#Golden Goose Sale

[unitedestatesllc]

[paper-mario-wiki]

Genuine question: Why do you believe Glitch Productions is overworking and underpaying their employees? Is there a source for this? I don't see where the animosity is coming from.

It's not a matter of overworking and underpaying.

It's that the potential for this series is straight up being held hostage by a studio who does not care about anything other than finding a golden goose.

I've been in digital media for pretty much my entire career, and I can tell you with great confidence that that much advertising and hype doesn't out of nowhere, and it doesn't happen with no budget. That much merch wasn't just available by chance day 1. And the fact that they're gauging the potential of the project solely on merch sales and not by audience engagement and response is extraordinarily telling.

The Amazing Digital Circus is a GI-Joe commercial to sell action figures, and I'm really sick of people talking about it like it's just a cute little indie project with a lot of heart. Because that's part of the marketing.

[sol-consort]

more on the illegally Shepard VI but it's fanmade dating sims about you. Doesn't even have to be illegal, with how much the military funds COD games in secret, it's not that surprising for the Alliance to offer compensation or even commission these games on the downlow just to boost up the annual recruits numbers. Shepard—you—is their golden goose which they'll milk for all possible clout they could amidst the galaxy.

They range from heartfelt visual novels about the protagonist player being a new recruit on the Normandy with you taking a liking to them and showing them around. A paragon Shepard is more preferable for this scenario, the nice, gentle, and reliable Commander. Encouraging the player to take it slow, not rush into battle, that everyone on the team is of equal value and has a part to play. A blossoming romance between you and the adoring player as you take them under your wing, indulge their awkward flirting, and watch them get flustered at the sight of you out of uniform.

One of the most iconic scenes in the game is the shooting range one, where you're standing behind the player, a hand on their hip to adjust their stance, your other hand overlapping their grip on the gun, lips inches apart from their ear, encouraging them with every target they take down.

While a renegade Shepard gets a more risqué game, one where 90% of the budget clearly went into these detailed animations. A choose-your-own-adventure type of game with a hasely scrambled together shooter minigame. Meeting the score requirements gives way to unlocking new interactions with you, be it meeting you at a nightclub, maybe at the gym, or even being one of your crew and stumbling into your chest in the dimly lit corridor of a sleeping docked Normandy.

The cover art alone is enough of a hook for this game to latch onto the top of the sale chart, going strong for 6 months. Depicting you standing atop a pile of gore and defeated enemies, a rather unrealistic skin-tight armour hugging your body in all the right places, tasteful in the small patches of skin it revels. A cut through the steel at the side of your thigh—hinting at a lack of undergarments—a tattered piece burnt off across your collarbone, and your helmet torn in half, showing a death glare which sends goosebumps through anyone who glimpse at the art.

A species specific spin-offs are made. The asari wanted one where a biotics Shepard turns to them in order to enhance your abilities, train amidst the asari warriors and unlock your true biotics potential. The asari tending to prefer plots where the player asari is the one rescuing Shepard or guiding them rather than the other way around.

The turians and their fantasy of Shepard recognising their talent and directly asking them to join the Normandy. Giving their turian players a cool backstory of being an ex-spectre or Omega's new ruler. Fighting side by side with you. A lot of these games targeted towards turians has Shepard end up adopting their face tattoo marking at the end of successful run.

[gacha-incels]

South Korea's 'Gaming Kingdom' Falling Apart Due to '쌀먹' and 'Gacha'

Economy insight

CULTURE AND BIZ

published October 4th 2024 this I thought was just an interesting opinion and analysis of the Korean gaming industry which heavily features critique on gacha. it is originally in Korean and has been mtl and edited into english so it’s not going to be a 1:1 but the very basic info should be there. If you see any discrepancies please lmk and I’ll edit it asap. Thanks for your help and understanding everyone

South Korea was once known as a gaming powerhouse; it was a term that frequently described the nation’s gaming industry. Even today, games are the leading export in South Korea’s content industry. As of 2022, South Korea’s game export revenue reached $8.9 billion (around 12 trillion KRW), which accounts for more than 67.8% of the country’s total content exports.

Globally, South Korea's status remains strong in the gaming industry, ranking 4th after the U.S., China, and Japan in a global market worth 282 trillion KRW. Though there have been fluctuations over the years, South Korea has maintained this position since the early 2000s. From a numbers perspective, South Korea still stands as a gaming giant.

However, if you listen to voices from within the industry, the phrase "gaming powerhouse" is hard to come by. A brief look at industry trends reveals concerns about a crisis: "The South Korean gaming industry is in trouble" or "There's no more innovation." Why is it that despite boasting a much larger export volume and market size than K-pop or K-drama, the core of South Korea's content industry, gaming, faces such grim assessments?

