Ultima Creator: “Most Game Designers Really Just Suck”

"We need more outspoken people in this industry… WHOA THERE BUDDY!".

Game producer and designer Richard Garriott shared some harsh comments for other game designers when speaking to PC Gamer. While explaining the roots of his earliest creations he stated:

But other than a few exceptions, like Chris Roberts, I’ve met virtually no one in our industry who I think is close to as good a game designer as I am. I’m not saying that because I think I’m so brilliant. What I’m saying is, I think most game designers really just suck, and I think there’s a reason why.
He elaborated by saying:
It’s really hard to go to school to be a good designer.
His comments come across as egocentric, and probably even aggressive, but is he right? Creativity has been scarce for the past several years with the highest-budget games almost always being the sort of creation that would make Michael Bay proud. Then again you have games like Shadow of the Colossus and Journey that show the industry that it doesn't have to be homogenous, but those are just a few exceptions in an endless pool of games.

Speaking of exceptions, Will Wright, Chris Roberts, and even Peter Molyneux were let off the hook leaving a planet full of developers wondering if they're part of the rampant suckage. The interesting thing is that three of the four developers mentioned have busted hard lately. Richard Garriott made Tabula Rasa, a molten rock of MMO failure. Meanwhile, Molyneux was "ashamed" of Fable 3 and Will Wright somehow made Spore a thousand times less interesting to play than it was to listen to him harp on about. Maybe the industry is just at a point of diminishing returns where bold designs are considered too risky of an affair. Well, these sucky developers better not give up or we'll all be stuck playing cover-based shooters for the next millennium.

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