Randy Pitchford, president of Gearbox Software, is having a difficult time of things following the launch of heavily criticised Aliens: Colonial Marines. It's hard to know whether he knew the game would fail to impress critics or if he was entirely confident in the abilities of TimeGate Studios, to whom the single-player part seems to have been outsourced. But when the criticism did start to come in Pitchford, normally a regular Tweeter, seemed to take a vow of silence. In fact, for the first few days after the game launched his only Twitter activity consisted of re-Tweeting the Gearbox Software account.
And when he did decide to talk, it wasn't to address criticisms but to defend himself against the backlash.
I've always profited from criticism and, thankfully, I have never been in short supply.
— Randy Pitchford (@DuvalMagic) February 15, 2013
However, insult or threaten me and I want nothing to do with you. Expect block/ban/whatever I can do.
— Randy Pitchford (@DuvalMagic) February 15, 2013
In response to an accusation that he was blocking people for criticism, Pitchford insisted that he was not:
@raheed6 I am not blocking critique. I am blocking insults, threats and extreme rudeness.
— Randy Pitchford (@DuvalMagic) February 15, 2013
But whether he's blocking people for it or not, Pitchford is still refusing to actually address the criticism the game has received – even the polite kind. In fact, his Tweets over the past few hours suggest that he is only interested in speaking to Twitter followers who praise the game, and ignoring those with justified worries. He hasn't, for example, replied to any of the people who've brought up the disparity between the demo and the final product.
What he has done is thank four followers, three of whom are so inactive on Twitter as to have default profile pictures, and one of whom seems to have created his account three days ago for the sole purpose of reassuring a wounded Pitchford with the following two Tweets:
@duvalmagic You're a God for making A:CM. I've got your back Marine! Oo'rah to ashes!
— Samuel deZeng (@samuel_dezeng) February 16, 2013
@duvalmagic I am having an absolute BLAST with A:CM! I can't stop playing it. Level 55. Obsessed. A dream come true for me. Thanks again!!!
— Samuel deZeng (@samuel_dezeng) February 18, 2013
These two Tweets are the only ones that particular account seems to have ever published, which has led some Twitter users to suggest that Pitchford is actually addressing fake accounts, potentially ones he or his colleagues have created:
@jimsterling, finaly got to look at the positive ACM tweets for @duvalmagic, Is this like Twitter masterbation.#Twiterbation.
— David Ciesluk (@Edwardwong4) February 19, 2013
@duvalmagicFor god sake randy at least when you message yourself to make CM look good do it with a accont thats have more than 0 tweets 😉
— Stew360 (@xStew360x) February 19, 2013
Even if these few nuggets of ecstatic praise are genuine, and even given the fact that Colonial Marines debuted at the top of the UK charts, it must be a hard time to be Randy Pitchford. But what with the outsourcing of the development and the concerns about the demo, this is a bigger issue than just a few critics who think a game isn't very good. And I'm not sure burying his head in the sand is the best response Pitchford could make. What would you do in his shoes?
