Peter Molyneux said he’d learnt his lesson a couple of years ago. He even reiterated it just before 22 Cans announced their first project:
Must remember not to give to much away about 22Cans next project, don’t get too excited, don’t over promise, ahhhhh it’s going to get messy
— peter molyneux (@pmolyneux) June 4, 2012
He’s clearly as aware as the rest of us that he just can’t help himself. It won’t have escaped you that he has since wilfully and repeatedly described the contents of the cube that you chip away at in Curiosity as “life changing”. Oh, Peter!
It’s fun to try and work out what’s going on inside the mind of Molyneux.
He gave a talk at Rezzed in Brighton this week, which you can see that over on that there fancy Eurogamer.
But it’s the interview he gave to Eurogamer afterwards that comes closest to revealing what the hecking heck is going on in his brain space. In it, he denies that describing it as “life changing” constitutes “bigging it up”:
“Bigging it up would be me telling you what it was. I did the very thing Curiosity is all about. I said it is life changing, and it is.”
“I didn’t give you a clue. I didn’t say it was pink or blue. I just said that it’s life changing.”
His answers are fascinating. And, moreover, baffling.
In Molyneux’s head, materially describing the contents of the cube in any way, however inconsequentially, would be a problem. But creating massive expectations that whatever’s in there will literally change the life of the person who finds it – no worries mate!
Maybe there’s a hint of logic in there though. What he got in trouble for in the past – for example with Fable – was promising features that didn’t make it into the final game. So by not describing anything material about Curiosity, he’s avoiding that; no-one can complain that he promised that it would be pink, and actually it’s yellow.
Of course, what he’s not grasped is that describing it in less material terms – like “life changing” – is just as bad. Or, perhaps more realistically, he has grasped that it’s just as good for generating interest.
Because, when all’s said and done, yes, I’m intrigued by what’s in that bloody cube.
Photo Credit: Jon Jordan – Flickr – Some rights reserved