Underrated, people... You're all doing overrated answers instead.

Imo it's Hajime Tabata. He really destroyed one of my favorite franchies and turned it into generic open world adventure with hardly any story.

John Romero - Daikatana, enough said. ;)

I think that no one beats Peter Molyneux.

David Cage.

Hideo Kojima

Kojima forever earned a place in my heart when he posted on Twitter that he was listening to one of my all time favorite songs, Starless by King Crimson. He’s no god, but he’s damn good at what he does.

My vote goes to Jade Raymond. I wouldn’t even know who she was if some marketing genius hadn’t decided her face needed to be everywhere.

The headline and body of the text seem to contradict one another, but since you wrote out the long thing about Jonathan Blow, I'm going to assume it's overrated. And with that I'd have to pick Todd Howard. I'm not saying I haven't enjoyed his games, but I'd definitely call them overrated. They're always packed with bugs and glitches (something they're always given a pass on for whatever reason), the gameplay is always just mediocre, story and characters mostly forgettable.

Dont hate me but Shigeru Miyamoto........you all hate me dont you...i'll get my coat

I would have to say Kojima. While I do think he has done some great stuff ( I personally really liked P.T). But a lot of people seem to be worshiping him like the chosen one of the gaming industry. Whenever there's anything new about Death Stranding I see people declaring him a genious while I'm just left there staring at the content in confusion. Like sure it looks cool, but it's starting to also look like a bizarre mix of nonsense. Kinda like with artists who just splatter stuff on a canvas and art-people go crazy while I just see a mess.

Todd Howard. He made a Great game design long time ago but hasnt tried to evolve it but instead has been playing safe for a long time.

Tough for me to answer because certain types of games i do not play . Not into remote control type games that have a ton of cutscenes. So David Cage i guess?

Oh man, Peter Molyneux hands down. The guy would literally claim you could do things in his games that you couldn't even do after the games came out.

P.S. Correct your title Chris, it's confusing people.

What’s up with the title?
If we’re talking overrated then Todd Howard. I can’t remember one of his games without annoying immersion breaking bugs.
Fallout 76 speaks for itself.
I’m worried for starfield & ES6...

Darren Sugg. Fortnite is a plague that people would be better off without.

Goichi Suda (Suda 51). I just don't like most of his games.The man seems to have some great ideas but he's just not able to bring them to a game that's enjoyable to play. They're always clunky and hard to get invested in. I find a lot of the time his trademark visuals are a little over simplified too.

You structured this oddly. You say underrated in the title but talk about overrated in the question. Which is it?

I would have to say cod, infinity ward definetly dropped the ball towards the end of their cod regime. Almost no story was good. And activision kinda choked the life out of that series. Thank god it got handed off every other year. Im sure theres worse out there, this is what comes to mind now.

People who win this seem to be writing a essay

Well the most underrated is David cage spec for heavy rain.

Peter Molyneux. Nuff said

Confused by question so will answer Phil Fish

Both Under- and Over- rated. Highly divisive.

Cliffy B.

Someone who's so underrated that i don't know him.

Kojima for sure.

I would say Cliffy B, after he did gears he got to cocky eventhough it was nothing special. It was a good game with good MP that is it.

Someone already said, Todd Howard. He makes the customer do the clean up work.

Kojima

Mine is Jonathan Blow. I found his game okay at best

Overrated: Yoshinoro Ono. (Street Fighter 4/5).

He's basically the current driving force at Capcom behind everything Street Fighter, and the games he's delivered, the new characters that have been added, and the choices that have been made, both artistically as well as financially, have been less than impressive.

Street Fighter was, and still is of course, a massive name in gaming. Its characters iconic. However, with him basically taking the reigns with Street Fighter 4, it's fair to say many fans have been left disappointed in multiple areas.

The creative design for Street Fighter 4 was, IMO, terrible, with some horrendous character-design (that Ken hairdo still hurts), weird over-inflated bodies, steroid-popping eyes, and some uninspired background settings. It's a visual mess.

