• TKRyer@sh.itjust.works
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    2 months ago

    Believe it or not, video games are art, and art is no longer for art’s sake. It’s for shareholders. That’s when these decisions happen.

    • Refurbished Refurbisher@lemmy.sdf.org
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      2 months ago

      You say that, but not all art is made solely for money. Just take a look at the indie scene (games, music, film, TV, etc) as an example.

  • jjjalljs@ttrpg.network
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    2 months ago

    It’s the unchecked capitalism.

    Better labor protection and antitrust laws would help, but the fundamental push is towards maximum exploitation of worker and customer. Power consolidates and then abuse for profit becomes easy.

    • exocrinous@startrek.website
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      2 months ago

      Whereas in a communist economy where people didn’t have to struggle to survive, game developers could focus on improving their craft and telling whatever the funnest story they can think of is. We can already see this on a small scale with the difference between indie passion projects like Hades, and AAAA cash grabs like suicide squad. Imagine if everyone could afford to chase their passion instead of money.

      • BigFatNips@sh.itjust.works
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        2 months ago

        Don’t understand why you’re being downvoted. The only thing there I disagree with is the use of the word “economy” 😂

        • mindbleach@sh.itjust.works
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          2 months ago

          Probably because leftists use “communism” like it’s an immediate and obvious goal, but dismiss any criticism of past efforts to actually get there. It effectively becomes an unquestionable fantasy.

    • Asafum@feddit.nl
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      2 months ago

      I’m trying my hardest to not buy any “AAA” game. The major corporations have lost me as a customer, I’ll only be buying indie games.

      … except monster hunter… It’s been part of my life too long and it’s one of like 3 game series I always play with an old friend lol

      • Jax@sh.itjust.works
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        2 months ago

        Yeah capcom is one of those weird ones. Really aggressive monetization but god damnit the games are good.

  • bl_r@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    2 months ago

    Capitalistic motives is incompatible with any art form. Executives are the harbingers of the mindless greed of it.

    The good art we see under capitalism is in spite of it, not because of it.

  • prole@sh.itjust.works
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    2 months ago

    Meanwhile, a potential game of the year, Animal Well, was made by one dude and put out by a publishing company started by a goofy YouTuber.

  • PerogiBoi@lemmy.ca
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    2 months ago

    Execs should be made to provide benefits to society. I saw we blend them into nutrient paste and use it to make food for our hungry people.

    • Asafum@feddit.nl
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      2 months ago

      Take this with a grain of salt because I can’t think of the proper search terms to verify what I think I remember reading:

      Once upon a time corporations couldn’t be created unless they proved a benefit to society. We really need to go back to that…

      Edit: with more time I found something.

      "In the United States, the first important industrial corporation seems to have been the Boston Manufacturing Co., which was founded in 1813.

      Experimental in nature and spaced out in time, these early ventures grew mostly independent of one another (the article mentioned older companies from around the world that I left out) But they had one thing in common: even as for-profit ventures, they were explicitly required to serve the common good.

      For the first companies, the privilege of incorporation, often via royal charter, was granted selectively to facilitate activities that contributed to the population’s welfare, such as the construction of roads, canals, hospitals and schools. Allowing shareholders to profit was seen as a means to that end. Companies were deeply interwoven within the country’s or town’s social fabric, and were meant to contribute to its collective prosperity"

      Source (I know, it’s not a source I’d use for a college paper): https://qz.com/work/1188731/the-idea-that-companies-should-benefit-society-is-as-old-as-capitalism

  • Mossy Feathers (They/Them)@pawb.social
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    2 months ago

    I wonder… does anyone know how many shares in a company you have to own before you can call-in during shareholder meetings to ask questions? I’m wondering if we could push back against this by “”“asking questions”“” that make majority shareholders aware of the damage companies are doing to their own brands. I know modern capitalism is all about “money today, fuck tomorrow”, but I wonder how many shareholders would be happy knowing that companies would probably make more money if they’d stop cannibalizing studios and franchises.

    You know, play into their greed and make convincing arguments about how their decisions are ultimately robbing them of money.

    • Lath@kbin.earth
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      2 months ago

      Exxon just sued its shareholders for crying about climate change.

    • freebread@lemm.ee
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      2 months ago

      There was a guy a few years ago who spent $40k on Nintendo stock in order to ask about a new F-Zero in a shareholder meeting. They said no at the time but we did get F-Zero 99 last year so maybe he did make an impact.

    • TachyonTele@lemm.ee
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      2 months ago

      They have a term for that type of shareholder… that I can’t think of right now, sorry. A lot of big companies have things in place so ‘disruptive’ shareholders don’t ruin their plans.

      Edit. Exxon calls them “activist shareholders”

    • 0xD@infosec.pub
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      2 months ago

      You’re assuming that they don’t know that, lol. They do. It does not matter because people keep shoving money up their ass and number goes up.

    • theneverfox@pawb.social
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      2 months ago

      Ultimately, do they care? Most shareholders are in it for the stock price, this kind of thing might affect it slightly but I doubt it’d shift the needle much

  • JokeDeity@lemm.ee
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    2 months ago

    Remove video games. Execs and more importantly shareholders, are ruining the fucking world.