It was recently reported that former Silicon Knights head Denis Dyack was fed up with the response to allegations made by a certain Kotaku article. Apparently, the site's "What Went Wrong With X-Men: Destiny" story made it difficult for him and developer formed by former Silicon Knights staff Precursor Games to earn Kickstarter funds for Eternal Darkness: Sanity Requiem's successor Shadow of The Eternals. This led Dyack to release a 30 minute YouTube video explaining himself and countering allegations made by Kotaku. There are a few things alert viewers will notice in the video.
Wired wouldn't take the story
Dyack read an email from the writer of "What Went Wrong With X-Men: Destiny" Andrew McMillen, who was looking for him to give comments on some of the allegations brought by former ex employees of Silicon Knights. McMillen asked Dyack for comment on the allegations because Wired wouldn't take anonymous sources at their word after he sent the publication a draft. Here's what Dyack read from the email:
"There are a lot of serious allegations in this story. Not least the idea that Silicon Knights is trying to scam publishers out of money and not deliver games. But there are no real facts, documentation, ect., to back any of this up besides the word of anonymous ex employees."
While we would hope Dyack isn't stupid enough to deal with the legal ramifications of lying about emails this does raise questions about the story. However, stories based on anonymous sources do have a long, and admirable, history. Call this one a toss-up.
Considering Activision's history of handling developers, Dyack could be telling the truth
McMillen's story alleged that Dyack siphoned money away from Activision in order to fund their own individual projects. Dyack countered by saying that Silicon Knights used project management software like Proforce and Handsoft in order for Activision to have an in depth look into usage of man-hours along with project status. This means if any foul play was involved, Activision would have acted quickly.
Considering the publisher's history of handling things, obviously it never had an issue with Silicon Knights on a legal level. Activision is the same company who enacted "Project Icebreaker" against former Infinity Ward developers Jason West and Vince Zampella after the two sued the company after being fired. "Project Icebreaker" had Activision getting its IT department to access West and Zampella's email, voicemail and other sensitive documents for "dirt digging" purposes. Let alone what they would do during an audit.
Dyack half heartedly admits that X-Men: Destiny was crappy
Too Human and X-Men: Destiny were pretty crappy. Some say that's because Microsoft and Activision both lacked that quality control that made Nintendo a perfect publisher for Silicon Knights. Maybe that's why Shadow of The Eternals is looking to be released exclusively on the Wii U. While his response to Too Human was defiant, Dyack felt sorry about the way X-Men: Destiny turned out.
Precursor Games has an extreme respect for Dyack at least creatively. Business wise?
Precursor Games CEO Paul Caporicci and COO Shawn Jackson both ended the video talking about Dyack's role with the company. The two handle business and Dyack will be in charge of the project's creative aspect. This was obviously done for those who have reservations about contributing the company's Kickstarter campaign. Even if Dyack is telling the truth about mismanaging funds, Silicon Knights still closed its doors this month meaning that business wasn't being properly handled in some capacity.
Do you believe Dyack was telling the truth or maybe Kotaku did the right thing in publishing its article? Comment Below.
