The Most Evil Game Developer

Summary

The video is a lengthy, highly critical exposé of Steel Aces, its developer Michael Schmotz—also known as “Bulldog”—and his alleged treatment of people who worked with or criticized him. The narrator, Chems, says the claims are supported by messages, screenshots, gameplay footage, and interviews. They are allegations and opinions presented in the video, not independently verified findings.

Allegations about conduct and the studio

Chems says Schmotz privately acknowledged that jokes about child-abuse material on Chems’s Discord were not genuine, but later allegedly repeated the claim to others and suggested that Chems was a predator. Chems also accuses Schmotz of trying to identify and locate him, sharing people’s email information, deleting critical posts, banning users, and describing criticism as a raid. Chems disputes the stated reason for his own ban, arguing that an offensive meme was used as a pretext.

The video challenges figures published on the Steel Aces website. Chems says the site advertises 1,800 vehicles, while the game has roughly 200, and presents Discord membership figures as active players despite, in his account, having no game servers. He also says the website’s code substitutes a fixed player count when Discord data is unavailable.

Former contributors Ed Webster and Fraser join Chems in accusing Schmotz of making misleading claims about sponsorships and blaming employees for decisions or problems. Ed says he worked on historical research and tech trees after being promised substantial pay, but was never paid. He describes raising concerns about sponsorship claims, marketing, and game design before leaving the project. Fraser, a former PR and marketing contributor, says Schmotz blamed him for disputes and project decisions. Fraser also says claims that Wargaming was angry with him appeared to be fabricated. Both describe Schmotz as hostile to criticism and prone to shifting blame. They also explain the circumstances behind legal threats between them.

Con of Arc, also called Kavar or Convar in the subtitles, says he had limited involvement and was interested in covering the game, but did not receive enough information from the studio to do so. He and Ed criticize the project’s marketing choices, including spending on events before the game was ready and failing to communicate effectively with potential players and creators.

Critique of the game

Chems discusses Steel Aces’ technical design and gameplay, drawing on conversations he says he had with Schmotz while posing as a prospective developer. He argues that the game is poorly optimized and that Schmotz could not answer technical questions about graphics, networking, or vehicle systems, instead referring questions to another developer.

Chems attributes performance problems to a combination of design choices, including separate suspension parts and their shadows generating many draw calls, car-style wheel physics being used for tanks, complex physics calculations, and tank tracks with many animated bones. He contrasts these choices with optimization techniques he says he uses in his own project.

The video also criticizes the vehicle models as unnecessarily high in polygon count and sometimes poorly edited. Chems says the studio spends heavily on models that could, in his view, be made more efficiently. He faults the maps and visuals as well, citing terrain that does not react to vehicles, unfinished-looking environmental details, conspicuous blur, and snow effects he considers superficial.

Chems further argues that the game has unreliable armor values and gaps in its armor geometry, inconsistent reload times despite claims of historical accuracy, and accuracy mechanics similar to World of Tanks rather than the precision he says Steel Aces promises. He criticizes the tier structure as bloated, with repeated or near-identical vehicles spread across tiers, and says the large number of tiers makes matchmaking difficult with a small player base.

He shows a play-test queue that, in his account, dwindles over time, and reports low frame rates even on a high-end computer. He also points to missing or unfinished features, including a replay system, and says the bots have poor pathfinding and aim.

Chems argues that these shortcomings compound: design decisions intended to make the game realistic or expansive create performance and development problems, while workarounds such as simplified bots and frame generation mask rather than resolve them. He characterizes the project as poorly managed and overcomplicated, and rejects the studio’s claims of exceptional historical accuracy and potential.

Call to viewers

The video ends with a confrontational appeal for viewers to join the Steel Aces Discord, observe what happens, and offer criticism politely rather than insult or raid the community. Chems also encourages viewers to share screenshots and memes and to review the game honestly. He threatens to make the video’s title and thumbnail more damaging if Schmotz repeats allegations about him or former contributors.

The closing rhetoric explicitly frames the effort as an attempt to undermine Schmotz’s standing and the game, while presenting the proposed audience activity as non-violent and non-abusive.

Presenters and contributors

• Chems — Narrator and host
• Ed Webster / Ed Francis — Former Steel Aces researcher and contributor
• Con of Arc — History YouTuber, also referred to in the subtitles as Kavar or Convar
• Fraser — Former PR and marketing contributor

Subject discussed, not a presenter: Michael Schmotz (“Bulldog”).