None of those made hundreds of millions of dollars.

So like…no mention of which patents?

Yeah, I think the strategy is so terrible that they can’t believe it, but they’ve publicly stated that’s the goal. I’m not sure what data they’d get out of it that they don’t get out of Steam achievements, but more likely it’s to brag about how many “active PSN users” they have, using a misleading number. Still, all I see when I see that requirement is online DRM.

It was faster to load the higher resolution data back in the early 2010s on HDDs, so I don’t imagine it got any better for using compression now that we’re on SSDs.

Starting with this one, it’s a requirement on PC, yes. Hopefully they do away with it due to lost sales, but they’re still at least pretending that they’re somehow going to convert PC players into console players.

Nah, that’s not some inherent quality you have. I played fighting games regularly for basically my entire life, but it was only about 5 years ago that I started to really learn how they work under the hood and focused on how to improve. You can too! Also, “learning how to get good” is a skill that transcends any one genre, so I recommend you try it on one game or another.

You play some more and get better. Nobody starts good at a game unless they spent that time getting good at a similar one. Probably right at launch will be tons of people at your skill level to learn with.

It’s got other strengths. Particularly the “kill enemy” part of that chain, on higher difficulties, at least.

They’re typically optimizing for fidelity and performance ahead of install size. Multiple LODs can balloon an install size quite quickly, but they’ll give you better bang for your buck in other areas, and storage space is a concern that dissipates more in time, as you upgrade to newer machines.

They paid more for it than they saw back in sales or expected new customers. What they’ve said publicly is that they won’t be using this strategy anymore, because it isn’t working. They claim free game giveaways are working, but I have my doubts as to how valuable those user acquisitions are.

Expansion packs are a very old concept. That brand new game came out over a year ago. Also, it’s $25 for both DLCs.

The exclusivity deals appear to have been good for no one involved: Epic, Square Enix, Sony, or customers, so I think we’ve seen the last of them outside of things Epic publishes themselves.

7 games per year is a pretty good cadence! Most studios are on their way to being 7 years per game.

We weren’t per se. Only that a predominantly multiplayer game is a harder sell when the subscription is damn near mandatory, which is why there are so few multiplayer-only games on consoles that cost money up front anymore, and free to play games get an exception to the subscription service on PlayStation and Xbox.

I don’t think it’s singling it out to say that the just-about-required subscription makes it less appealing to purchase, whereas most multiplayer games have the PC version as an option.

Because I’d say the addiction is the issue. The biggest issue with gambling is the addiction. If you’re not addicted, you’re not spending time or money beyond your means. So I’d rather not broaden it to how much money it sucks out of you when the addiction is the issue. It all relies on the same principles that we know to be worth legal regulation when it’s acknowledged as gambling. I don’t know anyone who got addicted to Netflix, but they’ll “binge” shows because we no longer live in the era where we can only watch shows according to a broadcast schedule; plus sometimes, you just want some background noise while you’re doing something else, including a show you’ve seen a million times.

I don’t think that’s a great excuse.

It does rely on a subscription though.

The second game even repurposed large parts of the not-particularly-impressive campaign of the first game. They weren’t going to fool me again by making me buy the same game a third time.

There are at least two other mobile games in the same genre that did very well, so this one wasn’t a stretch.