CAAApitalism: The Successful Failure Of Videogames (The Jimquisition)

[@nekolalia3389]

There's a bitter poetry in Iwata's death from cancer when he was one of those rare CEOs that didn't behave like cancer.

[@nekolalia3389]

Let me explain what cancer does. It consumes and grows to the detriment of the customer base - [cough] I mean, organism. It has no checks for uncontrolled growth, which wouldn't be necessary if the economy - [cough] I mean, body could sustain it *but it can't*.

[@mildgrooveon]

too real @@nekolalia3389

[@wanderingrandomer]

Damn, that is sadly poetic.

[@Pikminiman]

+

[@bullzai018]

Bitter irony indeed

[@MoreImbaThanYou]

0:41 You said "Triple-A" with a normal voice. Unsubbed, reported, pre-ordered Anthem.

[@acassiopeia6439]

That made me laugh harder than it should have

[@GabeSweetMan]

Very true. It's pronounced "Triple AAAAAAAEEEEIIIIIIIIIIIII"

[@SD-fb7ku]

MoreImbaThanYou it's not Jim. He's been taken over by a pod person.

[@batmaiden1378]

BUY MORE MICROTRANSACTIONS

[@chaselearkendall]

MoreImbaThanYou not to mention the handful of times he brought up Dynasty Warriors 9 in the last few months And didn’t bring up what they DID to xung hur (or however you spell it)

[@Ulubai]

Sure, we ruined the environment. But for one glorious moment our stock options looked amazing.

[@Titaniumbunny24]

👏

[@davidjasinski334]

Ulubai The Lorax in a nutshell. edit: Chuck Jones' Lorax, not that abortion by Illumination.

[@kjj26k]

@@davidjasinski334 👍

[@zicodennisvalentino748]

If you looked at the statistic you'd be surprised which country pollutes the most

[@tavernburner3066]

More consumerism = less pollution

[@darkmatter32x]

EA, what is your secret to success? EA: I love money. If you are sucessful, why did you layoff lots of people? EA: Money.

[@kylehill3643]

Why do you love money?

[@amharbinger]

When a company starts selling red dots you know horrible things are going to happen.

[@slaughterround643]

A certain type of red dot should be centring on CEOs' foreheads if there's any justice in the world

[@Commy01]

@@slaughterround643 Sieze the Means of Production

[@zicodennisvalentino748]

Then don't buy it, problem solved, i mean i didnt even buy black ops 4 lmao or red dot for that matter

[@nolives]

@@Commy01 as long as you aren't a tankie then sure.

[@nolives]

@@zicodennisvalentino748 the whole "don't buy it" thing is kinda dumb imo. Sure don't buy blckops out of principle over red sights Being sold. But don't come crying home when other companies see the profits and decide to do the same and the market becomes over saturated with similar games following the same monetization trends and your favorite franchise starts doing the same thing. In other words ignore it while you can. These practices don't exist in a bubble. Pretty sure people said "just don't buy battlefront" but yet the Wilson lootboxes were popularized and put in almost every major title afterwards whether you personally bought it or not.

[@michealwhite1804]

Never think the company you work for cares about you.

[@haruhisuzumiya6650]

What about nintendo?

[@grandpulse7970]

If the CEOs of these companies don't even have the fucking courtesy to visit at their own businesses then why would they?

[@Mr.Faust3]

Haruhi Suzumiya man iwata was amazing he took the responsibility he didn’t want to lose employees he didn’t want to lose stock holders and kept Nintendo afloat

[@luketfer]

Yeah Iwata would actually take massive paycuts to his own wages to keep the business afloat. You don't see many other people that are in the position he held do the same sort of thing.

[@d4rks1p3]

costco is legit

[@Bacteriophagebs]

This is absolutely true outside the video game industry, too. I work (for now) for one of the non-gaming companies pictured in this video. When I started there in 2008, the industry was booming despite the economic crash. Since then, the market has become saturated and the massive growth of 2008 is just not possible. In the 11 years I've worked there, I've seen the company try every half-assed "revenue-generation" idea the executives could come up with. Every time, they would conjure up statistics showing a correlation between selling people more crap and customer satisfaction, never once realizing that correlation is not causation, and that, in fact, the causation went the opposite way--satisfied customers are more likely to buy more stuff. And every year since 2009, despite the saturated market, despite significant revenue growth, the company failed to meet its revenue goals. Every. Year. In 2016, the company realized what I'd known from the beginning--that customers just want products that work, with as little effort as possible, and when it doesn't work, they want it fixed as quickly as possible. When they implemented this novel new business strategy, customer service and tech support efficiency soared, along with customer satisfaction survey scores, and in 2017, the company met its revenue goal for the first time since 2009. Then, in 2018, the execs decided that they needed to make MORE money and decided to cut costs, resulting in massive "voluntary" layoffs. I saw the writing on the wall and took my severance package, and only have 2 workdays left at the company. The effect of this has been that all the gains made by the policy change in 2016 are vanishing with the senior employees like me, because the whole reason people like the company is because of the reliable service. When the people providing that service leave, so does the service, and so do the customers.

[@LATEXXJUGGERNUT]

A big problem is the dogma that surrounds the morons in charge. At my work, I've been told to move on despite making a program that is needed, that is wanted by the people who need it, that would save months worth of manual drudgery. Why? Because some Narcissist asshole keeps making new excuses Ad Nauseam it is not needed and is never challenged by the people in charge... Not fucking once did they demand evidence from him, only me to prove or disprove his claims. I was told this asshole is my superior (he is not) by my own manager "so it doesn't matter." My manager isn't in charge of this asshole, another manager is, but the bully has become the self proclaimed director of our IT. This is the state of things. It's so fucking fucked and I've had to pay the price, was told I wasn't allowed to make programs anymore. Later on, my manager feared malicious compliance and said I was allowed to do his bosses related programs. The fucker tried to gas light me and poison the well, saying I'm paranoid to my coworkers in secret to discredit me. He denies that I said the bully spied on me using SCCM by modifying the registry, he is protecting the fucking bully who isn't even his subordinate. No longer does being right matter, it is only your title and paycheck, a fallacious Argument from Authority, that matters now. Talk about a manager being complicit to bullying and harassment. I've done what I can, but the bad behavior of the bully has rubbed off on my manager. He is not the same person, just a liar who hits his desk when someone says something he doesn't like. kicks you in the shins under the table if you're close. Doesn't say sorry. I hope they are both fired but not holding my breath.

[@LuizAlexPhoenix]

So... You are saying that... If you fire the ones generating the wealth, those only reaping the benefits are left with no product to sell and the company breaks? Seems reasonable, but you gotta understand that the executives DESERVE better pay and job stability. After all, they work so hard that a simplenton cannot phantom their stress and all the profit they make for the company by being there. It's a moral argument, their sweat in the sauna sucking the boss' own sweaty balls is much more valuable to society than the workers breaking their backs working while making ends meet so their families can survive and, perhaps, even thrive to help society move forward. Not to mention the menial workers are usually dumb and dirty peasants without the proper education that the CEO's nephew and his brother in law have. Meritocracy decided that these young men are simply superior to the ones working below. They deserve better pay and it's only natural they need to know their job is safe, that way they can perform their duties without fear. See, things are working fine in our family, worker #976453! -/s-

[@Bacteriophagebs]

@@LATEXXJUGGERNUT When in history did being right *ever* matter more than your social status? I know how you feel, though. For several years at the job I described, I was working what was basically my dream job--lots of downtime, but very important and time-sensitive tasks that might pop up at any moment and were trusted to an elite few. On my shift, overnight, that elite few was just 11 people, for a nationwide company. After a few years of this, though, one of the company VPs decided to step down as VP and become a regional manager. As part of that, he proposed that they shift all of the jobs, related to my work--day and night--to his area. Never mind that they had no overnight staff in his area, and weren't properly trained. They didn't even give us the choice to move to the new location and continue on in our position, or even to visit the new location and train the new people, despite our volunteering for both. So suddenly my dream job is gone and I move over to another overnight position--only to have the people doing my former job constantly calling me to tell them how to do the job they took from me. They didn't even know how to fill out overnight timesheets, much less any aspect of the actual job. They were thrown into a position that had required me and my teammates to demonstrate consistently-high performance and pass several tests to get, and no one even bothered to tell them how to do any aspect of the job. And they has 35 people doing the job that 11 of us did with tons of downtime, to the point where, on average, 1/3 of their team did nothing at all for their entire 8-hour shift. Great plan, ex-VP! Pay 3 times as many people to do a much worse job! It's so crazy it might just work--oh, wait, they shut down that whole location less than a year later, laid everyone off, and outsourced all the jobs--except the guy who masterminded the whole failure. He just got put in charge of another region.

[@kspfan001]

As someone who works in Adtech & Analytics, I second your observations about upper management being myopic and so focused on quarterly reports that they run their companies into the ground, taking as much as they can get right before they sell the thing off (I've been through 2 of these in the last 5 years). They keep dumping more and more resources into shit like marketing insights which is akin to reading tea leaves. Mine that data, come up with some bullshit coorelations, package it as a product and try to sell it. That instead of building out the products and tech that actually work. Meanwhile they cut back on engineering, ops, support, and basically everyone who keeps the damn company running until it's down to a bunch of overpaid analysts, underpaid outsourced indian devteams, ridiculously overpaid execs, and a handful of ops people who are constantly stressed out and oncall 24/7 keeping barely functioning services working with no time or bandwidth to ever actually fix anything permanently. They just don't give a shit about creating a stable company that makes modest profits that people can actually have some job and life security around. It's all about the big dash for easy cash at the top. Fuck marketing & Adtech. Also fuck Capitalism.

[@LATEXXJUGGERNUT]

@@Bacteriophagebs Yeah, I made around 30 programs before the bully won by Ostracising, Isolating and Incapacitating me through my manager. The manager used to be good, when we had a director, but now there's a merge and he was wrongfully fired (they made up a conflict of interest accusation, but he didn't hire the vendor for staying in a hotel paid by them... so total BS). Now the director spot is vacant with another director filling in, and the bully has capitalized on this, and has control of all of change management. His angry incompetent manager lets him get away with all this while my manager condones the bully, so I guess 3 people need to be fired. And wow to your story... what a bunch of assholes, they can't admit they made a mistake so they try to cover it up. It's pretty telling they didn't want their boss or shareholders to lose confidence, so they lied and tried to ignore it.... oh, we're not fuckups, we're just moving again and our guy who knows you because he was high up before is doing a great job and we're not buying his silence at all. I am not as naive as I used to be, the goals never met aren't put there as a form of job security and if they're met layoffs will begin (I think its post hoc fallacy to assume it is, despite seeing it over and over these are the symptoms, not the disease), Management is simply that incompetent to begin with and the fucks up top think that a struggling shithole is productive as opposed to a stable work environment. So when goals are met and managers report all is well, then these pieces of shit think there's too many people being paid and not enough work being done as people aren't constantly working..... fuck them all.

