This is a tough one to write because I dont want to negatively affect the company there are lots of amazing people who rely on The Chinese Room for their livelihood. So Ill tread carefully and please be aware that Im speaking entirely on my own behalf now. Working with a publisher made me extremely unhappy and very ill. In the end I didnt even recognize myself anymore- I had turned from a joyful, fun-loving, creative, silly, funny person into a short-tempered, paranoid, unhappy, negative heap. So much of the stress that I experienced was caused by what I see as the desperately toxic relationship that I was in. I cant go into detail here for the reasons above but what I can say is that I look back at the way we were treated and it still makes me shake my head with disbelief. Big business and the creation of art have always been extremely uncomfortable bedfellows and making Rapture proved to be no exception for me. I dont want to do this anymore- in fact I cant do it. I want to surround myself with honest, open people whom I can trust. Ive heard so many people say, well, this is just the way publishers are and this is just what the games industry is like. What I would say to that is while we all keep accepting this, while we are so afraid to challenge this behaviour then it wont change and we all deserve nothing but the meager crumbs we are thrown.
