Tim Sweeney - head honcho of Epic - is upset. How dare Valve demand a
30% cut of every game sold on Steam? It's unfair! It's completely
unjustifiable! Steam may be raking in more cash from a game than the
developer themselves, he says. Why, there ought to be a law against
it!

Meanwhile, Valve yawns and rolls over, ignoring his protestations.

Arguably, Sweeney has a point. Valve is - by its own admission -
raking in the cash. A Valve employee recently ran the numbers and
found at that - considered on a profit-per-employee basis - Valve is
probably making more money than any other tech company in the world.
It has comparably little overhead, and massive revenue. The company
/could/ afford to cut its developer-partners a little slack.

But Sweeney's protests sound a bit hollow nonetheless. Because his
methods - whether forcing the issue through legal means, or locking
games behind exclusionary contracts - aren't playing fair either.
Neither are his demands that Steam drop their cut to match Epics (a
mere 12%), since - by Epic's own admission - they aren't actually
making money taking so little.

You know what /would/ be fair, Sweeney? Make a product that can
compete against Steam on its own merits. If you can do that, then
people - developers and gamers - will flock to your storefront.

I'm not really crazy about Valve's dominance in the market. From the
beginning, I've had issue with how they've handled digital sales.
Their storefront is cluttered with garbage games. Its hard for new
developers to gain traction. The company is deeply invested in online
gambling. And while that 30% cut was hugely advantageous back when
most games were sold retail (brick-n-mortar stores might grab a 60%
cut!), maybe that percentage should be re-evaluated today.

But there's a huge difference in what you get from Steam and what you
get from Epic (or UPlay, or EA/Origin, or even GOG). Valve has
invested a lot into their storefront, and there are so many advantages
that both gamers and developer still flock to it, despite the numerous
competitors.

Sweeney, you want to really make a change? Invest in your own
storefront. It launched six years ago and despite all this time is
still offers a laughably bad experience. Make it better. Put up a
proper user reviews section. Add discussion forums. Add a workshop.
Add a built-in voice input API. Add streaming capability. Make it
easier for developers to put games on your store. Invest in creating a
non-Windows OS that can run most Windows video games. Create a VR
headset. Create a streaming device. Create a handheld PC. Do all that
- and more - and do it for less than the 30% cut Valve is demanding,
and then talk about how high Valve's rates are.

Until then, your arguments lack merit.

On 3/15/2024 7:01 AM, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:
>
> Tim Sweeney - head honcho of Epic - is upset.

And I'm supposed to care one iota about a multi-millionaire's complaints
about how hard live is? Fornicate 'em!!

--
I've done good in this world. Now I'm tired and just want to be a cranky
dirty old man.

On 3/15/2024 4:52 PM, Dimensional Traveler wrote:
> On 3/15/2024 7:01 AM, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:
>>
>> Tim Sweeney - head honcho of Epic - is upset.
>
> And I'm supposed to care one iota about a multi-millionaire's complaints
> about how hard live is?  Fornicate 'em!!
>

You know, I also like whining about how hard my lot is, but for some
reason only with the right amount of money in my account people become
interested in it.
It's weird, isn't it?

Dimensional Traveler <dtravel@sonic.net> wrote at 15:52 this Friday (GMT):
> On 3/15/2024 7:01 AM, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:
>>
>> Tim Sweeney - head honcho of Epic - is upset.
>
> And I'm supposed to care one iota about a multi-millionaire's complaints
> about how hard live is? Fornicate 'em!!

Isn't that the point of capitalism though? Competiton and all?
--
user <candycane> is generated from /dev/urandom

On 3/15/2024 1:30 PM, candycanearter07 wrote:
> Dimensional Traveler <dtravel@sonic.net> wrote at 15:52 this Friday (GMT):
>> On 3/15/2024 7:01 AM, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:
>>>
>>> Tim Sweeney - head honcho of Epic - is upset.
>>
>> And I'm supposed to care one iota about a multi-millionaire's complaints
>> about how hard live is? Fornicate 'em!!
>
> Isn't that the point of capitalism though? Competiton and all?

I thought it was regulatory capture, rent seeking, misrepresentation,
and government bailouts.

--
-Justisaur

ø-ø
(\_/)\
`-'\ `--.___,
¶¬'\( ,_.-'
\\
^'

Justisaur <justisaur@yahoo.com> wrote at 20:52 this Friday (GMT):
> On 3/15/2024 1:30 PM, candycanearter07 wrote:
>> Dimensional Traveler <dtravel@sonic.net> wrote at 15:52 this Friday (GMT):
>>> On 3/15/2024 7:01 AM, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:
>>>>
>>>> Tim Sweeney - head honcho of Epic - is upset.
>>>
>>> And I'm supposed to care one iota about a multi-millionaire's complaints
>>> about how hard live is? Fornicate 'em!!
>>
>> Isn't that the point of capitalism though? Competiton and all?
>
> I thought it was regulatory capture, rent seeking, misrepresentation,
> and government bailouts.