[@obxtarheel9191]

i work for a company that barely made 400k last year, and then we busted our ass to get 1.4m this year, next year they want 30% more..... can i just get a bonus

[@Vandragorax]

Sadly the majority of companies are run like this. The idiots at the top only see the bottom line and literally seem to forget (or simply not care) that their employees skills and loyalty is what gets them there. Without rewarding those who deserve it, all that will happen is everyone good leaves and the company struggles more and more. But that's what greedy fuckwits with too much money and not enough sense always seem to do. Exploit others with no empathy whatsoever. It's no coincidence that psychopathy is a desired trait to be successful as a CEO.

[@LikaLaruku]

I wonder if this kind of thing even applies to Non Profit Organizations like opera houses.

[@DexTrraNox]

Do you think you deserve a bonus ? ask for it .. if you don't get it .. quit and find a better job

[@erynncollier8672]

The second half of that is easier said than done.

[@SpicyTake]

Why do they want 30% more? Off with their heads.

[@PaulDozierZZoMBiE13]

For me, a lifelong older gamer, the side effect of all this nonsense is that I just not only play less, I buy far less games each year. In years past, a significant percentage of my yearly budget was allocated to games. I'd buy at least a game per month, usually more than one. But now I am lucky if I see 3 per year that I want to play. I just don't want to be locked into a grind fest to see the content. Everything I used to love about games has been surgically removed and all that's left is a shallow husk. I'm a 40+ year gamer. I've literally been playing video games for as long as consumer video games have been available to play. I'm pushing 50 and my first console was PONG. So it ain't like the desire for video games isn't a core part of me. It's a fundamental part of who I am. I just don't want to have my udders wrung to get it.

[@PreceptorGrant]

Don't lose faith man, there are still great games out there, games that are proper games where you buy them and get to simply play them. They're just not AAA mtx-riddled ones.

[@ryanmccloskey4292]

If you want a good game that is worth its price ten times over, check out Hollow Knight. I feel like I owe the developer much more money than I paid for the game.

[@matosz23]

@@ryanmccloskey4292 F*ck NKG though. Aside from that, yes, I owe the creators some more money.

[@KH2409]

Paul Dozier Right there with you. I've recently replayed Streets of Rage 1, 2 , and 3, Colony Wars, Nuclear Strike, Shockwave, and Return Fire. You know what they all had in common. They all felt like games. Good ones at that.

[@EricAdamsYT]

This in a nutshell. I'm only a few years behind you and also used to buy lots of games. Literally, nothing the AAA publishers put out in the past 5 years has done a thing for me. I end up replaying old games from my Steam library. Maybe I'll buy something if it's selling at a deep discount. The other advantage to waiting is you can usually get the complete GOTY edition so you actually get the whole game for a reasonable price. I don't care what is trendy anyway. I just want to play an enjoyable game, something the current games seem to refuse to provide.

[@Veolynn13]

Corporations: “No matter how good you do, it’s never good enough” r/shitabuserssay

[@Jamie-tx7pn]

r/fakesubredditsyoufellfor

[@joshcaulfieldofficial]

@@Jamie-tx7pn nice 😆😆 love it

[@detectivescrotes]

Don't listen to Jim about economics, he has shown here that he knows nothing about the subject. Buzzfeed has never made a profit. Jim doesn't seem to understand the difference between revenue and profit. Buzzfeed spend all that revenue on operating costs, hence why the CEO said it was unsustainable.

[@jakelenn3295]

@@detectivescrotes All bullocks. Lying corporations. Dont believe them. They full of shit.

[@detectivescrotes]

@@jakelenn3295 Even if that is the case, which I don't think it is, it still doesn't change the fact that Jim, doesn't know the difference between revenue and profit. So why trust Jim on this issue, if he can't get something as simple as that right.

[@angelgirl976]

I worked in a small but sustainable sales department for a financial services company. Suddenly one year targets go up 10 times what they had been. Six years later, 75% of the staff are laid off and targets have kept going up.

[@paperbackwriter1111]

One dude I know worked for 5 years in a retail branch of a coffee machine shop. He worked competently and diligently and made it up to shop manager - then the company went bankrupt, because it had overextended its dunds by expanding into 4 other countries in one year with 3 new machine models. He lost his job, and had to get an entry level position somewhere else, cutting into his salary because of no fault of his own.

[@divinuminfernum]

that is the reality of capitalism even for supposedly the "first world" countries that supposedly are the shining example for the rest.

[@Arbron]

Ruling class has to get richer. That's all that matters.

[@TheRico725]

@@Arbron fuck them

[@1111Tactical]

And under what delusion do you think businesses are supposed to be immortal? Shit works, bloats too big, collapses, and either reforms as a pseudo-different company or a rising competitor takes it place. It's your type of thinking that leads to socialistic bailouts that allow these companies to avoid the natural collapse they and the market needs. People don't live forever, businesses don't last forever. Things ebb and flow.

[@Mockingbird7504]

The poor people defending the rich's right of robbing them, lol. But it's a never-ending story, isn't it. Not limited to gaming.

[@Octorber13]

Oh there is a end..... bankrupcy. Looks like these guys are on the right path

[@MrPlaythroughhd]

you can be rich too go to wall street.

[@middaymeds]

@@MrPlaythroughhd it's almost like not everyone wants to con people out of money for a living

[@Blunderbussy]

We call them class-traitors

[@braize6279]

Yup, we call them Republicans. Support the rich, even though they would watch you starve if it made them an extra buck.

[@ClassyJackBF]

Psychopathic levels of greed simply aren't sustainable. The psychopaths at the top know this, but you know, they're psychopaths. They don't care if they burn everything to the ground as long as they get theirs.

[@MakoHazard]

Exactly. They're fully aware that it's unsustainable. Their goal isn't to sustain it. It's to make as much money as possible as fast as they possibly can and then discard the company in the trash when they've squeezed out as much as they can. These people are some of the most cunning, manipulative people on earth. They know exactly what they're doing.

[@Bacteriophagebs]

They're not ALL psychopaths, just, like, 40% of them. They ARE all hoarders, though, hoarding wealth the same way the crazy lady down the street hoards cats. The only differences are 1) that the old lady is only hurting herself (and maybe some cats), while executives hurt the entire world, and 2) we call the old lady mentally ill, but call the execs "shrewd" or "brilliant." Meanwhile, the executives devote themselves to accumulating ever more wealth that they can never use, without a care for those they hurt, trying to fill some hole in their lives and never getting treatment for their crushing depression and compulsion.

[@kruleworld]

Even if the company does tank, the upper executives will still get their massive bonuses!

[@haruhisuzumiya6650]

Golden parachutes

[@killer660]

@@haruhisuzumiya6650 that cost millions of dollars!

[@grandpulse7970]

Which essentially these guys will be set for life. In fact its in their best interest to run their entire business into the ground so they can spend the rest of their life in retirement

[@vejymonsta3006]

@@grandpulse7970 you're so right.

[@Drinkabeerandplayagameofficial]

The fact that Patreon is saying they aren’t making enough money is a rage inducing joke

[@Cons-Cat]

They got over invested early on by venture capitalists, so they need an insane amount of revenue to pay that all off.

[@BKBorgerKing]

Patreon Can Go Fuck Themselves. I've Canceled All My Pats Since The Change. Greedy Basterds

[@victoria9640]

This is indeed completely insane.

[@wikwayer]

Good news 😏

[@sdobitoo]

They owe 50-100 mill for investors

[@derbyyank13]

Never forget: The enemy arrives by limousine. Also game workers need to able to and have to unionize.

[@AkizaVesper]

Wait. Speaking as someone not from the US, there are no unions for people working in game development?

[@derbyyank13]

@@AkizaVesper No not really. Unions have been demonised like crazy in the States and now people suffer because they have no one to go to bat for them against management and the company as a whole. Many jobs in the US require you to sign (as part your contract) an agreement to not unionize

[@braize6279]

Imagine that, companies don't want you to Unionize so they have to pay you a fair wage and benefits. Here in the States, especially the Republican party, throws millions of dollars at smashing Unions and belittle them like crazy. And though Unions do have their flaws, overall, lets just say I make a very good living doing a job that doesn't require random collage degrees. Work hard, get paid a fair wage, go home safe. And the company is still making a profit while doing so.

[@Ezekiel_B_Gruntfuttock]

I dont know if that worked out well for the journalistic industry though...

[@MrJay_White]

there is still nothing to stop independant dev studios from forming mutualist organisations.

[@takiszog]

Higher-ups making money off your back and then proceeding to fire you. Rotten deal if you ask me mate.

[@MrPlaythroughhd]

it's only numbers.

[@telepromtle8285]

The higher ups can be sued for not maximizing profits in ptc. They have to answer to stock holders and their head is on the chopping block if anything goes south, which can lead to a blacklisting. Their job is a lot harder and more stressful than you think. Blame globalism for the rotten deal you speak of, because of it companies can just move shop to a 3rd world country to cut worker cost. Making unions more harmful than anything.

[@takiszog]

Still increasing growth shouldn't have to mean firing people left and right every time expectations aren't met. This is the reason regulations are in place (or at least are in place where I'm from), this is the reason worker unions exist (or at least exist where I'm from). Now I'm sure being a business manager or a CEO or whatever is a stressful and difficult job no doubt. But even if they are getting fired for not making a good job that 300.000 $ per year should go a long way in alleviating that stress.

[@tactknightgaming2066]

That's communism for you. They parasite off your hard work and then throw you away via firing squads.

[@telepromtle8285]

@@takiszog Say those workers make $50,000 a year, and there is 800 of them. Not including all the insurances workplaces need or benefits thats $40 million. If they start losing money because they want to keep jobs or if their stock get devalued because they miss their quarterly goals then thousands of jobs could be at risk. Thats basically wanting to keep a gangrene finger in hopes of it getting better, at the risk of losing your hand or arm.

[@JusticeForPottsvilleMaroons]

Iwata was too good for this world.

[@crazyluigi6664]

Yes. Yes, he was. 😢

[@xXxSynthxXx]

Bless that man.

[@ErdnußRiegel6969]

Bless his soul

[@hanacodaiko]

That's why God took him from us, 'cause we didn't deserved him.

[@jorelc6]

industry* The world needs more people like him

[@classymarowak7001]

God, I miss Iwata. You never really appreciate what people do for you til' they're gone.

[@Pressbutan]

Painful truth right here.