Gameplay-wise, people have been divided, so I'd argue that's a matter of taste. However, it took them quite a while and multiple adjustments and new releases to get to the point where people accepted the new gameplay for what it was.

New characters (of course) were added to the series, but few of them particularly memorable or interesting. For a company as renowned for its character design as Capcom, that's disappointing.

Street Fighter 5 was visually a bit better than Street Fighter 4, but still you had the rough heads and inflated bodies. The improvements mostly came from technical changes, like the skin-shaders, lighting, etc etc, which was a result of the new power of current gen.

Compare it to visual masterpieces like Guilty Gear, or Dragon Ball Fighter Z, and SFV looks downright disappointing.

That's mostly all superficial criticism though. Like I said, the gameplay is subjective, some love it, some don't. I fall somewhere in the middle, in that the complete package is so unimpressive that I don't care enough to invest in it.

Which brings us to the business decisions made by Ono and his team. We saw SF4 releasing multiple times, adding new content (some of that content just blatant lazy copies from other series), and with SF5 they promised and mostly delivered on going another route, allowing you to unlock new content through gameplay, although I believe many people feel it's far too much of a grind to bother...

I think it's fair to say Ono has taken one of the biggest IPs in gaming, Street Fighter, and basically lessened its value and reputation.

I don't question his love and devotion to the series. I do have serious reservations about the decisions that have been made under his watch, both artistically, as well as gameplay-wise and financially.

Oh, and my decision to go with Ono was a close call. I was originally going to go with Yosuke Hayashi (Team Ninja), who took over after Itagaki was forced out, and basically delivered a string of unimpressive/disappointing releases.
The recent Nioh (no bullshit Team Ninja greed, amazing reviews, good post-launch content and support) gave him the slight benefit of the doubt over Ono, but I still feel Team Ninja has disappointed under his watch, on multiple levels.

david cage: he's awesome and did a great job with farenheit (yes, even when it goes fully matrix), heavy rain and detroit... i didn't play beyond yet but from what i saw it's not bad at all.
but the majority of americans shit on him even for the minimum reason, see for example the super best friends LPs.

I'll go with Todd Howard don't really care much for Fallout 3 or 4 and now they have Fallout 76 and it's a disaster. Also I've had more fun playing The Witcher 3 than any Elder Scrolls game. They need to step up their game and get a new engine, especially for Elder Scrolls 6.

Cliffy B. When AAA games moved more towards compelling storytelling, and less on dumb action, they also moved away from him. He frankly isn’t equipped to make a modern AAA game.

Cliff Bleszinski. I just don't get the hype, or the ego.

Two way tie. Hideo Kojima and David Cage. Their games can be a bit heavy handed, overwrought and unnecessarily convoluted. They both attempt to weave meaningful messages and subtext into their stories but regularly fail at doing so effectively. To me, Kojima is talented but over-designs and lacks focus. Cage, on the other hand, is of middling talent and lacks nuance and impact in his writing.

Mike Bithell, in my opinion, is massively overrated as a designer. He built his games from scratch, I get that, but man the one he's best known for isn't that impressive! Thomas Was Alone is a great game because of the story, and the narration, and the narration is the entire story! I think the game benefitted from the massive userbase of the PSP and the coincidence that it was one of the few indie titles around for it, so everyone jumped on it. I'm not going to deny that it's a great game, but as a result Bithell is super overrated in my eyes.

For most overrated I want to say Neil Druckman, but hes not technically a producer. So Cliffy B. gets it.

I think Sid Meier is in some ways. He made great games but now all the new games are basically variations on what he has done many times before.

A lot of people are bringing up names of people that aren't very well liked in the first place: Peter Molynoux, Cliff Bleszinski, and Todd Howard don't seem very highly regarded to me. A lot of people already hate them. I don't really see how someone can be overrated if no one likes them in the first place . . .

There's also a lot of disagrees with people saying Hideo Kojima, which is my pick. Don't get me wrong, I think he makes some amazing games, I just think people hold Hideo Kojima himself it too high of regard.

