Derek Smart apparently needs to get something stirred up before GDC to help promote his own new game, so he tossed this out in and interview over at Rock, Paper, Shotgun:
Dust 514, that’s just going to fail. There’s no ifs, maybes or buts about it. The proper way I think that would have been done would have been to do an Eve sequel and bolt Dust 514 into it. That’s the problem when you start in one direction, your user base clamours for something they’re expecting and you can’t shoehorn it into what you have right now and you really can’t go back to the drawing board.
This was in reference to a question about Galactic Command Online, a game that has been talked about longer than EVE Online has been around.
It has been almost 2 years since his last really public confrontation with David Allen, and 18 months since it got wrapped up.
Anyway, if you haven’t had a recent dose of reality viewed through the lens of Derek Smart, be sure to check out the interview. Just to tempt you, I will also throw in this quote:
I run Alganon over at my other company, Quest Online. That was subscription, I came in and made it F2P and the rest is history.
The rest, indeed, is history. And history is really the only guide we have when predicting the future.
(Hat Tip to @EONMagazine)
The Ancient Gaming Noob 
Derek Smart posted on Alganon’s forums today. Last post on this thread (at time of linking). Quite informative, I thought.
http://www.alganon.com/forums/index.php?/topic/5061-major-marketing-campaign/page__pid__47276#entry47276
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Yeah, I saw the trailer for Mr. Smart’s latest opus, Line of Defense. It looks like something that would have been cool . . 8 – 10 years ago. If Dust 514 is going to fail “hard”, despite doing everything Line of Defense does only BETTER, then what is Mr. Smart saying about his own game?
Oh right, he’s just poisoning the well, so to speak. If nothing else, Mr. Smart is good at aggressive self-promotion through attacks against others.
That said, I do find Dust 514’s PS3 exclusive status to be facepalm inducing. If anything is going to hurt the game it’s that, not some perceived “shoehorning” into the existing EVE game.
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@Bhagpuss – Indeed, I agree that people on the outside looking in often think they have all the answers. Given Mr. Smart’s statements about EVE and Dust 514, I would suggest that he is on the outside in that situation. I also have trouble seeing how Dust 514 is going to succeed, but for different reasons.
As for Mr. Smart abusing customers who dare criticize his work… which is part of what prompted the post you linked… well, there is a long and inglorious history there. General good will has never been one of his priorities. He plays up to a specific set of dedicated followers who will agree with any abuse he hurls and counts himself a champion for them. But he says he only wants a small audience, so I suppose it all fits in his plan.
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Wow, I hadn’t seen Smart surface to be interviewed/generate hype for something in quite a while.
The real question the comes to my mind every time Smart does one of these interviews though is how is this man making enough money to eat? He constantly brags about games that I’ve never even heard of, or even seen on a shelf. While I don’t doubt Smart would be able to produce teams of paper filled with creative accounting to back up his claim to have generated $100,000,000 in revenue only the dimmest of bulbs would actually believe that.
Isn’t the primary reason this man is famous because of the relentless trolling he received from Lowtax and the other denizens of the Something Awful forums?
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You could cut that first sentence to “Derek Smart apparently needs to get something stirred up.” and be equally accurate about anything he’s done in the last 15 years.
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@Aufero – Well, I have him on Twitter and for last few weeks he has been content to talk about his game, Line of Defense.
I also wonder about his affection for Planet Side. That seems to be one of the few games about which he is consistently positive.
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And looking at all the storm that quote is causing… and a few other items in the interview… I would have to say that he has successfully raised awareness of something.
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Perhaps it’s that I only pay attention to him when he’s trolling. Which is undoubtedly the point, from his perspective.
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