Broken growth caused by an incorrect business model (BM)

The key to South Korea's gaming industry growth was PC online games, which spread with the high-speed internet boom in the early 2000s. At a time when other countries were settling into arcade or home console markets, South Korea entered the PC online gaming sector—a move that turned out to be a masterstroke. With a fast market entry ahead of other nations, South Korea took the lead, pioneering its own paradigm. But today, the industry is struggling to even maintain its domestic market, losing ground to countries like China.

Everyone in the industry knows why. The unique business model (BM) of the South Korean gaming industry, particularly the trade of game items, is seen as a major obstacle to growth. The term “rice farming” (쌀먹- note I went thru a bunch of translations of this and this is the one that I thought made the most sense in context.. if you know the actual set in stone translation lmk)—a slang term meaning “making money by selling game items”—reflects how making money through games has become a major reason for gamers' choices. Currently, 60% of the South Korean gaming industry's revenue comes from in-game item trades, showing how central this model has become.

The core of "rice farming" is the sale of in-game currency or items that allow players to save time on gameplay. Game companies have capitalized on this psychology, introducing probability-based items, also known as "gacha." Gacha, a system similar to a lottery, can reward players with rare items but is also highly risky. The system is often regarded as being close to gambling.

The gaming industry has desperately tried to conceal the fact that probability-based item models have elements of gambling or promote a gambling mindset. If public opinion were to focus on the gambling-like nature of these models, it could literally lead to the downfall of the entire industry. Since this "goose that lays the golden eggs" brings in massive profits easily, no one has been willing to sacrifice it, even though everyone knows it's a problem, making it difficult to change.

The issue is that this culture has dominated the South Korean gaming industry for a long time, severely damaging the overall diversity and competitiveness of the industry. The current crisis stems from a decline in trust in the gaming industry as a whole, following multiple allegations of manipulated probability-based items, which has subsequently led to a decrease in revenue.

Instead of focusing on enhancing gameplay or user services, companies have drawn in users solely with gambling elements, while users, motivated by the desire to make money, approach these games with a gambling mentality. This dangerous dynamic is the main reason why the gaming industry is in its current crisis. The fixation on a flawed business model has led to distorted growth, and the industry has so far stubbornly ignored the issue.

It’s not that there haven’t been calls for change. Many in the industry have been raising alarms, warning that continuing down this path will eventually lead to a collapse. However, market forces often silenced these voices. By 2023, the festering issues that had been ignored for so long have now grown into an irreversible cancer.

Today, Korean games are no longer judged by their content but by how well they incorporate gambling-like elements. One might wonder how this is any different from Japan's national gambling game, pachinko. This is the current state of South Korea’s gaming industry. What's even sadder is that all of this is a result of game developers knowingly turning a blind eye to the situation, blinded by short-term profits.

A Gaming Industry that Talents Ignore

Beyond the distorted growth caused by flawed business models, there are numerous warning signs for the Korean gaming industry. The most noticeable problem is the significant decline in competitiveness when it comes to developing new games. Recently, it has become increasingly difficult to find new Korean games making a mark in either the global or domestic markets. This issue has worsened since the gaming paradigm shifted to mobile platforms. In 2022, only one Korean game made it into the global top 10 for mobile game revenue. The domestic revenue rankings tell a similar story, with most of the top 10 games being either Chinese titles or mobile versions of games that have been in service for over 20 years. This clearly shows the lack of competitive new game releases.

Experts point to the distorted personnel structure of current game development companies, where decision-making is dominated by professional managers who often lack a deep understanding of games. They highlight that Korea's game development culture is plagued by rigid hierarchies and processes, rather than fostering individual developers' creativity.

Survey data shows that the average tenure of employees in the Korean gaming industry is only 2.8 years, and six out of ten game developers express dissatisfaction with their current working conditions. This stands in stark contrast to the foreign gaming industry, where passionate developers drive innovation with fresh ideas. The so-called "crunch culture," where overtime and late-night work are expected, is another major factor hindering the progress of Korean game development. The high workload, compared to other IT sectors, causes talented workers to gravitate toward other industries, leaving game development behind. This is not just a problem of individual developers' working conditions; it poses a structural threat to the future of the Korean gaming industry. Unless the industry escapes from its stagnant development culture, a resurgence for Korean games will be difficult.

The rapid pace of technological change surrounding games has also intensified the sense of crisis in Korea's gaming industry. When it comes to adopting and utilizing emerging technologies that drive next-generation gaming trends, such as the metaverse and blockchain, Korea has fallen significantly behind leading nations. The power that once positioned Korea at the forefront of game innovation seems to have all but vanished.

Industry insiders unanimously agree that the root cause lies in the complacency of game developers, who prefer to take the easy route and prioritize making quick money over embracing new challenges. This results in the industry circling back to its distorted business models. Looking at this trajectory, it's no surprise that concerns are growing over whether the Korean gaming industry can maintain its past glory in an increasingly competitive global market.