As I said, Kojima's games are amazing, but I find him a little obnoxious. I think he likes attention and a lot of the cryptic posts and the teasing he does is because of that. It's absolutely bonkers that there's literally people out there who call him a god.

Anyone who makes walking simulators

I'm gonna have to say Tim Schaffer. I honestly do not know and will never know why he's so praised and what the heck is so special about his games.

Aonuma (designer of modern Legend of Zelda). He admits he doesn't even like combat in the games and wishes they were full of more puzzles. He made Zelda Choo Choo on DS because his son likes trains. He's a wannabe artisté hack.

When the reins were taken from him and given to the younger developers, we got the most vibrant Zelda in decades (Breath of the Wild). When he gets to do what he wants, we get stuff like Zelda Spirit Tracks and Skyward Sword.

Overrated: any designer in Bathesda games
Underrated: designers of shadow hearts

Mister Hajime Tabata, wasted ffxv all by himself and costed square a good bit of cash

Cliff Blezinski for sure.

I'll take David Jaffe and Cliffy B under what have you done for me lately Alex.

The thing is, at one time there would be no objection to having them towards the top of a good list, but that time has passed us now.

I feel like the title/description in this story is a test and I'm not sure if I failed or passed.

Todd Howard because he's a dick

Tim Schafer. Maybe his games are a little niche, but he is never short of an entertaining story.

Day 12: Who is Underrated
question "Who do you think is the most overrated game designer?"
WTF?

anyways, it is Todd Howard, scammer.

Todd Howard

Todd Howard. Needs to prove he can make a new engine. The studios that Bethesda push make better games, the Bethesda studio is probably the worse of the lot among the publisher

Peter Molyneux had a lot to say last generation and at the beginning of this gen, and yet no games came.
No major innovation came and where is the Fable series now?
I don't mind an outspoken developer but your achievements need to match what you put out.

Cliff Bleszinski for sure.

Hajime Tabata he had 3 years to finish a game that had already good foundation but instead he scraps over good thing released mediocre XV title with weird DLC settings that made no sense as much as the base game. Moreover, he had 5 years to release an high potential PSP game which is Type 0 and again he ruined it with his mediocrety.

I’m gonna go with David Cage too. I don’t feel that strongly about it, but I still definitely feel his games are overhyped and has too much attention just when compared to the overall quality of his games. They’re good, but they’re not GoTY.

Hideo Kojima. Death stranding reiterates that point for me so far.Looks so overhyped, like MG5

Taro Yoko, the director of Nier Automata for me. Drakengard series were a mess and so was Nier. He did a good job with Automata, but that’s really it. Not sure how he has amassed such following. I think it surprises even him. He’s like a B movie director I suppose.

I think Neil Druckmann is way way overrated.I still like all his games but they are not as good as people make them to be

Todd Howard. He's fell from grace over the years and it's become more obvious.

David Cage

I'd say Kojima. Not saying he's bad but not as good as you'd think based on his hype.

Cliff Bleszinski is my choice. When Gears of War came out, I really enjoyed it, but a few days later, Resistance: Fall of Man came out and I kind of forgot about Gears of War. While Gears of War had a cool over the shoulder cam, cover system, big bosses and stuff, the mulitplayer in Resistance was a lot more fun imo. No doubt Gears looked better, but Resistance had that fun factor.

Over time, Gears of War got stale and everything else Cliff touched turned to dust. I always thought Gears of War was good but overrated even when it was new. The fact that it's dead now kind of proves my point. I always hoped Cliff would add something creatively new to the series, but it kind of just got more generic.

Sam/Dan Houser. Wayyyyy overrated. Not bad, just significantly overrated.

I would say George Broussard because of Duke Nukem Forever.

Shigeru Miyamoto, While no denying he's been one of the most influential figures in the industry, I really don't like his hard stance against stories in video games.

