Please support Game Informer. Print magazine subscriptions are less than $2 per issue
Indie Dev Cliff Harris To Epic's Mark Rein: F**k Off
I don't think it's unfair to call Epic vice president Mark Rein an opinionated man. He's not the kind of guy who's likely to back down from sharing his point of view, and that attitude is going to occasionally make some enemies. Such is the case with a recent blog post from indie developer Cliff Harris who responds to comments Rein made during a panel at the Develop conference.
In a post on his blog, Harris explained that he was part of a panel at Develop where he discussed microstudios. The topic of how indie developers can respond to and interact with customers on a one-to-one basis came up, when someone from the audience called that mode of operation "a waste of time" and proceeded to lecture the panel.
That someone turned out to be Mark Rein, vice president of Epic Games, essentially the opposite of a microstudio.
Harris said he considered chalking the incident up to a misunderstanding, but instead reached the conclusion that "Mark Rein is a jerk," adding that this experience "seems to confirm my opinions on Epic and companies like them in general." What is that opinion? In his own words:
"F**k him. I would rather earn minimum wage making indie strategy games for the PC, as my own boss, with an original game, satisfying a hardcore niche of friendly customers (the one-thousand-true-fans-philosophy), without a publisher telling me what to do, and without having to leave my house to go to work, without having to do ‘crunch time’ (because, dude…its like so macho to work until 3AM and never see your family)…Than I would work at Epic for megabucks. The sheer overwhelming stench of testosterone would probably give me a headcahe, combined with the dizzy excitement of exactly what shade of grey our next game’s space-marine would wear as he kicked alien butt."
In case his point wasn't entirely clear, Harris ended the post with a hearty "f**k off" targeted at Rein. Yikes.
Harris is the owner and founder of Positech Games, an indie studio that has created games such as Democracy, Kudos, and Gratuitous Space Battles (pictured above). As someone who's always been a proponent of interacting with readers on an individual level whenever possible, I can't say that I disagree with Harris' annoyance here. Perhaps Rein should have held his tongue until he got a panel of his own?
I’d like to ask you to support Game Informer’s continued coverage of games with a subscription. For less than two dollars per issue, we mail you a full year of 10 print magazines, each with cover stories and preview features filled with exclusive details about the most exciting upcoming games. We profile and interview game creators. We look back on the rich history of gaming, and we celebrate what’s next.
Here on the website, we offer much of our content for free, including game reviews, daily news, videos, event coverage, and more – all with minimal ads.
We do so with a small editorial team, alongside contributing paid writers from around the world – over 65 individuals from 9 countries around the world, just in the last couple of years.
It’s not possible without support.
In a time when game makers and games coverage have faced hard struggles and layoffs, the future of this 30+ year magazine and community is at risk. Our new standalone magazine subscription is the number one way you can keep us alive – and we believe you’ll get a pretty fantastic gaming magazine in your mailbox every few weeks for your trouble.
Thank you.
