Cliffy B. Unloads: 'You Vote With Your Dollars'

IGN:Cliff Bleszinski – best-known for his work on the Jazz Jackrabbit, Unreal and Gears of War franchises – has been vocal as of late. After leaving Epic Games late last year, Bleszinski hasn’t been afraid to speak his mind, most recently noting that the gaming industry is in a “massive state of turmoil.”

[lovegames718]

This bozo is getting a lot of airplay lately kind of like moleyneux was also talking too much. Guess what we don't give a deal what you think.

[GamersRulz]

To be honest, he raised a lot of valid points in this article.

[SilentNegotiator]

Nothing exactly new, though.

[Ducky]

I too like to be the first to comment on articles that are of no interest to me.

[Shazz]

cilffford has valve envy lol

[Dark11]

He's trying to get hired by EA lol.

[ziggurcat]

"Cliffy B. Unloads"

ew... maybe he's been playing with one too many dildo bats in saints row 3...

[baraka007]

no you don't have to spend 100+ million on ads... If you would spend the money on your games instead maybe they would be what people want. Then a lot of people would buy it and everyone is happy. This is why the gaming industry is in turmoil Cliff. Microsoft EA ect stop wasting your money on marketing. For God sakes everyone knows crysis 3 is out yet every freaking second im seeing an ad for the game and hearing that stupid song over and over again. bleh bleh bleh shot glass man! seriously make a good game nothing about the gaming industry has changed your just making crap and spending everything on marketing and you think we're idiots that will eat it up.

[BanBrother]

Lol marketing is the most important thing for a company. How do you think crappy games with lots of marketing sell (Skylanders) but good games with no marketing sell poorly (Metro 2033 and Metro Last Light most likely).

Developers do need to find cheaper ways to make games, whilst still advertising. How come games like The Witcher 2 and Metro 2033 can be made with better quality tech, by much less people than major games while also being better?

Big companies like EA are making enough money. These micro-transactions are pure greed. In capitalist society, making a very sweet profit isn't enough. Making a killing by raping peoples wallets is the bare minimum it would seem.

[DomceM]

You act like these "Evil" companies force gamers to use microtransactions or buy into their bs. The average gamer is an idiot and that is why we are where we are today. If you vote with your wallet and spend on microtransactions, dont be surprised to see other companies follow suit and introduce that into their games.

Has nothing to do with capitalism (which rules by the way).

[baraka007]

I never said anyone was evil. I was making the point that they spend more on marketing then making the game and that's why the game isn't as good as it could be. I was using crysis 3 to show that over marketing is a waste. Yes you have to get your game out there and show it to people but having an ad every second is overkill and wasted cash that could have went into the game or just profits taken from the devs. A good trailer put on youtube can create just as much buzz as 1k ads every video you watch on gametrailers.com Also if a game isn't getting enough attention why isn't the gaming media changing that? You listed a few games but go back and look at how those games were covered Metro got so so reviews and witcher 2 was pretty much treated as most PC games which is "it looks good but you can't afford a pc to run it" Which isn't true then when the xbox version came out ps3 fanboi trashed it because it wasn't on their system. There's a lot of blame to go around but the end result will be the same the gaming industry isn't going anywhere and I think the real blame needs to be put on the gaming media gametrailers the now failed g4 1up gamespy all of these sites are the ones pushing those bad games and giving very little attention to the rest. How much time was spend on metro or witcher 2 on those sites versus say a call of duty dlc pack?

[SpiralTear]

"If you don’t like EA, don’t buy their games."

I don't like you, Cliff, so I won't buy your games either.

[ceedubya9]

I think that was the point he was making, no?

[Darth Stewie]

I thought Cliffy B left the industry for awhile yet it seems I see something about him every week.

[porkChop]

He's said that since leaving the industry he's been able to see things from a consumers point of view. Having that kind of knowledge, plus his insider knowledge from working in the industry, has made him see how many problems there really are in this industry. And he's the first one to admit that one of the reasons he sees this problems is because he was a part of them.

He knows he fucked up a lot, and now he's taking the chance to speak up about these things and try to see if he can help make publishers and developers understand things from the gamers/consumers point of view. That's why he's in the news pretty much every day, he says whatever is on his mind and he doesn't sugar coat it. He tells it like it is.

What I find funny is that most of the things he's been saying, most gamers would agree with, but because it's Cliff saying it they insult him and bad mouth him.

