This image cannot be protected by copyright. Independent creators seem to prefer weaker intellectual property (IP) protections until it comes to AI. We can forgive a certain amount of hypocrisy here, since the original stance on IP probably wasn’t well considered, but it does make it hard to take these claims seriously. Saying “we should … Continue reading What are we trying to protect with IP?
If you imagine a stereotypical economist, you’ll probably think of someone who assumes that people are rational and that firms maximize profits. This is one of those stereotypes that often turns out to be true, but creates all kinds of trouble because of assumptions about what it actually means. Profit maximizing is the less controversial … Continue reading Who’s a Profit Maximizer
There was a summer of discontent with publishers this year. Reopening old discourse is not a path to serenity, but there are things that have been left unsaid that can help us navigate both the current moment and prepare for what could happen in the future. Fortunately, a better understanding of the problem uses simple … Continue reading The Price of Publishing
This article is about a search for a new model of game development. It will not deliver a model ready to go, or even a formula for finding a new one. We know the object of our search exists because progress exists, but practitioners are more likely to find it than authors. However, the previous … Continue reading Innovation in Games: Looking for the Future
Gaming isn’t as innovative as it seems. People like to pay lip service to the idea of innovation rather than the reality. The reality is difficult to define, difficult to do, and often involves working counter to popular opinion. This article focuses on innovation in the past while another will address the future. Why might … Continue reading Innovation in Games: The Old Model
Everyone is an ideas guy when it comes to money. If you’re unfamiliar with the term, a loose definition might be that an ideas guy is someone who comes up with lots of things to do, but offers nothing towards their implementation. Creative industries attract more ideas guys than most, but there are programmers whose … Continue reading The Ideas Guys of Money
Unity’s recent layoffs are the result of a shift in the company’s strategy. This strategy will mean fewer features and improvements to the engine than before, and, like the adjustments to the pricing change, it will favour large developers more. Unity has a product to sell, and that product has been fairly consistent throughout its … Continue reading The Unity We Asked For
Tech has seen waves of layoffs in 2023 and gaming is no exception. While the two might seem related, the stated reasons are quite different. Tech CEOs have not made it a secret that they feel emboldened by each other’s drives for efficiency, while announcements that tie layoffs to profit margins are the exception in … Continue reading Money Trouble
Unity announced a price increase a couple days ago which has rightly enraged the developer community. While the seat price remains the same for all Unity licenses, the engine will now charge for unique installs of the Unity runtime once developers pass a certain revenue and install threshold. This unconscionable change strikes at the very … Continue reading Unity Has Gone Too Far. Time to Go All the Way
There is a thread going around about game budgeting that is getting some traction and, while I wish I could leave my thoughts to one tweet, there is a lot to get through. The thread concerns why large developers are not able to delay projects, and takes a frustrating reddit comment responding to an article … Continue reading A Note on That Twitter Thread
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