Wow Kermit (Destiny)

by Kahzgul, Monday, February 23, 2015, 09:53 (3815 days ago) @ Kermit

Sir, I am not trying to shit up the internet. What I'm doing is stating that the conditions under which both Joe and Marty left were suspicious at best.

I can't imagine a world where Joe voluntarily left Bungie unless things were going very very very badly there. He's been a pillar of the company, a constant proponent of it, and a marvelous storyteller basically since the company was founded. In fact, Joe used to be the go-to guy for interviews because Jason was press-shy. In my very limited interactions with the company members face to face, everyone was great, but Joe was a stand-out amazing person who actually gave me some very solid, very helpful career advice many years ago.

I don't think I'm alone among Bungie fans when I say that I love Joe. He's a great guy and has written some truly fantastic stories for Bungie's games.

And he left about a year before Bungie shipped Destiny. Around the same time that the reddit poster stated there was a "total rewrite" of the game. Around the same time that other writers were brought in to "punch up" the script (and we all know how that turned out). These things probably aren't coincidental (but that's conjecture).

Now, I'm a guy who has worked in the video game industry a fair bit, and for Activision, and I have a sense of the corporate culture there. These aren't bad people. In fact, they all want to make great games. BUT the decisions about how to make a great game all have to be couched in the guise of making more money for the shareholders. In fact (in actual fact), many of the decisions about hiring and firing at Activision have to do with what people think will make the shareholders happy, far more than about what will result in a better product. It's a business, and that's how it makes money. I get it.

That being said, I can easily imagine a world (now we're in conjecture land) where Joe was forced out either directly "we want you, Joe, to resign" or indirectly "we want you, Bungie, to completely rewrite the game 1 year out from launch." Neither of those are amicable departures for any writer who is proud of his work (and Joe should be very proud). Now, only Joe can really say whether he left willingly or not.

Marty's departure was more public, what with the tweets and such, and he's spoken out about it a little bit as well, so I don't feel the need to explain why I think he was forced out as much as I do for Joe.

Regardless - for me, on the outside looking in - these departures look bad. They look very bad. You may not see it, and you may not value my opinions on these things, and that's completely up to you, but I take issue with accusations that I'm simply trying to shit up the internet here. Bungie has entertained me for decades, and I am an avid fan of the company and what they have done in the past. I want the people who gave me so much joy in my life to be happy people. Seeing the strife and discord makes me sad. Seeing the state of Destiny makes me sad. I care very much about these people and their body of work, and I am concerned that Destiny is a step (several steps) down the path of abusive MMO style gameplay at the expense of their fanbase and to the detriment of the company as a brand, and the employees reputations as artists and game builders.

I'm sorry that my post required all of this explanation - I made some gross assumptions about how these two departures appeared to people in the public eye and for that I apologize.