[@Ris3451]

Since when did anyone ever feel unappreciative of the outstanding work of that man. Everybody remembers him and everybody misses him.

[@therightone5708]

@@Ris3451 I think many in the gaming circle don't know about how he refused to fire his employees.

[@kabobawsome]

@@therightone5708 He didn't refuse to fire, but he did refuse to lay off unless it was absolutely necessary.

[@OTElron]

Here's some company reality for you: I work for a international company that has had a turnover per year in 2018 that's bigger than the gross domestic product of slightly more than half of the countries on earth and has made a comfortable single digit billion dollars of revenue last year. Said company canceled the anual success premium of a couple hundred dollars per employee for this year, because the targets for 2018 were not met. I'm not complaining about the money tbh, I'm making more than I need for me and my family as an engineer there, but wtf are those people thinking? All the hard working ladies and gents here, from janitor to plant manager are just being told "Yeah well, you earned a shitload of money for us and our shareholders, but it wasn't ALL the money and to get closer to ALL the money we'll just keep the couple of bucks that were in the past intended as an extra motivation for all of you, alright?"

[@Ian-oe9wp]

ceo's get paid more each year maybe the owners or investors should cut those salaries instead of cutting good employees

[@ArlanKels]

And maybe they shouldn't go "Oh we just hired you and you've done literally zero things for our company? Here's fifteen million. Now help us, we're running out of money."

[@acassiopeia6439]

The system is working as intended. Capitalism isn't for us, the workers, it's for those with capital. You want this kind of shit to stop, you need to encourage and support businesses that are not organised this way, with bosses, singular owners or shareholders. Like Motion Twin, who made Dead Cells. They're a worker co-operative game studio. The developers themselves own the company collectively and they make business decisions democratically. They don't have a boss, they don't have any investors or external shareholders to answer to. Every bit of profit Motion Twin makes, they themselves get to decide what to do with, whether that be reinvest in the company, or award themselves bonuses. Worker co-operatives should be the future of the games industry and the economy as a whole.

[@Graknorke]

@@acassiopeia6439 Supporting businesses is still supporting capitalism. Cooperatives will end up 'voluntarily' exploiting themselves in order to keep up with the market.

[@twist3d537]

@@Graknorke coops aren't capitalist you fuckin mong

[@acassiopeia6439]

@@Graknorke Yes, having to compete in the capitalist market does limit co-operatives, but its a demonstration of socialist organisation in practice. Co-operatives alone are not enough to overthrow capitalism, but they're a useful tool in the fight, and improve the material conditions of workers while we work to overthrow capitalism.

[@JerichoMoon]

Iwata took a pay cut when the company was doing poorly, but in America when the company is doing well you take more money and people lose their jobs. Makes perfect sense.

[@mercantilistwhomper5180]

That's Japan as well. Iwata's was a special case. It's corrupt as fuck over there too.

[@TravisVenaturaLaneve]

Hell, most of the time even when the company is doing bad the higher ups will take a few million dollar pay raise anyway.

[@slowmoe1686]

Japanese executives actually make less money compared to workers than in america. Japanese CEO makes about 10 times what a worker does. An American CEO... I cant remember the number but I think it was about 300 times.

[@bjornsteelside]

Konami's in Japan. Nuff said.

[@Rebazar]

#capitalism

[@blaflargasnogger7045]

We quite simply don’t deserve Comrade Sterling

[@zomg1337h4x]

Thank the State for Comrade Jim.

[@distane8376]

How gamers of all people can defend corporate capitalism, watching EA and Activision, is beyond me.

[@MrPlaythroughhd]

cause you can be rich.

[@proletariandisciple]

David-John Streicher How about a group of passionate people are payed for making good games by the state, in proportion to their effort and the value of the game itself?

[@SilverMe2004]

um gaming is totally a luxury with no practical value. And as such can only exist in a capitalist system not saying that this system is working well

[@proletariandisciple]

@@SilverMe2004 Are you saying entertainment has no practical value, despite the fact it keeps us mentally healthy, and as art, enriches thought?

[@trager8933]

@@proletariandisciple lol tripple AAA games of this quality are made with milions of dolars and thousands of people working flawlesly day and night to bring us games like GTA V or God of war. There cant be just a bunch of people "hey lets make a game". You need money,knowledge in development and good gameplay ideas so that people dont get bored quickly. Thats why people cant play anymore cod or battlefield or fallout. Becaus they dont see a reason to go forward in a multiplayer mode with realy repetitive gameplay. That with 60 $ or € prices and a shit ton of bugs. With minimal content at release keeps the buyer away. Even if you make a game you need to market it and promote it then publish it costs a lot of money.

[@tiberiuskirk2593]

Unions and Workers Rights Legislation and Consumer Protection are in a weaker state than they have been in half a century. Let that sink in a little. If Corporations are not held accountable and regulated than corporate greed will run amok. It happened in the 20s, the 80s and now it is happening today.

[@Sahbla]

Not sure how government will solve the problem, when government caused the problem. Corporations pay off politicians to cut out competition and then they're free to treat their employees however they like, why change when no one is there to challenge you?

[@spacejunk2186]

Absurd standards of regulation can make it impossible for new companies to rise up an challange the domination of already big conglomerates, so be careful what you wish for.

[@dt35591]

@@spacejunk2186 That's funny, because when you look at the actual data you find the exact opposite. The breakup of Bell Telephone and the re-conglomeration of the baby Bells after regulation cuts in the 80s/90s being a prime example of that. Oh, and also the whole "worst financial crisis since the Great Depression" thing that was directly caused by deregulation. There are definitely some good examples of absurd regulations out there but you've got to be slurping away at that propaganda teat to think that's the reason everything fucking sucks now. Funny how the same people pushing the line that regulations are the cause of all this are also constantly calling for lower taxes on the rich and the end of the estate tax. Hmmmm...

[@MrPlaythroughhd]

kill the poor.

[@grantsamson2384]

Good. Unions are bad for companies and workers alike. Also I often hear about the need for regulation, and I have two questions in regards to that: 1) What specific regulations do you think are neccissary to reign in companies? 2) Do you believe that corporations, having access to large amounts of money, will not be able to bribe politicians to make the regulations favorable to them?

[@SuperLain]

"selling the game is just getting you hooked" lol it would be nice if they would make games worth getting hooked on

[@malemuffin64]

Eric Bergman Dumb down new games. Add microtransactions = easy money.

[@FeebleAntelope]

// it would be nice if they would make games worth getting hooked on Yet another instance where the younger generation is getting the short end of the stick. They grew up watching adults enjoying games in what was arguably a Golden Age of gaming (from the 90s to the late 00s or so). But then big behemoth corporations started buying up all the developers of the beloved franchises they'd heard of. And today's gamers often lack perspective about what good games look like. And so they make do with what they have. A lot of older gamers have also gone apologist because they really want newer games to be better and seem to think that pretending bullshit is fine, will somehow inspire corporation to do better.

[@asj511]

I only play older games now, or newer games that are actually full games. I'm currently replaying FEAR, still a joy!

[@allypoum]

At the moment I have installed on my P.C.: A highly-modded build of Fallout 4, Dishonored 1&2, the new Prey, Soma, Alien Isolation, Far Cry 2, Crysis 2, Fallout New Vegas (modded) & a few others. The newest game I have is Far Cry 5 & frankly it's crap.

[@nicholassullivan1239]

Also, indie games

[@siddhantbanerjee3328]

How does it hold up? Its on my steam for a while now, haven't gotten around to the series. I just finished DOOM, wondering if its sort of similar

[@TheOriginalEdFry]

Do you know if the 3rd one is worth a look? Only I haven't tried in the series.

[@chronosschiron]

ya im going through streams of older games now ....

[@OMGitsB3ck]

This full blown money addiction is just mind numbing. Like I'm not even here to soapbox about capitalism or whatever, I'm saying like mathematically this shit doesn't work. There is a finite amount of money on the planet. This is not sustainable.

[@nahuelcutrera]

There is an infinite number of money, they literally make it. The only thing backing up money is the state and government that printed it. It's all fake. The workforce of people from a country it's the only thing real behind money nowadays.

[@OMGitsB3ck]

@@nahuelcutrera Alright friendo, re read it as, "There's a finite amount of value represented as printed bank notes for them to acquire before the entire system collapses"

[@KotsarisGR]

Everyone knows that, especially those executives. It is the same thing as gambling, every gambler knows that gambling is about stealing money from others, they just hope that they pull out while they are still on top and that the people who lose money are the other suckers...

[@Talishar]

In a sense, it's not supposed to. It's eventually supposed to get too big and collapse under its own economic weight which then makes room for the next set of companies. The big and successful longtime running companies know that to keep the company alive, you need to keep a slow and steady pace. These younger companies that blew up because of a boom end up overextending themselves and selling and creating more shares than the company is probably rightly worth and now have too many investors on board expecting that same growth rate or better. This is literally what is warned about growing too quickly and then going public. This is why many software startups during that last E-boom went bust because the conditions that allowed them to quickly explode in growth subsided and they popped under an unrealistic pressure.

[@Scorpius165]

Small correction: there is a finite amount of *value* on the planet. Money itself is just a ponzi scheme with no real-world reference, so you can literally have googleplex of money in the world.

[@Kanelel]

The working class has no solidarity with each other whatsoever, we're all totally atomized individuals being fed a thousand different reasons why we shouldn't unite and organize. The employing class on the other hand looks out for each other, they understand that they're all on the same side, and that their interests are fundamentally opposed to ours. This is why you see employees getting layoffs instead of CEOs getting pay cuts. While the oligarchs form a united front against the filthy peasants, we're all too focused on our own individual successes and failures and our own prejudices against one another to recognize that we have a common enemy.

[@AegixDrakan]

All of this is not helped by the fact that Unions have been so thoroughly demonized. :s

[@caman225]

Kanelel and then our Supreme Court fucked the unions out of most of their power.

[@Nionivek]

@Aegix Drakan, but not undeserved. Unions have become so corrupt because while you can make a union for a company... you cannot make a union for a union.

[@exantiuse497]

Even the Romans knew this. The Roman Empire was surrounded by enemies that were weaker than it individually but would've crushed it if they joined forces, so the Romans used diplomatic tactics to keep the "barbarians" hostile towards each other so they could conquer them one by one. Divide and conquer, divide and rule

[@Heidenspross]

@@exantiuse497 and the one time the germans actually pulled their shit together it ended disastrous for the romans... here's to you arminius!

[@1000Master]

You should call your next Jimquisition episode "The Silver Sterling," since it will be your 250th independent episode.

[@angeloffish]

Pokéman809 I like the sound of that.

[@Dr170]

Hardcoré punnage

[@Ralph-yn3gr]

He should call it Pound Sterling. It's the full name of the British pound and we would be there to celebrate his financial independence. Plus, it would fit with the innuendo based component of his humor.

