Former 2K and THQ community manager goes on Twitter rant dismissing the value of community feedback

Aubrey Sitterson, former community manager at THQ and 2K Sports for the WWE franchise, had a bit of a meltdown on Twitter today in discussing the usefulness of forums – something he says he argued to be shut down during his time with those publishers. That later would move on to how consumer feedback is approached and stating that companies put out the products that they do, in the state they do, because they believe people will buy it regardless – and that consumers are not entitled to anything more than that. 

Having been involved on some QA teams many years ago, yes tons of bugs are found and then prioritized. Hundreds of them are never fixed, either because they can’t be replicated, there isn’t time, or diving into them could cause greater issues to emerge.

That being said, not everything can be found in the QA environment. When a game goes out to market, tens or hundreds of thousands, or millions, suddenly become testers in their own right. People will find new problems and help hone in on the important ones that need to be fixed.

EA Sports, SCEA, 2K Sports (who certainly would not want to be associated with these opinions being shared publicly) and many publishers pride themselves on being involved in the community through different avenues, and taking that feedback in order to improve their product. It’s just one of many resources at their disposal.

Consumers want to feel like they’re being heard, that they have a role in helping to improve upon or shape the product now and in the future. Ignoring that has led to dismal results for companies in the past and that’s why it’s all looked at so closely now.

It’s interesting to wonder though if this is a prevailing sentiment within some studios. One of not caring and belittling the consumers who support their profession. In examining the quality of the products that have been coming out, or are about to, that’s pretty hard to believe.