Keiji Inafune
Mighty No. 9, ReCore and Red Ash: Those one's don't look like a masterpiece and definitely are not on the level of something like MGS or Mario or DMC or Quake. I think it looks like a random team creating a random game, not something that has a great mastermind behind it.

Not a designer but a company overall. Bethesda hands down. Fallout 4 was a success thanks to the hype and the preorders, nevertheless that game can't be compared to its predecessors. The future quaility of ES6 its really in danger.

Peter Molyneux. While I did enjoy some of his games, they seemed like they were in the 7.5/10 range to me. Nothing absolutely blew it out of the water.

I loved The Witness and really hope their is a continuation of that journey.
Anyways, my pick for the most overrated developer is Cliffy B. He had a good thing going initially, but kind of went sideways and never recovered...and continued to talk the talk without producing any real assets.

Todd Howard

Recent games plagued with bugs and FO76 also speaks for itself. Also that crossplay comment .....

I would also have to go with some others and say Cliff Bleszinski. I believe that he just started to reuse the same character formula in a sense to try and sell video games. Then it just got choppy and lazy with the disaster that was Lawbreakers. Instead of I think getting a refresh and trying something new he just got too comfortable and relied too much on ‘I made a great game in the past so pay attention to me.’ Gears of War got stale, Unreal (while entertaining for the explosion factor) gets repetitive and his other games no one can remember because they don’t matter.

Todd Howard, Cliff Bliszinski, Peter Molyneux, Keiji Inafune

The person/persons I think is/are the most overrated would be a few, actually.

1) Turn 10. Any time I have played a Forza game (and I own a few, 2 is still my favorite) recently, it just leaves me feeling like I should be play Gran Turismo instead. Too many quirks and issues that make it not feel like a true racing experience versus GT or PC racing titles, especially with 5 and 7. Not to mention the currency system in 7 was a complete turn off.

2) Bethesda. They have gone downhill faster than any studio that I've seen in recent years. Still using dated engines, bugs that persist between games, while trying to patch the game and creating new ones, bland stories, etc. Glad Obsidian is taking on Fallout in a way with The Outer Worlds, because they do it best, considering Fallout: New Vegas is my favorite (which is shocking given how little time Bethesda gave them to develop it).

3) Rockstar. Now don't get me wrong, GTA's in the past have been amazing and everything, but what they did with GTA V and now RDR II has forever stained their image and now I can't glance over all the glaring issuing with the games. RDR II is not a 10/10 game. Sure, the storytelling might be one of the best in recent memory, but too many reviewers skipped legitimate issues with the game (same with GTA V) just so they could slap a perfect score on it. I still enjoy both games, but their greed and lack of focus on single player DLC/Expansions to worry about what multiplayer content they can lock behind a ridiculous paywall/grindfest, among other issues, knocks them down several pegs for me. Oh and their abandonment of their other titles like Bully, The Warriors, Midnight Club, Max Payne, Manhunt, etc., is a disgrace.

Hideo Kojima. I love the Metal Gear series, but MGSV TPP was a let down compared to the previous games imo.

Cliff Bleszinski

His giant size ego alone deserves the most overrated title

I'd have to say Kojima. His early games were pretty amazing I mean my top 10 games has 2 metal gear games. But I haven't been too interested in mgsv or his new game

I'll say Peter Molyneux, because I don't see what was all that special about his games. He'll promises that final product will have all of these things he thinks of. But when the final product releases it's only like half of what he says. Seems like he just popular off of just being a idea guy.

Tomonobu Itagaki. All his work in Team Ninja is overrated IMO. Devil's Third was a total disaster.

I'm sorry if I will offend people because I know how popular his games are but I never enjoyed them at all although I tried so I would have to say Kojima. I am curious about Death Stranding but only cautiously... I think the he does weird, disjointed and convoluted stories and I just can't immerse myself in that. I will reserve my judgment for Death Stranding however.

Hmmm...dont really know much game designers so I guess Id go with Micheal Condrey of sledgehammer.

