Speaking to MTV Multiplayer, Tim Schafer recently addressed humanity's shocking failure to purchase a satisfactory number of Psychonauts game discs. "Fans worry too much about sales, to tell you the truth," said the procrastinating awards show host, possibly telling the truth. "As long as you make a cool game, publishers want to talk to you... [They say,] 'We liked 'Psychonauts. and we think we could have sold it better."
Schafer assuaged fears of Brütal Legend becoming the next commercial Psychonauts, pointing out that the open-world shred-em-up "naturally has more commercial hooks, like hot babes and Jack Black." As reassuring as that is, fans may still worry, if only because we yearn to see Tim Schafer showered in unimaginable riches, enough for him to buy all the tuxedos he wants or construct a rocket-propelled candy castle which he'll use to fly across the globe searching searching for that special person that was missing in his life and then he'll land in our backyard and before we can yell at him for incinerating the dog during the landing procedure he'll walk up to us and put his finger to our lips and say shh don't worry where we're going you won't need animal companionship or anything because where we're going is a place where there are no animals because it's in space and that is where my space station is and we will learn to design really awesome games together but for now you have to stop writing this sentence because it's quite long you know.
Reader Comments (68)
Posted: Apr 6th 2009 5:22PM (Unverified) said
uh, the same happened even during the Nintendo vs Sega generations....it is far from new, its just that now it is more noticeable
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Posted: Apr 6th 2009 5:43PM Ridgecity said
it wasn't like that during Sega Vs Nintendo. During that time it was about who has the best games, and of course Sega's faster processor, but now it's about what game sells the most, and of course no one accepts Wii Play, Wii Fit, POkemon and the Sims being the best sellers ever.
It's really hard to please the geeks. I wish they would all go back to playing Dungeons & Dragons during lunch break.
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It's really hard to please the geeks. I wish they would all go back to playing Dungeons & Dragons during lunch break.
Posted: Apr 6th 2009 6:34PM Levi said
Noshino, how old are you dude? Serious question, because the gaming population and the subject matter is completely 100% different now than it was back during Nintendo vs Sega. I was there dude. Sooooo different. Back then, it was Mario vs Sonic. Blast Processing was never brought up in gaming debates. Back then, it was about the games, and the iconic gaming figures.
There are similarities, like how Master Chief is as much a gaming figure as Sonic or Mario back in the day, but it still comes down to arguing sales figures far too often, and when it comes to games, it's all about Metacritic scores. A lot of the games I've liked over the years would have scored low on Metacritic and would have been lambasted for their sales numbers, but since that wasn't the center of discussion, I wasn't turned off by them. I just tried them for myself instead.
The gaming community is faaaarrrrr different now than it was even 5 years ago let alone 15.
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There are similarities, like how Master Chief is as much a gaming figure as Sonic or Mario back in the day, but it still comes down to arguing sales figures far too often, and when it comes to games, it's all about Metacritic scores. A lot of the games I've liked over the years would have scored low on Metacritic and would have been lambasted for their sales numbers, but since that wasn't the center of discussion, I wasn't turned off by them. I just tried them for myself instead.
The gaming community is faaaarrrrr different now than it was even 5 years ago let alone 15.
Posted: Apr 6th 2009 7:35PM Premature ejaculation man said
Your point was lost on me as soon as you claimed that it is "gay". Think about what you're saying.
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Posted: Apr 7th 2009 2:38PM pranaferox said
Since your choice of language leads me to believe you're at most 17 years old, I'm not sure you're the best person to comment on the gaming culture of 15 years ago.
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Posted: Apr 6th 2009 5:36PM (Unverified) said
That post was inspired by Double Fine's job page. Read the "We are always recruiting everybody" section....I wanna be a bunny....
http://www.doublefine.com/news.php/jobs
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http://www.doublefine.com/news.php/jobs
Posted: Apr 6th 2009 5:07PM MystileArmor said
You really shouldn't drink on the job, Ludwig...
Who am i kidding, I envy you!
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Who am i kidding, I envy you!
Posted: Apr 6th 2009 5:10PM Spunky Monkey 190906 said
Its true, its only when gamers get older they forget about fun and start worrying about sales and perception, when I was younger, I played any game, yeah, there were loads of crappy ones, but it was just a fun experience finding that all out for myself then laughing at the game after shoving it in a corner.
Now, admittedly, like many, its all about how the game performed etc, not to decipher whether I buy the game or not, I still don't go by others opinions purely, but you can't help but be sucked into the sales figures, positive / negative reviews, ratings, console selling power etc etc.
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Now, admittedly, like many, its all about how the game performed etc, not to decipher whether I buy the game or not, I still don't go by others opinions purely, but you can't help but be sucked into the sales figures, positive / negative reviews, ratings, console selling power etc etc.
Posted: Apr 6th 2009 5:20PM Spunky Monkey 190906 said
Very true and valid point, I guess the only reason sales comes into prospect is because its available, eg: Joystiq, I wouldn't go out of my way otherwise to look for the sales figures of a game like I would reviews, usually don't find the sales that important.
