Kliuless? Gaming Industry ICYMI #44
Hi, my name is Kenny Liu, and each week I compile a gaming industry insights newsletter that I publish broadly. Opinions are mine.
See more or subscribe at: https://tinyletter.com/kliuless
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
Revenue Strategy & Growth
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
Streaming
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
Design
Casual Games are “Guilding Up”
Sean Murray calls No Man’s Sky Beyond the game’s “2.0” version
XR: AR / MR / VR
Apple lists AR/VR jobs, reportedly taps executive who finalizes products
Asia
Tencent, Nintendo to localize Switch games for China
NetEase targets Tencent with $725mm e-sports stadium in Shanghai
Huawei outsells smartphone rivals in China, tightens market grip amid U.S. spat
