If a format is “superior”, but is made “inferior”, is it truly “superior” to begin with?

We can daydream about ways to resell, keep, and lend our digital goods. But I’m more judging in the current day.

literally the only problem

hides all the benefits of ‘one thing’

You don’t think the industry cares about the impact of photos like this one from the article?

We’re in a post truth society. So I question how impactful it really is these days even with video evidence. This has been fought for decades and taught in at least 2 generations of school by now, but progress is still slow.

I think that’s what they mean above. They are past the phase where they bother trying to hide it. But I’d love to be proven wrong.

Pretty much western development studios in a nutshell, sadly. Try to go for a model that maximizes engagement and hope the mass monetization comes from various forms of MTX. But lootboxes can’t be used anymore, so you’re stuck focusing on skins. But skins are still expensive to produce and can’t be put out fast (which is how mobile games get away with that).

So there’s big numbers in the beginning but not enough money coming in to justify the expensive production. Executives don’t let it cook on the market long enough and just shut it down early. Even though by all other metrics, it was a good game with potential to foster a new franchise/sub-franchise. No one wins. Its Multiversus all over again.

I don’t think we disagree. I’m just talking about how the sausage is made. Squeaky wheels get the grease.

Networking is always important. And those AAA studios probably have dedicated lines of support to Valve that can open up such deals way more easily than an indie trying to email support.

Valve also does try to highlight some successful indies, but that’s a small slice of indie pie. While every other AAA studio is that direct line gained from events, existing networks reaching out, etc.

It’s a thing. If you’re an inspiring indie dev, it’s hard numbers to let you know if you can work with these numbers. If you’re just a gamer, they probably don’t matter at all.

The 1% numbers makes me question by there aren’t more AA initiates out there. we don’t get many 5-10m budget games these days, but the typical AA game is (conservatively) making 15m dollars. So if you can turnournd a game on the level of Claire Obscur (which IIRC had a 10m dollar budget) in 4 years, there should be openings for potential success.

Guess it comes down to the lack of investors who care at that level (who wouldn’t just throw it at AI)

Given the way they estimate sales numbers, it’s probably too different a curve. I imagine there’s both a lot of bottom of the barrel adult games that still manage to get some sales off (as opposed to none for most non-adult games) and there’s a lower sales ceiling that still results in surprisingly strong revenue compared to a game with similar reviews.

ice cream flavor sales

Strawberry’s fallen on hard times. We need to seize the means of chocolate production and distribute the wealth among all our fellow flavors.

Would Pareto be ecstatic or rolling in his grave at this disparity?

It seems that’s partially taken into account:

New analysis of 99,206 Steam games illustrates just how extreme the economics can be on Valve’s PC gaming emporium

Over 8,000 paid games analyzed never received a single Steam review

This report also only looks at premium games, meaning free-to-play giants like Valve’s Counter-Strike are left out, as are “non-game software, adult-only titles and unreleased entries.” The list of 99,206 was selected from a base of 136,281.

The only caveat is that revenue is estimated, so there can be big swings in the data.

The standard multiplier here is 35, so this research assumes one Steam review is worth 35 sales at a game’s current listed price, though you can also use a more “conservative” 20 or “generous” 50 in the report’s impressive graphs.

It was asking for his opinion on Jon Ossoff’s statements he made last week. Which should honestly be a softball question for a politician. But ofc we continue to see how fragile that ego is

stop replying to me to argue about things I didn’t say?

you’re not who I originally responded to and you came in later in the chain. I made one reply on a public forum and you’re already all “stop talking to me”?

Come on, man.

The DOJ is not an independent branch though. It’s part of the executive branch.

Structurally, no. In spirit it is. That’s why 75% of the DOJ left over 2025, because they do not want to deal with the eventual fallout of how Trump is managing this DOJ. It’s not a case they are confident they will get out of cleanly (with their license to practice law).

To me this is one of the biggest flaws of the constitution

Yes, the constitution was kept small on purpose and a lot was left to the honor system. Under the logic that a truly tyrannous leadership could tear it down no matter how many loopholes it tries to close. Was that the right call? I can’t really say.

These can be interpreted as contradictory statements.

Sure, if you never worked at a large structure. They are professionals who talk. They are not intimate nor buddy-buddy with each other.

And they’re the same branch. That’s the point.

The same way Congress has various agencies it delegates powers to, yes. You are very technically correct.

Like those agencies, the DOJ is a non-partisan part of the otherwise partisan executive branch whose job is to represent the US in its court cases. It is not the president’s personal law firm.

but I was speaking to the specific statement.

I’m speaking generally. Becsuse this specific situation is so sleazy and utterly corrupt that it’s barely even worth analysis. But for those who don’t know: no, this is not normal, business as usual.

Part of that is the power of government subsidized high fructose corn syrup, yeah. It’s in a lot of American food and makes a huge difference in pricing healthy vs highly processed foods.

Your lack of conviction disgusts me

. I would expect if a President had a legitimate concern that they would voice that concern to the AG to investigate

Yes. The branches communicate with each other, but ultimately work independently except for very specific sync points. Or if one branch needs to check and balance another.

That is very different from meeting up with an AG for a private meeting. Let alone the conflict of Interest of being the president’s personal lawyer. This isn’t normal.

promising not to ever do it would just get them in hot water later down the road.

Yes, I’m sure it will for Todd. Much later than I wish, but later down the road indeed.

Wish I could do that for the Switch. Or hell my dang TV remote. I never press that Netflix button on purpose. Hell, it seems manufactured to press those streaming buttons whenever I drop the remote.

I think you jumped the gun when you tried to compare this to losing elections. You kinda lost your ground to be sarcastic about how you’re responding to some dude making a hot take.