The Business of Video Games

We are going to focus a bit on the business side of video games today with a small detour into the world of will they ever learn with a dash of back to the future with XBox. So lets get into it.

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Show Notes

Who is the most hated company in all of gaming? Activision-Blizzard? Nope. Its not Riot Games either and even though EA is notorious for its microtransaction nonsense (and recent layoffs at Bioware) its not them either. You could also argue that Konami, Apple, and Ubisoft all have a good reason to receive plenty of hate from gamers too. But despite reputation of those companies, the most reviled company in the game landscape right now is Unity.
https://www.themarysue.com/planned-parenthood-gaming-hated-company/
https://www.theverge.com/2023/9/18/23879029/unity-pricing-model-change
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-09-18/unity-overhauls-controversial-price-hike-after-game-developers-revolt?accessToken=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJzb3VyY2UiOiJTdWJzY3JpYmVyR2lmdGVkQXJ0aWNsZSIsImlhdCI6MTY5NTA1NjI4MCwiZXhwIjoxNjk1NjYxMDgwLCJhcnRpY2xlSWQiOiJTMTZYUzFUMVVNMFcwMSIsImJjb25uZWN0SWQiOiJCMUVBQkI5NjQ2QUM0REZFQTJBRkI4MjI1MzgyQTJFQSJ9.TW0g4uyu_9WyNcs1sDARt9YUgkkzXQlA9BcsFmcr7pc
You might no think that the current SAG-AFTRA strike wouldn't affect the video game industry but that doesn't take in the big picture. See, a lot of the voice actors that bring the characters to life are members of the actors guild. Video games have been exempt from this so far but if they vote to strike in solidarity what would it mean for the video game industry?
https://deadline.com/2023/09/sag-aftra-president-fran-drescher-urges-members-approve-strike-authorization-video-game-companies-1235548504/

Oh, when will politicians learn? Haven't we had enough studies by now that prove that video games are not detrimental to youth development. Well someone should tell that to French president Macron because he spit out one of those ignorant statements earlier this year and had to back track this week.
https://news.sky.com/story/emmanuel-macron-backtracks-on-video-games-after-blaming-them-for-french-riots-12964322
https://fortune.com/2023/09/18/video-games-integral-part-of-france-emmanuel-macron-riots/

The Microsoft - Activision/Blizzard merger is the gift that just keeps on giving. Two little tid bits that have come from court documents are the next XBox console release date and a tripple A title that won't be shared with Playstation. Although neither one of these things is happening any time soon let's look at how this could impact video games.
https://kotaku.com/xbox-series-x-s-game-pass-gen-10-release-date-microsoft-1850849528
https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/microsoft-targeted-a-2028-launch-for-its-next-xbox-console/
https://www.gamespot.com/articles/elder-scrolls-6-not-coming-to-ps5-and-wont-release-until-2026-at-the-soonest-microsoft-says/1100-6517794/?ftag=NL&campaignName=GameSpot_Report&date=091823&lctg=20cb827897db11f28a37f08b80d1d1fe8847e789eebd69af2959f3e006c92065
According to former PlayStation boss Shawn Layden, non-endemic companies like Netflix or Google are one of the biggest threats to the video game business today. Listing his top three concerns for the industry in the years ahead, he claimed that "consolidation can be an enemy of creativity," and that "rising costs in gaming are an existential threat to all of us." He then referred to non-endemic companies like Netflix, Google, Apple, and Amazon as "barbarians at the gate." Let's take a look at whether we think these companies represent a threat to video game business.
https://www.gamespot.com/articles/former-playstation-boss-says-gaming-faces-existential-threat/1100-6517539/?ftag=NL&campaignName=GameSpot-Report&date=090723

Game Review

Starfield - Diddi