The Last Golden Time

For the South Korean gaming industry to recover, fundamental innovation is needed. The focus must shift from aggressive commercialization to delivering the intrinsic value of games—fun, emotion, and immersion. A drastic change in game design philosophy is required, prioritizing enjoyable experiences over pushing players toward in-game purchases.

Additionally, a flexible, autonomous development structure that values creativity must take root. Only in such an environment can future hit games emerge. Risky and innovative attempts should be encouraged, even at the cost of failure. More companies need to embrace new technologies and genres.

The road to reclaiming South Korea’s status as a gaming powerhouse will not be smooth, but if the industry collectively prioritizes the essence of gaming and takes one step at a time, the path to revival can open. Now is the last golden opportunity for the industry to unite for its future.

[transgenderer]

its kind of weird to me how small companies like game freak are. like. surely if they were twice the size they could make games like twice as often and have nearly twice the sales. like. the costs are higher but the profits are proportionally higher. so its better. and its not like they dont have enough money. maybe its a culture thing? like theyre worried about the company culture getitng diluted. dont want to kill the goose that goes the golden egg. anyway it seems like their current team is not up to the job of making 3D games at the rate they want to release them. so like. they need more guys

[genericpuff]

Just to add to the speculation: Rachel was on Twitter and instagram over the last week being really excited over how she's talking to Webtoon about LO's return date and seemed to be in good spirits, but now that we have confirmation of LO ending and her and Webtoon are now being really quiet about it, I get the impression she was expecting that meeting to be a renewal discussion but instead was greeted by Webtoon asking when she was wrapping things up with no offer of another season. I think WT was considering it since none of the S3 ads mentioned it was the last season, but they must be seeing the internal numbers and with the potential of the TV show not happening and less and less book sales, they must have seen no financial or business reason of renew it. The obfuscation both her and Webtoon are doing right now implies Rachel was blindsided by this IMO.

fucking OOF BRO

That was definitely an angle I hadn't considered, obviously it's still just speculation/tinfoil but from what I've heard about how cagey WT can be about communicating with their creators, it could very well be a possibility. That said, while it would SUCK for Rachel if that was the case, I feel like it's also something she shouldn't have been pressing her luck with for so long. TBH there's a lot of evidence to support the fact that LO has been getting "special treatment" for years now and I think a lot of that was based on the good will of how well the series performed in 2019/2020. When the series started going downhill, WT would have likely been willing to give her benefit of the doubt, but now with things going the way they are where people are clearly DONE with LO and Rachel isn't making any attempts to actually get her shit together, it would make sense if WT is just finally deciding to cut their losses.

Of course that's, again, HEAVY speculation. But I've seen series that weren't controversial or regularly criticized like LO get suddenly dropped without much warning for the creator (see: Yuna & Kawachan). The fact that LO has been going on this downward spiral for so long without any intervention or attempts to improve things just goes to show how much WT was banking on this series to succeed, especially after all of the time and money and advertising they had sunk into it. Even look at the awards that LO won this year, including the Eisner, which isn't an award traditionally won twice, lending credence to the fact that WT is buying her these awards to try and save their golden goose. It's too late to save it. It's barely managing to stay alive on life support.

If anything I hope this is a harsh but necessary lesson to WT to not undercut their other creators and series just to shove all their eggs in one basket. There are so many series on the platform that could be massive hits if WT would just extend them the olive branch and give them the same royal treatment they gave LO for so many years. There's no reason all of their resources need to go into one series, it's not a pie, everyone should be able to get the opportunity to be seen within their library. Otherwise, if for some reason WT can't allocate those resources due to the sheer number of series on the site, then that should be a wake up call to lessen the amount of titles that are being churned out into the Originals catalogue every week. To be fair, the launch weeks have lessened over the past year, they're not quite as overstuffed with launch titles as they used to be, but it's still a lot compared to what it used to be back in the day.

The reality is that LO was released at a time when the site wasn't nearly as oversaturated as it is today so it was created at the right place, right time - if it was released today, it would likely be another buried series with little to no advertising. It was a product of its time and that time is very much long gone.

[fromtenthousandfeet]

The Goose That Laid the "Golden" Egg

When Jungkook's Golden album came out I have to admit I was really confused about exactly who the songs were supposed to appeal to. The explicit lyrics in Seven and 3D really didn't fit with your average BTS fan. The collabs were strange, too. Usher and Justin Timberlake? Was this album geared towards old Millennials? Jack Harlow and Latto (who, by the way, is hardly a household name here in the US) - rap enthusiasts? DJ Snake and Major Lazer - EDM fans? Was the album geared towards men or women? Young or old? Like who the heck was the target market?

And then one day it hit me. I was asking the wrong question! The target market didn't matter one iota. The right question was cui bono? Or rather, who stands to gain? This got me started digging into the song credits on JK's album. And here's what I discovered - every collaborator has writing credits.

Let's break it down.

3D featuring Jack Harlow. Harlow has writing credits. Justin Timberlake has writing credits on the remix.

