We've all been there right? You paid for a game, it required an active internet connection and a couple of years later the publisher decided they're done with it and shut it down leaving you with a broken game. Annoying.
So why is it the devs are the ones to decide to end support for a game finally killing it? All a publisher can do is delist it so it can’t be sold by them anymore, sometimes the dev can find a new publisher or reself publish if the game was good enough. But by then there would be almost no point, since there wouldn’t be any more meaningful amount of sales coming in.
Errrmmm no…? that’s still a development studio, the terms mean the same thing. If you want to be technical it would be a game development studio.
You literally said the “devs” working for them, that’s still a dev company… and still the ones deciding to pull the plug…… a game development studio, is the developer of the game, they also have developers (employees, not type of business) working for them.
Nope, but it’s still a game development studio that makes the games and I never claimed otherwise…
You intentionally leaving out a term to describe the company doesn’t suddenly make you right. These developers also have programmers, designers, artists, etc. working for them. To ignore them in the argument and circle on just developers is disingenuous as hell.
I think the world “developers” means the studios here, which is mostly because the suits who know how to extract value from stuff others create like to cosplay as experts in the industry they are leeching off of.
Look at Musk, he’s a rocket scientist / web developer / automotive engineer / civil engineer. Of course he is.
Sometimes? A company that makes video games is literally called the developers of the game…… a game can’t be made without some company developing a game, they also have developers, as well as a host of other jobs completed by other employees, like artists, designers, actors, etc. So to not include all the others is extremely disingenuous.
In fact, an employee developer already has another term for them, programmers, so why they are trying to use another specific industry term to refer to their craft (programming) is just fucking wild.
Words have multiple meaning, developer means multiple, but a programmer trying to say a game development studio isn’t a a developer, but they are, is just pedantic as all fucking shit….
A publisher is also an entirely different company, a developer can also publish though too. Publisher and developer cannot be used interchangeably, unless they WERE both. But sometimes it’s different divisions, as in the case as Ubisoft, they have both development, and publishing studios.
Funny that, I don’t make games but my job title is developer or software developer and my degree is in software development. It seems to me that the employee and corporation title being the same word is a quirk of language more than anyone insisting on taking the others name. The same thing happens to some degree with consultants, architects and dentists. I don’t think either of them conspire to flip the meaning, and I know that no developer I’ve ever talked to definitely doesn’t either.
It’s the developers killing off a 10 year old game when their third finally comes to steam. (Literally in the article and it’s only a couple paragraphs…)
Publishers and corpos don’t decide when to end support, that is entirely a dev decision.
What are you basing this on? Publishers fund development, and that funding dictates where development time is spent. Publishers also absolutely can decide when support ends, see WB getting ready to delist a bunch of games adult swim games published from steam. The devs have no say over that.
Not every game needs funding and lots are self published.
And how many of those devs have made their own effort to get their games back out there? Lots. Publishers only control where the game is sold. It would make zero sense for these devs to spend the money to republish on their own since they would never recoup the costs. That’s why they have been listing them for free or providing a link to download them for free. They couldn’t before since the publisher controlled sales and they could t just give it away either.
Unless the dev sold the rights to the game, the can choose to spend their own money on continuing it, why would they need external funding for that?
Yes, obviously games without publishers aren’t controlled by publishers. Even in those situations funding dictates development, because devs have to eat.
So even with funding a dev studio should have profits coming in, they can either choose to pocket all of that, or save some for literally saving their game.
So it’s the publishers fault the devs spent it all instead of using some to protect their IP? I think you’ve just shot your argument in its foot with that last comment.
So even with funding a dev studio should have profits coming in
No, the dev should have revenue coming in, revenue that pays salaries that allows them to survive. If those salaries aren’t put towards efforts that will bring in more revenue then the revenue will stop and the business will no longer be sustainable.
And if the studio doesn’t profit and have a slush fund they won’t be able to spend a little money to protect their game with their own funds… don’t spend every cent, and you would be able to use some for this good will everyone expects.
This is a circular argument that’s not going to go anywhere, everyone can be an asshole, but it’s the devs that decide if they can support the game or not. They always have a way, whether they thought ahead or not is another story entirely….
Just to make sure I’m on the same page with you, when trying to understand what you’re saying, when you use the words ‘dev’ or ‘developers’, do you mean the computer programmers who write the games, or their business managers (all of which work at the same development studio)?
Who do you believe is responsible for the decision to add to the game the ‘always connected to the Internet’ functionality, as well as to discontinue the game servers/support, the computer programmers, or the business managers?
Please answer without using the word ‘dev’ or ‘developers’ in your answer. Thanks.
Publishers and corpos are ruining games. Not developers.
Agreed, if anything developers are the reason games are playable!