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Posted: Apr 6th 2009 5:15PM DVersion said
That was one of the best run-on sentences I've ever read ever like in the history of the world and I've been almost everywhere and every major geographical area and I've read a whole bunch of run-on sentences even the one in the Greek newspaper that talked about whales because apparently whales are making a come back as their birth rates have begun to grow again at least according to many marine biologists many of whom also say that dolphins are some of the smartest animals in the world.
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Posted: Apr 6th 2009 5:18PM The Kong said
It's pretty funny reading run on sentences from other people because they make me laugh almost as hard as that time i crapped my pants from reading this post because of the hilarious run on sentence which was quite awesome if you ask me and I think Mr. Keitzman should earn a joystiq award for doing such wonders with the english language that I speak Oh so well I love this site
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Posted: Apr 6th 2009 5:16PM rudolphe said
I agree.
Just like Sony Fans get all mad at the PS3's abysmal sales. The difference is publishers don't give a fuck about Sony and that's why the system has near 0 third party support and not a single third party exclusive to date.
Guys, don't get angry, just spend all your days in your half-assed version of Second Life they call Home buying clothing and pictures for your "phat pad".
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Just like Sony Fans get all mad at the PS3's abysmal sales. The difference is publishers don't give a fuck about Sony and that's why the system has near 0 third party support and not a single third party exclusive to date.
Guys, don't get angry, just spend all your days in your half-assed version of Second Life they call Home buying clothing and pictures for your "phat pad".
Posted: Apr 6th 2009 5:22PM Spunky Monkey 190906 said
Nah, actually, its usually the fanboy loosers like yourself that pay the most attention to sales figures, the rest of us just like to play games you see :)
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Posted: Apr 6th 2009 6:33PM dogmaticatheist said
Fanboys are like creationists. They think that you can repeat a false statement until it becomes true.
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Posted: Apr 6th 2009 9:03PM manyquestions said
Fanboys are annoying, but that was uncalled-for.
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Posted: Apr 6th 2009 9:36PM Laser Sanchez said
PS3 has decent third party support. It's getting most of the awesome games.
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Posted: Apr 6th 2009 11:06PM MarkezJM said
lol @ you sly, same scenario with me when I ripped someone and now someone called you out for going too far :P
Dear Rudolphe, I don't understand the satisfaction you got there, but hope you get banned for coming right out and admitting you're a douchey troll.
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Dear Rudolphe, I don't understand the satisfaction you got there, but hope you get banned for coming right out and admitting you're a douchey troll.
Posted: Apr 6th 2009 5:17PM Cap Morgan said
I waited to post on this until it's metacritic ratings scored high enough.
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Posted: Apr 6th 2009 5:19PM Burritoclock said
I disagree, I don't worry about sells to the exclusion of everything else, and it doesn't effect my ability to have fun with a game.
I loved Psychonauts, it was fun, however I wish it had sold better, not because it would make me enjoy the game more, and not really to help out Mr. Schafer, but because if original, fun, creative games sell well, more of them get made.
If the new, original, creative, fun games sell poorly, then we are 1000x more likely to get Final Fantasy XXXIIII, Madden 2112, Call of Duty 17, Missile Command Retro evolved X, etc. Not that there is anything wrong with sequels, but there should be room for new ideas to also be marketable.
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I loved Psychonauts, it was fun, however I wish it had sold better, not because it would make me enjoy the game more, and not really to help out Mr. Schafer, but because if original, fun, creative games sell well, more of them get made.
If the new, original, creative, fun games sell poorly, then we are 1000x more likely to get Final Fantasy XXXIIII, Madden 2112, Call of Duty 17, Missile Command Retro evolved X, etc. Not that there is anything wrong with sequels, but there should be room for new ideas to also be marketable.
Posted: Apr 6th 2009 7:45PM Vaitork said
Well, Psychonauts didn't do exactly well in sales, yet Mr. Schafer has BrĂ¼tal Legend in store, and so far it would seem that it will be fitting in the "original, fun, creative games" description. It's not like low sales will stop the man from making awesome games.
If your worry is about the frequency of these jewels, then... Well, yeah, I suppose you have a point, though I'm the kind of gamer that, instead of playing good games one after the other, prefers to wait a few months for the next awesome, GOTY-level videogame.
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If your worry is about the frequency of these jewels, then... Well, yeah, I suppose you have a point, though I'm the kind of gamer that, instead of playing good games one after the other, prefers to wait a few months for the next awesome, GOTY-level videogame.
Posted: Apr 6th 2009 5:20PM (Unverified) said
Punctuation is for suckers. Sentence paragraphs FTW
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Posted: Apr 6th 2009 5:25PM aristokrat said
How's it going Thomas Pynchon? I see you hiding under that question mark paper bag hat.
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Posted: Apr 6th 2009 5:26PM (Unverified) said
This was probably one of the more interesting posts I've read in a while. The author must be in some kind of creative mood.
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