[@CrossfacePanda]

Ralph Pound Sterling? Yes, please!

[@bullzai018]

@@Ralph-yn3gr I see what you're saying. I get the innuendo. But the word "pound" can also be seen as a act of physical violence as well. See how it sounds? So yeah we probably shouldn't promote that idea.

[@Razatanx7]

CFOs should not be making five times the amount that there employees will ever make. Also it should be mandatory that any cost-cutting from any company should start from the top-down starting with their salaries!!!

[@keyworksurfer]

lmao you think it's five. it's literally more like fifty

[@checkmate058]

A ship and crew without a captain sails unguided. A captain and ship without a crew drifts in the wind. A captain and crew with no ship remains at port.

[@TehJumpingJawa]

@@keyworksurfer I think he meant "CFO's yearly salary should not be five times greater than the lifetime earnings of their employees"

[@R1ckmister]

Oh boy, that would be socialism but people are stupid to be scared of socialism for no real genuine reason ..... Here come the Venezuela comments.

[@FlameQwert]

​@@R1ckmister *insert screeching about le evil commie VUVUZELA*

[@Snotnarok]

I saw defenders appear for getting rid of net neutrality saying a lot of the same things." Less regulation is good. " and "Title 2 stifles innovation" Meanwhile, in reality with ISPs being an oligarchy and it being rare or impossible for consumers to pick or choose who they get internet from, we in the US are stuck with worse internet for more money because there's no competing going on. But we need LESS regulation holding these companies back while they're making record profits, dodge taxes and often go out of their way to screw customers over. I can't wrap my head around the people that defend this garbage. It's like, their "political side" is all they can see. So, they can't go with regulation, that's what "the other side" wants. Despite it being in the CONSUMERS best interest, who cares what the multi-billion dollar mega corporations get! They're already raking in more money than they know what to do with and screwing people over, they don't NEED less regulation, they need to be broken up and regulated.

[@s0lid_sno0ks]

ISPs are oligarchies because govt gives them exclusive rights over certain areas.

[@InciniumVGC]

@@s0lid_sno0ks It's not just that they bribed politicians, oh I mean lobbied the government for this, it's also that it's pretty much impossible for anyone who is not already wealthy to start a business in the telecom industry and compete with these guys. Do you really think you could crowdfund installing cables all over a metropolitan area, or launch your own satellites with a loan that an average person could get from a bank? How many mom-and-pop telecoms do you know of run by average joes in the middle class? Infrastructure costs a lot of money to set up, and thus industries like telecoms and utilities like water or power are inherently oligarchical from the start, not because 'government' is the boogey man.

[@m_s7155]

It's literally EVERY Corporation in the world that does this now... Have you all started to notice the everyday stuff you buy at stores these days half the time is just utter trash? Like for instance I bought soles for my work-boots the other day... The soles literally started to disintegrate after 2 hours of walking in them. No joke these numbers are not exaggerated... I know folks like to exaggerate on the internet a bit, but I kid you not, its like products are just put together just barely enough just to make it to the consumers hands... It's pretty impressive actually... When you think about it... These days how absolute hot garbage mega-corporations are... And the governments that are suppose to keep them in check is just getting bribed pretty much in public now because no one cares anymore, and nothing is getting done. What a time to be alive.

[@Meocross]

I'm sorry that you may have a better chance at getting a proper shoe at aliexpress rather than your home country.

[@bleung2274]

Planned obsolescence is a "well accepted" concept in most industries, but for reasons that have changed from sector to sector. If you ask older generation workers in various industries, you'll probably come across the concept, albeit not referred to directly as planned obsolescence. Back then it would just be referred to as "safe effective usage period" or something similar - on engineering projects this would refer to how long the product would operate without becoming a safety hazard (i.e. how long a bridge could go without preventative maintenance before it collapses.). From major projects like architecture and infrastructure down to individual industries like machinery and components, the general concept was the same. I like to think that it started with manufacturing, but that's just a guess on my part. But these ideas disseminate throughout industries, and when one industry "adopts" concepts from another, it generally only takes the parts that it can use effectively while leaving behind the rest. Sometimes in the process of this, they lose sight of the original context. So the idea of planned obsolescence might have stemmed from good intentions (preventing safety hazards by having the product "fail safely"), but ended up being used for other purposes (having the product "fail early" so a replacement is needed). There's an undeniable element of greed involved of course...but that's just par for the course in this day and age, no?

[@MrPlaythroughhd]

Be a billionaire.

[@thereisnospectrum]

Yes, the point of capitalism is to get the most profit margin. The point is to have you buy the worst product while paying the people who make the products as little as possible. Even Adam Smith said "labor was the original price paid for coin." IE labor is tied to value. But neoclassicals have deliberately ignored this. The endgame of capitalists today is "infinite growth", the ideology of cancer cells

[@05TE]

It's NOT literally every company. I work for a small company fully owned by the woman who started it. She doesn't care about growing or making tons of profit. She just want to make enough money and have enough employees to be able to provide good secure employment and do a good job for our clients. At the end it's a zero sum game, not unsustainable growth.

[@AbbreviatedReviews]

Only Jack Conte could take a platform that does nothing else but direct money from people to creators while taking 10% and call it unsustainable. The dude seems super friendly, but I have no idea how he can't manage a company that is essentially Paypal with an extra website and higher fees without a monthly disaster that makes people scramble for alternatives.

[@JohnSmith-tr9us]

Word on the street is... he took venture capital on board and now these investors want to see increasing returns every year. It looks like there will be layoffs soon too because they hired too many people when they got the VC windfall, Patreon also wants to make creators sign contracts in the future (good luck with that). So yeah, the company might survive but I don't think it will be as successful as it once was, with other alternatives popping up. Time will tell.

[@mikeandyholloway]

In the words of Dave Jones from the EEVBlog "Oh! That's right, the investors!" kzbin.info/www/bejne/q4PEc2muqaaDoJo

[@terminaldeity]

This is the same guy that said $100,000 wasn't enough to fund a tour for his band. As someone who's played in multiple independent touring bands, that's a load of bullshit.

[@TransparentLabyrinth]

@@JohnSmith-tr9us Well this is good news to hear (obviously being sarcastic, I don't know how anyone avoids feeling cynical in this shitty world anymore). If they try to turn Patreon into a capitalism machine, I hope an alternative pops up and people are able to do a mass exodus to it successfully. Nothing is going to hurt more than a slow decay of Patreon draining poor peoples' time and energy as they try to scrape a living off of donations. I mean, Patreon was like one of my remaining beacons of hope for sanity in this world's economy. If that gets taken over by greed, I don't know what to say anymore. Apparently nothing is too low for the vultures to go for.

[@Tricerius]

To be as far to Jack Conte as I'm inclined to be (fairness he doesn't afford to other people), 5% of that 10% goes to the payment processors' fees. John Smith is correct. Patreon took in capital and now he's got to report to them about that money he was loaned. I do think that Jack Conte has a very inflated perception of his enterprise's worth. You put it very well. Patreon is basically a middleman that offers convenience as it's main feature. The problem is they don't see it that way. If you checked how they word their stuff, they view themselves as the people who actually fund the creators, rather than just the people that facilitates the transaction between the patrons and creators. Under their very flawed logic, banks are the ones that pay employees, not their contractors. It's also thanks to that flawed perception why they think they can probe for contracts, kick creators without a second thought given to it, etc. Also helping to feed this delusion, is the fact that the cartel that is Master Card and co. have their back (their actions on Subscribestar are not a coincidence, it was obviously a deliberate ove to benefit Patreon). I do see them failing on the long run, and if they do, good. If you are too stupid to simply process transactions and skim off 5% off of it, then you shouldn't be doing business.

[@satyasyasatyasya5746]

*"If you believe in infinite growth on a physically finite planet, you're either mad, or an economist."* David Attenborough. I'd also add "or a capitalist."

[@Vicous528]

Capitalists still maintain their delusions... somehow.

[@user-vs6oe8fl3m]

Don't worry! Our lord and saviour Elon Musk will colonize Mars single-handed.

[@satyasyasatyasya5746]

@@Vicous528 To some extent I'm willing to bet that its not so much that capitalists don't know that the free market is bullshit or that infinite growth isn't possible, its more that they don't care. They do whatever they can get away with and when it all goes to shit, they're untouchable by justice or consequences. Its sickening, really.

[@mohammedsarker5756]

Satyasya Satyasya because they comfort themselves by hoping they’ll die before Armageddon

[@satyasyasatyasya5746]

@@mohammedsarker5756 I agree that to some extent there is a "grab while you can" aspect to this (since our entire global capitalistic system is running on borrowed time), I also think that they are convinced that when due to global warming, resource war and societal collapse kicks in, they'll use all the power and influence they gathered now, as a means of keeping themselves safe and in power in the next world. They'll buy their escape plan now, and use it later. Sometimes I wonder if there isn't some unspoken truth among the hyper rich that yeh, the world is gonna end, so get as rich as possible while you can so you stand any kind of chance in the near future - since I don't think they'll be willing to get dirty with the rest of us. There have and will always be a "rich" class even if the currecy isn't money anymore - maybe tins of beans? or weapons? or water?

[@obblue]

It's the broader critique you offer, Jim--that of placing video games in their wider political/economic context--that sets you apart from others and makes my long-standing support of your work a source of personal pride. And your love of Erasure, obvs. (Edited to include essential Erasure ref)

[@antman1672]

The problem with the video game industry is the same problem with the the economy in general. Debt spending has allowed bad companies to borrow their way out of trouble. The customer no longer has any sway, venture capitalists now decide which companies get money.

[@deriznohappehquite]

I think we've hit capitalism-ception. The product is now the stock price and the shareholders are the customers.

[@Krysnha]

Indeed, Ant Man if we live in a true free market and true capitalism, these companies would have fail, because we would have comptetitions, but we allow debt, out of control debt, that allow to amass hughe and obscenes amount of money, wich enables greed. And what happen these companies buy the competition, do not allow options and they can do what ever they want

[@jakobholgersson4400]

While I agree that today's lending culture is complete FUBAR, which has lead to for example housing being unreasonably expensive, I can't agree on what you're writing. Companies have ALWAYS been reliant on investors and loans. Personally I'd like to ban loans APART from companies loaning money for investments. And as someone who's run a business and know a fair bit of the industry, I can say that venture capitalists are a good thing. There's a reason why they're sometimes referred to as "business angels". They can infuse a struggling or young game company with funds to finalize their projects without making young people put themselves knee-deep in debt for life, as well as offer guidance to these companies. The big issue lies with big share holders, because they sometimes don't have a clue about running a business or about the industry they've invested in. The most appalling example of this is the investor who demanded Nintendo to stop making consoles and put all their efforts into mobile. When interviewed, the moron said he knew nothing about electronics, only had invested in Nintendo because he saw the building on his way to work and had read that mobile gaming was booming in some magazine.