maybe
--
user <candycane> is generated from /dev/urandom

On 3/15/2024 4:00 PM, candycanearter07 wrote:
> Justisaur <justisaur@yahoo.com> wrote at 20:52 this Friday (GMT):
>> On 3/15/2024 1:30 PM, candycanearter07 wrote:
>>> Dimensional Traveler <dtravel@sonic.net> wrote at 15:52 this Friday (GMT):
>>>> On 3/15/2024 7:01 AM, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>> Tim Sweeney - head honcho of Epic - is upset.
>>>>
>>>> And I'm supposed to care one iota about a multi-millionaire's complaints
>>>> about how hard live is? Fornicate 'em!!
>>>
>>> Isn't that the point of capitalism though? Competiton and all?
>>
>> I thought it was regulatory capture, rent seeking, misrepresentation,
>> and government bailouts.
>
> maybe

Capitalism doesn't exist in a vacuum. The society, thru its government,
regulates and dictates the ground rules for capitalism to operate. And
the current American "ground rules" are being pushed more and more
_away_ from competition. Look up The Gilded Age in the US and realize
that we are entering a second Gilded Age.

--
I've done good in this world. Now I'm tired and just want to be a cranky
dirty old man.

On 3/15/2024 11:52 AM, Dimensional Traveler wrote:
> On 3/15/2024 7:01 AM, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:
>>
>> Tim Sweeney - head honcho of Epic - is upset.
>
> And I'm supposed to care one iota about a multi-millionaire's complaints
> about how hard live is?  Fornicate 'em!!
>
forticate them get it fornite them

still im sad
i loved how unreal and unreal tournament still work without much hassle
with the software renderer and now they are gone wiped from existence.
if only we could convince them to free up unreal engine 1 under the gnu
gpl like id software did and croteam sort of play around with the engine.

Am 15.03.24 um 21:52 schrieb Justisaur:
> On 3/15/2024 1:30 PM, candycanearter07 wrote:

> I thought it was regulatory capture, rent seeking, misrepresentation,
> and government bailouts.
>
Modern definition of capitalism... privately rake in the winnings, send
the losses to the public...

On 3/17/2024 11:19 PM, Werner P. wrote:
> Am 15.03.24 um 21:52 schrieb Justisaur:
>> On 3/15/2024 1:30 PM, candycanearter07 wrote:
>
>> I thought it was regulatory capture, rent seeking, misrepresentation,
>> and government bailouts.
>>
> Modern definition of capitalism... privately rake in the winnings, send
> the losses to the public...
>
Externalize the expenses to the public. Like the expense of not making
all the water in a hundred miles toxic.

--
I've done good in this world. Now I'm tired and just want to be a cranky
dirty old man.

On 18/03/2024 15:24, Dimensional Traveler wrote:
>> Modern definition of capitalism... privately rake in the winnings,
>> send the losses to the public...
>>
> Externalize the expenses to the public.  Like the expense of not making
> all the water in a hundred miles toxic.

That's pretty much what's happened in the UK. The first problem of
privatising the water companies is that you have no choice in which
company you use, well unless you move to a completely different area.
That seems to be somewhat of a problem with the idea of supply and demand.

What it's lead to is chronic underinvestment in the infrastructure
giving rise to water shortages, increased bills and even worse an
incredible rise is the discharge of untreated wastewater* into our
rivers and seas. All the time they've been pumping billions into
shareholders pockets and we have a government that doesn't really care**
beyond a little slap on the wrist

The latest plan they've come up with is major investment which they said
they can't afford so either the government stumps up the cash or bills
have to raise. You gotta love capitalism in action.

One of the amusing, if it wasn't so sad, things I heard was a guy who
had a septic tank. What he pointed out was if he dumped that in a river
he'd have a hefty fine to pay. Instead he had to pay the water company
to take it away and then they'll dump it in the river.

*The water companies like to call it that as it's better than saying
discharging shit into our waterways and sea.

**It's been pretty much a recurring theme of our current government.
Anything that can be seen to harm big companies or the very wealthy is a
bit of a no-no. Bashing the 'undeserving poor', that's a big thumbs up.

On 3/19/2024 9:24 AM, JAB wrote:
> On 18/03/2024 15:24, Dimensional Traveler wrote:
>>> Modern definition of capitalism... privately rake in the winnings,
>>> send the losses to the public...
>>>
>> Externalize the expenses to the public.  Like the expense of not
>> making all the water in a hundred miles toxic.
>

yeah, that all sounds very familiar. Nobody seems to have a problem that
companies get free money and everyone else pays for it.

On 19/03/2024 08:34, kyonshi wrote:
> On 3/19/2024 9:24 AM, JAB wrote:
>> On 18/03/2024 15:24, Dimensional Traveler wrote:
>>>> Modern definition of capitalism... privately rake in the winnings,
>>>> send the losses to the public...
>>>>
>>> Externalize the expenses to the public.  Like the expense of not
>>> making all the water in a hundred miles toxic.
>>
>
> yeah, that all sounds very familiar. Nobody seems to have a problem that
> companies get free money and everyone else pays for it.
>

Part of the problem in the UK is that a large part of are media,
particularly in print, is staffed by what we call client journalists.
They masquerade as newspapers but are really propaganda machines for the
government and certain business interests. They're quite happy to
distort, and sometimes just outright lie, and also just not report news
that's unfavourable to their agenda.

A simple example is trumpeting how Brexit was a success as trade had
gone up. The story was spun by using the absolute monetary value,
instead of looking at trade volume which had decreased, and also taking
the baseline as when COVID restrictions had really kicked in.