Mark Ecko had a lot of swagger about him when he was hyping "Getting Up", and had just as much swagger knocked out of him when the game turned out to be rubbish and nobody bought it. Speaking with MTV, he gave his own (ie not the actual) reasons for the games dismal performance:

Making a one-player game at the end of a cycle of PS2 and missing holiday definitely — I think I underestimated what all that meant in the equation from a business side

If you think that the fashion industry is filled with divas, no, the worst divas are the guys who got wedgies in high school.

I'd have thought the worst divas are the ones who can't take criticism, but please, Mark, continue.

As long as the game was, when I wrote my mission statement I wanted the game to be six hours long. I made that request two and a half years prior to release. All the people at Atari marketing are like, 'Are you f—-ing crazy?' And then all the gamers at the studio said, 'You're crazy — people will throw the game away or return the disc.'

I like that last bit the best, if only for its unintentionally prophetic nature.

Mark, quit crying. You had a promising game going there before you brought in all the sneaking and beating that ruined Getting Up, so just admit that's what was behind its poor reception and move on to your next game (which he hints at at the interview's conclusion). Hopefully you've learned a lesson or two. Luke Plunkett

Mark Ecko On 2006 [MTV]

Send an email to the author of this post at plunkett@kotaku.com.