[@Recesaron]

I think this is the most important episode of The Jimquisition. The information presented here is necessary to understanding the world as it is today. Everyone should see this.

[@arlom5132]

Honestly, I've been watching Jim since the Ekans article, and I've got to credit him with much of my radicalization. It's been really interesting watch him evolve.

[@JakePetrolhead]

One solution - eat the executives.

[@TraustiGeir]

Well, it hasn't been tried...

[@the_furry_inside_your_walls639]

@@TraustiGeir French Revolution.

[@TraustiGeir]

@@the_furry_inside_your_walls639 Didn't know that.

[@torrb420]

Comrades and proletarians unite!!!

[@westham1516]

I doubt you even know what socialism is with a stupid comment like that. Until an alternative becomes available socialism may be the only thing which saves America.

[@christiankneupper7011]

"When the people shall have nothing more to eat, they will eat the rich" Jean-Jaques Rousseau

[@gungnir00]

RIP Iwata. The man was truly one-of-a-kind in the games industry.

[@TheKiroshi]

One of a kind man. His passion, kindness and responsibility to the career he created, is something everyone can learn from.

[@LuizAlexPhoenix]

He was the man I didn't realize we needed more of, not until he died and all his feats came to light.

[@rockingtheblade]

Amen!

[@WarmasterDeath]

@@LuizAlexPhoenix absolutely

[@kylehill3643]

@@TheKiroshi He was the true definition of a socialist that actually made it work out. It feels like lumping capitalism and socialism is all propaganda but argue with a pro capitalist gets you name called.

[@TrueInvisible]

basically Jim all the corporations nowadays just want to each have a money printer that never stops printing money, and never requires paper, ink, god forbid not even electricity! because they just want to keep earning and earning without paying anything back anymore. i can easily say that they are turning into blackholes of never ending hunger! from what you are saying, looks like games possibly will either become 100% microtransactions / or they'll cease to be made because some always hungry for more people just want every last penny they can squeeze time to go back to the 1st gen and retro games .. if gaming will literally convert into gambling 100% i'd rather play my ps one and ps2 games in peace having 100% control of the physical game. this generation is ruined and with this kind of blazing greed. the gaming industry will burn itself by itself

[@thumbsup1089]

I agree, except corporations wouldn't be satisfied with a infinite money printer, they would want it to print faster every year, and would try to buy or destroy the money printers of other corporations

[@TrueInvisible]

@@Haaambuurger mi.... no call it its actual name! not microtransactions but rather "gambling" disgusts me away from nowadays games, i hate most of trendy bullshit, and the genres do not interest me either, i do play a lot of old school games hell even DOS games had more fun playing them! the games nowadays so called triple A are mostly garbage. well ... at least some stuff are being rebooted/ remastered so thanks god for that ...

[@TrueInvisible]

@@thumbsup1089 you get a +1 up from me.

[@iTeamkill]

now a days? dude this was the plan since the day any company goes publicly traded. this applies to all publicly traded companies.

[@boihowdie]

I mean that’s never not been the case. American business has always been about becoming a god; that’s why we ended up having a socialist party and people needed to create federal regulations to prevent industrial workers from being used until they broke.

[@SpurnOfHumanity]

*Time to unionize.*

[@SWAGCOWVIDEO]

gamers rise up

[@LuizAlexPhoenix]

_We had to close down "SpurnOfHumanity", as it ceased to stand to our standards and uncertainty of profitability going forward. It was an honour working with the community._ Company closing this franchise to stop unionizing

[@SpurnOfHumanity]

@@LuizAlexPhoenix lol wut

[@2239-q2j]

Long live the SOVIETGAMERUNION!

[@prideis4eva966]

Started with the booklets. Should never have let them take our instruction manuals......

[@baronsengir187]

The steps were so incremental that every new gamer Generation didnt knew any better and even defended it. Again...and again...and again. And as i am getting really old i am also getting really tired from constanly warning.

[@Drivertilldeath]

Jim on trending = good. More gamers/people waking up to the absolute sickening corporate GREED !!!!!

[@bjornsteelside]

what, really? I haven't watched "trending" since it became more of "what we think you SHOULD like"

[@samueljones621]

@Drivertilldeath - this has nothing to do with capitalism but with the failure of SOCIAL JUSTICE SCAMS Get woke, Go broke - no one eats dogs in a capitalist economy unless they want to.

[@XMysticHerox]

Trending is pretty meaningless.

[@PedanticPig]

It's weird seeing Jim amongst the sea of identical looking Fortnite videos.

[@ebonshade]

As long as there is a casual gaming market these companies aren't going anywhere, the most hard core gamers boycotting won't stop this cycle of idiocy yet.

[@VersusThem]

What did you say? Electronic Arse?

[@Marinealver]

EA, it's in the @$$

[@ByTheLake81]

Thank god for Jim Sterling.

[@fitnessabcvideo]

Every single night, I give thanks

[@KaiserAfini]

You mean the ancient boglin gods.

[@TheStonye]

AMEN!! My dude amen..

[@mottzilla2]

I wish he would stop equating revenue with profit personally, they are not the same. One can have a revenue in the billions and still be making a loss.

[@Phyrrax]

Jim Sterling...fucking prick.

[@restinpeace1916]

Comrade Sterling exposing capitalism for what it truly is.

[@Sonichero151]

Any Economy Can Function........but it requires a level of incorruptibility No Human Being is capable of........... and that's why every economy sucks........ because People by nature.....Suck...........

[@Yal_Rathol]

@@Sonichero151 which is why the goal should be to remove the human element with regulation.

[@baronvonlimbourgh1716]

@@Sonichero151 democracy fixes that though. Corperations are authotarian institutions. Fix corperations and you will not only fix our economy but our political system with it finally.

[@Sonichero151]

@@baronvonlimbourgh1716 But who's going to fix that?

[@baronvonlimbourgh1716]

@@Sonichero151 corbyn was gonna kickstart this until the whole brexit nonsense took over that country.

[@Milquetoastfireball]

Checkpoint reached. Saving. New Objective: Seize the means of production.

[@deboshadow]

Don't starve trying.

[@hescamping5982]

Ask Venezuela how that went...

[@SPL1NGYDUDE]

liked purely for the username. screw communism.

[@hescamping5982]

Hakageryuu Hakageryuu www.usatoday.com/story/money/2017/04/20/general-motors-venezuela-plant-seizure/100684954/ www.forbes.com/sites/rrapier/2017/05/07/how-venezuela-ruined-its-oil-industry/#7cffe04e7399 Sources cited

[@thedude5294]

@@hescamping5982 Revolutions are more about revenge against the ruling class than really changing the situation.

[@HeyMyNameIs...]

Ps: look at previous CEO of Sony who was in bad numbers because of it's lower sales in laptops, smartphones, ... . He gave his bonus payments to the company so people wouldn't get fired. Bravo that's a CEO!

[@wokeupinapanic]

HonestGamer I think it’s due to the fact that there is more of a cultural difference in workforce mentality in Japan than in the west. Japan seems to value its workforce more than America and other western nations do. They also have a rich history imbued with personal responsibility and communal shame, going back centuries. There seems to be a more reflective and humbling stance regarding action and consequence in Japanese culture, whereas in say American culture, we tend to view the past as a means to an end, where if our past actions have negatively impacted us now, then those actions are over and done with and we can move forward without them affecting us in any way ever again. It’s like that saying about how a poor American views himself as just a temporarily embarrassed millionaire. It’s a cultural difference that really just creates cannibalistic greed in our industries 🤷🏻‍♂️

[@zamuy12479]

"oh, that diamond-horse i mentioned? that's not a statue, it's an actual- ugh, what's in these pretzels- an actual horse. hold on- oh butt-stallion- *neighing sound*, but stallion says hello" - Activision CEO, 2019

[@the_furry_inside_your_walls639]

Is that suppose to be an insult to Handsome Jack?

[@LATEXXJUGGERNUT]

Stallion F*cker Diamond Deluxe Edition

[@zetetick395]

It's a big yum yum for horse pretzels 8/10

[@Stealthwilde]

The second video game crash can’t happen soon enough.

[@alexandersong5753]

when was the first

[@Stealthwilde]

Alexander Song 1983

[@DoctorNumber10]

I know I'm ready.

[@Laurell_Silentshade]

That actually crossed my mind watching the videos on this topic and came to the same conclusion. The industry needs a crash. As this pointed out though, it won't be the CEOs that bare the brunt of the much needed crash. It'll be the few 'whales' still clinging to the shell game products and the subsequent layoffs of the grunt workers (lovingly delivered just after crunch time).

[@gendalfgray7889]

but now we have indi devs, don't worry.

[@fabricated]

A gaming crash won't hurt the people killing gaming, just FYI. Executives will just do what the executive of Sears did and strip everything of value from their companies before bailing out. Really, we should taxing the absolute shit out of the executives and forcibly taking the vast majority of their, and their investors money because it's never going to be put to any good use.

[@Fafnd]

Those executives and investors are like dragons, they have to hoard wealth instead of letting it flow naturally like water.

[@boomshakalaka7353]

*EA stock bouncing back cause of Apex Legends* Mission failed, we'll get em next time

[@jshadowhunter]

Just wait until Anthem.

[@JimSterling]

The success of Apex Legends forms a rather strong component of today's video, if you continue watching.

[@atomic_wait]

Why are we still here? Just to suffer?

[@nfzeta128]

I really wish respawn had got a bungie type deal with EA. Maybe frame it so as long as they don't make "ALL THE MONEY" they get to break off with the ip. While the microtransactions are still kinda meh the game is great quality for a f2p and they seemingly didn't waste millions on marketing so the game was properly funded and released in a polished state (for the most part)

[@brainflash1]

Anthem, WE COMMING FOR YOU, N*GGA!

[@kyoai]

"Money is numbers and numbers never end. If you always need more and more money to be satisfied with your life then your search for happiness will never end." - Bob Marley (Paraphrased)

[@themagalanium9491]

People hear music and leaders but they never listen

[@gokuxsephiroth4505]

I cannot even begin to conceive how out of touch you'd need to be successful, then fire the exact people who made you successful and expect to be more successful next time

[@magisteriumemporium1411]

This is why GABE didn't want to go public

[@itscalledanimedad6908]

still didn't stop them being lazy p.o.s tho

[@onurubu]

Agent 005 yeah. As a BIG dota fan and a lover of the lore around it. I was legitimately really looking forward to artifact. But I didn’t even get it after seeing how garbage the economy around it was and it was just trash. Disappointment really.