[MikeMyers]

1. Vote with your dollars. This is true. Nobody is forcing you to buy any game or any DLC. Nobody is forcing you to support EA either. I don't buy any more Gears of War games but it's not because I have issues with Epic or Cliff, I just don't find the games all that interesting. Which means I don't whine about it every time there's a new one. I just ignore them.

2. Not all DLC is bad but again vote with your dollars.

3. Games are actually cheaper to buy than they were 20 years ago.

4. I don't really buy into the whole used games issue. I'm a firm believer that if they took away the used market people would buy less new games. There would be a recession in gaming if all games were priced fixed with no alternative to sell or trade.

5. The Arcade argument doesn't really work. The issue is from the NES days and how people were quite satisfied by the fact they buy a game and it had all the content. Now we see games get loads of DLC announced before it even ships. However to be fair the cost to make games compared to the 80's is night and day and those games often were called Nintendo hard to make them appear longer. Games like Mega Man or Battletoads that if you die you start over.

What I find on the forums are often a cesspool where people congregate to whine and complain. You see them everywhere like stealth trolls. You would think if they don't like something they would simply ignore it but they do the opposite. They want to emphasize the issues they have and hope others join the bandwagon because deep down Cliffy is right, they are the vocal minority and they know it.

[RuleofOne343]

I have a solution for the used game concept let it be , but developer's you are not required to place action rewards ,incentive into said games.
If people want things then sell it to them thru season passes , DLC & whatever else you can conjure up. that way those who want used games have to put out that cash they saved by buying the pass & DLC.

[lonesoul65]

Nice post PC...It's nice to see some level headed positive feedback. You made good points which are well presented. I agree with you 100%. Keep the good vibes coming bro.

[Summons75]

Yupp and you bribe people to buy terrible games with "betas". Only reason that terrible game billet storm sold was because of the free gears "beta" and by beta I mean demo.

Okay cliffy b, your still a super rich douche. You will never be in touch with gamers or know what their gaming decisions are like. Saying "it's hard to buy game" or "vote with your money" is like a political figure saying "gas prices are steep" because they are one super rich and don't worry about gas and two haven't filled their own car since they were in collage (if even considering the families 90% of them have). Save your bs talk for your trophy wife who probably couldn't name 3 games epic ever made. You left the industry so stay out of it.

[Bigpappy]

Do you know this guy personally? What's with "douche" and attach on his wife. I find him way more appealing as a person than you. He obviously has more authority to speak on things related to gaming than you do. You are just one copy sold.

[BanBrother]

@Summons

So much pointless, childish nerd rage. It is HIS blog. He isn't forcing games journalists to look at HIS blog. If they look at it and report on it, then your beef is with them. Unless you are suggesting he isn't entitled to speak? In which case why are you, considering you haven't done anything for the games industry and whatever you say has no merit. Truth hurts bro.

And bringing up a game made by PCF, with the EPIC logo on the front of it is waaaay off topic.
The points he was making is what us gamers are saying all the time. Only difference is nerd rage is clouding peoples judgement and NOW they disagree. Lol. If Cliffy B said 2+2=4 nerds around the world would claim otherwise.

[Servbot41]

And what happens when we vote with our dollars, ala DmC? Every single review site is up in arms that we didn't support the game and all gamers are entitled douchebags that deserve nothing less than death.

[Plagasx]

Capcom, we are looking at you!

[Sph3re of Pain]

Cliffy B has spoken a lot of truth in his blog and I swear people just need to be honest with themselves. The man is right. No one puts a gun to your head and besides THIS INDUSTRY is just that. AN INDUSTRY! TO MAKE MONEY. People want every goddamn thing for free! And I understand! Free is awesome. But people gotta eat. Feed their families and make a living. So you get charged.

I mean if I had the power to heal EVERY SINGLE DISEASE IN THE ENTIRE WORLD. You think I would do it for free?? I WANNA DRIVE A NISSAN GTR BEFORE I DIE! I wanna kick back and enjoy the financial freedom of taking a vacation. But NOOO everybody wants shit for free. So great. I heal all disease for free and now I'm still broke. Can't afford to pay my bills and I'm on the street.

So coming full circle. If your upset about these micro purchases. Don't do it. But like Cliffy B. said in the blog. The average uninformed guy doesn't give a damn. Companies look at the money they make from these guys and are like "GREAT! Lets keep going." So its up to you. You don't have to pay.

Now I will say one thing though....I don't approve of bullshit tactics like "HEY! We made this game! But you gotta pay some cash for the ending ;) I'm looking at you Capcom! Specifically Asura's Wrath!