<story><title>The human toll of Fallout 76’s launch</title><url>https://kotaku.com/bethesda-zenimax-fallout-76-crunch-development-1849033233</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>uejfiweun</author><text>It seems pretty clear to me that in the video games industry (and pretty much any &amp;#x27;art&amp;#x27; industry for that matter) great results are driven by singular, great people. Todd Howard was the mind behind TES and Fallout 3&amp;#x2F;4. Hidetaka Miyazaki was the mind behind Souls &amp;#x2F; Elden Ring. Shigeru Miyamoto was the mind behind Mario. And it&amp;#x27;s because these people really care about the product they are making. They have PASSION.&lt;p&gt;When it comes to a game like 76, which was clearly mandated by some greedy executives who don&amp;#x27;t play games, the lack of passion permeates the whole game. From what the article describes it seems like nobody wanted to work on this thing - not the QA, not the devs, not the managers. The end result is no surprise. Nobody cared.&lt;p&gt;If I was a games exec, I would do everything to empower the great minds that produce great games to pursue the projects they are passionate about. Unfortunately there are a lot of very successful companies out there that do the exact opposite of that, but the tide seems to be turning.&lt;p&gt;EDIT: I want to clarify that part and parcel with being a talented passionate game director is the ability to build a great team and keep the team motivated. Obviously passion isn&amp;#x27;t the only ingredient to make a great game. As with any other massive undertaking, teams of humans are what get the job done. I simply observe that these singular figures have the two-part gift of understanding what makes a great game, and also being able to attract others who can help execute that vision.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>meheleventyone</author><text>&amp;gt; It seems pretty clear to me that in the video games industry (and pretty much any &amp;#x27;art&amp;#x27; industry for that matter) great results are driven by singular, great people.&lt;p&gt;I can assure you from working inside said industry that this is not often the case, if ever.&lt;p&gt;Edit to add: great results are driven by great teams.</text></comment>
<story><title>The human toll of Fallout 76’s launch</title><url>https://kotaku.com/bethesda-zenimax-fallout-76-crunch-development-1849033233</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>uejfiweun</author><text>It seems pretty clear to me that in the video games industry (and pretty much any &amp;#x27;art&amp;#x27; industry for that matter) great results are driven by singular, great people. Todd Howard was the mind behind TES and Fallout 3&amp;#x2F;4. Hidetaka Miyazaki was the mind behind Souls &amp;#x2F; Elden Ring. Shigeru Miyamoto was the mind behind Mario. And it&amp;#x27;s because these people really care about the product they are making. They have PASSION.&lt;p&gt;When it comes to a game like 76, which was clearly mandated by some greedy executives who don&amp;#x27;t play games, the lack of passion permeates the whole game. From what the article describes it seems like nobody wanted to work on this thing - not the QA, not the devs, not the managers. The end result is no surprise. Nobody cared.&lt;p&gt;If I was a games exec, I would do everything to empower the great minds that produce great games to pursue the projects they are passionate about. Unfortunately there are a lot of very successful companies out there that do the exact opposite of that, but the tide seems to be turning.&lt;p&gt;EDIT: I want to clarify that part and parcel with being a talented passionate game director is the ability to build a great team and keep the team motivated. Obviously passion isn&amp;#x27;t the only ingredient to make a great game. As with any other massive undertaking, teams of humans are what get the job done. I simply observe that these singular figures have the two-part gift of understanding what makes a great game, and also being able to attract others who can help execute that vision.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>synu</author><text>I worked in the video game industry for a long time. This is a story you’re being sold - it’s the teams who build great games, not some singular great passionate mind. It’s a way for marketing teams to build a brand, not much more than that.</text></comment>