Over the past two days there have been hundreds of comments by dozens of people voicing their strong opinions about this case where the person is discussing copyright and not patent infringement.
I really hope at least some people learn from this experience that when something causes a strong emotional response, the best thing to do is hit pause for a second. Ask yourself if you understand the actual issue at hand, or are you just tossing your hat in with a "side" that you've already decided is in the right?
Pocketpairs has an estimated sales revenue between $30 and $50 million dollars for F2023 alone. The "average" revenue of a gaming studio is hard to estimate, but it's likely around $2 to $3 million. $50 million would place Pocketpair, just based off some back of napkin math using sampling, in the top 15% of game developers worldwide.
They have a partnership with and formed a subsidiary with a company worth $109 billion dollars to promote their product and produce non-gaming revenue streams. Their CEO Takuro Mizobe has a net worth in the 10s of millions.
While I make no comment on the merits of this case, a statement calling themselves a small independent company is ludicrous in the extreme. It's the type of thing no one should be able to say outload without immediate and universal backlash.
However, given they are aware that the majority of discourse around this issue is based on emotional response and not understanding or reason, not only can they say something like that without fear, but they are doing so with the deliberate goal of manipulating the emotions of the people who are already invested in "protecting" a company that makes 3 times more money in a day then most people in the US or Japan make in a year, run by someone who's current net worth is 10 to 20 times the median lifetime net worth in those countries.
So pause. Ask yourself if you're being emotionally manipulated, and if you're comfortable with that.
I'm not trying to tell you if Pocketpair or Nintendo is in the "right" when it comes to this suit. I'm just trying to encourage you to inform that opinion with facts rather then emotion and impulse.
Nah, you're probably a really intelligent person who hasn't had the luxury of a lifetime in academia. Knowing stuff doesn't make you smart, and not knowing stuff doesn't make you an idiot. It's just a measurer of how you spend your free time.
As good a guess as any. To be clear, you can't patent the IV system as a game mechanic, but some of the patents Nintendo does hold would likely apply to how that information is stored and passed between systems.
When they were developing the patent system, a question they struggled with was card games. What if you played a slight variation of poker with someone and thought it was so good you filed for a patent for whatever gameplay difference made it unique. Does that mean that no card game, even one that isn't poker, can use that machinic without violating your patent? And if it didn't, what's to stop you from just filing multiple patents for it's use in every card game you can think of, basically doing the same thing? And wait a minute, poker is an existing work, so you can't patent a variation of it ... but wouldn't that also mean that any "card game" is derivate of card games in general? When is your card game unique enough that you can patent it?
In the end, they decided that it just wasn't viable to allow for any gameplay mechanic to be eligible for a patent. Look at Pathfinder and D&D 3rd edition. They are IDENTICAL, and it's fine. The only thing Pathfinder needed to do was change the names of classes and creatures as to not violate any copyrights D&D held. This is why board games and UNO exist ... you could patent the unique boards and the card themselves, even if you can't patent the gameplay.
I don't mind at all, in fact I shouldn't have used an abbreviation there. DB is database, and Database infrastructure refers to the unique ways different systems handle tables and queries. If you don't want to pay Microsoft for use of SQL, you have to code all that from the ground up without infringing on THEIR patents It is a monumental task.
Just wanted to give you a shout out for being so reasonable. You're right, there are a LOT of bad actors when it comes to patent lawsuits, but in this case I think it's safe to assume Nintendo's patent is legitimate and not overly broad. Generally the really questionable lawsuits come from Nintendo of America. Nintendo Co., Ltd. is typically a lot more reserved, and given it's a joint filing with The Pokémon Company, a lot of people had to greenlight this. Nintendo isn't a majority shareholder, meaning either Creatures or Game Freak has to think it was a valid suit as well.
"Multiple patent rights" could mean violations of different systems contained within the same Patent. 20240100432 has 18 unique and individual systems, for example.
It's also pretty interesting that they have only filed in Tokyo, given parent enforcement is regional. It's dated the 18th, which was "Yesterday" in Japan, so they have had a full day to make a similar filing in the US but haven't done so.
There might be some complexity around multinationals I'm not considering though.
I really appreciate that. I'm really curious myself as to what's happening, so I made a nice cup of tea and hit the books. Might as well make what comments I can before my brain shuts off.
Yeah patents of game play mechanics would be pretty cringe, which is probably why you can not and never have been able to file for them.
The patents in question here are pretty hardcore coding patents around database management, simultaneous server quarries, and object management within a virtual space.
Look I understand strong options, but you should really try to inform your opinions before you make comments like that. They are accusing Palword of stealing proprietary code and libraries, which is a pretty indefensible act even if you try to see this as "big bad company" vs the underdog. This has nothing at all to do with any similarities to Pokémon.
In the simplest terms (and keeping in mind I am way to tired to fully review 250 pages of patent applications), it looks like Nintendo owns patents around how a database stores creature data, how that data is transferred between clients, and a bunch of server logic based around it. It's pretty rudimentary stuff, and if I was to guess based off playing Palworld, I think the claim is going to be against the way in which the game handles instances in multiplayer.
That's basically a guess though. A sorta educated guess, but still a guess.
You saw it coming that Nintendo would get the source code for Palword and determine that the coding techniques around database management, content data holding, storage medium, and content data holding servers violated patents 20240100432, US11782898B2 and US11782898B, while not making any copyright claim around it's similarity to Pokémon?
DANM dude, you need to pick me some lottery numbers.
(Haha, sorry to call you out, it was just too tempting. Please forgive me)
Patent infringement, by necessity, requires you to have a patent. Nintendo doesn't have the patent on creature collection, so ... obviously they can't accuse people of violating a patent that they do not have and that doesn't exist.
They do have 3 patents around data storage and transfer of "objects" in a virtual space that specifically deal with Pokémon; 20240100432, US11782898B2 and US11782898B2. These deal with software and coding techniques, as well as DB infrastructure. If Palworld is using them that's a pretty big deal. It would be like if they stole the code to MS access and used it in their game.
Patent infringement? Well that's unexpected. Nintendo has 3 patents (20240100432, US11782898B2 and US11782898B2) that deal with how Pokémon data is stored and transferred between games and platforms, so that's my guess.
Can someone else take the time to correct all the people making comments about Copyright? I'm sleepy.
I would think that if they were looking to port Mario Paint, they would port the Mario Artist series. That never saw a Western release and I think people would be really happy to get their hands on it.
Not to mention they could make a new icon for "64DD" games and confuse people!
I remember playing Kunio-kun no Dodgeball in arcades and just loving it. It's funny to look back and think about how, at the time, just seeing that many "people" on screen at the same time blew my mind. Like the first time I played a game that used a double sized sprit (technically, just 2 spirts to represent one object) and thought to myself "My god. This is the future. I'm living in the future".
Now I look at 4k photo realistic renderings and think "Mah. Sub-surface scattering is a bit off."
Ok, full stop. Suggesting that the actions of a crazy person who committed a horrible crime can give you insight into Japanese culture is not okay. I know sometimes on message boards we get carried away trying to argue our point, but that crosses a line. It would like if someone said that in the UK or US it's culturally unacceptable to abuse children, and I said "well this one guy got arrested for child abuse, so that's not true". There are crazy people in every country in the world. They are outliers and IN NO WAY AT ALL reflect the cultural norms of that country.
You also shouldn't be ANY stock into Google translated court documents on a gaming website under a sensationalized headline. Translated in context, he is suggesting that his irrational anger about losing at a video game and how it caused him to act is an indirection he has a severe mental illness, in an attempt to get leniency in his sentencing.
The only other comment I'll makes is that the VAs for Pearl, Marina, Callie and Marie are all still under contract with Nintendo, so we can assume they will all be in the next game.
Haha, if as to prove how wild and counter-initiative the Pokémon world is, that's the opposite of what happened.
Pokémon are the dominate life form (I mean, God is literally a Pokémon in that universe), and in ancient times humans could only survive in small, hidden groups because of how viscous Pokémon were. It wasn't until Pokémon trainers that they started to accept humans as part of their ecosystem. I mean, I totally get the "dog fighting" joke, but if you dive into the lore of Pokémon it suggests that if the humans ever STOPPED doing that, the Pokémon would revolt and go back to killing them for sport.
They are using humans for entertainment, not the other way around.
I try to respect other people's creative vision, but ... those models. Not only are they the most generic designs possible, but they are likely tripling the art budget to make things look worse by moving to this type of rendering.
I don't want to "well actually" you, but I basically live for any opportunity to talk about Splatoon's music. So ...
