Reddit AMAs, Twitter Q&As and live Twitch streams can all be awesome ways for developers and publishers to interact with fans. With such an open forum, anyone can ask their most pressing questions, and have a fun chatting to their heroes. Unfortunately, such open lines of communication aren’t always positive, and this Q&A turned into a bigger mess than anyone expected.
The twitter hashtag #AskRandy was created by Develop Brighton as a platform for people to submit their questions for the Q&A session. Unfortunately, it spiraled out of control, but it did spawn some of these real gems.
@developconf @DuvalMagic Do you expect to get away with a debacle like Colonial Marines in future, now we have Steam refunds? #askrandy
— Deus Maximus (@Deus_Maximus) July 14, 2015
When will you be working on a sequel for aliens colonial marines? #AskRandy
— Redder Than Texas (@RedderThanTexas) July 14, 2015
#AskRandy @developconf @duvalmagic How can I live up to your example and fleece millions of dollars from consumers via false advertising?
— Douglas ???? (@DougFunk15) July 14, 2015
#AskRandy Do you ever look at Creative Assembly’s Alien Isolation and think ‘WHY DO PEOPLE LIKE THIS? COLONIAL MARINES HAD MORE GUNS!’
— Stuart Sandy (@VTheSystemV) July 14, 2015
#AskRandy What’s worse: the disaster this hashtag turned into, or Aliens: Colonial Marines?
— Hirun Cryer (@HirunCryer) July 14, 2015
#AskRandy Is it true that Benny Hill was one of the inspirations for the animations in Colonial Marines? pic.twitter.com/kzSxOZikQB
— Chris Carter (@DtoidChris) July 14, 2015
The #AskRandy Hashtag Is As Big A Trainwreck As Aliens: Colonial Marines. http://t.co/8ZUvklQufh
— Jim Sterling (@JimSterling) July 14, 2015
It looks like the internet is still really upset about Aliens: Colonial Marines. It’s understandable, of course, but still rather amusing to see that when given the opportunity to interact with the president of a major game development studio, most people prefer to troll him about past issues. There are other cool things coming out of Gearbox, including more Borderlands. And Battleborn if it can convince me that it’s worth owning.
If you were given the opportunity to ask Randy Pitchfork anything, is this the route you’d go down, or are there more pressing things you’d want to ask?
Last Updated: July 15, 2015
Jonah Cash
July 15, 2015 at 08:07
Hahahahaha!!! That was not a good idea though. He should have known that he will get a grilling for that game, hell he should expect to get a grilling for that game till the end of time… or till consoles and gaming are dead again, or the world ends again(which I heard is a thing once more)
Dutch Matrix
July 15, 2015 at 08:12
Even in the afterlife he should get a grilling for that game.
St Peter at the Pearly Gates: “Randy Pitchford… Wait. You were responsible for Aliens: Colonial Marines? Please provide 75 million reasons to let you in beyond these gates.”
Alien Emperor Trevor
July 15, 2015 at 08:08
This makes me happier than my morning coffee. Fuck that two-faced snake oil salesman. Jim Sterling had a rant about him in the latest Jimquisition too.
Dutch Matrix
July 15, 2015 at 08:09
I need to introduce myself to this Jim Sterling creature.
Hammersteyn
July 15, 2015 at 08:10
Dutch Matrix
July 15, 2015 at 08:10
All I see is noffing… Will have a look tonight!
Hammersteyn
July 15, 2015 at 08:11
Oh right, I forgot
Dutch Matrix
July 15, 2015 at 08:13
It’s okay Hammer. I love that you tried. Yes. You might have failed miserably and embarrassed your parents all to hell. But it’s okay. At least you tried.
Alien Emperor Trevor
July 15, 2015 at 08:12
He forgot to mention that twat is the pioneer of paid-for level cap increases.
Hammersteyn
July 15, 2015 at 08:15
rofl
Greylingad[CNFRMD]
July 15, 2015 at 09:38
One of the best points he raises is that a game selling well doesn’t mean it’s good, it’s like comparing Justin Bieber sales to that of Queen….
Hammersteyn
July 15, 2015 at 09:43
Agreed
Dark_Kitarist
July 15, 2015 at 11:29
Please don’t use JB and Queen in the same sentence… Queen doesn’t deserve that…
Greylingad[CNFRMD]
July 15, 2015 at 11:33
Sorry, but it does prove a point….
