Anger (The Jimquisition)

'D-Lister'? Dude, almost every indie developer I know follows your work, they might not all like you but I can't think of anybody I know in the western games industry who doesn't know of you at least in passing.

While I enjoy EC, their video was a bit off the mark in defending publishers. What it comes down to is that the information publishers release to the public doesn't match that which they give to their shareholders. In a publically traded business, the shareholders come first and it's the customers who become a resource to be used, abused, discarded, then lured back with the latest shiny. Thank God for Jim.

Jason Youngberg

Haha. I was tempted to drop a reference like that in the video but for some reason never went with it.

Jim Sterling

Thank you so much for your support. I hope I continue to entertain and inform you.

Jim Sterling

Bless thee, mine child.

Jim Sterling

There are some good comparisons we can draw with movies and music, particularly when the MPAA and RIAA get involved. Those scumbags served as some mighty fine "AAA" blueprints.

Jim Sterling

Thank you! I totally get the apprehension, but I want to stress so much that this is NOT about the developers with their boots on the ground. They have my empathy, not my hatred, even if they feel like I'm attacking them.

Jim Sterling

This wasn't really about Extra Credits. I don't mind them much at all. My main point in mentioning them was for all the people wanting a debate when I've already laid my counter-arguments exhaustively over the past year.

Jim Sterling

That means a lot to me. Thank you. <3

Jim Sterling

Thank you! I'm really happy it's getting shared. I kinda spewed my heart out in this one.

Jim Sterling

Thank you so much!

Jim Sterling

This video was fantastic. Possibly the best yet.

Andy

Watched it three times and sharing it around. Damn good stuff, Jim.

M.D.H.

Damn this video was great. Jim you've outdone yourself. Also, would you say that you didn't start the fire; it was always burning since the world's been turning?

nice

Ariana

Nice

well this is the video that made me a patreon. thank God for us.

InfamousUK

Jim you glorious bastard. Thank God for you.

Hey Jim, this video here has some great info on how bad EA actually is <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PTLFNlu2N_M" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PTLFNlu2N_M</a> Seriously. Look at it and spread the word (and give credit to the original ofc).

So as someone who works in the industry and who tends to find the oft-misdirected, sometimes mis-informed anger of the "gaming community" frustrating (and yes, demoralizing at times), I was a bit apprehensive to watch this video, considering the context of those articles and the discussions surrounding them. I'm relieved to see my apprehension wasn't necessary (and frankly I should've known better, having followed you for a long time!) While those of us who work on the inside will sometimes understand things differently or disagree with your conclusions, I hope you never stop doing the work you do, Jim. Never stop calling out bullshit, and don't let us get complacent.

I'd love to see a comparison between additional monitization in games, and concessions at a movie theater/sports event. Think about it, you pay for admittance for either, and for sports events you can even get "Season passes!" Want a soda, That costs extra. Every one seems fine with this . But, Just imagine, you go down to your local sports ball game, ask to by a t-shirt, and they hand you a box. "Is the shirt for your team? or their rivals?" "What does it matter, it's just cosmetic? " "It's not gambling, you'll still get a shirt either way!"

BOBdotEXE

I didn't mind the Extra Credits episode. Setting all predation aside they did have a plausible argument. Mehaps devs are funneling so much money into games that $60 is not an ideal price against the market size. But then I remember Hellblade came out and have a rowdy laugh.<br><br>Nothing is stopping them from reigning in the exorbitant costs of game development. If anything it would indeed permit a generation to last longer because the raw power they keep demanding would be all they needed for a lot longer. Ninja Theory checked themselves in creating a less powerful, less expensive game and are racking in the profits. Why? Because they focused on developing an interesting game first. No, nobody talked about how beautiful it was, but there was talk about the interesting Senua's mental condition was and engaging the combat mechanics. You know, shit that actually has something to do with the game. They only poured in enough power to make it "good enough" by this generation and stopped. If all people care about was how gorgeous the vistas were, you'd think people would be more into first person exploration games (aka walking simulators).

shadowscribble

Jesus Jim, this might just be the best episode of the show that I've seen. That whole rant was mesmerizing and really damn well done. Good on you, man.

Working under one of those tin pot tyrants, and couldn't agree with ya more. People seem to forget that most big businesses interest lies in 'making more money' and it's insane that some consumers are convinced that these big game industries pumping out low quality triple A games with gambling mechanics, and essentially hidden fees are doing so just to stay afloat. like hell they are.