Pearl is the experimental one. Marina's music is "traditional" Octoling, which itself is very traditionally Japanese. "Nasty Majesty" is the first song written entirely by Marina in her own style (she wrote most of Ebb and Flow, but was trying to mimic the style of the Squid Sisters with that song), and if you dissect it ... it's basically 14th century Noh music with Pearl rapping over it. This makes sense; the culture that represents traditional Japan in modern stories is more often the VICTUM of war, rather then the victors. So if her music sounds weird and out there, it just because it's following a style that doesn't get a lot of representation ... but it's very structed and "safe".
Pearl has strongly Western influences, her first solo track (and I promise I am not making this up) "＃$@%* Dudes Be ＃$@%* Sleepin", which is her flaming her team for being bad at Turf War, is a very traditional hair metal rift, with some influence from Japanese Death Metal. She hooked up with Marina after hearing the Ebb and Flow demo ( https://youtu.be/ODaPVD9aq2g ) and wanting to work Octoling styles into her own. Neat detail ... that's Octoling, but the lines Pearl sings in the final version are in Inkling. (Because if you only made up ONE language for your 4 person competitive shooter, would people even buy it?)
It wasn't until after the SPLATOCALYPSE that Pearl went all in on experimental music. And honestly .... yeah, I'm pretty happy if that's run it's coarse. I'm glad we got it, but I'm ready to go back to how things were.
One of my favorite things about Pokémon and its lore is that we constantly get videos like this, with adorable interactions in an idealistic world, but if you read the Pokédex a surprising number of them have evolved to murder children, or casually destroy entire cites, or eat power plants, or drain people's souls.
It's just a wonderful, completely bonkers "world".
That position is completely valid and a lot of people will agree with you. I somewhat agree. But I don't think Nintendo agrees even a little.
Every play Mario Kart? The game is specifically built around the idea that the "best" person shouldn't always win. Items add chaos and comeback potential to all players. You're supposed to embrace the madness and just have a good time. Getting blue shelled and losing to a 5 year old isn't even something you shouldn't let spoil the fun, it's supposed to be PART of the fun.
When you think about it ... most Nintendo games are built like that. Smash uses items in the same way, Party has random Stars.
The idea that if you don't win, it wasn't worth the time or effort or that it can't be just as fun to lose is a very western idea. It's just not that big a part of the mindset in Japan. I don't know that Nintendo sees a problem here. Or, more accurately, the problem they see is that western players care too much about winning. The solution, if anything, would be to make it EVEN MORE random, so you basically can't care anymore.
I also don't think the next game is going to be set in the past. I think we were just influencing the musical direction of the series moving forward, and with team past winning it's going to move back to it's Jpop roots. I cover it in post 20. No one invoked article 4, this isn't even a binding result. It was just a fun music festival.
Fun side note: One thing I really noticed right away from Japanese commercials is that for multiplayer games, when they cut to the people playing it's almost always the LOSER laughing and people telling them "nice try" or "try again". In the West, it's almost always to the winner being congratulated (or congratulating themselves). Even if it's the same game, the experience they are selling in the West is "you can be a winner!", while the experience they are selling in Japan is more that every match is unpredictable and fun.
You are absolutely part of the overwhelming majority.
It's just that no one goes on a message board and types "I just came here to let everyone know that I think everything is more or less fine". Comments always self-select people with strong opinions, and strong opinions tend to be negative.
I feel ya, and I understand where you're coming from.
But keep in mind that while the community has decided this Splatfest is going to impact the next game in some monumental way, I think there is a strong argument against that. You should check out post 46. TL:DR, no article 4 and the vibe was in no way competitive.
I can't speak for Nintendo, but I'm pretty sure they would tell every match does matter, because every match is an opportunity to have fun, and that's what Splatfest is about. Most people would rather play then wait, and giving you the option makes match making harder for them. Sometimes you just have to go with the majority. As someone who's opinion often lies outside the majority, it sucks ... but whatcha gonna do?
Mirror matches have a minor impact on the results because if you get a conch battle, that's a free point towards "Sneak Peak" for your team. Another option would be to play Tri-color. Mirror matches are far less likely AND you earn more clout with the only small downside being that they are unbearably awful.
If you logged in between the end of the event and the results, you were still at the Grand Festival but the bands were each playing the songs that play over the end credits for the single player in their respective games.
Mirror matches suck, and while that solution sound logical, it doesn't work. The problem is that there is a differential in the player pool.
Look at it this way, if there are 500 people from one team and 1000 people on the other team online, then 500 people have to be in mirror matches. Doesn't matter how long you wait individually, there are always going to be 500 people who need to be matched against their own team.
So when you get a mirror match, it means your number came up and you're part of that 500. It's like a coin flip, you "lost" and owe Splatoon a mirror match. The only way you could get out of playing that match would be for someone else to take your place, because there are always 500 people who need to be in mirror matches. "Waiting" is irrelevant. You can't even wait for the differential to change for complex database query reasons.
The only fair option to not play a mirror match would be for you to "pay" the match you owe by just doing nothing for 4 minutes(ish), then flipping the coin again. You can't even make it so that after you sit out a match you're guaranteed to get a real match, because the pool is dynamic. If 100 people from the other team log off, you don't have enough "good" matches for everyone who sat out a match to get one without forcing some people to play 2 mirror matches in a row. So it has to be random.
It's a pretty good example of the best possible solution still being really bad.
I mean, they said they would give 2 years of updates the day they announced the game, so ...
Honestly, this is great news. Splatfests and Big runs continuing, and balance updates still coming out is gravy. I don't think we need any new weapons at this point, so really all we are losing is the catalog.
And ... I bet they end up reclining them if the game's player base stays high.
My man, I get that it can be disappointing and frightening to think that something you care about might be over, but I don't think you have anything to worry about.
Splatoon 2's "last" Splatfest had a huge impact on the setting of 3, but it was called the freaking SPLATOCALYPSE. We knew what we were getting into. But in the orginal , the "Finale Fest" only had a cosmetic effect on the second game. The loser got kidnaped, but everything else would have played out the same regardless of who won.
This was the "Grand Festival". It's a clear indication that it's NOT going to have the same weight the splatocalypse or even the "Final Fest" just in how it's named. This was a celebration. The headline performance was a new band consisting of all 7 idols. It was really chill and friendly and everyone was supporting and cheering for the other teams. And most importantly, no one invoked article 4.
Contrast that to the splatocalypse. That was a fight, a battle between 2 clearly defined sides with everything at stake. Everyone was super serious. It was tense! It was clear it was going to change things.
And moving to the real world ... you're not going to tell your incredibly talented and beloved voice actors that their next contract, which might include years of commitments and live performances, depends on the results of a Splatfest.
This result is only going to have a cosmetic effect, just like in the original. You can read post #20 if you want details of how I think it's going to play out. And while I do think Deep Cut will feature less in the next game, I think that decision was already made (they didn't get an Amiibo refresh and didn't do nearly as much voice work for this event as the other 4 did), and it doesn't mean the end of Deep Cut forever.
The Squid Sisters literally disbanded after Splatoon 1. "Fresh Start" was their only new track in the second game. Callie left the industry completely and Marie moved on to doing choreography for Off The Hook. Off the Hook did four live performances solo.
But they brought them back. No reason to think that wont happen to Deep Cut, even if they mostly sit the next game out.
I contributed 1.25 MILLION clout to team past, and I'm thrilled we got the W.
I have seen full on paid expansions that had less effort put into them then put into this Splatfest. A new zone, completely new assists, revamped sound and music for almost every aspect of the game, and I counted 8 completely new studio recordings for songs.
Just casually get 7 popular artists together and put out a full album for your 3 day event. Only Nintendo.
Gratz to everyone. Like I always say ... we're all winners today.
My favorites part of any concert is the drummer in Polymanga. He's local, this was before the human analog for Ink Floor did backup consistently. So that's just some guy who advertises he plays drums at events, and about a week before the concert someone called him and offered him a job playing for a Japanize band made up of a squid and an octopus who sing in two made up languages. That has to catch you off guard.
But he is just vibing SO HARD the whole time. Every time it cuts to him he's got this huge schoolboy smile that can't help but be contagious. The whole rest of the back up is also having a great time, but these is just something about him that always warms my heart.
I'm obviously partial to the Polymanga 2018 concert where Off the Hook opened for them, but this is their first recorded performances as the Squid Sisters, so it's special. There are rumors they are doing another concert in 2025. I really hope they turn out to be true.