Phil Phish the guy that designed fez the industry has never seen anyone so entitled after releasing a half decent game

Druckmann. I think he’s a great writer and designer but terrible at directing games. He has a movie style of design that just showed up when he started calling the shots. I can respect the major influence he has had in the industry especially with a game like the new god of war. But his games are widely overrated on their own merits. God of war is 100 times better than TLOU and Uncharted 4 but would it exist without them? Probably not. Lost legacy is better than both also, the only thing different are the directors. Druckmann made Sam and Nadine great characters in LL, just as a writer not a shot caller. I think that’s where he shines. Druckmanns idea works but he goes way too far with it in his lead games in my opinion.

Tim Schafer, he hasn't made anything good for awhile and gets a pass every time

CD Projekt Red's Mateusz Tomaszkiewicz

I do like their games quite a bit, but some people act like they are they are gods.

The Witcher Series is very good, but I can never get a straight answer about one specific thing:

Is part of the charm that many of the quests/ sidequests are taken from mythology, fairy tales, and other works of fiction?

You can't even joke with their community. Even with sarcasm tags they downvote everything.

Cliff Bleszinski. I just believe he relied too much on his name to make his games successful and not the actual content of them. Character design wise I believe they are all near carbon copies of each other that don’t have much depth or change across the board.

If we are including those no longer active I would say Phil Fish. Fez was okay, but it really wasn't as mind blowing as a lot of people were making it out to be... and the guy really didn't handle criticism well.
If we are talking active I'm saying Vince Zampella, ever CoD game he made was basically the same and Titanfall although pretty cool was pretty much CoD with Mechs and yet people praise this guy like he's the greatest of all time.

Kojima. Not that he's not good, but he's not a magician. I always found MGS overwrought in general.

David Jaffe maybe. He is the best for creating Twisted Metal and God of War, don't get me wrong, but then there was Drawn to Death, and the PS3 Twisted Metal did not feel right to me, but some people liked and praised him for those games, and I just can't agree. Give me a new Twisted Metal with an old school feel to it and i'll think about it.

Yoko Taro and Hajime Tabata

Todd Howard, was never really a fan of his games and with his remarks it seems like its even worse.

the whole bungie team is pretty overrated, never saw the appeal of their games yet they're lauded as masters of their craft when half their games seem like cash ins at this point when it comes to destiny and destiny 2

Hideo Kojima.

Oh, changed... Definitely Tabata. How can you take such a beloved franchise and turn it into ash?

RIP Final Fantasy.

Yoshinoro Ono. I barely put any time into Street Fighter IV before deleting from playing history (didn't have any achievements). I barely touched SF games since arcade cabinet days of old until IV. Jumping onto that felt off, from both a design & visual perspective. What does it say about the lead on a fighting game doesn't get the character balancing right until years later? I'm not the biggest fan of fighting games, but SFIV looked like a chance to jump back in. Unbelievable.

To see a game like Blazblue: Calamity Trigger get swamped by SFIV was one of the biggest travesties in '09.

Sorry everybody but I just can't get into Kojima games. Overrated!

Cliff (even if he's only still rated so highly in his own mind)

Todd Howard for sure. Decent maybe back in the day, but so dated and old, newer games don't hold up.

Personally for me, the most overrated game designer so far has to be Todd Howard (probably the most infamous man in gaming as of now)

I used to love playing Oblivion, that was my first major foray into Bethesda’s game. Choices that you made actually impacted the world, and you can see that the game wasn’t lazy in its implementation. Fallout 3 was amazing as well, and not to mention Skyrim, which is probably the most amazing and most overrated game in recent history as well.

However, Skyrim was actually a really good game that holds up even by today’s standards, so it doesn’t matter if its overrated or not.

But after the release of Fallout 76, my rose tinted glasses finally became clear of what Todd’s true game design actually is. I used to play down the bugs in previous games, citing that the overall story and gameplay outweighs them all. But now now, not when Fallout 76 ain’t even the slightest bit of what was promised.

Todd Howard has officially became the most overrated game deaigner for me.