[@SpagmanAus]

The fat fuck is too lazy anyway.

[@TheDemocrab]

@Dahn Found the Epic employee

[@guillepankeke2844]

@Dahn i dont think steam is that bad, tho its still a big corporation, gog is pretty bad, they dont even have prices for the 3d world, you dont want to know how does a peso compares to a dollar to an euro to a sterlin pound. Gog keeps selling old games that i like buying years later with the hopes that they make the programers some money, but they probably dont, and on gog they are even more expensive than on steam.

[@Trustworthy_McLegitimate]

And the employees left will have more work load. Their required daily productivity will increase but their pay will not. fck, if they cant reach their increased productivity requirement, they'll be let go. And the work load they left behind will once again be given to those left behind. God. fcking. damnit. And there is a even a fcking thing that companies do so that they pay less; They hire NEW people, bright eyed bushy tailed people. They pay newly trained employees lesser than those who have been working there longer. They give those new employees requirements such as a big productivity requirement per day that they need to meet, everyday, for six months . if they do not meet their productivity quota, they will not be regularized. And then new employees take their place. and the cycle continues.

[@madpew]

welcome to modern slavery. "human resources" has it's name for a reason. We're being burnt out by the industries to maximize profit.

[@cmnhrnytoad2003]

Well, to a point. Theres also the possibility that alternatives emerge who pay better and they hire up all the best talent as a result thereby taking over buzzfeed market share and driving them out of buisness due to their inept buisness strategy of gutting their own labor force to make a profit margin. Buzzfeed was also artificially inflating their clicks/views to entice investors so theres a bit more to this story than just 'capitalism is bad, m'kay'.

[@Desu-Desu-Chan-San]

@@cmnhrnytoad2003 Internet startups were also being propped up by a bill Obama put in place to ease restrictions on investors putting money into them. That was recently killed off, mix that with the things you mentioned and you get a perfect storm.

[@pimpollito18]

That's communism for ya.

[@Wesleygamer1]

The corporate world is going to be facing a revolution in regulations protecting workers rights if this keeps up. As this system isn't sustainable. Either that or the system will collapse. Sadly that last option might be the only way to make them feel the consequences of their actions.

[@rorroxxfan]

This is why I mostly pay for indie games from trusted developers.

[@chinesesparrows]

Same, i threw my wallet at the Insurgency Sandstorm devs

[@Darkerxz]

I dig this new class concious, loud against capitalism Jim Sterling

[@palaven4048]

Jim should give away most of $100,000+ salary than. A lot of people out there don't have that much. He's a typical limousine commie.

[@paulhorneschillings1212]

You think this is anything new? You must be new here.

[@stayphrosty]

@@palaven4048 that's not what communists do. i suggest checking out some of the various intro to communism videos on youtube, it's really nothing like the cold-war propaganda that i was brought up on.

[@Darkerxz]

@@paulhorneschillings1212 He wasn't "loud against capitalism" before. Very rarely did he outright call capitalism the problem

[@Darkerxz]

@@palaven4048 He made that money himself, he didn't exploit anyone or take anyone's surplus value in the process.

[@brainflash1]

I got a new job at the beginning of this year. The company I now work for made $5.5 BILLION in profits last year. Unfortunately, that was still half a billion less than they expected to make. Their solution? Make an entire roll at the company redundant. That means every store had to fire the person doing that job there. I know this because the job they got rid of was being done by the same guy that hired me. He left just a month after I started working. And that's not even the best part. Even with such extreme belt tightening, I'm still only scheduled to work 3 five-hour days over the next 2 weeks. And my store has already hired two new people since I started working there!

[@VargVikernes1488]

You better learn to code soon.

[@gungan5822]

@@wartome3196 Yes, every person is entitled to a job. I thought that was part of human rights or some shit.

[@grubbybum3614]

@@gungan5822. There's no entitlement to a job. It's based on your merit.

[@mottzilla2]

I hope you all understand revenue is not profit, a company could have growing revenue and still be making a loss.

[@KuraIthys]

@@grubbybum3614 That's technically accurate I suppose. But what you're essentially saying is that some fraction of the population isn't entitled to be alive. Very few people work for the sake of having a job. It isn't a luxury. It's a matter of survival. This is why I laugh at people that say working is a 'choice'. No it fucking isn't. It's on the same level as someone holding a gun to your head and saying 'work or die'. Except the 'die' part is much slower, more painful, and more humiliating. It's like slavery not through overt force, but instead through veiled threats. You don't have any more choice about it, but the people in charge are unwilling to openly state what they're up to.

[@cyansius3950]

Every day I thank god for Comrade Sterling

[@dankhill7395]

The best quote I've ever heard when it comes to business goes something like this "In business, you're either extremely lucky or a criminal"

[@MikeSW]

Same can be said about brilliant artists who push their craft beyond its convention. The difference is that "conventions" in art don't have the same ethical foundation because no one truly survives off of it the way they do money. When your job isn't "making a thing the very best it can be made - and getting paid for it" but is instead "getting paid" the conventions you break to operate at a high level are going to be the things that grew to exist because they kept other people alive. Not to suggest that wagering ones life can ever be avoided, just that the people in these roles today are dishonorable children who don't shoulder that responsibility or have any care for things outside of themselves or what's immediately in front of them. It's not a hard rule, but if someone is rich, you should expect them to either be arrogant or malicious. The game being played is such that no decent person can exist in that space. That's why I value Iwata era Nintendo so much as well as the indie devs in this industry; people mistake decisions they make for naivety or ineptitude because they don't do the thing that makes all the money, but it's not. Their first concern is making meaningful strides in their craft and making an impact, the money follows should those ideas be deemed valuable. You can draw a similar line with how Steve Jobs has been perverted as a figure. Everything he did was indeed about "designing around the user" the distinction people miss is to design for their needs, not their wants. Seemingly every product made at the moment could be thought to have come from a marketing arm with how compulsive and destructive it is. It leads no where, enriches no ones life. It is appealing enough to get your money, faulty enough to keep you paying - parasitic.

[@Supyloco]

You know, back when I was in High School, we were answering questions on a test and it was about the industrial revolution. One of the questions was about the success in business and one of the answers was so stupid that a friend and I mocked it because of how contradictory it was. One of the answers was, "The bigger the company got, the more people lost their jobs". We mocked it, but now, it seems like that would be a correct answer.

[@tomdroidfunnymoments1334]

Gamers need to rise up. No, really. I'm not really even being ironic, the state of the gaming industry is abysmal and it is all because of the lust of profit.

[@shg45]

bottom text?

[@GruppeSechs]

Not gonna happen anymore. Gaming has become too casual a hobby that brain dead people with disposable incomes buy shit they don't need or want and it doesn't hurt them, or they do it with credit cards, or they buy the game and are satisfied playing it for two hours, but the $60 purchase is there. The damage is done. We're well past the point of boycotting game publishers. Even games that have their reviews tanked still PROFIT. The people at the top don't give a shit about negative press as long as the numbers are there, and they always will be, until the company falls apart. Then they slither on to the next one. It's almost deliberate dismantling at this point.

[@helloofthebeach]

Per the Buzzfeed example, gamers aren't even anything special in the situation. Our entire economic system is overheated and when it melts down, AAA franchises going down the tubes is going to be the least of your problems.

[@FishoD]

Oh please. Gaming is better than ever. Just don't buy flashy AAA garbage. Still a ton of amazing games in the sea.

[@FlorenceFox]

@@FishoD Okay, but maybe if we fixed things those amazing games wouldn't be drowned out by whatever the latest triple A cash grab is?

[@WindyCornerTV]

I'm glad you bought up Iwata's willingness to take pay cuts. I don't think anyone will get over his death, he was truly one of the few good guys in the industry.

[@roberteden3713]

I think Mr. Krabs is a perfect representation of the AAA industry.

[@connordarvall8482]

Not really. He gives his employees enough to afford to live in houses.

[@roberteden3713]

@@connordarvall8482 yes, he pays the ppl that make him money, which is only 2. But he sold his best employee, spongebob worked a year for free to pay off boots, exploted jellyfish jelly for profit, and many other schemes. I think what I said is right.

[@Latinkon]

@@connordarvall8482 Add to the fact he's way more likable compared to the contemptuous ilk of Bobby Kotick, Andrew Wilson, and Strauss Zelnick.

[@Commanderd2007]

I once worked for a software company. I’m disabled, I have a disabled permit for my car. But I was told I couldn’t use the disabled bays outside the building because....my car was cheap, would look ‘bad’ being parked near the CEOs expensive cars and the image of the company would ‘suffer’. After posting record profits my entire department was laid off. They got only expensive cars parked outside the building because they got rid of everyone who couldn’t afford them!

[@Commanderd2007]

Note: I parked in the bays anyway. I had several meetings with management who told me to use the disabled bays in the general car park half a mile away, OR ‘work hard enough to become an exec’. I don’t think they liked me...

[@hornedgoddess8191]

I took an intro business course (I'm gonna take an international business course soon) and a lot of people and the professor always treated the government and regulations as the enemy or something. It's really bizarre but it makes sense. These are people that want to get rich at any cost. Big yikes.

[@TransparentLabyrinth]

@Backstage Bum "economic Darwinism." I think that's an accurate way to put it. Although, the funny thing is (well not funny like "haha" but funny like "oh we're so fucked") is that natural selection is just that... NATURAL selection. And it's something observed from nature that happens over a really really really really really really really really really long period of time because most beings can't just adapt to a new environment overnight. And in the business world, we have more like super-sped-up "artificial selection," which is basically humans being dicks to each other and then justifying it by pounding their chests and saying "survival of the fittest!"

[@hornedgoddess8191]

If I remember correctly, even Adam Smith wrote that inequality is something that shouldn't be allowed in capitalism.

[@Chromodar]

No, the "funny" thing is thinking about which traits are being bred forward this way.. Greed, selfishness and lack of empathy.

[@Thelango99]

@Backstage Bum we need high modernism back!

[@spacejunk2186]

@@hornedgoddess8191 Inequallity is litreally inevitable tho, since groups of people tend to form socila hirarchies.

[@fen7662]

Come on, Jim, don't you feel at least *a little bit* bad that the CEOs and CFOs might have to take out a loan on their next Yacht instead of paying cash for it? :'(

[@ARMIV4]

And where else would they be able to get their ice cream and whiskey flaked with scraps of real gold? At the Bevmo for $30? Absolutely not!