"In the US at the start of 2023, the video game industry employed around 270,000 people when you remove support (retail and supply chain). The Entertainment Software Associations 2024 impact report suggests that number should increase to around 290,000 by year end."
Also this article is not about anyone losing their jobs. It's about 25 people (including the president, CEO, and all executives) moving from a publisher to form an independent studio, and the publisher having to replace them to meet commitments. This article is about the creation of new jobs as Annapurna has already committed to replacing the staff who resigned to follow Nathan Gary to his next project... something I already mentioned.
Look, I don't know what you're getting out of this, but given you seem to be commenting without reading my comments OR the article, I'm not going to bother replying in the future.
My expectations are always sky high, but this weekend is BLOWING MY MIND. There have been full-on paid game expansions with less effort behind them.
I count at least 7 new recordings of songs, not even counting the remasters of some of the live tracks they are using or the voice work in the little things like the match win music. A completely new location with new assists. While 3rd parties struggle to get a visual novel running at 30 fps on the Switch, I'm on stage watching fireworks and pyrotechnics go off while a crowd of 100+ fully rendered 3D characters you can interact with are dancing away.
You suggested the industry is heading towards a crash. The evidence says It isn't, it's creating jobs and experiencing growth.
You're welcome to an opinion that ignores the evidence, I can't stop you. But I have no interest in discussing that. I supplied some facts to help you inform your opinion, that's all.
Irrelevant to our current discussion. I'm simply pointing out things are not as bad as your comment made them out to be. In fact they aren't even bad at all. Was hoping it might brighten your day a bit, because everyone should have a happy Splatfest!
The video game industry is projected to bring in $208 billion in 2024, a 5% increase from 2023. This this is significantly above the average year to year increase of 3.5% it's seen for the last decade or it's record low of 0.6% in 2023
While it's hard to get reliable worldwide numbers, in the US at the start of 2023, the video game industry employed around 270,000 people when you remove support (retail and supply chain). The Entertainment Software Associations 2024 impact report suggests that number should increase to around 290,000 by year end.
When you read articles or see headlines about how everything is awful and how this is the ends times and how everything was better in the past, hit pause for a second. Ask yourself how often you've seen a headline saying something like "New start up hires 150 people" or "Company increases workforce". Stuff like that obviously is happening, but if your only source of information about the gaming industry is news outlets you're going to be exposed to a lot more bad news then good. When you read about 2000 people losing their jobs, ask yourself if you understand what that number means in context. When you realize that's 0.007% of the total US jobs in game development, it seems a lot less scary.
This article isn't even about job loss. It's about 25 people who wanted to form a new entity as a spin off to an existing publisher who left the publisher when they said no. Obviously their plain is to still form that new entity, and Annapurna need to replace that workforce. This article is about a net job INCREASE. But the headline is still focusing on the doom and gloom, because that's how you get the clicks.
While every job lost is important, the video game industry is as healthy as ever, and is already seeing a huge bounce back from it's slump in 2022 and 2023.
I don't think we're voting for the next Idol. We're voting for the musical style of the series moving forward.
You might notice that Deep Cut are not from the future, and they should be team "present". Instead, Off the Hook is the "present" because when you look at the music scene in Splatoon's lore right now, it's completely dominated by Pearl. She strongly influenced Deep Cut and co-wrote "Tomorrow's Nostalgia Today". She's been working with a lot of the non-idol bands as well, including doing vocals for Damp Socks feat.
In Splatoon 2, Off the Hook where themselves strongly influenced by the Squid Sisters, given Marina's whole deal was trying to create music like the songs that freed the Octolings. And if you look at the direction things are naturally progressing, the next logical step is for Big Man to control the music scene by pushing for more and more calibrations.
So "past" would be a vote to return to the more J-pop roots of the Squid Sisters, "present" would be a vote to continue the current Pearl dominated, highly experimental style, while a vote for the future would be to have Big Man to keep on keeping on.
Interestingly, keity.pop (Callie), Mari Kikuma (Marie), Rina Itou (Pearl) and Alice Peralta (Marina) have all confirmed continued projects with Nintendo. Anna Sato (Shiver) and Laura Yokozawa (Frye) have not.
Towns have mascots. Hello Kitty works for the Government. Official forms like marriage licenses and birth certificates have branding. Japan never misses a chance to slap a mascot on something, and I love them for it.
There is a set of 16 Slowpoke manhole covers in Kagawa. It's a clear example of government corruption run wild! Tax money being spent on vanity projects and self interest!
Oh did I mention the governor of Kagawa is a Slowpoke? Because the governor of Kagawa is literally a Slowpoke.
There is no balance. This has nothing to do with power or performance. The PS5 pro costs $700 because Sony can charge $700, and that's how capitalisms works.
I get that people have been gaslighted from the day they are born, but it still amazes me how people believe that pricing decisions have anything to do with the product. Like the same company who's former COE just said that he was morally obligated to push for mass layoff and thinks the people who's lived he destroyed to raise the stock price need to "get over it" is having a meeting where they talk about what's "fair" to charge based on the product they are selling. Obviously not. They just ask marketing what the maximum they can charge is, and charge that.
Gamers are, without question, the most self distractive and mindless market sector, and they just spent 5+ years telling Sony they will buy anything and pay anything because they hate Microsoft. Obviously Sony is going to react by jacking up the price of everything. It's like Apple ... people have literally built their entire identify and world view around devotion to this brand, and are going to happily line up to overpay for stuff just so they can affirm that worldview. No one is paying $700 for a console. They are paying $700 to not have to admit they were wrong in believing that Sony is somehow less greedy or less evil then Microsoft.
That's why it's $700. Has nothing to do with the tech. Has nothing to do with the manufacturing cost. Has nothing to do with anything but market research into the people buying it.
Nintendo's next console will also has a price that is based more or less exclusively on market research into the people buying it. That market research is going to show that Nintendo's fan base includes far less 20-35 year old males willing to go without food to show off their brand loyalty, and that around 50,000 Yen is the tolerance point for the average family.
So we'll get a console that costs around $400 USD, because the marketing people told them that's the maximum they can safely charge.
Doesn't matter what's in it. Doesn't matter how much it costs to make. Doesn't matter what Sony is doing.
I don't think people understand how much Pokémon is intergraded into kid's lives in Japan. You take a bath with your Pokémon branded shampoo and soap, brush your teeth with your Pokémon toothpaste and Toothbrush (while using the Pokémon brushing app to keep time), then go to sleep with this app. It's a ritual. This is not surprising.
I mean you do all that if you're a monster. If you're a normal, well adjusted person you do all that with Hello Kitty branded stuff.
Ether way, I don't think rituals like that are as common outside of Japan.
I get that. It's funny, you sound a lot like me when it comes to time limits, we just have a slight disconnect when it comes to this series. I have a hard time playing games when you have to worry about time because I get stressed. It generally makes the game a non-starter for me. Even classics like Fallout 1&2 I have a real hard time enjoying.
I guess the only point I would remake is that all the time limits are as lenient as Firis IMHO. I can't think of a single game where I didn't have more then enough time for both the 90 day objectives and the game as a whole.
Odd you mention Persona. I'm actually the opposite. I play them and love them, but the day to day break up makes it super stressful for me, way more then a time limit. I always feel that I didn't spend that "chuck" of time correctly and second guess myself. It's a testament to how compelling they are that I've managed to finish them dispute that. The rollback feature in 3 reloaded is so great, I hope they keep that in the next game.
Don't apologize, communication is a two way street. In fact, good on you for asking for clarification.
Honestly, I considered that a moot point. It's rhetorical mostly, I take it to just mean "some". For the rhetorical device to work, you pick the example you think is the BEST as something to illustrate the best still fails sometimes. I picked Grandma Moses because she's the oldest example I could think of. Randy prefaces that by saying the Beatles are the best musically group of all time, so that would mean Randy thinks the best possible hit rate of released content is 25%.
(looks at watch)
Ok, seeing I really respect how you asked that question and I've got some time ... let's do this. I'm actually pretty curious now myself.
The Beatles released 230-240 songs, if you count releases up to and including Let It Be. Let's say 235. The variance is based on how you count different versions of the same songs and singles that didn't see a re-release. Next we need to quantify what "hit rate" means, which is a little harder.
55 charted in the UK and 71 charted in the US. So if we use that, Randy is spot on. 24% hit" in the UK, 30% "hit" in the US. Given it's the Beatles, I would think the UK number is the one you would use. And given this basically lines up exactly with the number he gave, I'm going to say that's the math he did (or had his underpaid assistant do) before posting. And it checks.
