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June 24, 2015   Wii U   26 Comments

Former Criterion Creative Director Didn’t see Working on F-Zero as “his idea of fun”

f-zero_gx

Former Criterion lead creative director, Alex Ward, has stated on Twitter that he wouldn’t have seen working on Nintendo’s F-Zero as “fun”. This news came about when it was revealed that Nintendo asked Criterion to develop a F-Zero game for Wii U, but was turned down due to Criterion being busy with their own projects.

Author: Francis@PE (18786 Posts)


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  • Game_God

    Says the dude working on another company IP (NFS), rather make average dull arcade racers for EA (that “fun” never controlling company) than working with Nintendo!
    One can say whatever bullshit that comes to mind as long as it is about bullshitting Nintendo then it’s OK!

    • Matsuken

      I think he finds more fun getting his studio dissipated.
      If so i think he’s having the time of his life. XD

    • Matsuken

      I think he finds more fun getting his studio dissipated.
      If so i think he’s having the time of his life. XD

  • Wanderlei

    What a goof.

  • Hardin Twentyfive

    EA must be a fun party to be at then, because if I was them, there’s no way in the name of Captain Falcon would I say no to a Nintendo IP. ESPECIALLY if they’re asking me to make something for them with their IP.
    Unless it was Metroid, cause you know.

    • Mythosa

      Lol, you cheeky bugger. That’s funny.

    • Guymelef

      They must have felt that Nintendo would be ‘too controlling’ to protect their IP. Of course, Nintendo at that time became more lax with their partnerships, allowing more creative freedom. It would have been a real unprecented partnership if it was given a chance. Oh well, that’s the way the cookie crumbles, i guess.

      • Hardin Twentyfive

        That could be true, but considering Nintendo came to them, I think Criterion would have been giving freedom

        • Guymelef

          perhaps it was the reputation of Nintendo. Nintendo has been known to be too protective of their IP before; it’s only now that Nintendo has been more open in allowing the 3rd parties who use their IP more leeway on the creative aspect.

  • PRIMUS

    Where is Criterion today I wonder?

    • Matsuken

      Having even less fun, I gather XD

      • Hardin Twentyfive

        This comment made me happy for some apparent reason I cannot explain.

      • PRIMUS

        It is all elementary my dear Matsuken. lol.

  • dacomentr

    Fair enough.

  • Wonder Dean

    Not just anyone else’s IP, a NINTENDO IP. ONE THAT THEY CAME TO YOU WITH. It takes a special mixture of arrogance and stupidity to turn down an offer like that.

    • dacomentr

      And there it is folks, It begins..

      • Frankie4Fingers1983

        What exactly do you mean?

        • Wonder Dean

          Yeah, what am I starting?

          • Frankie4Fingers1983

            No, I’m asking you what you meant.

          • dacomentr

            The ” How dare you not feel privileged to work on a Nintendo title!”

  • Mythosa

    I’m not that surprised to hear that to be honest. As much as many like to think working on a Zelda, F-Zero, Mario or whatever might be a hoot, there is a reason so many developers are going indie. It gives them the freedom to do and create what they want without the constraints of being told what to work on by publishers and parent companies.

    • Saleem Rasul Abdul Aziz

      I would like to refute that a little though. If we look at the way things have been done from a wider angle and not just games we see that a lot of the time a persons best work is a result of constraints.

      A lot of indies want freedom to pursue genres that they want to make, it is why they choose that path in the first place. In the indie scene they face other constraints that bridle their creativity though - budget, distribution, advertising etc.

      Freedom in the creative industry is overblown and over hyped. It is why you have artists vs designers. An artists will make his masterpiece budgets and time lines be damnned. He may produce a great work loved by all or it may be something unaccessible that only a few people can truly appreciate. A designer creates to task, taking into consideration costs vs ROI vs time lines. He also builds to target audience making sure that it is appealing to the intended audience.

      The problem is that a lot of developers now seem to think that they are artists and have bought in to the whole games are art BS. They cant be criticized even constructively and they dont take well to overall direction. To be honest these individuals have no business being in the business of video games. They are the same individuals who resulted in over blown budgets, games that are more cutscene than anything else and the over all stagnancy of the industry.

      We have heard what many developers have said when working on Nintendo IP’s - they all had a preconceived notion of what Nintendo wanted and were shocked when they were advised to be more creative. Alex Ward and Criterion COULD have made it a fun experience, they decided not to even try.

      • Mythosa

        Yup, very good points as well. Could be either way.

      • Guymelef

        Very well said.

  • Exposer

    So Need For Speed is his idea of fun?
    What a boring guy.

    • Nooblet68

      He’s saying working on F-Zero wouldn’t be fun. And I can see where he’s coming from; working on someone else’s IP means that you have to be very cautious with what you do. There’s little creative variation since you’ll constantly be having to check with the IP owners.

      It’s very much like hiking in a minefield in that regard.