Interview: Josh Robinson
Josh Robinson’s review of PS3 development cost him his job at Sony. We caught up with him to talk about life after his few minutes of gaming fame.
We had a chance to chat with Josh Robinson, the former Sony 3D artist who shook up the gaming media with a largely negative review of PS3 development.
Today’s interview confirms that Robinson lost his job at Sony as a result of the article. He discusses his dismissal from Sony, his new job, the genesis of the PS3 article, and the reactions to the story from around the web.
You made some pretty big waves, at least in the gaming press, with your article about PS3 development. Tell us how your life has changed since that article, and what you’re working on now.
Yea I can’t believe how out of control everything got. It’s absolutely absurd how the internet can take something relatively harmless and turn it into something so insane.
Let me first just say, all I really did was write a few paragraphs that gave my opinion on publicly released information. I never actually released any information. After reading my small article the reader is not any more informed about the PS3 than he was before the article. I didn’t reveal any tech info and I didn’t reveal different shipping plans. I’m still in awe at the whole uproar over what amounts to NO information.
My life has changed a lot since the article. I was let go at Sony after the article was plopped on the desk of Sony corporate. I was also asked to remove the article immediately. (Which I did without any resistance.) I had lots of job opportunities immediately after I became a “free agent†I am a little fortunate because I’ve made a small name for myself over the last year or so with some things I’ve written. I wrote a 25-page comparison between Maya and 3D Studio Max. That article actually got me a book deal. I was asked to write the entire Max 8.0 essentials book, which I have been working on the last year. It will be in production in the next couple weeks and available at all book stores nationwide. So I’m very fortunate to have all the opportunities I’ve had. I had four or five job offers the same week I was let go. Ultimately I’ll be making even more money, I’ll have a better title at the end of my name and I’ll be very near the beach. So it’s a bit hard to complain I suppose. I ended up settling down near the Santa Monica area. I’d rather not say where right now. I’m pretty excited about the project however.
When you wrote the article, did you expect your bosses at Sony to react in the way they did?
Absolutely not! I was pretty floored actually. Let me be very clear. I have a great relationship with Sony and their management. In fact I cannot say enough nice things about the CEO and the VP of the company. Both of those guys are great guys and way nicer to us lowly artists than they need to be. It would be really easy for guys in their positions to not remember your name or not say hi in passing. But they make it a point to know you and have a great relationship with everyone. The CEO even tossed a few of us the keys to his HUMMER a couple years ago to take for a spin. He is genuinely a nice guy and I like them both. I didn’t want to cause any problems at all by writing the article. I had at least two Sony employees read the article before it was even posted. Even a producer at the company read it. We were all in agreement that I was not breaking NDA with what I was saying. We all thought that I may rub a few people the wrong way, but nothing as severe as getting fired. I thought I was pretty fair about the comments I made. Most of the things I said were pretty standard industry facts that everyone is aware of. None of it is new information. (Regarding better games being released a year after a console is out or my comments on not being able to spend 40 million on every title because that is simply impossible). I really didn’t want to offend anyone or belittle their work. So I certainly apologize if I did.
I think that it was more that I was a Sony employee saying less than flattering things. I mean if I had posted similar opinions that were nothing but “sunshine†and “bunnies†I don’t think they would be as inclined to fire me on the spot. Then again I don’t know what they would have done if the situation were slightly different. So perhaps I am wrong.
Tell us a little about your work with the guys who run Downinfront.tv and what inspired you to write the PS3 review.
Well it all started a few years ago with an idea. I and a few close friends of mine had always wanted to start our own multimedia company. We wanted to be able to do a little bit of everything. It was always a dream project in the back of our heads. Ultimately it became pretty difficult to get everyone to be ambitious enough about the venture so it just fizzled out. What it ended up turning into, however, was a totally different idea. We are all movie buffs. We see every single movie that comes out every weekend. We always found ourselves giving reviews of the movies to each other and our friends after we saw them. That’s where the idea was born really. Why should we listen to some guy sitting in his basement writing reviews about games and entertainment when almost every one of us is already in the entertainment business in some capacity? Also there really aren’t too many places to go for a “No Holds Barred†opinion on movies or games, you know? Rather than someone beating around the bush I think its much more helpful and also entertaining if someone says, “I’d rather be set on fire than have to sit through 3 and a half hours of Alexander. I do not recommend this movie to anyone and my GOD have mercy on Colin Farrell’s soul.â€
Ultimately it was Jason Fleck who jump started everything. It seemed like overnight he created this entire site with banners, forums, reviews and so on. You can even buy posters and clothing from us. At that point the template was there. We just needed to create the content and then put butts in the seats. I was a writer for them from the beginning. We were all demoing games and systems and writing reviews on movies. We had just done a review on the Xbox 360 and Jason thought it would be a neat idea if we could have something up regarding the PS3. That’s where I came in! I wrote a few quick paragraphs and the rest is history. I never even really thought anyone would read it. We were literally just trying to fill space and balance out the reviews on our relatively new website that had been gaining momentum slowly. After it was done a couple of the guys that work with Down In Front (who also work at Sony) read it and gave it the thumbs up. We posted the article and it just sat there dormant for a few weeks before blowing up and circulating around the internet like a blog brush fire.