That's good enough for science, but not Pirate science!
Let's look at the idea that a song is a "hit" if it stands the test of time, and a miss if it ends up forgotten.
I can get the top 100 songs from most streaming platforms. Nielsen and Gallup have some public data on songs people recognize, generally limited to top 25 or top 100. Spotify is a gold mine, with weekly top 100 charts I can mine for about 5 years. On all these sources I can only find around 27 unique Beatles songs. That's great. Few bands do better. But it's not looking good for the idea that a large number of Beatles songs are still in the zeitgeist.
I can also pull data on re-releases, and this is pretty telling. Including only Albums that sold over 100,000 units (I didn't pick that, that's just the range of my data set), from 2000 to now, we only see 64 unique songs. Steaming is hard to quantify because their are tons of repeats and live albums, but a quick sampling of 50 songs showed nothing that wasn't already captured. That means that when people talk about "The Beatles", it unlikely that anyone other then super fans have been exposed to more then 64 songs, or 27% of their total catalog. You would have to get used CDs or invest in box sets that cost $100s to hear anything else. You can find most of their songs on YouTube, but your song didn't "hit" if people have to go looking for it for it by name.
So ... yeah. He's like ... dead on. If I was to guess at what's tripping people up, it's how huge their catalog is. Freaking Abba only have 112 songs. So our brains are counting the number of Beatles songs we think are hits, coming up with a number like 60, and thinking that MUST be bigger then 25%, base on the number of songs we think bands usually release.
God I love research. Science is so often counter intuitive, you can never trust your gut and have to just follow the numbers. I thought he was lowballing it as well, but it looks like it's easy to determine his mythology and it actually checks out.
Sure. I don't see anything in your comment that's contraveral. I mean I'm a Marxist and I couldn't agree more with that last part, comrade. Failure is a privilege that the bourgeoisie take for granted. For the proletariat, failure is destitution, starvation, and death! This is just another way our oppressors try and blame the reality of class discrepancy on the oppressed. If your not successful it's because you're not willing to take risks. You're just not good enough, it's not that for you the price of failure is much higher. It's no different then when they say the parasite's struggles are of their own making, because they started their company from "nothing", gaslighting us in to believing that using only a small bit of your available capital with no risk is the same as staking your very life and the life of your family on a venture with no fallback. We shouldn't stand for it. Unite!
Sadly, it's not what's being discussed. Check out post 31.
(edit: because someone asked nicely I ended up doing the math. It's in post 44)
He's not comparing himself to the Beatles, he's making an accurate comment about a historical fact. He says that not every Beatles song was a success at the time. Yes. That true. Some where flat out awful and people hated them. 25% is subjective, but clearly just rhetorical. He means "some".
He also brings up another completely accurate factual statement by saying sometimes he makes makes bad games, but that's not going to stop him from continuing to try and make good games.
Nowhere does he compare his work to the Beatles. Nowhere dose he suggest he's objectively as good as the Beatles.
He just saying the fact that the Beatles sometimes failed helps him power through his own failures, because they did alright. That's a great world view.
I'm kinda old. I switched to a much more creative outlet late in my life. When people told me I was too old to start out, I would bring up how Grandma Moses started painting at 78. I'm not saying I'm as good as Grandma Moses. I don't even paint. I'm just sharing some wisdom that should be uplifting and inspiring that helps me deal with my own situation. I'm drawing a parallel between one aspect (I'm old, she was old) because the conversation is about how I'm too old. He's drawing a parallel between on aspect (he fails sometimes, they failed sometimes) because the conversation is about why he should quit because he had a big flop.
The people saying he's comparing himself to the Beatles are just looking for an excuse to shout at something they don't like. And I mean ... fair. He's an awful human being. But that's still what they are doing, and we should probably be aware and call people out when they try and foster anger and outrage from a benign statement. Because like ... that happens a lot.
That was on an album. People expecting ballads like "I want to hold your hand" bought it and got that instead. It did not go over well.
Magical Mystery Tour and Yellow Submarine were seen as flops at the time. "Let It Be" had strong initial sales but was panned by critics and fans, and flopped pretty hard. "Beatles for Sale", released at the hight of Beatlemania, saw sales most bands would kill for but underperformed based on expectations and most people didn't care for it.
The idea that everything the Beatles touched turned to gold is revisionist history. They had a lot of flops. They have a whole period, the "Psychedelic Era" where most music historians' will argue they were consistently bad, with every album released in that time disappointed both critically and commercially. Today it's considered one of the most important contributions any pop band has ever made to music, but that doesn't change how it was received at the time, and "important" doesn't always mean "good".
They have 60 years of curation and sales on their side, so it's easy to ignore the bad. But it absolutely happened. I think it would be hard to argue that Revolution 9 is a better song then Borderlands was as movie.
I don't think he's trying to make an argument that people don't appreciate his bad games or that you need to take the good with the bad. He's saying he's okay with 25% of his games being garbage and no one liking or buying them, because 75% is a respectable hit rate.
Comments 2,060
Re: Palworld Developer Responds To Nintendo Lawsuit
Over the past two days there have been hundreds of comments by dozens of people voicing their strong opinions about this case where the person is discussing copyright and not patent infringement.
I really hope at least some people learn from this experience that when something causes a strong emotional response, the best thing to do is hit pause for a second. Ask yourself if you understand the actual issue at hand, or are you just tossing your hat in with a "side" that you've already decided is in the right?
Pocketpairs has an estimated sales revenue between $30 and $50 million dollars for F2023 alone. The "average" revenue of a gaming studio is hard to estimate, but it's likely around $2 to $3 million. $50 million would place Pocketpair, just based off some back of napkin math using sampling, in the top 15% of game developers worldwide.
They have a partnership with and formed a subsidiary with a company worth $109 billion dollars to promote their product and produce non-gaming revenue streams. Their CEO Takuro Mizobe has a net worth in the 10s of millions.
While I make no comment on the merits of this case, a statement calling themselves a small independent company is ludicrous in the extreme. It's the type of thing no one should be able to say outload without immediate and universal backlash.
However, given they are aware that the majority of discourse around this issue is based on emotional response and not understanding or reason, not only can they say something like that without fear, but they are doing so with the deliberate goal of manipulating the emotions of the people who are already invested in "protecting" a company that makes 3 times more money in a day then most people in the US or Japan make in a year, run by someone who's current net worth is 10 to 20 times the median lifetime net worth in those countries.
So pause. Ask yourself if you're being emotionally manipulated, and if you're comfortable with that.
I'm not trying to tell you if Pocketpair or Nintendo is in the "right" when it comes to this suit. I'm just trying to encourage you to inform that opinion with facts rather then emotion and impulse.
Re: Nintendo And Pokémon File Lawsuit Against Palworld Developer Pocketpair
@Elbow
Nah, you're probably a really intelligent person who hasn't had the luxury of a lifetime in academia. Knowing stuff doesn't make you smart, and not knowing stuff doesn't make you an idiot. It's just a measurer of how you spend your free time.
Re: Nintendo And Pokémon File Lawsuit Against Palworld Developer Pocketpair
@winnchu253
As good a guess as any. To be clear, you can't patent the IV system as a game mechanic, but some of the patents Nintendo does hold would likely apply to how that information is stored and passed between systems.
When they were developing the patent system, a question they struggled with was card games. What if you played a slight variation of poker with someone and thought it was so good you filed for a patent for whatever gameplay difference made it unique. Does that mean that no card game, even one that isn't poker, can use that machinic without violating your patent? And if it didn't, what's to stop you from just filing multiple patents for it's use in every card game you can think of, basically doing the same thing? And wait a minute, poker is an existing work, so you can't patent a variation of it ... but wouldn't that also mean that any "card game" is derivate of card games in general? When is your card game unique enough that you can patent it?
In the end, they decided that it just wasn't viable to allow for any gameplay mechanic to be eligible for a patent. Look at Pathfinder and D&D 3rd edition. They are IDENTICAL, and it's fine. The only thing Pathfinder needed to do was change the names of classes and creatures as to not violate any copyrights D&D held. This is why board games and UNO exist ... you could patent the unique boards and the card themselves, even if you can't patent the gameplay.
Re: Nintendo And Pokémon File Lawsuit Against Palworld Developer Pocketpair
@anoyonmus
I don't mind at all, in fact I shouldn't have used an abbreviation there. DB is database, and Database infrastructure refers to the unique ways different systems handle tables and queries. If you don't want to pay Microsoft for use of SQL, you have to code all that from the ground up without infringing on THEIR patents It is a monumental task.