Closer to You featuring Major Lazer. Diplo, a.k.a. Thomas Pentz, has writing and producing credits.

Seven featuring Latto. Latto, a.k.a. Alyssa Stephens, has writing credits.

Standing Next to You Usher Remix. Usher Raymond IV has writing credits.

Please Don't Change featuring DJ Snake. DJ Snake, a.k.a. William Grigahcine, has writing and producing credits.

The features are paid up front for their collaboration, and then, because they have writing credits, they will continue to earn royalties from streams and sales. Not a bad deal for the folks listed above. The same goes for the well-known song writers and producers on the album, like David Stewart, Andrew Watt, Jon Bellion, Shawn Mendes, Ed Sheeran, and many others. Here's an article about how royalties work for those who care:

I shudder to think how much was spent on marketing Seven/Golden. I assume HYBE America paid for marketing expenses since Scooter was the one doing A&R while leveraging his extensive web of contacts in the music industry. I don't know this for certain, though, without seeing HA and BH's expenditures. Either way, someone paid iHeartRadio (among others) for media play and radio airplay. And then there were paid advertisements all over social media platforms, including forced adverts on YouTube that counted towards Billboard charts.

So much money was spent on Spotify. Paid playlists, paid playlist positions, Spotify Discovery Mode. I know Spotify also modified the search algorithm so JK's Seven would pop up first in the results when one searched for Jimin. If I remember correctly, this happened in YouTube as well (such a dirty move). Like, somebody got paid to rewrite code to override the search function.

More money was paid for media play with Billboard, Rolling Stone, Forbes, and I'm pretty sure NME and Consequence of Sound, too. There were probably many adverts I didn't notice. And then there were performances, awards, and his ad campaign which I won't discuss but I've definitely wondered who paid whom for that endorsement deal.

I don't need to go on and on rehashing 2023, but what I want to point out is that BIG MONEY was spent on the roll out of Jungkook's first single and subsequent album. Was Seven the most expensive single in pop music history? And cui bono? Not Big Hit, since essentially none of the in-house writers and producers were involved. Streams don’t yield big payouts and the digital singles and albums were often sold at a discount. Jungkook didn’t make huge bank since he had zero writing or producing credits. But Scooter Braun's clients and industry friends seemed to do pretty well. And just about every company that's related to the western music industry received payments for pushing and playing the songs from Golden.

So, I see two potential scenarios here.

Number One! HYBE used Golden as a means to, shall we say, line the pockets of the western music industry (cough...bribe...cough) so that releases from HYBE labels will get treated favorably in the future. Also, given the scope of marketing, media play, playlisting, and radio play, Golden could have been used for market research to determine where the company gets the most return on investment in terms of reach and charting. I think you can see this with the rollout of Illit's Magnetic, which has heavy Spotify Discovery Mode and a huge focus on TikTok, but very little standard media play via the traditional music media outlets. And no posters.

Number Two! Scooter Braun saw this album as an opportunity to financially enrich his friends, colleagues, and the companies he has investments in, like Spotify. Was he siphoning money out of HYBE by promising to make Bang PD's dream of western validation come true? Can't you see Scooter whispering sweet nothings into Bang's ear? "Mr. PD, give me a big budget and I will make you the biggest music mogul in 1,000 years!"

Whatever the grand scheme was behind Golden, one thing's for sure, the western music industry and social media platforms made out like bandits.

FYI:

HYBE America lost more in 2023 than Big Hit earned.

HYBE America Sales: 226.3 billion Net Profit: -142.4 billion won

Big Hit Music Sales: 552.3 billion Net Profit: 140.3 billion won

142 billion won is just under 105 million USD. Yowza.

In other news, HYBE Corporation was designated a conglomerate today. I'll try to unpack the implications of this if anyone is interested.

[911style]

Hen Wilson | 8x04 No Place Like Home Italist Golden Goose Beige Herringbone Suit Rear Slit Double-breasted Dinner Jacket $1,212 | italist, on sale, limited stock Wide Leg Trousers $451 | no longer available

[blazehedgehog]

Why is Ubisoft dying?

Are they?

My memory of Ubisoft is a company who always complained that they put all this effort and artistry into something like Prince of Persia or Rayman or Beyond Good & Evil, and then they'd always schedule those games to launch the same day as Grand Theft Auto or a Final Fantasy or something, which lead to extremely poor sales.

And this happened like four, five, six times in a row. They were always underperforming, constantly.

Until Assassin's Creed. That became their golden goose. And then they bought the Far Cry IP, and put all the stuff they learned from Assassin's Creed into that. And then they put it in other games. And that became the Ubisoft "house style." They transitioned away from the company that made these beautiful highly artistic interesting games and towards increasingly samey, increasingly boring junk.

So now they're back to sales trouble again? Maybe it's time to find a new gimmick.