Dark_Kitarist
July 15, 2015 at 11:40
I know… But it still hurts my heart when people equate JB to Queen. I’ll be objective… He was an artist when he started his career… Now he’s a twisted husk of what he was as a kid on the street… Which is sad. And Randy was probably the same, he had an awesome idea and wanted to make awesome games, but then got twisted by money…
Greylingad[CNFRMD]
July 15, 2015 at 11:45
I’m sorry, for the life of me I cannot equate JB to any form of an art, unless shovelling shit to a wall could be seen as art, there is simply no way, he is a spoilt brat, with no talent and a really cocky attitude, fully deserving of all the possible hate I could conjure. Though I do suppose that Pitchford has been corrupted by money, which is sad, because he did work quite a few miracles, Homeworld Remastered was one of them….
Dark_Kitarist
July 15, 2015 at 11:54
Totaly agree, what I wanted to say that was that before he became what he is now, he was a kid with a guitar on the streets and that was the closest he got to being an actual artist… I can’t even write his name without getting the chills… But yeah… Money can make you an ass… Look at Kanye West, an artist that thinks he’s a god, and then I hear that, I’m paraphrasing here “Wow… Kanye is such a great person giving this Paul McCartney a chance, he’s so great giving a ‘newcomer’ artist a chance…”. And d’faq is Kim doing on the cover of The Rolling Stone????
Games are becoming DLC ridden, fee-to-play, pre-rendered trailer shits that only think how to make as much money as possible for as little effort.
Greylingad[CNFRMD]
July 15, 2015 at 11:59
It’s sad, but true, I did enjoy Joey Jordison’s response to Kanye though…
I’m disgusted at the way the industry is going, the best example is Batman AK, having a season pass available before the game is even ready? And then releasing it in such a state on PC and still having the audacity to tell people to buy the season pass…My blood starts vaporising when I see this kind of behaviour…Cash grab here, Cash grab there…
Gr8_Balls_o_KFM_Fire
July 15, 2015 at 22:24
You can blame nobody for the DLC practice but the people who bought so much that business people saw the popularity and decided to go with it. Corporations cannot force anything unto anyone except their employees lol.
So don’t blame the industry if the consumer is stupid 😀
Umar
July 15, 2015 at 08:11
Which turned into a DMC debacle lol DMC fans I tell you.
Magius
July 15, 2015 at 08:13
Well given tha Gearbox brought it all back into the news over their comments on the class action suit last week, this was inevitable. Bad timing on the PR people’s part.
Ranting Raptor
July 15, 2015 at 08:15
Ouch. I don’t care what universe you’re from but that’s gotta hurt!
Hammersteyn
July 15, 2015 at 08:18
Randy must have thought the internet had forgotten. It never forgets and seldom forgives. I’m glad I never bought AC:Marines and Randy can be glad he didn’t launch the game after Steam refunds was introduced. Did the smug asshole ever apologize for AC:Marines?
Dutch Matrix
July 15, 2015 at 08:27
If he apologizes for that, I will be nice to all for a week!
VampyreSquirrel
July 15, 2015 at 08:22
Randy’s first problem is he allowed Aliens:CM to be released, his second problem is that he held an OPEN Q&A on a social platform.
Hammersteyn
July 15, 2015 at 08:27
This is what developers do. The release a hyped up trailer at E3, wait for the dust to settle and repeat the process. Look at Ass:Unity, Watchdogs and the trailer form Dead Island.
VampyreSquirrel
July 15, 2015 at 08:56
Totally agree with you. They try to hype the games so they get massive sales, but when release comes they screw it up and end up fixing it for the next year, or just tell you that it’s not getting fixed and you have to live with it.
Hammersteyn
July 15, 2015 at 08:22
Also I think people are trolling him about “past issues” because they want one of two things. Their money back or the product that was demoed and promised at E3
Captain JJ wants moar
July 15, 2015 at 08:25
Hahaha.
Guild
July 15, 2015 at 08:25
He sold a shit game with a lot of smoke and mirrors so it was inevitable. The internet never forgets. Did he answer any of the questions or did they try to ignore it?