Re: Nintendo And Pokémon File Lawsuit Against Palworld Developer Pocketpair
@Kingy
Just wanted to give you a shout out for being so reasonable. You're right, there are a LOT of bad actors when it comes to patent lawsuits, but in this case I think it's safe to assume Nintendo's patent is legitimate and not overly broad. Generally the really questionable lawsuits come from Nintendo of America. Nintendo Co., Ltd. is typically a lot more reserved, and given it's a joint filing with The Pokémon Company, a lot of people had to greenlight this. Nintendo isn't a majority shareholder, meaning either Creatures or Game Freak has to think it was a valid suit as well.
Re: Nintendo And Pokémon File Lawsuit Against Palworld Developer Pocketpair
@Dr_Lugae
"Multiple patent rights" could mean violations of different systems contained within the same Patent. 20240100432 has 18 unique and individual systems, for example.
It's also pretty interesting that they have only filed in Tokyo, given parent enforcement is regional. It's dated the 18th, which was "Yesterday" in Japan, so they have had a full day to make a similar filing in the US but haven't done so.
There might be some complexity around multinationals I'm not considering though.
Re: Nintendo And Pokémon File Lawsuit Against Palworld Developer Pocketpair
@DripDropCop146
I really appreciate that. I'm really curious myself as to what's happening, so I made a nice cup of tea and hit the books. Might as well make what comments I can before my brain shuts off.
Re: Nintendo And Pokémon File Lawsuit Against Palworld Developer Pocketpair
@Kingy
Yeah patents of game play mechanics would be pretty cringe, which is probably why you can not and never have been able to file for them.
The patents in question here are pretty hardcore coding patents around database management, simultaneous server quarries, and object management within a virtual space.
Look I understand strong options, but you should really try to inform your opinions before you make comments like that. They are accusing Palword of stealing proprietary code and libraries, which is a pretty indefensible act even if you try to see this as "big bad company" vs the underdog. This has nothing at all to do with any similarities to Pokémon.
Re: Nintendo And Pokémon File Lawsuit Against Palworld Developer Pocketpair
@Dr_Lugae
In the simplest terms (and keeping in mind I am way to tired to fully review 250 pages of patent applications), it looks like Nintendo owns patents around how a database stores creature data, how that data is transferred between clients, and a bunch of server logic based around it. It's pretty rudimentary stuff, and if I was to guess based off playing Palworld, I think the claim is going to be against the way in which the game handles instances in multiplayer.
That's basically a guess though. A sorta educated guess, but still a guess.
Re: Nintendo And Pokémon File Lawsuit Against Palworld Developer Pocketpair
@JalapenoSpiceLife
You saw it coming that Nintendo would get the source code for Palword and determine that the coding techniques around database management, content data holding, storage medium, and content data holding servers violated patents 20240100432, US11782898B2 and US11782898B, while not making any copyright claim around it's similarity to Pokémon?
DANM dude, you need to pick me some lottery numbers.
(Haha, sorry to call you out, it was just too tempting. Please forgive me)
Re: Nintendo And Pokémon File Lawsuit Against Palworld Developer Pocketpair
@Darkcaptain3
Patent infringement, by necessity, requires you to have a patent. Nintendo doesn't have the patent on creature collection, so ... obviously they can't accuse people of violating a patent that they do not have and that doesn't exist.
They do have 3 patents around data storage and transfer of "objects" in a virtual space that specifically deal with Pokémon; 20240100432, US11782898B2 and US11782898B2. These deal with software and coding techniques, as well as DB infrastructure. If Palworld is using them that's a pretty big deal. It would be like if they stole the code to MS access and used it in their game.
Re: Nintendo And Pokémon File Lawsuit Against Palworld Developer Pocketpair
Patent infringement? Well that's unexpected. Nintendo has 3 patents (20240100432, US11782898B2 and US11782898B2) that deal with how Pokémon data is stored and transferred between games and platforms, so that's my guess.
Can someone else take the time to correct all the people making comments about Copyright? I'm sleepy.
Re: Rumour: Nintendo May Be Looking To Add SNES Mouse Support To Switch Online
I would think that if they were looking to port Mario Paint, they would port the Mario Artist series. That never saw a Western release and I think people would be really happy to get their hands on it.
Not to mention they could make a new icon for "64DD" games and confuse people!
Re: Nintendo Expands Switch Online's SNES Library With Four More Titles
I remember playing Kunio-kun no Dodgeball in arcades and just loving it. It's funny to look back and think about how, at the time, just seeing that many "people" on screen at the same time blew my mind. Like the first time I played a game that used a double sized sprit (technically, just 2 spirts to represent one object) and thought to myself "My god. This is the future. I'm living in the future".
Now I look at 4k photo realistic renderings and think "Mah. Sub-surface scattering is a bit off."
Re: 'Team Past' Takes The Gold In Splatoon 3's 'Grand Festival' Splatfest
@AstroTheGamosian
Ok, full stop. Suggesting that the actions of a crazy person who committed a horrible crime can give you insight into Japanese culture is not okay. I know sometimes on message boards we get carried away trying to argue our point, but that crosses a line. It would like if someone said that in the UK or US it's culturally unacceptable to abuse children, and I said "well this one guy got arrested for child abuse, so that's not true". There are crazy people in every country in the world. They are outliers and IN NO WAY AT ALL reflect the cultural norms of that country.
You also shouldn't be ANY stock into Google translated court documents on a gaming website under a sensationalized headline. Translated in context, he is suggesting that his irrational anger about losing at a video game and how it caused him to act is an indirection he has a severe mental illness, in an attempt to get leniency in his sentencing.
The only other comment I'll makes is that the VAs for Pearl, Marina, Callie and Marie are all still under contract with Nintendo, so we can assume they will all be in the next game.
Re: Random: New Pokémon Animated Short Is Seriously Adorable
@DripDropCop146
Haha, if as to prove how wild and counter-initiative the Pokémon world is, that's the opposite of what happened.
Pokémon are the dominate life form (I mean, God is literally a Pokémon in that universe), and in ancient times humans could only survive in small, hidden groups because of how viscous Pokémon were. It wasn't until Pokémon trainers that they started to accept humans as part of their ecosystem. I mean, I totally get the "dog fighting" joke, but if you dive into the lore of Pokémon it suggests that if the humans ever STOPPED doing that, the Pokémon would revolt and go back to killing them for sport.
They are using humans for entertainment, not the other way around.
Re: 'My Time At Evershine' Revealed, Confirmed For Switch Successor
I try to respect other people's creative vision, but ... those models. Not only are they the most generic designs possible, but they are likely tripling the art budget to make things look worse by moving to this type of rendering.
Re: 'Team Past' Takes The Gold In Splatoon 3's 'Grand Festival' Splatfest
@Ulysses
I don't want to "well actually" you, but I basically live for any opportunity to talk about Splatoon's music. So ...
Pearl is the experimental one. Marina's music is "traditional" Octoling, which itself is very traditionally Japanese. "Nasty Majesty" is the first song written entirely by Marina in her own style (she wrote most of Ebb and Flow, but was trying to mimic the style of the Squid Sisters with that song), and if you dissect it ... it's basically 14th century Noh music with Pearl rapping over it. This makes sense; the culture that represents traditional Japan in modern stories is more often the VICTUM of war, rather then the victors. So if her music sounds weird and out there, it just because it's following a style that doesn't get a lot of representation ... but it's very structed and "safe".
Pearl has strongly Western influences, her first solo track (and I promise I am not making this up) "＃$@%* Dudes Be ＃$@%* Sleepin", which is her flaming her team for being bad at Turf War, is a very traditional hair metal rift, with some influence from Japanese Death Metal. She hooked up with Marina after hearing the Ebb and Flow demo ( https://youtu.be/ODaPVD9aq2g ) and wanting to work Octoling styles into her own. Neat detail ... that's Octoling, but the lines Pearl sings in the final version are in Inkling. (Because if you only made up ONE language for your 4 person competitive shooter, would people even buy it?)
It wasn't until after the SPLATOCALYPSE that Pearl went all in on experimental music. And honestly .... yeah, I'm pretty happy if that's run it's coarse. I'm glad we got it, but I'm ready to go back to how things were.
Re: Random: New Pokémon Animated Short Is Seriously Adorable
One of my favorite things about Pokémon and its lore is that we constantly get videos like this, with adorable interactions in an idealistic world, but if you read the Pokédex a surprising number of them have evolved to murder children, or casually destroy entire cites, or eat power plants, or drain people's souls.
