Big biz: "actually we need it, so bad, we are going into withdrawals, Steve only bought 3 yachts this week and he's about to go ape shit, we need it, WE NEED ITTTTTTTTTTTTT"
Also because of this, they are only pumping cash into big titles that are good bets for return, so nobody wants to spend money on a gamble. We need to let the big studios burn and collapse, they are way beyond their expiration date and only a few haven't gone bad. Let the shareholders burn too, they are the driving force behind most of this shit.
E: also you can only 'innovate' the wheel so much. New games become an obvious cash cow. I'd have to go back a decade+ for Battlefield, Call of Duty, Need for Speed, etc to see an actual change in the game, not just new assets and skins in a new place that looks like the old place but 'we swear it's different'
The video game industry is not in crisis, big game publishers are because their goals of infinite growth and profit are in jeopardy, therefore they make more and more unsustainable moves, cuts and cuts and.....more cuts. Indie devs are more and more often breaking into the spotlight because AAA game publishers are failing the industry
I think it is also related to the economy as a whole. While the pandemic was dragging on and on, inflation got much higher and central banks responded by increasing the interest rates. As a result, investors no longer had access to infinite free money.
Turns out, there are lots of companies that relied on constant funding instead of actual revenue. Those companies are undergoing some major changes at the moment.
AAA devspublishers are spending too much money making games people don't likeand then making devs design them to get every penny out of customers that they can, then fire the devs if the project doesn't turn into a fire hose of infinite money. If it does, the sequel better earn infinite^2 money because unlimited growth is the only acceptable success.
I think the writing is on the wall. Indie devs are more capable than ever, it just doesn't require a big studio to make a high quality game anymore.
I think making movies and making videogames are art forms that have historically been dominated by large conglomeration a of owners of the means of production. It used to be hard to do a green screen. Now 12 year olds do it to stream.
It's like music. Producing music used to be a whole thing. Like going to a brick and mortar studio, with like... A parking lot. Employees. The whole 9. Nows it's a dude on Craigslist or Fiverr. That's where movie making and videogame production are headed.
So big studios have big investments in a market with an ever lower barrier to entry. Their investments don't significantly position them beyond the likes of a passionate kid in the middle of a manic episode.
You need to understand, the people managing these companies don't make their money from profits, they make it from not paying people.
The profit is the baseline. It's the status quo. It pays for things you already have. Money coming in already knows where it's going and getting more of it is a fight with people higher up then you are.
But money you've freed up from not paying people? Layoffs? Closing departments? That's big earnings that show you're a savvy business man you can cut the fat. Numbeys go ups.
DDG and Ecosia both use Bing as a provider for some of their results.
Something is currently broken on the side of Bing, and none of the search engines that use it as a source is able to get any results.
Out of the loop
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