[@PancakemonsterFO4]

Molly Lane or maybe they took too much loans and now their ass is burning because they cannot pay it in time so they have to burn in loan shark hell, at least that’s what I like to imagine

[@fen7662]

@@PancakemonsterFO4 I can't imagine a single thing that is for actual sale that I could ever want in my personal dreams that I couldn't buy with one year's salary of theirs... Let alone their sign on bonuses and regular bonuses and whatever else they skim off the top. :C I could buy a regular sized house, fill it with things, buy a decommissioned Russian tank, and still have leftover pocket cash to not have to work for *years* (at my current personal quality of life standards) at 900k. It's fucked up.

[@sanctamachina]

No wealthy person would pay cash for a yacht. They make more money by paying the very minimum and taking on debt then utilizing the remainder of their cash to invest in higher yield areas.

[@PancakemonsterFO4]

Molly Lane because cash is mostly for reinvesting not spending because *if they cannot have all the money...*

[@moeneet7069]

To be fair what Iwata did wasn't wholly a personal character move, but more of a cultural move. In Japan it's a cultural norm for upper management to take pay cuts in order to keep lower rank employees hired, since in Japan it's very common for young people to join a company's workforce after graduating school and working in the company until they retire, so most all upper management have worked low end and entry level jobs. Iwata for example was a programmer at HAL Labs before he moved into Nintendo and moved up their ranks. It's still a noble and respectable move, I'm just saying in Japan it's not uncommon for Upper Management to take pay cuts in order to prevent lay offs.

[@autobotstarscream765]

Maybe that's Jim's point. Maybe he thinks that America should be more like Japan.

[@moeneet7069]

@@autobotstarscream765 His point was that Iwata did a respectable move which I agree with, but it isn't as simple as people should be more like Iwata and take a pay cut if things go south, because it's not a wholly a character based move to make, it also was a cultural norm. Things here in the west are different people can move up the ranks by knowing certain people or being liked and lower level employees are seen as disposable while upper management takes the blame and shifts it in order to save face. While I would love for companies to have that level of responsibility and respect for it's employees and customers it would take a sizable shift in cultural norms for it to happen since it is just so different from the norm. A company head would need to make that move from sheer character alone and idk losing out on millions or being fired from a position like that would make even the most moral of us buckle.

[@autobotstarscream765]

@@moeneet7069 Right, that's basically what I'm saying, that some people want American culture to fundamentally transform and adopt ideas from other cultures such as Japan. Btw, nice Wicke pfp. :)

[@Muirbidul]

Sounds like a better cultural norm. Of course, overwork and karoushi is awful, but many middle-class to poor americans are getting very close to that level of karoushi.

[@autobotstarscream765]

@@Muirbidul I think the idea is to cherry-pick ideas (such as bosses taking it on the chin and the bucks stopping at the top in corporations and governments) from different places and philosophies, rather than erasuring our culture and transposing one other culture upon us wholesale (I don't think Jim is a weeaboo ;3 ). And yes, karoushi is sadly already now a global phenomenon. :'( On a lighter note, nice pfp, who's the cute girl in uniform? :)

[@tiagodarkpeasant]

when a company is doing bad "people will lose their jobs" when a company is doing well people also lose their jobs

[@tiagodarkpeasant]

@jackthegamer definitelly, there are so many games being released that they must spend million on advertising just to make people try their games,at the same time they lie so much on the ads that most players wait to see if the game is worth it, so they make a lot of stuff to force people to buy before the game is done

[@mcmuggin8075]

Satoru Iwata has maximum levels of honor

[@WickedKnightAlbel]

Like a corporate samurai

[@atrocityknights6814]

This is why unions are important

[@SynthHeart96]

Rix Oakland eventually some rich dude buys the union. Everyone has a price.

[@parkergroseclose6956]

Be it gold or lead@@SynthHeart96

[@jacopoveronese81]

I was like "Where did that fly on my screen come from?"

[@atrocityknights6814]

@@SynthHeart96 Unions cant be bought out. It's a job protection under a collective bargaining agreement between worker and employer for better pay, benefits, working conditions. I've been with a union for 11 years and counting.

[@pladderisawesome]

@@SynthHeart96 How in the fuck are you going to buy a union? There are no shares, or really any ownership. Think after school club, not IWW Inc.

[@gingergamergirl98]

Corporate greed will be the downfall of humanity

[@mooredann69]

@Stormrage More capitalism in the world today, then ever before. Yet less starving people then ever before? I guess that capitalism is just, so mean

[@SupernaturalMonkey]

D Moore *psst* Why were they starving in the first place?

[@mooredann69]

@@SupernaturalMonkey Because of oppressive government? More details needed.

[@BigOnAnime94]

awakenedcompany.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/shareholdervalue.jpg

[@SupaSonicFanboy]

Article 13 is a prime example of this.

[@hawkenser9187]

And thus the world is finally seeing one of the worst disasters that has been unleashed on the human race....the corporate model of business.

[@ERASERHEADFUCKERS]

*capitalism

[@hawkenser9187]

@@ERASERHEADFUCKERS No, corporations..There is nothing wrong with individuals freedom to do business....I don't want the government telling me what I can sell or trade no more than I want corporations, which are not owned and governed by individuals at all.

[@ERASERHEADFUCKERS]

@@hawkenser9187 what you're describing is socialism. however, what i think you're trying to describe is still very unethical because under capitalism, employees have to live under autocratic control of a boss. This is true, often excruciatingly, of small business. I agree though that our capitalism would but a lot less painful if we did not have corporations

[@ColonelSandersLite]

@@ERASERHEADFUCKERS "what you're describing is socialism. " You might want to read a little more carefully. Socialism *IS* "the government telling me what I can sell or trade".

[@shlorbin473]

@@ColonelSandersLite No, it isn't. It's taking the means of production and giving it to the workers. Small businesses will still exist.

[@evaristegalois6282]

_Corporate Commander from the AngryJoeShow has joined the server_

[@wildjames]

what server

[@aeternusdoleo4531]

An exorcism is needed then. The Power Of Purchasing Choice Compels You! The Power Of Purchasing Choice Compels You! The Power Of Purchasing Choice Compels You!

[@bloodangel13]

More like Cobra Commander if you ask me.

[@Sonichero151]

*Voteban has been initiated on Corporate Commander*

[@fumarc4501]

More like pawg baron

[@kinoepigrafe]

Is Sterling our ally in the videogame front of the revolution, comrades?

[@JordanMilly]

Comrade Sterling has always been our ally, comrade.

[@somerandomdude1552]

@Lazu Imani He's our Revolutionary Martyr

[@suddenstorm8]

As much as I would love to seize the means of (video game) production, Communism also failed. Realistically what we need is a happy medium a blend of socialism and capitalism where you can become wealthy but there are safeguards that keep people from doing it without fucking over the average worker, there by protecting people while avoiding the brain drain.

[@mudkatt2003]

some boglins are more equal than others

[@xPaulxPhoenixx]

@@suddenstorm8 Communism also failed? There is a reason capitalists spent modern day billions trying to squash it.

[@BxPanda7]

If games we're cars, then old games would be luxury cars, full option package with heating seats, GPS, extra cup holders, retractable roof, and all that stuff. While AAA games nowadays you're basically buying a chassis with a seat, an engine, transmission, suspention,etc.. all the basics to get the car rolling, but then you have to buy the lights, the 3 other seats, the windows, the AC, the horn, etc... Pretty obvious scam if you ask me

[@Otakumanu]

Back in the early 20th century, this was how you would buy cars. Companies only made the chassis, everything else was customized to the person who bought the car and hand made at a workshop. A better comparison would be that the company makes the full car but removes everything non essential post production and charges full price for the base chassis.

[@harveygeorgefoster]

It is almost like a cycle where companies keep going further and further in the name of profit until they overextend, collapse, and then a new company fills the gap

[@Graknorke]

And of course harming people the whole way along, on the way up and the way down.

[@emilmullerv3519]

@@Graknorke Dont forget ruining our planet for probably centuries

[@SubZeroDestruction]

We need more Satoru Iwatas in this world.

[@Alex-nl5cy]

We need to build systems that enable people like Saturo to exist.

[@knvs2931]

@Disposable Email Maybe that's just it. Maybe there really are some companies that just actually promote good people for what they are & their contributions. Rare diamonds in this land of corporate coalmines.

[@Petrelli1926]

Here's a tv that looks like an apple.

[@timothymckane6362]

Make the bad guys cry like an anime fan on prom night.

[@VM-hl8ms]

electronic arse.

[@Reiderreiter]

Life’s good when you’re a ninja block.

[@HandmadeGoose97]

Jim Sterling Fucking POUNDING IT!!!!!

[@Robert399]

The modern stock market has completely perverted what business and investment are supposed to be. A small business makes a profit and the owner takes it home. Big business is supposed to be the same: it makes a profit and distributes that to the many owners through dividends. This doesn't require infinite growth, just stable profits. Speculation is supposed to be a correctional mechanism: if stock is undervalued, lots of people buy it; if it's overvalued, lots of people sell it until it reaches its true value. But the get-rich-quick nature of speculation has caused it to overtake the entire system like a cancer. Instead of correcting mis-valued stock, it's become a self-perpetuating monster. It's speculators who need constant growth because that's how they make their money. It doesn't matter that a share is a stake in a profitable company; as far as they're concerned, it's just a thing people have agreed to buy and sell. And now executives cater almost exclusively to speculators, reinvesting all the profits in the name of infinite growth.

[@leinadlink]

You ever heard this popular saying that said "history repeats itself"? I'm not saying anything, but the current situation we live in is pretty similar to the likes of the french revolution. Let's hope that if indeed history repeats, it will have less guillotines.

[@aringonsnow4208]

@Jackson Sacher People have been trying to blame Mexicans and other Illegal Immigrants for these problems for years now. People seem to forget the fact that there's literal recruiter types in Mexico helping these people through the border just so they can all but force them into indentured servitude. Trumps not dead set on building that wall to keep them out, it's to keep them in for exactly this. Hopefully the public gets their heads out of their asses sooner rather than later, lest that part of history repeats itself as well.

[@UtopiaTree]

you had me up until "less guillotines"

[@shakantaza]

Moar laser disentegrators

[@Oriminin]

Let’s hope that if indeed history repeats, it will have MORE guillotines.* Fixed that last sentence for you, friend. But seriously, if you aren’t absolutely blind with rage at capitalism in 2019 you need to start paying attention. Workers of the world unite! You have nothing to lose but your chains!

[@carlost856]

I'm hoping for more.

[@Goatcha_M]

There was a time when a standard box of tissues held 250 tissues. Over time, while the price remained the same, the standard box started to contain 220, then 190, then 180 and now 170 tissues. Some only contain 150. You can pay a premium price for a Jumbo box of 250 tissues though.