You mentioned earlier that when you wrote the PS3 review, you were already considering leaving Sony for another job. Was there any friction between you and the company? If so, did this affect the PS3 review at all?
There was never any friction at all between me and anyone at Sony. I was simply not being challenged. I had been at Sony for about 4 years and had just gotten to the point where no one there was teaching me anything. When I was shown something it was often a pretty old technique. Not a bad technique at all! Everyone at Sony is very talented. Just not necessarily as quick as how I would do it. Pretty much everyone there uses one 3D application. I’m pretty familiar with about three packages. So when I look at a task I look at it from a different point of view than someone who only knows one. They have to work within the techniques of that single package. Knowing other packages reveals different techniques and tools. That can only translate into faster workflow. You’ll never be a slower artist because you know more ways to do things. Sony is a great company! So great in fact that the average artist has been there between 6-9 years. The problem with that is what you end up with are people using techniques that are 6-8 years old. You get these kids out of college with little to no experience but they are doing things WAY different than the guys that have been in the business for many years. You would be surprised what you can learn from a kid with only a couple years under his belt! I personally thrive in an environment where we are all motivating each other to come up with new and better ways to do things. Where we can learn from each other and check the ego at the door. I even started a Sony User Group in order to facilitate this need I had. I wanted to see the talent in the company and learn from anyone I could. I also wanted to teach anyone that was willing to learn. I was able to learn quite a bit because of those user groups and I’ve also helped out a lot of people at Sony over time with small one-on-one sessions and showing personal techniques.
My opinion of Sony has always been a high one. It’s a great company with a lot of talented and dedicated people. Often times they are too dedicated and refuse to go home. My opinion of Sony didn’t have any effect on the review I wrote. If anything I felt a little bad because I didn’t want anyone to think I was bashing their personal work. That simply was not the point.
What precautions did you take to ensure that your story didn’t break your non-disclosure agreement with Sony?
Well whatever precautions I took didn’t seem to be enough eh? I’ve been doing this for 9 years and I’ve never once even come close to breaking NDA. In my own error, I assumed that it would be OK to give my opinion on what I believed to be public information. Sony has said very publicly that they are shipping in spring. All I said was, “hey I’d not want to miss the next E3 show.†I didn’t leak any shipping information or reveal any other intentions. I also talked about some technology that has been released publicly for almost a year. You can go to Gamespot right now and view tech demos showing sub surface scattering, HDR, very high dynamic object counts and so on. It is all available. I didn’t reveal anything. Before the article was posted I passed it to a couple others that also work at Sony who write for Down In Front. No one seemed to worry that I was breaking NDA. The bigger concern seemed to be my awful grammar. After it had been posted one of the producers read it and was also OK with it. He thought I could push a button or two with a few comments but nothing even close to what ultimately happened.
Did I knowingly break NDA? I absolutely did not. I would never do that and I would never want to hurt Sony Online. Did I dance in the grey area by even opening my mouth? Yes I did and I was fired for it. So I guess the new rule for me is, don’t ever say anything at all about anything. Ever…ever.
How do you respond to critics around the web who say that, as a 3D artist, you’re not qualified to make a technical judgment about the PS3 development?
You know the internet/forums and blogs are a strange place. If I went online right now and said the sky was blue, 100 people would probably tell me to STFU noob or argue with me and tell me I’m not a weather man. In which case I should STFU anyway. So I don’t take much to heart when people want to argue with me about that. The bottom line: If I am looking at a next-generation system (the Xbox 360 for example) I expect to see next-gen technology. If I don’t see that next-gen technology then I’m inclined to be disappointed. I don’t need to know how to code for the Xbox to know that I’d rather have soft shadowing in a game.
Who made the decision to take the review off the DownInFront site? What were the reasons behind that decision?
I was asked by the powers that be to please take it down. Out of respect and also friendship I had it taken down within 30 minutes. Simple as that.
Do you or your editors have any plans to put the article back online?
No. It will never be posted again.
Do you still stand by the judgments you made in the PS3 review, or have your opinions changed?
I definitely stand by the comments I made. I am also very anxious to see how the final system compares. I will be in line with all the other nerds waiting for this thing when it ships.
Looking back at what’s happened over the past few weeks, would you do anything differently if you could?
Of course I would never have posted the article. The new job, new raise and new title would have come with or without the article. It was something unfortunate that happened and I sincerely hope Sony isn’t damaged by it.
