Developer talks to XboxOldies about working for Activision and the Xbox acquisition

XboxOldies recently caught up with Paul Norris, the creative director of Mad Fellows during an Aaero 2 interview, Paul kindly agreed to answer some questions on his time at Activision as well as that big acquisition everyone is talking about.

[-Mika-]

''Ultimately, the fate of the games industry
and what it might look like in 10 – 15 years
isn’t actually decided by these mega corporations.
It’s up to the gamers. ''

I love this quote. Exactly how I feel.

[Ninver]

And that's how it should be. We vote with our wallets we weed out the incompetent and greedy. Shame some gamers have no self control or willpower to say no.

[Bobertt]

It's a shame but the corporations will win because the casuals will buy anything from them regardless of if it's good. Look at Pokemon it was a disaster yet it broke records in sales. The problem is a lot of these people may buy games but they aren't really "gamers" they just want a distraction to pass the time and/or are addicted to certain games. The quality, value, or morality of buying certain games don't matter to them at all but to the publishers these people and gamers are the same since they get money either way and they outnumber the gamers so the gaming industry will continue to get worse overall.

I remember back during the PS3/360 era when they started pushing DLC there was outrage cause everyone was used to a completed game at launch not having to buy cut out parts later on. I remember people said if we give in they will start purposely locking content to sell it to us again and the Devs lied and said no we just have the ability to patch games now so we can add more content later and then when fools fell for it they started having DLC already on the disc locked at launch.

[S2Killinit]

@Mika
Yes very lovely quote, spoken by a person who wants you to believe you will have a choice once the industry is all carved up. Enjoy the many subscription services that will pop up. Xbox fans will then get to enjoy the fruits of their turning a blind eye to what MS is doing by setting this precedence.

Actually the is right, you will have a choice, the choice of which subscriptions suits your gaming needs best. Some games will be beyond your financial means. They used to be multiplatform. But now X Y Z game is behind a paywall.

[rakentaja]

People live extremely blindfolded. If anyone thinks this merger is bad, that's just the tip of the iceberg. The whole world is built that way. The whole planet is divided into parts we call different countries, we all try 24/7 to prove that one country is better than the other. All problems stem from this "competition". When we finally realize that we are all just "one" ... humans ... not French and Americans and Italians or whatever ... no ... we are all just ... humans ... one species ... are not different from each other. All our problems will disappear completely. All the gold we find will be divided equally...everything we find will be divided equally. We should only have one console... period. One system that plays everything...no nintendo...no playstation..no xbox. One console that plays bayonetta 3 and forza horizon 5. And all our problems would disappear. That will never happen. We love to compete and that's not going away. This merger is 100% legal and normal because the whole planet is built that way.

[Crows90]

Dude. I don't think you understand human nature. I get what you're saying about us all being human but that's not news. Everyone knows this. Regardless the sense of superiority or inferiority exists and will never go away. You cant control human emotion and cant force someone agree with you unless you use physical force and then you're a dictator.

[rakentaja]

Competition comes from "ego" and the ego is not real...there is no separation, it is an illusion that has taken control of us. Ego is the devil (if there is hell somewhere, it is in us). This planet is built on evil intentions. Proof is everywhere.

[shinoff2183]

I'm from America. With that said at the start of your comment you said we all 24 7 try to prove that are countries are better maybe I'm just taking that to literal but sh I personally don't. I know my country has flaws. Major flaws

Also one console. Uggghhhh no way. Also this deal I the start well 2nd step of ms trying to strong arm the industry. These boards in the u s. And e.u. are doing what their purpose is. To disrupt monopolies at the start. Ms is not am innocent company. Look it up

People say we'll Sony buys timed exclusives from third part and you have to be an idiot to think well that's fair then ms is buying publishers. Timed exclusives still end up on Xbox. Personally I'd love fallout and Stanfield to be timed exclusive to Xbox then when it released to ps I'd be able to play it with it being patched and maybe some free dlc to boot.
Timed exclusives is not comparable to buying publishers.

[SonyStyled]

North, South, Central? Keep working on your English writing though. It’s tough but you’ll learn it with time

[generic-user-name]

Without our competitive nature we'd still be huddled in caves.

[jznrpg]

What is Mad Fellows and why should we take his opinion on things ? Get someone somewhat notable at minimum .

[Xbox_Oldies]

Paul Norris is a former Activision employee, who worked with them through some of their best and worst times and was notable enough to run an entire team working on Guitar Hero.

Not sure how "Noteable" you would like, but the biggest names from Activision aren't going to be anywhere enear as candid.