Lionhead's Peter Molyneux
On Fable 2, rubbish ideas and his admiration for MMOs.
[Gestures to PR] Well, there's someone in this room to make sure that I don't say too much about that question. I have been looking at MMOs. I love the interaction, and I'm fascinated by the idea of really feeling secure and cool enough to actually do it.
Yes.
No.
We'll have to see. When I talk to the press this time, I've tried to always show what I'm talking about: Here's the dog, here's one button combat. When you get the box, you're not going to say, "You bastard! You told me about this bloody acorn I could plant to grow a tree! Now where is it?"
You've got to remember that the press I do isn't some deeply thought-out strategy. It's just some kid showing his toys off. There's no long-term press strategy here, and that's the problem. People thought I was hyping Fable. I wasn't, I was just getting bloody excited about it.
Oh, you have no idea. There were people who would literally come and shout in my face and say, "What the hell are you doing? You can't do this to us!" I would turn around and say, "I'm sorry, all I'm doing is telling them what I'm excited about; don't worry about it." When I'm sitting down and talking to someone, I've got to think about why I'm telling you things. I'd love to tell you about our next game now, but that would be the wrong thing to do.
Well, of course, you know why? This is my conspiracy theory: the last thing the publishers want is high-profile figures, because it works counter to everything that they do. What does a high-profile person do? They either go mad, or they leave, or they start developing a game that the publisher doesn't want to promote, and it takes the power away from the publishers. That's why you don't see high-profile figures at companies like EA, because they can't control these people. I'm going to get in trouble now - publishers are wonderful and I really like them.
It's a mixed blessing. On balance it's a fantastic opportunity and I thank everybody who's interested in what I say. But there are some things where you think, does it have to be like this? But if I phoned you up and said, "I'm a designer, I've got a game idea," you'd probably say, "No thanks." If I phone you up and say, "I'm Peter Molyneux, I've got a new game idea," you'd probably be interested. And that is a massive, massive advantage.