Kliuless #44: The Dark Side of the Video Game Industry

Hasan Minhaj's Patriot Act recently aired "The Dark Side of the Video Game Industry," in which crunch dominates much of the discussion 

While I agree that crunch is a prevalent issue in our industry, unfortunately I am less optimistic about unionization being the "silver bullet" solution to this hairy problem

Continuously improving hardware and software tools will make game development an increasingly accessible profession to anyone in the world no matter the discipline: art, design, engineering, etc.

Moreover, for years already game companies have contracted ever-increasing work abroad, and these outside developers have shown they are capable of evolving beyond just work-for-hire projects to innovate and self-develop their own successful titles as well

As distributed development becomes easier and international boundaries blur, unions will inherently wield less power as their influence likely will be confined by what they would only be able to enforce locally

Nintendo, Microsoft, and Sony to launch platform-wide rules on loot box disclosures

18% of all physical ESRB-rated games have received an 'in-game purchases' label

Psyonix removes paid, randomized crates from Rocket League

Epic Games commits to loot box transparency across portfolio

Behavioral Economics and Free to Play Games

HBR: How New Versions of Products Spread Differently Than Entirely New Products

Twitch launches beta for all-in-one streaming app Twitch Studio

Discord is launching in-server streaming later this month with new 'Go Live' feature  

Ninja off to strong start on Mixer, racking up 1mm free subscriptions since last week's deal announcement

Casual Games are “Guilding Up”

Sean Murray calls No Man’s Sky Beyond the game’s “2.0” version

Apple lists AR/VR jobs, reportedly taps executive who finalizes products

Sony wins 30% of VR hardware revenues as demand fades for cheap headsets

Tencent, Nintendo to localize Switch games for China

Tencent launches its cloud services on WeGame in China

NetEase targets Tencent with $725mm e-sports stadium in Shanghai

Huawei outsells smartphone rivals in China, tightens market grip amid U.S. spat

Benedict Evans: Netflix is not a tech company

Goldman Sachs et. al. invest $135mm in selfie app Facetune's parent company ($1bn valuation)

The Absurdities of 'Franchise Fatigue' & 'Sequelitis' (Or, What Is Happening to the Box Office?!)