Undlark

While I agree with the salient points of the video, since it's come up many times, I feel I have to ask: how do you know that EA isn't lying to their investors when they say that loot boxes won't make a difference? I don't know: it could be that such malfeasance carries much higher risks than lying to rank-and-file consumers, possibly bringing in scrutiny of the SEC or some such body. Or it could be that EA could just say, "Whoops, we made a statement based on models that proved to be inaccurate, can't be blamed for that." Or it could be that they're confident of their ability to cover things up on the spreadsheets- say, claiming that they made back the money through increased sales after their "pullback" on unpopular loot box tactics, or reducing advertising. But when EA says that the lack of lootboxes aren't going to effect their bottom line, I have to wonder if *that* isn't the lie.

Kraken

One of the most ridiculous parts of the cost argument is the amount spent on marketing. I remember them talking about how destiny was the most expensive game ever made and talking about all the depth, quality and features it would have only for it later to be revealed that something like 80% of the games budget was spent on marketing and it didn't half show.

I am going to angry gamer rant here... Because... This feels like the place that I can do that... But nobody need interact with this drivel, I am just attempting to overcome weird social fears. I am playing heaps of Fortnite at the moment, because it's really fun. But I like the co-op portion of the game, and it is ABUNDANTLY CLEAR that the moment they discovered that they could milk people with a free to play PvP experience, they switched all of their focus to that specific part of the game. But I don't think the dev team feels that way. The game is FULL of heart- and tiny details that were obviously put there very on purpose to make you aware of hidden things or interesting ways to tackle a problem... But it's not supported. It's the first thing that goes down when the servers are a bit slow, even though it's NOT FREE TO PLAY. The whole game smacks of "Well, we have this really cool idea, but we need it to be really big and epic and it needs to be a popular enough idea that it can compete with Overwatch." But it wont. It wont compete with Overwatch. It's not because Overwatch is run by Blizzard, though... That helps... It's because Overwatch is a competitive first person shooter and to the current generation growing up- THAT IS THE SAME AS SPORTS WAS TO US GROWING UP. It's almost like video game companies forgot that they are making GAMES. The point of making a game is to sell FUN. You're a FUN MERCHANT. WHAT THE FUCK IS SO TERRIBLE ABOUT BEING A FUN MERCHANT THAT YOU HAVE TO MAKE IT ABOUT OBSCENE PROFITS. Oh- it was the way that marketing was talked about in the 80s? Well fuck then because there's jack shit I can do to make a bunch of moronic pissbabies pay attention to how short sighted and selfish their goals are if they feel like they learned them in a school and it worked for someone else. TRENDS FUCKING CHANGE. *flips a table and walks off*

Freya Northman

Absolutely, and I am not so heartless that I can't empathize with that. I've been there. I've worked on something I thought would work, only to have it be horribly received. It's crushing. But the critic's job is to criticize, and there's a lot to be critical about today.

Jim Sterling

I would happily drop $50 each if both Jim Sterling and James Portnow had a civilized conversation about this topic. My guess is they would agree on most points. Though, I am not sure where exactly they disagree.

Bryan Austin

I always thought Jim made it very clear that he is complaining about the behavior of publishers rather than developers. That being said, I know it can be disheartening when you invest a lot into development and then see some controversy going around being the ONLY thing that is discussed; leaving out many of the positive points that you invested so much time into and thought were pretty awesome.

Fucking- spot on episode Jim. The people in these dev teams aren't demoralized because their audience are being unfair and mean. They are demoralized because they don't want to be doing these things in the first place, but have to or they will lose their jobs and not be able to pay their bills- and at least they still get to make games at the end of the day, even if the industry is a big mess and their boss is a giant sloppy arsehole.

Freya Northman

Considering the game industry doesn't even pay royalties like *every other entertainment medium*, I'd say there's a very good chance that they cut every single cost they can in multiple shady ways. Before blowing ludicrous amounts on celebrity appearances, marketing, and intricate graphical details that don't actually makes games more fun to play.

Jim Sterling

Personally, I have a hard time believing that publishers spend more money publishing their yearly game portfolio than they did a few years ago. The publishers that use mercenary profiteering tactics to make more money off what games they do release more than likely use equally shameless tactics towards their employees making these games in the form of every cost cutting measure you could possibly imagine (which probably affects employee morale far more than the average Youtuber). After cutting every possible cost on what is usually just a yearly iteration of a series with a lot of the necessary infrastructure already in place, I have a REALLY hard time believing those games are as expensive as implied.

steve mcsteve