Aliens: Colonial Marines wasn’t intended to exploit, says Pitchford to accusing fans

Aliens: Colonial Marines was not intended to exploit gamers, Gearbox Software founder Randy Pitchford has said. The developer engaged in a Twitter argument with fans on the matter, after he suggested the industry should entertain, rather than exploit.

This is the tweet that started the fracas:

I just read something horrifying: http://t.co/yBGeQZqPb8 Our industry should exist to entertain and inspire, not to exploit!

— Randy Pitchford (@DuvalMagic) June 30, 2013

Fans then piled on Pitchford, accusing Gearbox of exploiting fans through Aliens: Colonial Marines blurry development and poor handling of the source material.

In one tweet, Pitchford defending the game’s intentions, and admitted that its failure to entertain is not equal to exploitation:

@Bjsfreaked The best entertainers exist to create joy and happiness. That they might not always succeed is no impeachment of their intent.

— Randy Pitchford (@DuvalMagic) June 30, 2013

And then:

@mas_ayyad Did you play the game? The intent was to entertain. If that did not succeed with you, that was a failure but not a trick.

— Randy Pitchford (@DuvalMagic) June 30, 2013

And finally:

@Alexnick567 You mistake a creator failing to entertain with the creator having wicked intent. Did you like Crystal Skull? Spielberg?

— Randy Pitchford (@DuvalMagic) June 30, 2013

The stream of tweets goes on and you can follow them here.

What do you make of the criticism aimed at Pitchford? Is this a hypocritical argument, or should we all just chill out a bit? Let us know which below.

Thanks CVG.