A lot.
When it comes to certain topics, (MTX, game development, game engines) Era is really not much better about it then what you'd find in r/gaming or the average gamefaqs thread. Hence the toxicity. It's very unfortunate.
Moreover, we need to stop thinking that profit equals lack of quality.
Yeah it's clear that a lot of the people in here aren't arguing against what Jim said but against Jim himself and some talking points they envision him bringing up instead of watching the damn thing before engaging in discussion. It's kind of sad but par for the course I guess.
I like how "having a basic understanding of how business works" is called "corporate apologism" in this thread. See also "knowing the difference between revenue and profit", which according to certain folks makes you a shill. Capital G Gamers are so fun to talk to.
Smaller companies don't have shareholders. In an unregulated environment, small companies will always be absorbed by the big ones.
"Just shut up and take it" is how every new shitty business practice becomes staple. Just ask airline customers.
I like how Jim's first point in the video is Rockstar bragging about having their employees working for 100 hours a week and how that leads into his overall point, but somehow all those people with basic understanding of how business works don't seem to be aware of that point's existence. Either it's willful ignorance for a topic they know they can't defend, even with all their economic wisdom, or they simply didn't watch the video and had their talking points ready before they entered the thread.
So you still can't admit you put that other poster's comment in the wrong context because of your so called equal footing with Sterling or his fans?
I wouldn't argue that console wars are a healthy expression of competition. That's a very simplistic way of looking at things. It's hardly ever that black-and-white, as much as people on this site try to frame stuff that way.
Me not minding mtx has nothing to do with how employees are treated. In fact mtx help pay for employee salaries amongst other things.
It isn't a Jim Sterling thread without the "I hate Jim and thus I can completely miss the point of the discussion because I won't watch the video" person.
Problem is you're assuming consumers and devs have any sort of leverage. The said thing is, we don't, especially devs. They need a job and will do anything for "their dream". That isn't a character fault on their part, it's capitalism working like a well oiled machine, by conditioning us since birth that a steady job doing something you love is our endgoal in adulthood.
Ever heard the saying "Boss makes a dollar, I make a dime"? Now instead it's "Boss makes millions of dollars, I make a dime."
Too bad your mtx don't pay employees salaries but shareholders and CEOs.
I mean I posted about the mtx part, I don't have to address every part of jimmy's video.
I mean when the video starts with the 100 hours a week thing, then talks about unions and bringing voice actors as an example, then talking about how these AAA companies brought that need for more upon themselves and taking their workers for a ride because of that and you come in here and go: "I don't give a fuck about mtx as long as I get muh games (whose developers this video repeatedly talks about getting severely misstreated)" then that comes off as ignorant, to say the least.
Yea, but unions has nothing directly to do with the topic at hand.
You're definitely correct.
That's a very different summary than what is in the OP. Not everyone has the time or inclination to watch a 20 minute YouTube video, which is why a decent summary is important.
Which really illustrates the lack of any knowledge he has about the industry, because in many cases it's the developers, not the publishers, who are behind MTX and lootboxes and the like.
More to the point, most of the AAA games are made by developers who are employees of publishers. Those employees typically have bonus plans which are tied to the success of the publisher, including share grants, ESPP, etc. which are tied to stock prices which are related to profits. You would think someone like Jim would know that.
And you do know why that is, right? Because publishers incentivize developers to come up with such systems and it usually means the leads get better support for their teams, or they are allowed to fill more positions, or they are given more time to realize their scope. Most of the time it is a trade off for more support by their publishers because they only speak one language. People love going around perpetuating the "EA gives developers enough rope to hang themselves" except they love leaving out the part where the rope usually comes (as we found out with the Kotaku piece on the cancelled Star Wars game) with certain asterisks, for example:
Citations needed for all of your claims.
I said here way way way way back in post #23 that people shouldn't just mention profits without also considering profit margins. As revenue goes up, it's perfectly normal that profits would go up if the same profit margins are maintained.
...to the levels that they were at back in the PS2 years. The 3-year periods 2003-2005 and 2016-2018 are about the same profit margins.
