Molyneux: "People Have Threatened Me, They've Threatened My Family, and It Cannot Go On"

Peter Molyneux says that he and his family have received threats in the wake of controversy surrounding his latest game, Godus. As a result of a stressful week and further contemplation, Molyneux explains in a new interview with The Guardian that he is thinking backing away from doing pre-release interviews about his upcoming games.

"I love working on games, it is my life," he said. "I am so honored to be a part of the games industry, but I understand that people are sick of hearing my voice and hearing my promises. So I'm going to stop doing press and I’m going to stop talking about games completely."

"People get so frustrated with me, so much so that they've threatened me, they've threatened my family and it just cannot go on" -- Molyneux

Molyneux also reveals that the threats and harassment he's received over the past few days has been too much to bear.

“People get so frustrated with me, so much so that they've threatened me, they've threatened my family and it just cannot go on, it really can't,” he said. “I think I'll get this over and done with, I'll answer some of the things backers are saying, but after that I feel the best thing I can do is just ….”

He trailed off, before adding: “I think people are just sick of hearing from me. They've been sick of hearing from me for so many years now. You know, we’re done."

He did not provide any further details regarding the nature of the threats.

Molyneux is known for his passion and exuberance about games. However, he's also been criticized for over-promising and under-delivering, something he has openly admitted to.

He explained to The Guardian that his intention is never to purposefully mislead people. Sometimes, due to his passion for ideas and concepts, he talks about features without knowing whether or not they are technically possible.

"I say these ideas so passionately, people think that these are hard and fast promises," he said. "I truly believe them when I say them, but as you know, sometimes they don't come to pass. They don't come to pass because they're too technically difficult, they don't come to pass because maybe they don't fit and people see this as being a promise."

Controversy surrounding Godus and developer 22Cans came to light earlier this week, when GameSpot reported that several staffers had moved on amid concerns that Kickstarter vows would not be met. It was later revealed that a young man promised a "life-changing" prize by Molyneux had received nothing.

Despite the fallout over Godus and 22Cans itself, Molyneux does believe things can be corrected, though it won't happen overnight, he cautions.

“My hope is that in six to nine months time, people start to finally see the game they really did pledge for," he said. "That will be two to three years into development but that's kind of what it takes when you do an original game. I wish it didn't."

Molyneux also stressed that with 22Can's next game, The Trail, the studio will work on the project behind closed doors for a lot longer than it did with Godus.

"We're going to make our mistakes and go down those blind alleys privately before presenting the game to the world," he said.