It's just a wonderful, completely bonkers "world".
Re: 'Team Past' Takes The Gold In Splatoon 3's 'Grand Festival' Splatfest
@AstroTheGamosian
That position is completely valid and a lot of people will agree with you. I somewhat agree. But I don't think Nintendo agrees even a little.
Every play Mario Kart? The game is specifically built around the idea that the "best" person shouldn't always win. Items add chaos and comeback potential to all players. You're supposed to embrace the madness and just have a good time. Getting blue shelled and losing to a 5 year old isn't even something you shouldn't let spoil the fun, it's supposed to be PART of the fun.
When you think about it ... most Nintendo games are built like that. Smash uses items in the same way, Party has random Stars.
The idea that if you don't win, it wasn't worth the time or effort or that it can't be just as fun to lose is a very western idea. It's just not that big a part of the mindset in Japan. I don't know that Nintendo sees a problem here. Or, more accurately, the problem they see is that western players care too much about winning. The solution, if anything, would be to make it EVEN MORE random, so you basically can't care anymore.
I also don't think the next game is going to be set in the past. I think we were just influencing the musical direction of the series moving forward, and with team past winning it's going to move back to it's Jpop roots. I cover it in post 20. No one invoked article 4, this isn't even a binding result. It was just a fun music festival.
Fun side note: One thing I really noticed right away from Japanese commercials is that for multiplayer games, when they cut to the people playing it's almost always the LOSER laughing and people telling them "nice try" or "try again". In the West, it's almost always to the winner being congratulated (or congratulating themselves). Even if it's the same game, the experience they are selling in the West is "you can be a winner!", while the experience they are selling in Japan is more that every match is unpredictable and fun.
Re: 'Team Past' Takes The Gold In Splatoon 3's 'Grand Festival' Splatfest
@Yosher
You are absolutely part of the overwhelming majority.
It's just that no one goes on a message board and types "I just came here to let everyone know that I think everything is more or less fine". Comments always self-select people with strong opinions, and strong opinions tend to be negative.
Re: 'Team Past' Takes The Gold In Splatoon 3's 'Grand Festival' Splatfest
@SpinEnDash
I feel ya, and I understand where you're coming from.
But keep in mind that while the community has decided this Splatfest is going to impact the next game in some monumental way, I think there is a strong argument against that. You should check out post 46. TL:DR, no article 4 and the vibe was in no way competitive.
I can't speak for Nintendo, but I'm pretty sure they would tell every match does matter, because every match is an opportunity to have fun, and that's what Splatfest is about. Most people would rather play then wait, and giving you the option makes match making harder for them. Sometimes you just have to go with the majority. As someone who's opinion often lies outside the majority, it sucks ... but whatcha gonna do?
Mirror matches have a minor impact on the results because if you get a conch battle, that's a free point towards "Sneak Peak" for your team. Another option would be to play Tri-color. Mirror matches are far less likely AND you earn more clout with the only small downside being that they are unbearably awful.
Re: It's Official, Splatoon 3's "Regular Updates" Are Coming To An End
@Jack_Goetz
If you logged in between the end of the event and the results, you were still at the Grand Festival but the bands were each playing the songs that play over the end credits for the single player in their respective games.
I didn't cry, it's just really dusty in my house.
Re: 'Team Past' Takes The Gold In Splatoon 3's 'Grand Festival' Splatfest
@SpinEnDash
Mirror matches suck, and while that solution sound logical, it doesn't work. The problem is that there is a differential in the player pool.
Look at it this way, if there are 500 people from one team and 1000 people on the other team online, then 500 people have to be in mirror matches. Doesn't matter how long you wait individually, there are always going to be 500 people who need to be matched against their own team.
So when you get a mirror match, it means your number came up and you're part of that 500. It's like a coin flip, you "lost" and owe Splatoon a mirror match. The only way you could get out of playing that match would be for someone else to take your place, because there are always 500 people who need to be in mirror matches. "Waiting" is irrelevant. You can't even wait for the differential to change for complex database query reasons.
The only fair option to not play a mirror match would be for you to "pay" the match you owe by just doing nothing for 4 minutes(ish), then flipping the coin again. You can't even make it so that after you sit out a match you're guaranteed to get a real match, because the pool is dynamic. If 100 people from the other team log off, you don't have enough "good" matches for everyone who sat out a match to get one without forcing some people to play 2 mirror matches in a row. So it has to be random.
It's a pretty good example of the best possible solution still being really bad.
Re: It's Official, Splatoon 3's "Regular Updates" Are Coming To An End
I mean, they said they would give 2 years of updates the day they announced the game, so ...
Honestly, this is great news. Splatfests and Big runs continuing, and balance updates still coming out is gravy. I don't think we need any new weapons at this point, so really all we are losing is the catalog.
And ... I bet they end up reclining them if the game's player base stays high.
Re: 'Team Past' Takes The Gold In Splatoon 3's 'Grand Festival' Splatfest
@Croctopus
My man, I get that it can be disappointing and frightening to think that something you care about might be over, but I don't think you have anything to worry about.
Splatoon 2's "last" Splatfest had a huge impact on the setting of 3, but it was called the freaking SPLATOCALYPSE. We knew what we were getting into. But in the orginal , the "Finale Fest" only had a cosmetic effect on the second game. The loser got kidnaped, but everything else would have played out the same regardless of who won.
This was the "Grand Festival". It's a clear indication that it's NOT going to have the same weight the splatocalypse or even the "Final Fest" just in how it's named. This was a celebration. The headline performance was a new band consisting of all 7 idols. It was really chill and friendly and everyone was supporting and cheering for the other teams. And most importantly, no one invoked article 4.
Contrast that to the splatocalypse. That was a fight, a battle between 2 clearly defined sides with everything at stake. Everyone was super serious. It was tense! It was clear it was going to change things.
And moving to the real world ... you're not going to tell your incredibly talented and beloved voice actors that their next contract, which might include years of commitments and live performances, depends on the results of a Splatfest.
This result is only going to have a cosmetic effect, just like in the original. You can read post #20 if you want details of how I think it's going to play out. And while I do think Deep Cut will feature less in the next game, I think that decision was already made (they didn't get an Amiibo refresh and didn't do nearly as much voice work for this event as the other 4 did), and it doesn't mean the end of Deep Cut forever.
The Squid Sisters literally disbanded after Splatoon 1. "Fresh Start" was their only new track in the second game. Callie left the industry completely and Marie moved on to doing choreography for Off The Hook. Off the Hook did four live performances solo.
But they brought them back. No reason to think that wont happen to Deep Cut, even if they mostly sit the next game out.
Re: 'Team Past' Takes The Gold In Splatoon 3's 'Grand Festival' Splatfest
What a weekend.
I contributed 1.25 MILLION clout to team past, and I'm thrilled we got the W.
I have seen full on paid expansions that had less effort put into them then put into this Splatfest. A new zone, completely new assists, revamped sound and music for almost every aspect of the game, and I counted 8 completely new studio recordings for songs.
Just casually get 7 popular artists together and put out a full album for your 3 day event. Only Nintendo.
Gratz to everyone. Like I always say ... we're all winners today.
Re: Splatoon 3's 'Grand Festival' Splatfest Kicks Off Tomorrow, Which Team Gets Your Vote?
@GregamanX
Love to hear it.
My favorites part of any concert is the drummer in Polymanga. He's local, this was before the human analog for Ink Floor did backup consistently. So that's just some guy who advertises he plays drums at events, and about a week before the concert someone called him and offered him a job playing for a Japanize band made up of a squid and an octopus who sing in two made up languages. That has to catch you off guard.
But he is just vibing SO HARD the whole time. Every time it cuts to him he's got this huge schoolboy smile that can't help but be contagious. The whole rest of the back up is also having a great time, but these is just something about him that always warms my heart.
Re: All Annapurna Interactive Staff Resign Following Failed Spin-Off Negotiations
@BuddhaBabboo
And you just paid it forward by making my day!
Shout outs like this mean a lot to me, and I really appreciate it.
Stay Fresh!
Re: Splatoon 3's 'Grand Festival' Splatfest Kicks Off Tomorrow, Which Team Gets Your Vote?
@GregamanX
That's such a fantastic story. I hope they keep bringing her smiles for years to come.
You probably already know about this, but just incase you're one of today's lucky 10,000 ...
https://youtu.be/wxkKUbNnXKE
I'm obviously partial to the Polymanga 2018 concert where Off the Hook opened for them, but this is their first recorded performances as the Squid Sisters, so it's special. There are rumors they are doing another concert in 2025. I really hope they turn out to be true.
