How the Most Expensive Game Jam Crashed And Burned in a Single Day

Re:How the Most Expensive Game Jam Crashed And Burned in a S... by jsmthrowaway on Monday March 31, 2014 @05:59PM (#7504488)

The "guy" in question isn't just anybody, it's Matti Leshem. Leshem is extremely well-connected in the Los Angeles production and marketing networks (I know of him tangentially from my television work), and his company, Protagonist, is Pepsi's primary strategy consultancy. I'm pretty sure TBWA\Chiat\Day is still Pepsi's marketer of record, but Protagonist drives the social push, broad strategy, and so on. They've worked with him over a decade so Leshem is basically a Pepsi man and the Mountain Dew angle of GAME_JAM makes a lot more sense in that context.

Based on what I've heard of him, Leshem turned a career making soap operas into one of those "high-energy brand power" sort of consultancies, the marketing equation solved to its limit that disgusts everyone when they think about "marketing." He and his wife represent a big Hollywood power couple -- she's high up at Warner Brothers and responsible for movies like Se7en and Benjamin Button, he's responsible for cultural triumphs like "USA Rock Paper Scissors League" (sponsored by Amp Energy, a PepsiCo brand, of course).

This article should explain a lot, from Variety in 2003: http://variety.com/2003/scene/news/branded-tv-bubbling-up-fr... -- I have no doubt in my mind that Matti Leshem showed up on set thinking "YouTube vehicle for Pepsi" and acted accordingly. Which should tell you a lot about Pepsi, honestly.

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Re:How the Most Expensive Game Jam Crashed And Burned in a S... by SimHacker on Tuesday April 01, 2014 @06:29AM (#7507180)

Not to be confused with the other "guy", Josh Mattingly: "The original concept work came from Indie Statik’s then-face Josh Mattingly and Game Jolt founder David DeCarmine, back before that ugliness back in January lost us half our staff and an EIC in around twelve minutes."

This guy:

"Also, how are yo, pretty lady? :)"

"I will kiss you on the vagina if you do"

"Ill still kiss your vagina"

"Let me know if you need a penis for anything in the meae future *near"

"Like. My penis. For your vagina"

[Too explicit for me to feel comfortable leaving readable]

http://img.gawkerassets.com/img/19d66708hxa9zpng/original.pn...

http://kotaku.com/she-was-harassed-by-a-games-reporter-now-s...

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Re:How the Most Expensive Game Jam Crashed And Burned in a S... by mercurial on Monday March 31, 2014 @06:06PM (#7504543)

It's revealing that selling your body results in social ostracism but selling your soul has the opposite effect.

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Re:How the Most Expensive Game Jam Crashed And Burned in a S... by forgottenpass on Tuesday April 01, 2014 @08:54AM (#7507670)

It's called selling out and it's socially accepted because it's a survival necessity for nearly everyone. There are principled communities where it matters, and then on the other side there are websites like this one dedicated to the idea of selling out. For everyone else their prepackaged rationalization is the Yuppie Nuremberg defense.

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Re:How the Most Expensive Game Jam Crashed And Burned in a S... by bladedtoys on Tuesday April 01, 2014 @10:35AM (#7508464)

There are principled communities where it matters

If you have a few examples of these I'd be very, very much obliged.

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Re:How the Most Expensive Game Jam Crashed And Burned in a S... by GotAnyMegadeth on Tuesday April 01, 2014 @12:26PM (#7509482)

The Death Metal scene has pretty much no sell outs. There are a few examples, but it is definitely a community where selling out is the worst thing you can do.

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Re:How the Most Expensive Game Jam Crashed And Burned in a S... by forgottenpass on Tuesday April 01, 2014 @12:44PM (#7509618)

I'm not talking about a hippie commune or something, but that in some subcultures it is actually a thing people mentally struggle with and make decisions with more emphasis on principal than money. Another commenter gave the example of death metal, which is a good one because music and art in general are where I see the attitudes the most.

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Re:How the Most Expensive Game Jam Crashed And Burned in a S... by fleitz on Monday March 31, 2014 @11:17PM (#7505963)

Selling your soul is bad business, you want to rent it out so at the Oscars you can still rail against the man.

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Re:How the Most Expensive Game Jam Crashed And Burned in a S... by muhfuhkuh on Tuesday April 01, 2014 @02:32AM (#7506497)

... while taking a Samsung-sponsored selfie with the man.

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Re:How the Most Expensive Game Jam Crashed And Burned in a S... by fleitz on Tuesday April 01, 2014 @04:26PM (#7511427)

Exactly.

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Re:How the Most Expensive Game Jam Crashed And Burned in a S... by mercurial on Tuesday April 01, 2014 @03:53AM (#7506717)

Well I guess technically, you also rent your body, since you can't legally sell yourself into slavery.

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Re:How the Most Expensive Game Jam Crashed And Burned in a S... by naiyt on Monday March 31, 2014 @06:08PM (#7504553)

Interesting, thanks! The Indie Statik article didn't do a good job of framing who he was.

I'll bet Polaris tries to push the "it was all Matti's fault" angle that the Indie Statik article had. But I'm assuming Polaris knew exactly what they were getting themselves into when they got Matti on board for this, given the information you shared.

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Re:How the Most Expensive Game Jam Crashed And Burned in a S... by dragontamer on Monday March 31, 2014 @06:27PM (#7504676)

> Interesting, thanks! The Indie Statik article didn't do a good job of framing who he was.

Probably because he had no idea who the guy was.

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Re:How the Most Expensive Game Jam Crashed And Burned in a S... by austinz on Monday March 31, 2014 @10:35PM (#7505820)

Thanks for the context. I wonder what you call a person who is willing to do anything and everything for personal gain, because he sees the people around him as nothing more than means to an end?

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Re:How the Most Expensive Game Jam Crashed And Burned in a S... by fleitz on Monday March 31, 2014 @11:21PM (#7505978)

It's the popular definition of sociopath.

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Re:How the Most Expensive Game Jam Crashed And Burned in a S... by chris_wot on Tuesday April 01, 2014 @07:43AM (#7507357)

Steve Jobs.

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Re:How the Most Expensive Game Jam Crashed And Burned in a S... by Pxtl on Monday March 31, 2014 @11:00PM (#7505909)

I hope this fiasco has a detrimental impact on his career.

I hope it, but I doubt it.

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Re:How the Most Expensive Game Jam Crashed And Burned in a S... by drivingmenuts on Monday March 31, 2014 @11:48PM (#7506073)

Certainly tells me never to get involved with Leshem in any capacity. Not that it's likely.

This whole story reads like a some tech people got rolled by a couple of Hollywood types. It sounds like the only intentional asshole was their producer guy.

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