“we’re only selling because, um, inflation or something.”

Epic is still Epic, no? 

I think the point of including Nintendo was more that they aren’t going anywhere anytime soon and they don’t need to be buying studios. It’s not part of their business model, and it’s still working.

More likely they see the cliff coming for the industry. Talent drain, rising budgets, flat sales, all add up to getting out now.

In whatever can be passed as fairness to EA, they’re probably looking mostly for a way to get cheaper licensing deals; probably the best way for them to make more money, since they certainly can’t make something like Elden Ring.

Yep. “We want to retire now so buy our garbage before we ruin it”.

Nintendo very rarely buys studios and if they do its ones they’ve worked with for decades and were basically exclusively making games for them anyway.

Pretty soon, all video game companies will be owned by Microsoft, Sony, Nintendo, Tencent, or Embracer Group.

“Others say that EA is primarily interested in a merger arrangement that would allow Wilson to remain as chief executive of the combined company.”

So how will outsourcing your customer service to a third party, on another continent no less, lead to improving your customer’s experience? Feels like all I read was a bunch of words to say, “rich people want more profits, so workers, get fucked”

Oh you’re unhappy with your compensation? Well you’ve just lost your jobs.

They did the same thing to when TV was introduced, comparing it to some kind of slide show performance at the end which they’d give out candy, saying that “Tv doesn’t even give you candy like our slide show!”

The Japanese (particularly Japanese Business) is crazy stubborn and unfortunately that isn’t going to change anytime soon.

Well that’s all I do at work all day! Just looking at smut while smoking drugs, doing shots of whiskey, all while getting tattoos on my face. And I live stream it all to unsupervised kids who are skipping school to watch what I do next!

It sounds like a dash of both. SEGA obviously see enough in sales to push for PC to be a staple of their releases going forward, but at the same time if Judgement is to become the new Yakuza (I believe I read that Yakuza was staying RPG and Judgement was taking over as the beat em up series in the universe) they’d be…

On the flip-side they could realize it is; just not realize it’s equally possible from consoles. (Also, PC “meddlers” are passionately stupid about their platform. I am sure they’ll do everything they can to target this games assets now out of spite.)

Convincing people not to join social media: good idea.

I have generally found groups and agencies that behave like this are aware of what technology can do in a general sense, but are nigh catastrophically ignorant of the lengths said technology can go to get what it wants anyway.

While I kind of get your point, I don’t know how much I’m cheering that a talent agency is preventing artists from having almost no control over their own public image and interactions with the fanbase.

In the sense that their PR people have fewer messes to clean up, sure. In terms of exposure with to younger demographics and building a brand that could grow beyond Japan’s borders, not so much.