Penny Arcade - Comic - Sample Clearance

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Penny Arcade - Comic - Sample Clearance

Videogaming-related online strip by Mike Krahulik and Jerry Holkins. Includes news and commentary.

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V1m

Not all That Guys

Werewolf2000ad

February 26th:


February 27th:

dennis

I feel like Sony's approach to exclusivity - multiple marquee studios kicking out tentpole shit, plus some light scale-thumbing to make themselves the go-to cross platform spot - is working, and the reason I say that is because it is. I've been absolutely delighted by the fact that they've been dropping games I really want on PC because apparently it's considered a kind of Switzerland in the Console War;

Seems like Jerry was more talking about from the standpoint of quality it was working. And his reason was because they were making a bunch of quality games. But that's not enough for the people who run these business. They need growth stacked upon growth, in an unending cycle of looting. They'd rather make one game that makes them $10 billion dollars than 10 games that make them $500 million each. Fuck the people involved. People aren't dollar signs.

Lttlefoot

dennis wrote: »

I feel like Sony's approach to exclusivity - multiple marquee studios kicking out tentpole shit, plus some light scale-thumbing to make themselves the go-to cross platform spot - is working, and the reason I say that is because it is. I've been absolutely delighted by the fact that they've been dropping games I really want on PC because apparently it's considered a kind of Switzerland in the Console War;

Seems like Jerry was more talking about from the standpoint of quality it was working. And his reason was because they were making a bunch of quality games. But that's not enough for the people who run these business. They need growth stacked upon growth, in an unending cycle of looting. They'd rather make one game that makes them $10 billion dollars than 10 games that make them $500 million each. Fuck the people involved. People aren't dollar signs.

Why not both? Make 11 games and get 15 billion

Are they worried that the games will cannibalize each other? Or is the marginal cost of hiring more devs too high? Or were the 500m games not profitable in the first place because of piracy or something? Actually it's console so that shouldn't be an issue. Could they just spend less on art / localizing / marketing etc. like the indie devs do to save money?

dennis

Lttlefoot wrote: »

dennis wrote: »

I feel like Sony's approach to exclusivity - multiple marquee studios kicking out tentpole shit, plus some light scale-thumbing to make themselves the go-to cross platform spot - is working, and the reason I say that is because it is. I've been absolutely delighted by the fact that they've been dropping games I really want on PC because apparently it's considered a kind of Switzerland in the Console War;

Seems like Jerry was more talking about from the standpoint of quality it was working. And his reason was because they were making a bunch of quality games. But that's not enough for the people who run these business. They need growth stacked upon growth, in an unending cycle of looting. They'd rather make one game that makes them $10 billion dollars than 10 games that make them $500 million each. Fuck the people involved. People aren't dollar signs.

Why not both? Make 11 games and get 15 billion

Marketing, making, and running 1 game is cheaper than 11. They'd much rather have 1 game where they keep getting people to pay for IAPs than build new ones. An exec's dream is a game that's built once and that just keeps the money flowing in for decades with minimal new investment.

Emperor Megaman

@Werewolf2000ad keep in mind that those layoff does not necesarilly mean that Sony's strategy is not working or is not making money. heck, it might not even means it is making money but not enough to please them. It could make exactly the money they expected and they'd still lay-off.
Laying off once in a while is just a part of their general buisness plan. That's why it is happening in even to "their most succesful0 subsidiaries".

Anon von Zilch

They lay people off because it makes the numbers look good, keeps the shareholders happy.

Lttlefoot

If it takes 27 minutes for the game credits to roll, I assume at least half the workers are unnecessary