3 discs, he can have 3 discs Pitchford! Though, to be honest, 3 discs of blurry textures is still 3 discs of blurry textures. Silly Xbox tech limitations.
Also, id was bought by Zenimax/Bethesda (who have plenty of spare cash to fund their projects), and despite the steep requirements, Crysis sold fairly well. Even if we're still using the same consoles in 2015, these companies are positioned well.
- Crysis made a large profit and sold over a million copies quickly after release. Who knows what it is up to now, and you also have to consider the cheaply made expansion Crysis Warhead which was almost surely a large profit margin release.
- A $500 computer can run Crysis well, an $800 can max it out. It's not future hardware from space... GTA4 takes a better computer than Crysis to run smoothly.
- Pitchford talks out his ass.
ye, maybe alot of people dont have hardware for the most demanding games, but alot of people do and these people appreciate having games that can take the most out of it. not to mention that at least on PC you can lower the settings and play the games even on weaker machines.
plus, the game engines form both companies he mentions are being used fucking everywhere. his own company used one of them ffs.
Way to burn bridges, Randy.
Not to mention, a man who's entire career has been based around making shitty sports games for hire and expansions and ports of his betters' games.
Maybe when Borderlands 4 has more than 6 enemy models and one environment he can have more ground to stand on.
Also Crysis sold over a million copies, so they seem to be doing fine. Not to mention the thousands of people who will buy a new computer in a year or two and what's the first game they'll buy as a litmus test?
Especially id, amirite?
Starcraft 2. Duh!
Except.. Crysis maintained a profit. And they also got to make a game that they were proud of and is still to this day used as a benchmark. Hell even the expansion pack sold nicely.
Also, he's not really bashing them, he's commenting on their struggle to find a viable audience by pushing the envelope too far. Since when is that the equivalent of "What a crappy couple of studios, talk about FAIL"?
I guess I just don't understand why I keep seeing articles vilifying this guy and making him seem like some sort terrible enemy.
What a rebel.
id... i dont see his point. doom 3 was a "generation plus" game too. just because pc has more capabilities than console graphically doesnt mean that pushing the hardware to its capabilities is a bad thing. last time i checked, there are still "low" settings on pc games...
This guy just needs to stfu. It's bad enough he had to diss on valve - who he more or less owes his career to - but this is just getting silly.
Just because he owes his career to Valve doesn't mean he shouldn't speak his opinion on what they're doing. That's a very slippery slope.
Well done, genius. Maybe if you'd set your standards a little higher Borderlands wouldn't have been so BORING. The one thing you don't do is make snarky remarks about hard-working people that are better than you.
This guy's really starting to get on my nerves.
While your at it please tell him that Gearbox risks failure, despite large sales, when they send out a game that was as buggy Borderlands.. You know, to warn him about the future..
Mr. Pitchford doesn't know what he is talking about, like usual it's beginning to seem.
Crytek have learned though; has Jim forgotten about the Cryengine 3 already? We've already seen some nice videos, running on 360 and ps3.