Deputy Chairman of the Commission of the Public Chamber of Russia for the Development of the Information Society, Media and Mass Communications Alexander Malkevich characterized the criticism of the Russian video game “Smuta”. His point of view was published by the Lenta.ru portal.
According to Malkevich, the negative reaction was expressed by relocants and foreign agents, which indicates a successful product.
“Gamedev is such a story that, if desired, shortcomings can be found in absolutely any game, regardless of its budget. And of course, all sorts of offended relocants and foreign agents armed themselves with a magnifying glass and began to look for various little things and cling to them. This behavior on their part is completely expected and does not carry any constructive criticism.”
Malkevich believes that the developers faced “a blind hate from foreign audiences,” and most of the critics are foreign agents who didn’t even play Troubles.
“There is a clear trend – critics are not capable of anything except repeating themselves and copying theses from other foreign agents. This wave of negativity can clearly be regarded as the success of “The Troubles” – the fact that a game for the local market is so widely discussed abroad is extremely uncharacteristic.
What we are seeing now is characteristic not only of the Troubles. Those who follow the news of the gaming world probably remember what Atomic Heart faced at one time, and how much criticism it received even before its release. But the only reason is that the project has Russian roots. In no case should this become a demotivating factor for our developers, because Russian players really support the domestic game development and can provide the necessary level of support. After all, if the product were truly bad, it would not need to be criticized and highlight any shortcomings. And if they deliberately try to “drown” a game without even trying to mention its advantages and strengths, this can be called infantile cackling, blind hate, but not constructive criticism. Considering the similarity of the sounding theses, this is more reminiscent of a targeted information campaign.”