chronicle

When Héctor Prats bought the rights of PC Soccer, not only bought a brand. Bought the responsibility of guarding one of the last vestiges of greatness of the Spanish video gamethe tangible memory of when this country was able to create games that competed with the world elite. PC Soccer is more than nostalgia for Millennials and Generation X. It is proof that once we knew how to do something extraordinary from an office in Boadilla del Monte. What we are seeing for two years It is also more than the story of a game that is delayed. It is the announced chronicle of how to methodically destroy the value of an iconic brandconvert hope into mockery and transform respect won for decades into public escarnio. A delay is a technical accident. Two, too. Twenty-two (Vein-Ti-Dós!) Donoras in two years are the proof of a project that has come giant who wants to lead it. Let’s analyze chronology: February 2023: Grandilocente promise with A logo designed by an amateur. March: Pre -sale phase without a single real capture of the game. December: first “indefinite” delay after accumulating hard criticism of the project. Since then, an endless carousel of broken dates, each accompanied by more unlikely excuses than the previous. “Credit problems”, “Errors in Coding UTF-8”, “Unexpected Database Behaviors”, “Problems with the system of input“ The July press conference was The moment of maximum involuntary sincerity Because there we could see what was behind the noise: forty minutes of waiting to compile the Build On the horn, a minute of operation until the first appeared Crash and errors everywhere. The naked emperor, but in front of a camera. Then there is something even more disturbing: The belligerent attitude of its headquarters, Héctor Pratsin social networks. His attacks on the press. Its elusion of responsibilities. This project began by emotional linkage with the brand, but the succession of events suggests a certain disconnection with the symbolic weight of what it manages. Which does not mean that Hector has suffered attacks that go beyond the game and that they have clearly crossed a line for a long time. Consulted by Xataka About this situation, Héctor Prats defends his management and attributes part of the problems to “two people we had hired to whom nothing professionals and very criminal were thrown for reasons.” According to their version, these former employees would have “destroyed” the project “in two different moments.” Prats insists that “the game has ended months by polishing details” and that the delays are due to the fact that “the Build of Release It is always worse than the previous ones. “also requests that” an expected management projection on a small business such as large distributors “is not applied, comparing its situation with that of the Planeta group that” with all the resources it has, it took a broken game. “ The allusion to planet It is true and In 2018 there was another unfortunate attempt On the part of IDC, but it is difficult not to project a certain management on the PC Soccer brand, because it is transcended to entertainment. It is emotional memory of thousands of people. The memory of whole afternoons organizing the defense of five and setting the prices of the restaurant of the stadium. The early morning managing Valencia’s budgetthe first cup that won the ray. Destroying that with empty promises and systematic delays goes beyond business ruling, it is desecration. Prats perfectly identified that there was a market for hungry adults of PC football, but confused with ease, with complacency. He thought it was enough to buy a brand and promise his return to pass the cap. He did not understand that certain brands demand a technical, professional and ethical height that is not available to anyone. That is why most fans of the saga, no matter how nostalgia we feel, do not get into this eggplant. It is important to understand that Prats is not a developer indie Anyone experiencing with their first project. He chose to buy and manage an iconic brand of the Spanish video game, a decision that automatically raises the level of public scrutiny. When you acquire the rights of PC Football, you assume the responsibility of guarding decades of history and the confidence of a community that has already seen too many attempts to resurrection by those who sought to live from the brand instead of honoring it. Each delay has not only eroded the credibility of its current study: degrades the value of a brand that cost a lot to build and that can be destroyed in months. And send a toxic message about our video game industry: that we are not able to manage our digital heritage well. And sin is not as technical – which too – as symbolic: it goes beyond PC Football 8 may never see the light, or see it but it is a disappointment. The thing is His management destroys the possibility that someone competent takes over in the future. Each delay, each excuse, every broken promise, on the name of the PC football in synonym of fraud, misunderstood nostalgia and cheap opportunism. Pablo Ruiz, the original creator, He explained it to us a year ago With crystalline clarity: “Only PC Soccer 5.0 cost us 30,000 hours accumulated, plus all the games we had already taken before. Making a football PC from scratch in a year … Not even I have the source code could do it.” There are no shortcuts for excellence. There is no marketing that replaces real development. There are no promises that replace technical competence. PC Soccer 8 is the practical demonstration that some responsibilities cannot be purchased with money: They are inherited with the brand, and weigh more than one imagines when signing the check. On the criticisms received, Prats distinguishes between what it considers “constructive criticism” and what it calls “dehumanization, dehumanization and bulos.” He states that criticism “are always welcome” but complains about an alleged … Read more