Re: All Annapurna Interactive Staff Resign Following Failed Spin-Off Negotiations
@LadyCharlie
(sigh)
"In the US at the start of 2023, the video game industry employed around 270,000 people when you remove support (retail and supply chain). The Entertainment Software Associations 2024 impact report suggests that number should increase to around 290,000 by year end."
Also this article is not about anyone losing their jobs. It's about 25 people (including the president, CEO, and all executives) moving from a publisher to form an independent studio, and the publisher having to replace them to meet commitments. This article is about the creation of new jobs as Annapurna has already committed to replacing the staff who resigned to follow Nathan Gary to his next project... something I already mentioned.
Look, I don't know what you're getting out of this, but given you seem to be commenting without reading my comments OR the article, I'm not going to bother replying in the future.
Hope you're having a great Splatfest.
Re: All Annapurna Interactive Staff Resign Following Failed Spin-Off Negotiations
@trcsf
Dude, for real.
My expectations are always sky high, but this weekend is BLOWING MY MIND. There have been full-on paid game expansions with less effort behind them.
I count at least 7 new recordings of songs, not even counting the remasters of some of the live tracks they are using or the voice work in the little things like the match win music. A completely new location with new assists. While 3rd parties struggle to get a visual novel running at 30 fps on the Switch, I'm on stage watching fireworks and pyrotechnics go off while a crowd of 100+ fully rendered 3D characters you can interact with are dancing away.
It's amazing. It's happiness in visual form.
Re: All Annapurna Interactive Staff Resign Following Failed Spin-Off Negotiations
@LadyCharlie
You suggested the industry is heading towards a crash. The evidence says It isn't, it's creating jobs and experiencing growth.
You're welcome to an opinion that ignores the evidence, I can't stop you. But I have no interest in discussing that. I supplied some facts to help you inform your opinion, that's all.
Cheers.
Re: All Annapurna Interactive Staff Resign Following Failed Spin-Off Negotiations
@LadyCharlie
Irrelevant to our current discussion. I'm simply pointing out things are not as bad as your comment made them out to be. In fact they aren't even bad at all. Was hoping it might brighten your day a bit, because everyone should have a happy Splatfest!
Re: Splatoon 3's 'Grand Festival' Splatfest Kicks Off Tomorrow, Which Team Gets Your Vote?
Just logged in. HOLY CRAP. Mind blown. This amount of effort is just insane.
Re: All Annapurna Interactive Staff Resign Following Failed Spin-Off Negotiations
@LadyCharlie
The video game industry is projected to bring in $208 billion in 2024, a 5% increase from 2023. This this is significantly above the average year to year increase of 3.5% it's seen for the last decade or it's record low of 0.6% in 2023
While it's hard to get reliable worldwide numbers, in the US at the start of 2023, the video game industry employed around 270,000 people when you remove support (retail and supply chain). The Entertainment Software Associations 2024 impact report suggests that number should increase to around 290,000 by year end.
When you read articles or see headlines about how everything is awful and how this is the ends times and how everything was better in the past, hit pause for a second. Ask yourself how often you've seen a headline saying something like "New start up hires 150 people" or "Company increases workforce". Stuff like that obviously is happening, but if your only source of information about the gaming industry is news outlets you're going to be exposed to a lot more bad news then good. When you read about 2000 people losing their jobs, ask yourself if you understand what that number means in context. When you realize that's 0.007% of the total US jobs in game development, it seems a lot less scary.
This article isn't even about job loss. It's about 25 people who wanted to form a new entity as a spin off to an existing publisher who left the publisher when they said no. Obviously their plain is to still form that new entity, and Annapurna need to replace that workforce. This article is about a net job INCREASE. But the headline is still focusing on the doom and gloom, because that's how you get the clicks.
While every job lost is important, the video game industry is as healthy as ever, and is already seeing a huge bounce back from it's slump in 2022 and 2023.
Re: Splatoon 3's 'Grand Festival' Splatfest Kicks Off Tomorrow, Which Team Gets Your Vote?
I don't think we're voting for the next Idol. We're voting for the musical style of the series moving forward.
You might notice that Deep Cut are not from the future, and they should be team "present". Instead, Off the Hook is the "present" because when you look at the music scene in Splatoon's lore right now, it's completely dominated by Pearl. She strongly influenced Deep Cut and co-wrote "Tomorrow's Nostalgia Today". She's been working with a lot of the non-idol bands as well, including doing vocals for Damp Socks feat.
In Splatoon 2, Off the Hook where themselves strongly influenced by the Squid Sisters, given Marina's whole deal was trying to create music like the songs that freed the Octolings. And if you look at the direction things are naturally progressing, the next logical step is for Big Man to control the music scene by pushing for more and more calibrations.
So "past" would be a vote to return to the more J-pop roots of the Squid Sisters, "present" would be a vote to continue the current Pearl dominated, highly experimental style, while a vote for the future would be to have Big Man to keep on keeping on.
Interestingly, keity.pop (Callie), Mari Kikuma (Marie), Rina Itou (Pearl) and Alice Peralta (Marina) have all confirmed continued projects with Nintendo. Anna Sato (Shiver) and Laura Yokozawa (Frye) have not.
And Deep Cut didn't get an Amiibo refresh.
Re: Japanese Charts: Switch Dominates As PS5 Price Hike Kills Momentum
12,672 sales in a vacuum isn't that bad.
But on a game with a budget over $100 million USD, it's freaking atrocious. Sales have been disappointing in the UK as well.
Honestly, I'm not shocked. It's a fantastic game, but I don't think it targets Play Station's demographic at all.
Re: Random: Even The Manhole Covers Look Cool At The Nintendo Museum
I mean, this is awesome, and I don't want to downplay the awesomeness ... but ...
That's just how manhole covers in Japan look.
https://www.hirake-manhole.com/
Towns have mascots. Hello Kitty works for the Government. Official forms like marriage licenses and birth certificates have branding. Japan never misses a chance to slap a mascot on something, and I love them for it.
There is a set of 16 Slowpoke manhole covers in Kagawa. It's a clear example of government corruption run wild! Tax money being spent on vanity projects and self interest!
Oh did I mention the governor of Kagawa is a Slowpoke? Because the governor of Kagawa is literally a Slowpoke.
https://soranews24.com/2018/04/03/japanese-prefecture-introduces-a-pokemon-as-its-governor-in-start-of-the-month-political-shakeup/
Re: Soapbox: Sony's Insane PS5 Pro Price Highlights The Delicate Balance Nintendo Must Strike With 'Switch 2'
There is no balance. This has nothing to do with power or performance. The PS5 pro costs $700 because Sony can charge $700, and that's how capitalisms works.
I get that people have been gaslighted from the day they are born, but it still amazes me how people believe that pricing decisions have anything to do with the product. Like the same company who's former COE just said that he was morally obligated to push for mass layoff and thinks the people who's lived he destroyed to raise the stock price need to "get over it" is having a meeting where they talk about what's "fair" to charge based on the product they are selling. Obviously not. They just ask marketing what the maximum they can charge is, and charge that.
Gamers are, without question, the most self distractive and mindless market sector, and they just spent 5+ years telling Sony they will buy anything and pay anything because they hate Microsoft. Obviously Sony is going to react by jacking up the price of everything. It's like Apple ... people have literally built their entire identify and world view around devotion to this brand, and are going to happily line up to overpay for stuff just so they can affirm that worldview. No one is paying $700 for a console. They are paying $700 to not have to admit they were wrong in believing that Sony is somehow less greedy or less evil then Microsoft.
That's why it's $700. Has nothing to do with the tech. Has nothing to do with the manufacturing cost. Has nothing to do with anything but market research into the people buying it.
Nintendo's next console will also has a price that is based more or less exclusively on market research into the people buying it. That market research is going to show that Nintendo's fan base includes far less 20-35 year old males willing to go without food to show off their brand loyalty, and that around 50,000 Yen is the tolerance point for the average family.
So we'll get a console that costs around $400 USD, because the marketing people told them that's the maximum they can safely charge.
Doesn't matter what's in it. Doesn't matter how much it costs to make. Doesn't matter what Sony is doing.
Re: Minecraft Fans Apologise To 'Story Mode' In Response To Live-Action Movie Reveal
Wow. Gotta say, very topical using a Beatles song in a trailer for what looks like a bad video game movie.
