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| Original photo credit - Hot Grill |
Michael Pachter continues to make news in the video game world. On July 16th, Edge-Online.com published an article where they quoted Mr. Pachter as saying, "Activision never said anything to me, but I know that [for] big games like Call of Duty they said, 'No, we're not putting it on there [the Wii U*] if you don't give us a conventional controller'. So they [Nintendo*] gave in." *bracket text added for clarification
Was Michael Pachter's opinion on this topic of Activision, or even another third party developer, basically demanding Nintendo make the Wii U Pro Controller or they would not support the Wii U console a well informed opinion? Was it an opinion based around the known facts of the Wii U's controllers and the history of Activision's support of the Wii, as people should expect coming from a "Managing Director" at an "Equity Research" firm?
Well, when I saw the quote I decided to contact Mr. Pachter for clarification because I thought it might have been out of context, and wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt. After a few email exchanges with him, and pointing out what I thought was one obvious flaw in his opinion on this subject, Mr. Pachter replied, "Sometimes, I add two and two and get seven, but I still add two and two."
What was the context of this quote, and what flaw did I see in Michael Pachter's original statement? More importantly, did Mr. Pachter explain his statement after I mentioned why his original opinion made no sense, in a way that made sense? Brew yourself some coffee, and take a look at one partial email exchange with Michael Pachter below, as well as a visual aid I hope can help with Mr. Pachter's bad math!
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| *The PS3's controller "d-pad" is counted as one button/input, like the d-pads on the Wii U GamePad, Wii U Pro Controller, and Xbox 360 Controller |
In one email exchange after a few paragraphs, I closed with "If you want to go around saying the world if flat, when the facts prove otherwise, you certainly can do that, but don't be surprised when people don't take you seriously. I was actually trying to get clarification on the issue, and see how you reached the 'opinion' you did. That's my point."
In the response email he sent, Mr. Pachter said at one point, "You have a right to your opinions, and you of course have a right to think that my opinions must be based on facts. However, it is my view that my opinions can be based on whatever I see around me, and putting two and two together gets me to opinions all the time. Sometimes, I add two and two and get seven, but I still add two and two."
In the response email he sent, Mr. Pachter said at one point, "You have a right to your opinions, and you of course have a right to think that my opinions must be based on facts. However, it is my view that my opinions can be based on whatever I see around me, and putting two and two together gets me to opinions all the time. Sometimes, I add two and two and get seven, but I still add two and two."
I think the problem with Mr. Pachter's defense of just coming to the wrong conclusion, or opinion, is that he wasn't even analyzing things around him that were obvious, and he certainly wasn't just using simple math. He was creating a problem where the solution was already known and he did so by ignoring facts and history.
First, he ignored that the Wii U GamePad has more buttons and control input options, than the Wii U Pro Controller does. How does the Wii U GamePad not equal the Wii U Pro Controller, when the GamePad offers more buttons and input options than the Wii U Pro Controller does? Is there a third party developer that would look at the Wii U GamePad and think it doesn't have enough input options?
Second, he must have also forgotten that Activision has published every single Call of Duty game, except one, for the Wii. As I wrote about before, Treyarch has developed or ported each Call of Duty Wii game, and they are developing Black Ops 2; why wouldn't Black Ops 2 be on the Wii U considering Treyarch's support of Nintendo's current console? Now, if he had said EA demanded a more traditional controller, that might have been a little more believable based on EA's spotty support of the Wii with their FPS games this generation.
Personally, I think Mr. Pachter can have any opinion on video game subjects and topics that are still a mystery such as the Xbox 720 and PlayStation 4, or something such as "Michael Pachter's Top 10 Video Games of All Time".
I know he meets with many video game representatives and people within the video game industry, but when he makes a statement that contradicts known facts, he should be able to explain why his statements make sense and why they should be taken credibly, when the evidence and facts show otherwise.
I think the one thing his statement showed though, is that Michael Pachter is not irrelevant to the video game industry and especially to the video game "journalism" side of things. I think his statement was not only incorrect though, but I also haven't seen much in his response emails that makes me think he believes he was wrong and the only clarification he has given ignored Treyarch's support of the Wii this generation.
I did ask Mr. Pachter if perhaps he had skipped his daily cup of Yuban coffee that day and think perhaps he answered it decaffeinated, but I haven't received a response to that question yet.
Questions
Do you think Michael Pachter is well informed about the video game industry, and that his original comment and his response about it to me made sense based on what we know of the Wii U's controllers?
Or, do you think Michael Pachter should never speak another word about the video game industry again, and a thousand of Cupid's arrows would not change the way you feel about him?
If you could ask Michael Pachter one question in general, keeping it civil, what would that be?