Though I still don't think they're as doing as bad as EA. I feel like if any company these days is a shadow of their former selves, it's EA. Ubisoft just feels like Ubisoft.

[synchodai]

Just finished the Fallout TV show! Observations and spoilers under the cut:

GOOD: It's actually pretty lore accurate and canon compliant.

I don't understand the complaints that it retcons New Vegas? People argue that the Battle of Hoover Dam and "the fall of Shady Sands" both happening in 2277 renders FNV non-canonical, but that's not necessarily the case? It was clear from the chalkboard the fall of Shady Sands and the nukes dropping are two separate events? Meaning Shady Sands "falling," whatever that entails, doesn't necessarily contradict the NCR presence in the Mojave. Shady Sands is the capital of the NCR — not the entire NCR. Even without control of Shady Sands, they would still have rangers and citizens in their other settlements.

I think this is because people are so invested in this narrative that Bethesda hates FNV, and yes, they could have treated Obsidian way better and shafted them in numerous ways during game development, but developer Tim Cain himself said that Todd Howard loves FNV.

Yes, certain details in the show can be contradictory to its source text, specifically with how they handle ghoulification, but it wasn't like the games ever had a clear canon explanation for ghoul biology either. Fallout 4 showed that exposure to radiation isn't even the only way to turn into a ghoul — and I was certain the previous games emphasized that ghouls are ghouls because of overexposure to radiation.

All in all, the little details they do get right — the brand names, the music, the general vibe of how each faction operates — vastly outnumbers the ones that are a bit iffy.

BAD: They revealed who dropped the bombs and it doesn't make sense.

The twist of the entire series is that Vault Tec dropped the nukes because it wanted to increase sales and recreate the USA as a utopian, monopolistic corporatocracy. This doesn't exactly contradict established canon. In fact, with Mr. House being part of the corpo meetings discussing this, it explains how he was able to predict the nukes and shield his beloved Vegas before the bombs fell.

What this mainly contradicts for me is just...logic. This show clearly wants to tell its audience that corporations will prioritize profit over public welfare every time. It's a good, clear, and necessary message. However, corporations — no matter how evil they are — just wouldn't wipe out their own customer base, right? Who would they make profits from if 90% of Americans were dead? And let's say they don't care about the poors who couldn't afford their products and services anyway — they've just significantly reduced even the one-percenters' purchasing power by basically scorching the earth. Capitalists want to extract as much resources as possible. They will abuse and torture their golden goose so that it'll lay more eggs, but they will never just...kill their own goose.

There could have been a more logical scenario here. War is a one of the most lucrative times for corporations like Vault Tec. And American corpos ARE known for orchestrating wars and destabilizing entire regions, BUT they always do so outside the US — a safe, far distance from the paying customers and away from the company's executives.

If that board meeting talked about purposefully disrupting the hardearned peacetimes they were in and dropping a bomb ON ANOTHER COUNTRY just to incite people to buy more vaults, then yes, I can see that happening. I can even see them anticipating nuclear retaliation, but they're too blinded by greed and the need for infinite growth that they're willing to take that risk. Add some dialogue about how this is their way of manufacturing and exporting American nuclear annihilation anxiety so they can take their tech global, and we have something that's closer to reality than just....one-step self-immolation.

House in FNV more or less had the same motivations to recreate the world as a technocrat dictatorship, but FNV handled it better in that House knew that people, even rivals like the tribes, were better kept alive and converted to paying customers and/or employees than outright exterminated.

Unfortunately, since the entire theme is about how corporate capitalism can lead to the destruction of the world, the show portraying the "fidicuiary incentive" as akin to an ideology (a set of beliefs on how the world should be structured) is misguided I think. A corporation profit motive isn't ideological because only people can have ideologies and corporations are not people. They don't prioritize profit because they think this is the best system we have to achieve a utopian society — they do it because it is what corporate systems are designed to do. They do not care about societal good anymore than a cancer cell cares about the body it is in. All they want is to grow exponentially.

Corporations like Vault Tec and its ilk are more like machines made to churn money, and that has resulted in sometimes progress and sometimes destruction. But it is always uncaring of those consequences and the methods it has to utilize as long as it fulfills its end goal of continually making profit — and THAT'S the problem of capitalism. Not that corporate execs want total political control. Because if lax control meant they could continuing exploiting and siphoning resources and pleasing shareholders, they wouldn't care about governance or politics at all.

STRAY THOUGHTS

Mr. House at that table gave me everything I wanted. I'm so excited for season 2 being New Vegas centered.

I love the portrayal of vault dwellers. They all had quirky and distinguishable characters and there wasn't a vault dweller character I wasn't entertained by.

Vault 4 is such a good episode! It was so funny and such a good way to show Lucy and Maximus that kindness is still possible in the wasteland without making it uncharacteristically sappy or too after-school special.

Norm is such a compelling character. I didn't expect him to be such a big part of the story but I'm glad he was.