Re: Pokémon Sleep Has Double The Number Of Monthly Users In Japan Than The US
I don't think people understand how much Pokémon is intergraded into kid's lives in Japan. You take a bath with your Pokémon branded shampoo and soap, brush your teeth with your Pokémon toothpaste and Toothbrush (while using the Pokémon brushing app to keep time), then go to sleep with this app. It's a ritual. This is not surprising.
I mean you do all that if you're a monster. If you're a normal, well adjusted person you do all that with Hello Kitty branded stuff.
Ether way, I don't think rituals like that are as common outside of Japan.
Re: Atelier Yumia Release Date Announced, And The First Gameplay Trailer Is Beautiful
@YourDaddy
I get that. It's funny, you sound a lot like me when it comes to time limits, we just have a slight disconnect when it comes to this series. I have a hard time playing games when you have to worry about time because I get stressed. It generally makes the game a non-starter for me. Even classics like Fallout 1&2 I have a real hard time enjoying.
I guess the only point I would remake is that all the time limits are as lenient as Firis IMHO. I can't think of a single game where I didn't have more then enough time for both the 90 day objectives and the game as a whole.
Odd you mention Persona. I'm actually the opposite. I play them and love them, but the day to day break up makes it super stressful for me, way more then a time limit. I always feel that I didn't spend that "chuck" of time correctly and second guess myself. It's a testament to how compelling they are that I've managed to finish them dispute that. The rollback feature in 3 reloaded is so great, I hope they keep that in the next game.
Re: Gearbox Co-Founder Compares Company's Success Rate To The Beatles, And Fans Aren't Happy
@babybilly
You too. I thoroughly enjoyed that exercise.
Re: Gearbox Co-Founder Compares Company's Success Rate To The Beatles, And Fans Aren't Happy
@babybilly
Don't apologize, communication is a two way street. In fact, good on you for asking for clarification.
Honestly, I considered that a moot point. It's rhetorical mostly, I take it to just mean "some". For the rhetorical device to work, you pick the example you think is the BEST as something to illustrate the best still fails sometimes. I picked Grandma Moses because she's the oldest example I could think of. Randy prefaces that by saying the Beatles are the best musically group of all time, so that would mean Randy thinks the best possible hit rate of released content is 25%.
(looks at watch)
Ok, seeing I really respect how you asked that question and I've got some time ... let's do this. I'm actually pretty curious now myself.
The Beatles released 230-240 songs, if you count releases up to and including Let It Be. Let's say 235. The variance is based on how you count different versions of the same songs and singles that didn't see a re-release. Next we need to quantify what "hit rate" means, which is a little harder.
55 charted in the UK and 71 charted in the US. So if we use that, Randy is spot on. 24% hit" in the UK, 30% "hit" in the US. Given it's the Beatles, I would think the UK number is the one you would use. And given this basically lines up exactly with the number he gave, I'm going to say that's the math he did (or had his underpaid assistant do) before posting. And it checks.
That's good enough for science, but not Pirate science!
Let's look at the idea that a song is a "hit" if it stands the test of time, and a miss if it ends up forgotten.
I can get the top 100 songs from most streaming platforms. Nielsen and Gallup have some public data on songs people recognize, generally limited to top 25 or top 100. Spotify is a gold mine, with weekly top 100 charts I can mine for about 5 years. On all these sources I can only find around 27 unique Beatles songs. That's great. Few bands do better. But it's not looking good for the idea that a large number of Beatles songs are still in the zeitgeist.
I can also pull data on re-releases, and this is pretty telling. Including only Albums that sold over 100,000 units (I didn't pick that, that's just the range of my data set), from 2000 to now, we only see 64 unique songs. Steaming is hard to quantify because their are tons of repeats and live albums, but a quick sampling of 50 songs showed nothing that wasn't already captured. That means that when people talk about "The Beatles", it unlikely that anyone other then super fans have been exposed to more then 64 songs, or 27% of their total catalog. You would have to get used CDs or invest in box sets that cost $100s to hear anything else. You can find most of their songs on YouTube, but your song didn't "hit" if people have to go looking for it for it by name.
So ... yeah. He's like ... dead on. If I was to guess at what's tripping people up, it's how huge their catalog is. Freaking Abba only have 112 songs. So our brains are counting the number of Beatles songs we think are hits, coming up with a number like 60, and thinking that MUST be bigger then 25%, base on the number of songs we think bands usually release.
God I love research. Science is so often counter intuitive, you can never trust your gut and have to just follow the numbers. I thought he was lowballing it as well, but it looks like it's easy to determine his mythology and it actually checks out.
Re: Gearbox Co-Founder Compares Company's Success Rate To The Beatles, And Fans Aren't Happy
@Anachronism
Sure. I don't see anything in your comment that's contraveral. I mean I'm a Marxist and I couldn't agree more with that last part, comrade. Failure is a privilege that the bourgeoisie take for granted. For the proletariat, failure is destitution, starvation, and death! This is just another way our oppressors try and blame the reality of class discrepancy on the oppressed. If your not successful it's because you're not willing to take risks. You're just not good enough, it's not that for you the price of failure is much higher. It's no different then when they say the parasite's struggles are of their own making, because they started their company from "nothing", gaslighting us in to believing that using only a small bit of your available capital with no risk is the same as staking your very life and the life of your family on a venture with no fallback. We shouldn't stand for it. Unite!
Sadly, it's not what's being discussed. Check out post 31.
(edit: because someone asked nicely I ended up doing the math. It's in post 44)
Re: Gearbox Co-Founder Compares Company's Success Rate To The Beatles, And Fans Aren't Happy
@Quiet2down
Thanks for the shoutout. It really means a lot to me. I'll keep trying to always be that.
Re: Gearbox Co-Founder Compares Company's Success Rate To The Beatles, And Fans Aren't Happy
@BodkinDQ
He's not comparing himself to the Beatles, he's making an accurate comment about a historical fact. He says that not every Beatles song was a success at the time. Yes. That true. Some where flat out awful and people hated them. 25% is subjective, but clearly just rhetorical. He means "some".
He also brings up another completely accurate factual statement by saying sometimes he makes makes bad games, but that's not going to stop him from continuing to try and make good games.
Nowhere does he compare his work to the Beatles. Nowhere dose he suggest he's objectively as good as the Beatles.
He just saying the fact that the Beatles sometimes failed helps him power through his own failures, because they did alright. That's a great world view.
I'm kinda old. I switched to a much more creative outlet late in my life. When people told me I was too old to start out, I would bring up how Grandma Moses started painting at 78. I'm not saying I'm as good as Grandma Moses. I don't even paint. I'm just sharing some wisdom that should be uplifting and inspiring that helps me deal with my own situation. I'm drawing a parallel between one aspect (I'm old, she was old) because the conversation is about how I'm too old. He's drawing a parallel between on aspect (he fails sometimes, they failed sometimes) because the conversation is about why he should quit because he had a big flop.
The people saying he's comparing himself to the Beatles are just looking for an excuse to shout at something they don't like. And I mean ... fair. He's an awful human being. But that's still what they are doing, and we should probably be aware and call people out when they try and foster anger and outrage from a benign statement. Because like ... that happens a lot.
Re: Gearbox Co-Founder Compares Company's Success Rate To The Beatles, And Fans Aren't Happy
@BodkinDQ
https://youtu.be/SNdcFPjGsm8
That was on an album. People expecting ballads like "I want to hold your hand" bought it and got that instead. It did not go over well.
Magical Mystery Tour and Yellow Submarine were seen as flops at the time. "Let It Be" had strong initial sales but was panned by critics and fans, and flopped pretty hard. "Beatles for Sale", released at the hight of Beatlemania, saw sales most bands would kill for but underperformed based on expectations and most people didn't care for it.
The idea that everything the Beatles touched turned to gold is revisionist history. They had a lot of flops. They have a whole period, the "Psychedelic Era" where most music historians' will argue they were consistently bad, with every album released in that time disappointed both critically and commercially. Today it's considered one of the most important contributions any pop band has ever made to music, but that doesn't change how it was received at the time, and "important" doesn't always mean "good".
They have 60 years of curation and sales on their side, so it's easy to ignore the bad. But it absolutely happened. I think it would be hard to argue that Revolution 9 is a better song then Borderlands was as movie.
Re: Gearbox Co-Founder Compares Company's Success Rate To The Beatles, And Fans Aren't Happy
@Anachronism
I don't think he's trying to make an argument that people don't appreciate his bad games or that you need to take the good with the bad. He's saying he's okay with 25% of his games being garbage and no one liking or buying them, because 75% is a respectable hit rate.