Hammersteyn
July 15, 2015 at 08:31
I think he just doesn’t give a shit but I do think he’s on his knees every night praying for global amnesia so that people can forget and move on. Like some celeb that was caught urinating in church or a pro footballer filmed kicking a puppy. He’s not the first guy to do this. But he’s one of the culprits that did the most damage
Alien Emperor Trevor
July 15, 2015 at 08:32
He boils everything down to money. It sold great, therefore it is great.
Captain JJ wants moar
July 15, 2015 at 08:35
He should work for EA
Alien Emperor Trevor
July 15, 2015 at 08:39
G-EA-rbox. It’s right there in the name. How’d I miss that?
Captain JJ wants moar
July 15, 2015 at 08:40
O_o
Captain JJ wants moar
July 15, 2015 at 08:35
By football, you mean soccer right? ;P
Hammersteyn
July 15, 2015 at 09:16
XD
Captain JJ wants moar
July 15, 2015 at 09:25
😀
Sageville
July 15, 2015 at 09:28
I actually bought the collectors edition of ACM, but just for the figurine, it was going dirt cheap.
Kromas,powered by windows 10.
July 15, 2015 at 08:25
Everyone forgets about Duke. 🙁
Alien Emperor Trevor
July 15, 2015 at 08:29
Nah, I don’t give him shit about DNF. He was pretty upfront before release saying it wasn’t the greatest game & they were just releasing it pretty much as-is. It wasn’t really that bad either. Not good, but it had a few moments.
It’s his Borderlands 2 DLC extravaganza & A:CM he deserves shit for, especially the latter.
Kromas,powered by windows 10.
July 15, 2015 at 08:34
As a Duke fan I was disappointing in it greatly. Was not a bad game per se but was nothing that live up to the IP.
Alien Emperor Trevor
July 15, 2015 at 08:40
That’s what she said.
Kromas,powered by windows 10.
July 15, 2015 at 08:48
Not while I was in the room cause she only says stuff when I tell her too. She does costs a bit hourly though. 🙂
Captain JJ wants moar
July 15, 2015 at 09:02
*shivers*
Kromas,powered by windows 10.
July 15, 2015 at 09:59
That was the correct response I needed to get me going this cold morning. 😛
Captain JJ wants moar
July 15, 2015 at 11:50
XD
SargonTheBatpandaOfTI5
July 15, 2015 at 12:54
I thought all the Borderlands 2 DLC was well worth it. Some of the best DLC I’ve ever played was for BL2…
Alien Emperor Trevor
July 15, 2015 at 13:03
The season pass was good, it’s all the stuff over & above that.
SargonTheBatpandaOfTI5
July 15, 2015 at 13:20
I picked up almost all of that stuff. I think it was all perfectly valid DLC. They do extra work. If you like it, buy it. If you don’t like it, don’t buy it. Simple. It’s a bit unfair to imagine that they shouldn’t get paid for the work.. o.O
Alien Emperor Trevor
July 15, 2015 at 13:44
I never said they shouldn’t get paid for work, so don’t try that one – or the “don’t like it don’t buy it” ploy because I kinda know that you don’t have too – that wasn’t the point. 😛
There’s just over $100 worth of DLC over & above the base game & season pass. That’s… a lot. And there was pre-order DLC, and retailer specific DLC. Basically all the worst DLC practices rolled into one.
Including paid level cap increases – which is a joke. Firstly in B1 those were free, secondly while he defended that with “it’s a lot of work & we need to get paid” before B2 was released I watched a video interview with him where he was bragging how before (ie. B1) it was a lot of work, in B2 it’s easy because they designed it that way.
Sorry, as much as I like B1 & 2, and I preordered & spent a crapload of hours on them both – HE is a bullshit artist of note.
Admiral Chief in Skellige
July 15, 2015 at 09:03
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
Ghost In The Rift
July 15, 2015 at 09:45
There are worse games….*cough Duke Nukem cough*
Byron Reeve
July 15, 2015 at 10:08
Remind me, fellow gamers, what this asshat is working on next, so I know what NOT to purchase?
HvR
July 15, 2015 at 10:30
Optimistic marketing is one thing; the crap he/they (Gearbox, Sega, EA) pulled with ACM was nothing but fraud.
SargonTheBatpandaOfTI5
July 15, 2015 at 12:53
I dig Randy. People give him a bad wrap. Can’t wait to give them all my money as soon as the next Borderlands drops.
*Edit: And I would have asked when we can expect Tiny Tina to be a playable character.