Sony and Microsoft were "like two frat houses" at E3, says Molyneux

Former Microsoft Game Studios creative director Pete Molyneux isn't shy about giving his opinion on his former employer's E3 2013 press conference, and didn't think much of Sony's, either.

Since leaving Microsoft and Lionhead, Molyneux has always been very clear about his reactions to industry happenings as being from a consumer's perspective. As a consumer, he wasn't impressed by this year's conferences.

"It seemed to me like two frat houses. It's like 'oh you've done that, so we'll do this,'" he told GamesIndustry.

"They are kind of defining each other's strategy. I think Sony changed its strategy because of what Microsoft did and Microsoft changed its strategy due to what Sony did. Me, as a consumer, I don't give a s**t. What I give a s**t about really is the games, whether the launch titles are something I'm going to invest 500 bucks in, or 400 bucks for Sony."

Molyneux was particularly scathing on the topic of Microsoft's presser.

"I just think it was very unprofessionally done. There was one message from one Phil and then another message from another Phil, and they seemed to be kind of shooting from the hip.

"Always online is simple for me. As a consumer, just show me why I should be always online and I'll be happy with it. At the moment, it just means game sale authentication. I don't want that. But if there's some way you can give a huge benefit for the consumer, and make the message super clear, [it would be accepted]."

Molyneux said that, right now, the message isn't very clear, and he doesn't know if the Xbox One is always on or on every day or what. He believes Microsoft's policy will be accepted eventually, if we cna just figure out what it is.

"We need, as an industry, to be super clear to our consumers, and when you're at E3 you kind of forget about consumers for a while. It just seems to be all about the show," he added.

In the full interview, Molyneux gives some further interesting comments on the state of E3, noting that "adrenaline" games take too much of the spotlight even though many of the press he met at E3 were quite blasé about all the sound and fury and more personally interested in indie titles, as Molyneux himself is.