Peter Molyneux refutes speculations of his impending retirement

By: Jason McCarthy

  |   December 4th, 2012   |  

Uncategorized

Video game designer and programmer Peter Molyneux has shot down speculations of his plans to retire from the game making business.

The 22Cans founder is among the established gaming industry veterans who have played a huge role in helping the industry its glory.

It is for this very reason that the speculations of his retirement following his statement during an interview with beefjack earlier this month had become such a big deal.

During the interview, Molyneux had said that his next major game will be his last.

The statement was bound to prompt speculations that the established industry veteran has decided to call it quits after getting done with his next project.

Molyneux, however, clarified during an interview with GamesIndustry International that he has no plans of retiring from the video game designing business in the foreseeable future, while pointing out that his statement had been taken out of context and therefore misunderstood.

He explained that what he had actually meant to convey during his interview with beefjack was that the development of the game may only begin once it launched, as is seen in the case of massively multiplayer online games or mobile games that keep receiving frequent updates.

The 22Cans founder asserted that he is more passionate about designing video games than ever before and therefore the very idea of separating himself from this field is absurd and “abhorrent.”

“I wasn’t in any way announcing my retirement or saying I’m going to throw myself off the nearest bridge after my next game,” Molyneux told GamesIndustry International. “I’m either going to stop making games when everyone in the world just hates the games I make or the day when I die. I feel more passionate, more engaged, more energetic about making games now than I ever have. The thought of retirement is abhorrent to me. I would have to be in some vegetative state to consider retirement.”

Molyneux’s passion and commitment to the video game industry has been quite obvious for years. The veteran designer is associated with memorable titles, such as Theme Park, Black and White, and Dungeon Keeper.

He also helped in publishing the Fable Series, an action role-playing game developed by Lionhead Studios for multiple platforms.

With his recent focus on games for the mobile platform, Molyneux seems to have gotten an idea about the future of the gaming industry and which platform would enjoy dominance.

His studio 22Cans recently released its first-ever game “Curiosity – What’s inside the Cube?” for iOS and Android based devices. The studio is currently running a Kickstarter campaign for its new project Godus. Using the crowd-funding website to raise money for the development of the new game has earned Molyneux a lot of criticism.