They did justice to the scenery. I love the deer because it shows it's been a while since the atomic bombs and how life inevitably recolonizes the land.

The twist that Hank Maclean helped nuke Shady Sands because his wife escaped to it? It's kind of a weak excuse to nuke an entire area again. I hope this gets elaborated on in season 2 and why Vault Tec decided to let the NCR become a full-blown national power before taking action.

Cooper Howard? No notes. Perfect performance.

I'm not a big fight scene person, but I appreciate the tribute to the games with the splattered body parts and how main characters didn't just curbstomp their opponents.

The vault scenes were the funniest but I hope they also lean in more to how weird the wasteland can be too.

A lot of threads left hanging. Who is Lee Moldover and why are the refugees of Shady Sands worshipping her? Why did she need whatever was in the Enclave scientist's head? Whatever happened to Vault 33's problem with their destroyed water chip? Why did Hank give Moldover the code just because Lucy told him to? WHERE IS FINAL PAM???

CONCLUSION

Amazing adaptation. Well-written characters that felt very at-home with the setting. It understood the games deeply enough to know that Vault Tec is the overarching villain of the series. Plot has holes and logical inconsistencies, but aside from what I've already discussed, these aren't egregious enough to take away from character arcs and the show's themes for me.

**Fallout games I've played:

Fallout 2

Fallout 3 (only got through half of the game)

Fallout: New Vegas

Fallout 4

[thekingofwinterblog]

you know, if there is anything positive to take away from the absolute braindead idea that was Suicide Squad Kill the Justice leage, and the way it destroyed the Arkham setting in such a decisive fashion, its that Rocksteady Studios will hopefully serve as a reminder for other game studios that they can in fact go bankrupt when they decide to destroy their own franchises, and unlike movie universes like Disney Star Wars(which has been propped up by disney money even if every single product after rise of skywalker except the mandalorian, has been an abysmal failure financially), it is much easier for Game Companies and franchises to crash and burn permanently.

Harley executing Arkham Batman feels very much like Joel getting his head caved in with a Gold Club, and just like that game, There is no future for a sequel to either game.

There are two differences between Rocksteady and Naugthy Dog.

Regardless what I and many, many others think about the Game, and the way it cratered in sales very, very quickly once word got out about it's abyssmal story, the game did sell astonishingly well in that first period, more than enough to make their money back and then some. Sure as a long term project it effectively killed any future sales on anything except remakes/remasters of the original, but it made a lot of money for the company.

Suicide Squad will most certainly NOT sell enough to make any kind of similar profits.

The bigger difference though, is that though the future continuation of The Last of us as a Gaming franchise is as dead as Joel, Naughty Dog has other franchises it can fall back on in the long term, most notably Uncharted.

Rocksteady has no such franchises. other than one, single obscure FPS from 2006, The company has no other games whatsoever under its belt other than the Arkham Games.

This was their one, single, golden goose franchise, and like so many others in the last 10 years, they arrogantly decided to torch the franchise with no heed to the consequences, assured that fans would just buy it regardless of quality, assured that they could piss in a glass and call it wine, and everyone would drink it and praise it to the heavens.

They will not.

Rocksteady has just committed, fittingly enough, Suicide, and this game will go down, maybe not the biggest video game disaster in history, but certainly one of the most predictable, and avoidable icebergs ever in the industry.

Hopefully, others will take note once the fallout actually sets in, but probably not. We'll probably see more than a few similar disasters unfold before western video game companies take the hint that people are bloody tired of this abyssmal, predictable, and almost always poorly executed form of "Deconstructive" storytelling plaguing modern western storytelling.

[beautifulpersonpeach]

Honestly those of us who don't fall for solo rhetoric or conspiracy theories could see this coming, but it still feels so reassuring to have this. Especially as chapter 2 has been filled with uncertainty and we've still got some more temporary goodbyes coming up.

What a beautiful day though to spend time listening to BTS's discography whilst looking forward to whatever awaits both leading up to 2025 and then beyond that!!

*

Ask 2:

BPP I've been going through all your FACE and Seven era posts and I just want to say thank you for having this blog. I checked a few PJMs pages and it amazes me they still keep repeating the same lies and theories that have been debunked over and over:

'Hybe worked with Billboard to sabotage Jimin but save NewJeans' (No both artists were screwed over)

'Hybe never acknowledge Jimin's BB1 win' (No it was acknowledged and announced on their twitter, and celebrated at their investor meeting and you can find the presentations online)

'Hanteo only deleted Jm's sales and gave no explanation or statement' (No every member and other groups have this issue and (bs) statements were issued in Hobi's, Jimin's and V's cases due to Army and solo backlash)

'Hybe prevented Jimin from having a cake' (No Taehyung said how Hybe offered him cake but he chose to decline it and said that unprompted after PJMs screamed for months about a damn cake)

'Hybe refused to stock CDs for only Jimin' (No, groups and singers like Enhypen, TXT, Namjoon, V, are dealing with shipping and stocking issues not only Jimin)

'Hybe chose JK as the golden goose' (No wth does this even mean? Don't these people realize their solo careers don't end in 2025?)

