Gaming Signal: Overyhyped Game Designers

Overyhyped Game Designers

A funny thing about games - sometimes the designer's name carries some weight. So much so, that they actually get credit on the box or, if you are among the elite, in the title! Examples of this are Sid Mier (PC games, notably Civlization), Alan R. Moon (board games, notably Ticket to Ride), and Hironobu Sakaguchi (video games, notable Final Fantasy). However there are some designers that get a lot of press and hype, yet don't necessarily produce anything that meaningful. So here below are my choices for most overhyped game designers.

John Romero has to be near the top of the list, with little success beyond his life at id Software (which he gets a lot of credit for, but has to be called into question given the post-id days.) His high-profile debacle at ION Storm where he managed to blow through millions of funding by Eidos to produce games (the terrible Daikatana and often overlooked Anachronox) that didn't recover that investment in the marketplace. Of course the reality is, John isn't a game designer at all - he's a development manager. But he is a front-man and got a lot of press as a result.

Peter Molyneux is another of the most overhyped designers. He had a great game in Populous in 1989, produced very questionable titles until Theme Park in 1994, then again went on a string of disappointments until The Movies in 2005. Certainly he gets credit from me for producing the unique Dungeon Keeper but loses a lot for the hype and failures of games like Syndicate, Black & White, the worst: Fable. He does a lot of interviews though, so the press loves him. He can always be counted on for something good to say, just not for good games.

Will Wright. There, I said it. He did in fact create two massive hits: Sim City and The Sims, and he's amazing because of it. But other than that, he has a string of highly questionable designes - like SimAnt, SimEarth, SimLife, SimCopter, and the list of Sim titles goes on. I understand focusing on what you are good at, but sheesh. And now we have Spore and the hype around it. It might be great, but who knows? It might be another SimTower, or SimIsle, or Sim: Safari. At least it doesn't have Sim in the title.

I'm sure there are more - this list just has PC game designers because those are the ones I'm most familiar with. Who are yous?

I will agree that these guys do receive a lot of hype, but I also think that at least Will and Peter do understand what it takes to make great games. I have heard about several talks both men have given at game design conferences and the general consensus is that they do know what the heck they are talking about. Now does that mean you want these guys making games for you? I don't know, but I know Will Wright has pretty much King's X with the release of The Sims since that game is incredibly popular with a very large audience. It may not be your cup of tea, but it does not diminish his capabilities of creating titles.

Posted by Tim on Monday January 29, 2007 at 2:36 PM