So why is it the devs are the ones to decide to end support for a game finally killing it? All a publisher can do is delist it so it can’t be sold by them anymore, sometimes the dev can find a new publisher or reself publish if the game was good enough. But by then there would be almost no point, since there wouldn’t be any more meaningful amount of sales coming in.
They aren’t.
???
It isn’t the developers making those kinds of decisions. It’s the bean counters and executives.
It’s still the ones at the development studio than the publishers. Every company can have assholes….
You’re mixing game studio company and the developers working for that company.
Errrmmm no…? that’s still a development studio, the terms mean the same thing. If you want to be technical it would be a game development studio.
You literally said the “devs” working for them, that’s still a dev company… and still the ones deciding to pull the plug…… a game development studio, is the developer of the game, they also have developers (employees, not type of business) working for them.
Not everyone in a game studio is a developer
Nope, but it’s still a game development studio that makes the games and I never claimed otherwise…
You intentionally leaving out a term to describe the company doesn’t suddenly make you right. These developers also have programmers, designers, artists, etc. working for them. To ignore them in the argument and circle on just developers is disingenuous as hell.
I think the world “developers” means the studios here, which is mostly because the suits who know how to extract value from stuff others create like to cosplay as experts in the industry they are leeching off of.
Look at Musk, he’s a rocket scientist / web developer / automotive engineer / civil engineer. Of course he is.
sometimes these words are used intechangeably, i think most people are aware the suits are to blame
Sometimes? A company that makes video games is literally called the developers of the game…… a game can’t be made without some company developing a game, they also have developers, as well as a host of other jobs completed by other employees, like artists, designers, actors, etc. So to not include all the others is extremely disingenuous.
In fact, an employee developer already has another term for them, programmers, so why they are trying to use another specific industry term to refer to their craft (programming) is just fucking wild.
Words have multiple meaning, developer means multiple, but a programmer trying to say a game development studio isn’t a a developer, but they are, is just pedantic as all fucking shit….
A publisher is also an entirely different company, a developer can also publish though too. Publisher and developer cannot be used interchangeably, unless they WERE both. But sometimes it’s different divisions, as in the case as Ubisoft, they have both development, and publishing studios.
Funny that, I don’t make games but my job title is developer or software developer and my degree is in software development. It seems to me that the employee and corporation title being the same word is a quirk of language more than anyone insisting on taking the others name. The same thing happens to some degree with consultants, architects and dentists. I don’t think either of them conspire to flip the meaning, and I know that no developer I’ve ever talked to definitely doesn’t either.
It’s the developers killing off a 10 year old game when their third finally comes to steam. (Literally in the article and it’s only a couple paragraphs…)
Publishers and corpos don’t decide when to end support, that is entirely a dev decision.
So no one is immune to sucking.
What are you basing this on? Publishers fund development, and that funding dictates where development time is spent. Publishers also absolutely can decide when support ends, see WB getting ready to delist a bunch of games adult swim games published from steam. The devs have no say over that.
Not every game needs funding and lots are self published.
And how many of those devs have made their own effort to get their games back out there? Lots. Publishers only control where the game is sold. It would make zero sense for these devs to spend the money to republish on their own since they would never recoup the costs. That’s why they have been listing them for free or providing a link to download them for free. They couldn’t before since the publisher controlled sales and they could t just give it away either.
Unless the dev sold the rights to the game, the can choose to spend their own money on continuing it, why would they need external funding for that?
Yes, obviously games without publishers aren’t controlled by publishers. Even in those situations funding dictates development, because devs have to eat.
So even with funding a dev studio should have profits coming in, they can either choose to pocket all of that, or save some for literally saving their game.
So it’s the publishers fault the devs spent it all instead of using some to protect their IP? I think you’ve just shot your argument in its foot with that last comment.
No, the dev should have revenue coming in, revenue that pays salaries that allows them to survive. If those salaries aren’t put towards efforts that will bring in more revenue then the revenue will stop and the business will no longer be sustainable.
And if the studio doesn’t profit and have a slush fund they won’t be able to spend a little money to protect their game with their own funds… don’t spend every cent, and you would be able to use some for this good will everyone expects.
This is a circular argument that’s not going to go anywhere, everyone can be an asshole, but it’s the devs that decide if they can support the game or not. They always have a way, whether they thought ahead or not is another story entirely….
Just to make sure I’m on the same page with you, when trying to understand what you’re saying, when you use the words ‘dev’ or ‘developers’, do you mean the computer programmers who write the games, or their business managers (all of which work at the same development studio)?
Who do you believe is responsible for the decision to add to the game the ‘always connected to the Internet’ functionality, as well as to discontinue the game servers/support, the computer programmers, or the business managers?
Please answer without using the word ‘dev’ or ‘developers’ in your answer. Thanks.