- Asmongold has spoken against critics who besmirch Elden Ring’s user experience
- Some of them include developers of recent video game titles that weren’t as successful
- Asmongold said that their undoing is the inability to understand what a customer wants
Asmongold responded to developers who critiqued Elden Ring, telling them that they are delusional and fail to understand the customers’ wants and needs.
Certain Developers Accused Elden Ring of Having Bad UX
Asmongold, a video game personality known for his honesty and directness, has blasted video game developers for their sour reactions against Elden Ring’s success.
Elden Ring is the newest game from the critically-acclaimed studio FromSoftware, popular for its challenging yet rewarding titles. It was directed by the visionary Hidetaka Miyazaki who is the mastermind behind the company’s rise to prominence and is responsible for titles such as Demon’s Souls, Dark Souls 1 and 3, Bloodborne, and Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice.
While Elden Ring had some stuttering issues at release, the majority of them were fixed within hours and the new title quickly became a beloved title of countless people. As a rare instance of success in a world of rushed games, Elden Ring attracted the jealous looks of some other developers whose recent releases were not so lucky. Many of those devs poured in sour critiques for FromSoftware’s new title, besmirching its subtle way of telling a story and the overall user experience.
The people who pointed fingers at Elden Ring include developers who worked on Horizon Zero Dawn and Ubisoft games. There were, of course, other developers within those companies who didn’t agree with their peers’ message but Asmongold took his time to address those who did.
Asmongold Said that the Critics Don’t Understand Their Customers
Asmongold is among the many who were baffled by the jealous critiques of certain Western developers, calling them delusional and noting that their failure to understand their own shortcomings is the undoing of their games. In a recent stream, he blasted the critics for their lack of awareness:
“If you don’t understand why Elden Ring is receiving praise and certain other games are not receiving praise, you shouldn’t be working on games. Because you don’t understand your users’ psychology, you don’t understand your end-user.”
Asmongold reminded that innovation stems from a person’s ability to understand their target audience and give it what it truly desires.
“If you go back and you look at every person who’s been a massive innovator in whatever industry they were in, every single one of those people, the reason they were so innovative, the reason they were so successful, is the fact they were able to see into the mind of the person and give the person what they want, and also what they need.”
Asmongold gave Henry Ford, Steve Jobs, Mark Zuckerberg, and Sam Walton as a few examples. He added that companies that do not understand the mindset of their customers are sure to fail. The streamer pointed out that Miyazaki and FromSoftware have a deeper understanding of their players than many other companies. He also added Square Enix and Iron Gate AB (the developers of Valheim) as other examples of customer-oriented companies. Asmongold added that the right approach can make even a pay-to-win game, such as Lost Ark, enjoyable, as long as the developers know what they are doing.
Despite the critiques, Elden Ring remains at the peak of everything FromSoftware has done, taking inspiration from all of the games the company has previously released. As Asmongold later noted in his video, many like FromSoftware’s games for their lack of microtransactions and a pervasive political message.
