Puzzle Quest Developer Sent Several Death Threats Over Bug
Usually when one finds a bug in a video game or piece of software, the appropriate thing to do is to usually send a polite calm email explaining what the problem is and what, if any work-arounds can be put in place. What you're about to read is an example of what NOT to do. Particularly if your IQ doesn't stretch into the triple digits (which seems to be the case with this story).
Steve Fawkner, CEO of the Australian development studio Infinite Interactive dropped the bomb (so to speak) about several death and bomb threats sent to the company's Port Melbourne studio while unveiling their latest title: Neopets Puzzle Adventure at Captivate 08'. And why? All because of a single bug within the PSP version of Puzzle Quest: Challenge Of The Warlords, which sees the CPU Player Assistant redundant.
While speaking to Eurogamer, Fawkner elaborated on the bizarre situation:
They were all emails, and I think at least two of them were possibly serious! They actually left their email addresses on them, so we know who they came from... We had a PSP bug and someone said, 'We're going to send you a bomb and blow the studio up!' But, er, we can track that email.
Wow, real bright. He goes on in the interview to shed some more light on the intelligence of the email senders:
Most of them were people who were going to kill us who lived in the States, and we're in Australia, so unless they were actually serious enough to hop a plane, fly over to Australia and gun me down.
As they say, stupidity knows no limits. But hopefully they fixed the problem in the end, because a bug is a bug and nobody likes them (though you don't need to express your dislike through angry emails)!
Aussie Developer Received Death Threats... [PALGN]
Mr.Mog!
Posted to Video Games on 4 June 2008
· Comments (3)
Other stuff like this: psp, puzzle quest, threats
Name: Dave
Wow! Thats insane! I really like Puzzle Quest, I just feel the game could evolve alittle more!
Those fellows must have been a little of, the DS version was faaaaar more bugy. Heh.
I do not condone death threats, but I do understand how the players feel. They have been consistantly promised fixes for bugs for months and months, when there has clearly been no intention of fixing them. Some bugs are so bad that the player cannot continue in the game, and their only option is to "wait for a patch" or restart the game. The company clearly have some serious problems they need to get straightened out (for lack of a better phrase!)