Like you said, they spin a web of delusions and half truths and mindlessly repeat it like a mantra to assure them their fave in BTS is so badly mistreated he needs their help for his career to survive. It's such a bizarre mindset and one I've only seen from q-anon people who think every child is being trafficked and needs rescuing from people across the political isle. Just bizarre to see adults throw away logic and common sense to think like this.

Thank you again for your blog. It helped me survive the constant barrage of conspiracy theories and doomposting from PJMs and the heavily biased who gave them space to run amok with their madness here.

***

Lol the fun isn't over just yet. Jung Kook still has his solo debut, Jimin's documentary is still coming, and awards season is around the corner. All of which will provide more fuel for the most demented in the fandom. I keep saying, BTS akgaes by definition occupy a headspace that's removed from the reality we all see. There's a reason taekookers move more like akgaes than regular shippers, it's because they're functionally the same. And like I keep saying, you're severely underestimating the ability of these people to delude themselves. I don't mind it too much since as far as I'm concerned, it's entertainment, but it does get annoying to constantly repeat publicly available information to people who choose to drink that koolaid, and who only come up for air when announcements like this shock them awake (though it's only for a short time before they fall down the same thought patterns again).

Fun times ahead in Boraland, Ami.

[autie-j]

This article about physical media was really interesting. These bits were especially interesting

[tumblhurgoyf]

Feeling super negative for a multitude of reasons, some not Magic related at all, but the recent talk on Blogatog about “microset” products just feels so out of touch. I don’t want to bring that negativity on one of Mark’s posts as I’m not sure I could be polite about it and I’ve mostly just dismissed the product as not for me already anyway. But I do want to vent.

First it’s like $1 a card for random cards? That’s nuts. Boosters are already overpriced with all the commons included. They worked some really good PR speak by explaining away cutting the commons to give you more rares and uncommons, but the reality is you’re just paying more for less. It’s not like those rare slots are actually going to ever reach an EV that makes it a good gamble.

Second let’s talk about product fatigue. Like not only is this an additional release (or four) a year, but you’re doing normal and collector’s boosters for this as well? Holy fuck.

The fact that Mark’s openly work shopping what variation of this product players might actually shell out money for tells me it’s not received well. I haven’t seen a positive video about it at all.

It’s a shame though that they can’t give their golden goose a bit of breathing room though. I shared that post the other day about... let me find it for the term... trust thermocline. The basic idea is that people who like your product will stick with you through some missteps and bad ideas. And you won’t even notice how bad all of them are because sales keep increasing and people keep paying higher prices and buying new stuff and all that.

But at some point you hit that trust thermocline. Something pushes a lot of people over the edge. You walk it back but it’s too late. Because the thing is that was just the straw that broke the camel’s back. They didn’t leave because of one bad story, or because $5 a pack was too much but $4.50 wasn’t, or because two dozen products a year was ok but thirty went to far.

They left because of all of it. The last thing is just what made them finally say “enough.” And once they say enough and leave, you don’t get them back. It’s hard to see because things keep chugging along and all your numbers and metrics look fine. But I feel like Wizards has to be approaching this. I wonder about why they stopped including space at the end of surveys for additional comments. Too much negativity they don’t want to put any effort into handling?

On a different front, I’m also not enjoying the lore changes they’ve dropped with this same product. I am willing to admit that I’m somehow still too close to the story to really take a step back and appreciate this; that could change with time. But my reaction right now is that desparking a lot of planeswalkers while opening rifts so anyone and anything can now travel the multiverse is just stupid. You’ve just eviscerated the story conceit that made planeswalkers special.

idk, I wasn’t thrilled with how they handled the team up cards anyway, and to me this feels like the next step of that. We got to see unlikely allies on cards, now what if we got stories where Thalia was on Ravnica fighting the Obzedat? It feels (I keep intentionally using the word feels to describe this--it’s my emotional reaction detached from the idea that they’re going to be able to tell cool stories they couldn’t otherwise tell), anyway, it feels like they just tossed out a core story concept and don’t even realize it.

Like as much shit they get for the world of hats approach, I think that really works for what they do and is part of what I enjoy. I’m honestly in part concerned that the recent big events that effect the entire multiverse and set up this situation where planes can blend a lot more freely could impact the distinct feel of different worlds. And while I’m sure that’s something that’s on creative’s radar, they’ve also burned enough trust in recent years that I’m doubtful they will handle it well.

Though at the same time this feels kind of par for the course. There have been so many let downs in Magic story over the years that the amazing part is that I’m still invested at all. But the story’s a slave to corporate needs and is undoubtedly more story-by-committee than ever. A left-right punch to KO any creative work for sure.

