Publishers think developers are replaceable meat muppets, says Walton

Gordon Walton, an industry veteran, has criticised the current way of how publishers handle contracts with developers.

“A shocking thing about our business is how little attention and value is put on coherent teams,” he told GamesIndustry. “At a certain level of abstraction at almost all game companies, there’s almost no appreciation at all for the team dynamic. ‘They’re just replaceable meat puppets,’ and that’s never, ever true.”

“They regularly destroy really good functioning teams and then remake them with all the inherent risks that come from remaking a team. Even people who’ve advanced in the game business to the higher levels, who actually know that shit, seem to forget it. It always shocks me. If there was a Making Game Companies For Dummies book, that should be the core of it – how important coherent teams are.”

The entire interview is a really fascinating read so go and check it out. It’s nice that people can come out and openly criticize without any fear, and it kind of shows that free speech reigns supreme in the Internet as well.

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