[@zed1991el]

The comments are filled with people who think socialism is when the government does stuff and the more stuff it does the more socialistier it is. Regulation isn't socialism. =O

[@phs170600]

@Backstage Bum forget the Governement, that is not the essential part, the essential part is the Proletariat seizing the means of production, the way you organize it later is not the essential question.

[@Nyaaani]

@Backstage Bum socialism isnt the government running your workplace, it's you, and your fellow worker owning and managing the workplace. this can be happening in a market or mutual aid based economy depending on what kind of socialism you are looking at.

[@g_oduofthenorth9618]

I mean, regulation... can be socialist. I dunno, I just think we need a balance. The thing that bothers me is the echo chambers that tend to cluster around one extreme or another that prevent the compromise we really need.

[@ollieyang4613]

@@g_oduofthenorth9618 If you stand in the middle of the road, you get hit by the truck.

[@g_oduofthenorth9618]

@@ollieyang4613 If you make metaphors that only superficially coordinate with your point, you don't come out looking particularly intelligent.

[@Zarzunabas1]

AAA should read the Lorax. Oh wait … They will not get the point.

[@tomhowell8398]

If you want to see what a modern media corporation would make of The Lorax, look up Big Joel's video on the 3D adaptation. It's astounding.

[@Akrilloth]

They will just applaud oncelers business wit.

[@kaydwessie296]

Lahley they’re the idiots who made PLASTIC LORAX MERCH

[@gwendolynstata3775]

"But why didn't the Lorax just start his OWN business selling Truffula trees at exorbitant prices and make planting them the hip new capitalist craze? He could have had millions of kids on social media doing the "Truffula Challenge!" What a lazy complainer who doesn't understand the free market!"

[@Golemoid]

they will think Lorax is the villain

[@Maphisto86]

1.4K people are beating their keyboards with the book _Atlas Shrugged_ .

[@FreeMenDieFree]

You do realize that Atlas Shrugged advocates a laissze faire economy right? Large Corporations and the gambling ring of wallstreet are socialist inventions that came to fruition after the industrial revolution when the government took control of all industry.

[@FreeMenDieFree]

@@tholomyes4967 But all industries are already Nationalized through taxation and regulation. Government regulation implies direct control over all Industry, without direct ownership. Which is what fascism is. Fascism is state control of business without ownership of business. Which is what the US currently is. The early progressive movement brought Fascism to America by reforming the federal government into a Fascist State. All the socialist controls are in place, but not direct state ownership. This is how fascism came to fruition. The same people who defend regulation, and taxation, created the fascist state which exists today. In order to regulate it required businesses incorporate themselves. To incorporate is to merge with the national government. A corporation is a legal entity.

[@FreeMenDieFree]

Also, trust busting did not break up the large corporations. Only in theory. Trust busting regulations were actually lobbied in favor of by large corporations because it made it super easy for them to cartelize federal regulatory agencies and crush their competitors using the regulatory process. Which is why a few conglomerates control most of the corporations today. The same regulations and dependency on government that socialists clamored for created the result they protest today.

[@nicyv2688]

@@FreeMenDieFree whatever you gotta tell yourself to feel better, dude.

[@FreeMenDieFree]

@@nicyv2688 History is on my side. Capitalism is the only stable and successful economic system in the world. Everything you believe in is incomplete, inaccurate, and historically incorrect. Socialism cannot work. Nor has capitalism failed the video game industry. Capitalism is what allowed it to exist. Companies will rise and fall under capitalism. And this cannot be changed, nor fixed. Infinite Growth does not exist under capitalism, but infinite cycles of failures and success do. Some companies will fall, and that is okay. New companies will rise up to replace them

[@phillipigyarto9066]

Hope you're not just preaching to the choir here bc this is one of the best explanations of the inherent unsustainablity of capitalism I've seen.

[@samueljones621]

@Phillip Igyarto - THIS HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH CAPITALISM BUT THE FAILURE OF SOCIAL JUSTICE SCAMS All Leftists are parasitic Liars & Scammers - there is no exception

[@phillipigyarto9066]

Lol okay

[@phillipigyarto9066]

Wish I could laugh react on youtube

[@odst123451]

This isn’t a Capitalism problem, it’s bad business decisions.

[@Kadaspala]

Its almost as if the foundational nature of capitalism incentivizes those bad business decisions

[@maxpower1232]

So happy I quit my job in this industry 3 years ago. Jumped ship just in time... when I started to realize I could do the job of literally everyone at this publisher and make much better decisions than millionaire CEOs. People that are less competent should not be above you making decisions... But in the AAA world that is almost always the case. Morons and nepotism... Is a recipe for disaster.

[@mikeandyholloway]

I want to live in a world where this is the main way of 'voting with your wallet'. Good on you, share the knowledge

[@adscott27]

I thought people being less competent above you was a factor in every job and organisation ever

[@cuppajoesugar]

I'm in school for animation, and stuff like this worries me. I love video games but I'm gonna probably go into film or VFX (which of course have their own problems but well, that's just life under capitalism)

[@loveitorhateit127]

@@adscott27 The Dilbert principle

[@TheCrimsonCat89]

But what about going indie for game dev?

[@LION0410]

Let’s all laugh at an industry that never learns anything TeeHeehee

[@dbleaker]

so... you're saying that there's a tendency for the rate of profit to fall? where have I heard that before? oh yeah, karl marx

[@baronvonlimbourgh1716]

Marx, a hero still! Even after all those years.

[@b1bbscraz3y]

Karl Marx himself literally killed over 100 million people with his own bare hands in the 20th century. I don't know how it's possible, but somehow he was able to come back to life after dying in 1883 then he traveled to Russia, China, Cuba and all the other kommunist countries and he murdered 100 million people by himself alone. that is why Marxism is a failed ideology! I'm Jordan Peterson!

[@baronvonlimbourgh1716]

@@b1bbscraz3y lol. Hard to imagine people actually believe that nonsense. What has this world come to.....

[@b1bbscraz3y]

@@baronvonlimbourgh1716 oh good god. and now what do we hear "colleges are full of Marxist professors", literally demonizing higher education and learning, education is just a conspiracy and facts are just leftist lies. I'm no Christian, but Jesus Christ this is exactly the stuff the bible talks about (especially pervasive greed) and yet the same people doing this are Christian themselves

[@kylio95]

@@b1bbscraz3y His ideology is still responsible for those deaths

[@Alias_Anybody]

That escalated into class warfare pretty quickly. Good.

[@ronnieDaking]

Fuck the middle class

[@JohnQBrown]

Ronniedaking The petit bourgeois have real problems-it’s the actual bourgeoisie that get the guillotine.

[@johnsnider2956]

@@ronnieDaking bro the middle class is not your enemy, not that it even exists in this country anymore. It's all working class.

[@ronnieDaking]

@@johnsnider2956 Then why every other nation hates its middle class then ?

[@SoulCrusherEx]

The Staff should start boycotts strikes. I want to See developers make games without the Staff.

[@noahwilliams8996]

Valve

[@GonePh1shing]

This is why unions are important

[@latinobunny9882]

The Staff ARE the Developers.

[@groundbreaker91]

@@GonePh1shing I agree. However, corporate America has done a "good job" portraying unions as selfish and bad for the company who's employees they represent.

[@ScreamingTc]

That would involve the dreaded word unionisation. You've got to remember that the Cold War was used to program the U.S population to view attempts at bettering worker's rights as inherently socialist and thus dirty.

[@fable23]

You know, I've been reading a lot about the French Revolution lately. I feel like everyone should; it's a fascinating period of history. Especially the part about the guillotines, and who got them. Not that this is any kind of _suggestion,_ of course, or has anything to do with our current economic climate. Perish the thought!

[@pladderisawesome]

Hey, did you see that RTJ track with ZDLR on RTJ3? The second part really bangs IMO.

[@dreadrabbit]

Let's hope the yellow vests can make it happen again

[@Deranfan]

But it was a liberal revolution to abolish the absolute monarchy and install a republic or democracy. Don’t socialists and communists hate liberals?

[@pladderisawesome]

@@Deranfan Billionaires (Oligarchs) are kings by another name, a cool few Billion will buy you a lot of newspapers and democracies. Sure, the French cut their heads off, but the Aristocracy and back, with all their nepotism and bullshit in tow.

[@BlackBirdSweep]

@@Deranfan it's almost like you can like individual aspects of something without approving entirely of the results, congratulate yourself on discovering nuance exists.

[@oleblue73]

I'm so glad I started gaming in the 70's and 80's. The games may be primitive by today's standards, but they were created by passionate people who wanted to create something amazing, and get paid fairly for doing it. When Trip Hawkins left EA in the mid-90's, the whole industry began to change for the worse. Thank goodness for indie publishers.

[@angeloffish]

He says revenue is not enough for success? So they make money from games, that is their revenue, and that is not a success? You are right. They are admitting that they want all the money, like you have said for years.

[@grubbybum3614]

They owe venture capitalists magnitudes more than whatever profit BuzzFeed makes. This video is just wrong, straight off the bat.

[@mottzilla2]

I hope you all understand revenue is not profit, a company could have growing revenue and still be making a loss.

[@sindri1447]

@@grubbybum3614 Wrong, how? Explain your point of view before making blanket statements.

[@joeabernathy5402]

Despite popular belief America has a mixed economy. The problem lies in which industries and services should stay privatized and which should government funded. Video games should always remain a private industry dispite how stagnant it may seem now.

[@grubbybum3614]

@@sindri1447 He literally states that BuzzFeed is thriving within the first minute of this video.

[@HikeBikePhoto]

I hope this guy never stops making content.

[@Guciom]

9:00 I would like to remind Jim that CEO's taking a pay check cut is a thing in Japan in general. They are not morally superior. They still tend to abuse there employees but they have these little cultural specific behaviors that to foreigners may seam as noble.

[@JoshSweetvale]

Well, maybe if it's coded into your culture, then, like the slave whispering in Caesar's ear, it'll at least stem the tide. It sure as fuck seems to have done so up 'til now!

[@Guciom]

@@JoshSweetvale Didn't stop them from being at the top of corporate suicides though.

[@astaiannymph]

Especially overworking employees, which is a thing already both in Japan and the games industry. And it's possible to use as psychological manipulation. "If the CEO is going to such lengths, we expect similar things out of workers." I mean it's definitely more honorable than going the opposite way, but that's not the solution to the general problem.

[@gateauxq4604]

Because to us unwashed heathens in the West that IS noble. There is no sense of nobility in business here, only the Holy Stock Market.

[@pavro_w0t719]

Thanks for pointing out that. Japanese culture is so overrated, it is a fucked up society in a lot of aspects

[@SHDW-nf2ki]

This whole situation of uncontrolled growth is why corporations were meant to be a temporary business agreement that would hit a goal and then dissolve.