But I shouldn’t be surprised. They are not and have never really tried to say they’re anything else. They make blockbuster sets and want blockbuster stories to go along with it. Anyone who wants a fantasy card game with DC/Marvel story sensibilities to produce artistic short fiction is a damned fool.

Anyway this is just me venting. Could all be wrong. Time will tell. If you want to vent here feel free.

[tanadrin]

someone on tiktok accurately summarized the WotC OGL drama by pointing out that WotC/Hasbro started with a situation where they were a clear market leader; they thought to themselves, “well, if we’re a clear market leader, surely we should more aggressively control/monetize our brand;” but they didn’t realize that one reason they were a clear market leader was that their brand was not so aggressively controlled/monetized so as to be off-putting. and when they tried to get the goose to lay bigger golden eggs, they ended up just killing it.

this seems to be a pretty generalizable phenomenon to me. i think it’s similar in some ways to an IP owner seeing their media is popular and pirated a lot, and thinking, “every instance of this being pirated is me losing a sale,” and going after pirates more ruthlessly. but the thing about piracy is that it’s free (duh); so a lot of the pirate “customers” would never have been paying customers. now, in the case of piracy you’re not actually losing anything by trying to control your brand more closely--you are often only losing customers who never would have paid for your product in the first place. but that’s an extremal case. in the case where customers were willing to spend a little bit--say, buy some WotC books/products, but only because they’re also buying third party books/products--you might actually just destroy a big chunk of your customer base.

(and of course in this case it’s even stupider bc ppl might notice you’re claiming copyright on and aggressively threatening to sue people for things which are not, in fact, copyrightable--as some d&d fans have indeed started to notice. it turns out collections of mere facts and statistics, such as those necessary to play a tabletop roleplaying game, can’t be copyrighted. oops!)

[icouldhyperfixatehim]

BINGO ROUND UP

a GL & a disabled MC: pluto!! we got one gang!! i'm just so pleased that we're making some headway on GL being regularly scheduled as part of their production rotation as it should be <3 i will say that the plot of this one wouldn't be doing it for me if it weren't GL, and whacks of nicholas sparks a bit more than is usually my taste. BUT things change over production, and i'm more than willing to be surprised!! interesting that they're opting for another disabled lead specifically w/blindness. i'm still scared but hopeful about their engagement w disability generally, and i do think it's cool that they're not portioning out intersections to their own shows to be the ~ focal issues ~ . it bodes well i think, and i'm really buzzing to see namtan and film's dynamic.

big shock pairing to make me rub my hands together like a fly: my golden blood come collect your trophy!! also putting a dent on main role for fluke and speculative element series, this has me absolutely fucking roided with anticipation lmao. it looks bananas, and chancey, and like the people making it are determined to do so with fun and camp, which is my favourite way to see a project made. i love that as well as unbranded, fluke has managed to stay role flexible enough that he can slide into this fantasy damsel space, and i'm gagging to see it all. maybe he'll wear something white and billowing and dashed with blood, gmmtv seems to be in the spirit of granting wishes w this one.

there seemed to be some rivals to lovers edged stuff, but not in the flavours i wanted so i left it uncircled. also disappointed by the lack of girl violence...that friend vs friend/school gang series could have been fun if it'd been girls in ripped fishnets with bats but i digress.

2024 for 23.5 is not the series of numbers i wanted to write, and no final trailer. and also barely any milk!! she was only on stage the once and not for something i'm interested in, so i'm chalking that up to tragedy. but she looked fucking smashing today, so i'll just have to fold up her event portrait in a locket or smth

congrats to the enigma fans [weeps in midnight museum]

i'm frustrated by how much leaning is being done on remakes, even just because being tagged in so many people's bingo i see how many cool, original ideas there are out there, and it just makes me gag in corporate to see this laziness. i wanted to watch whatever the gemfourth offering was bc i liked them so much in moonlight chicken, but i'll probably be giving their kieta hatsukoi a miss. i've never seen ossan's love, and getting a last dance with mix was on my list so i'll probably give it a go but i'm still miffed about it

i got monkeys pawed on the fighting and stunts bc none of it (except the camp acrobatics of my golden blood) seems like my flavour. alas alack

and a campy comedic role for my girl jan in the other drama to hit my spec fic box!! just like UMG, peaceful property on sale (not 100% sure on the title) looks like exactly my bag. i'm indifferent to whether it's actually BL, but thrilled that tay will be there. i can't think of anyone better to play the guy that can see ghosts, given his huge irl superstitious dramatics and easy goosing. this show is going to be so fun, and i think i might have even spotted a similar ghost-makeup style to what they used in something in my room? i'm so looking forward to this one, and it's so rude of them to tease me with it in october of all times, and not give it to me immediately.

overall, hits, misses, dodgy singing. thanks to everyone who played bingo with me, you all have beautiful creative minds and i hope anyone who had a bingNO this time gets a better part 2 <33