Former chairman of PlayStation Studios Shawn Layden has Thoughts and somewhat dire warnings about the videogame industr…

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.one/post/3417167

@[email protected]
link
fedilink
English
602Y

Amazon are also rumoured to be working on a Steam competitor, called “Vapor”

Oh great, yet another launcher.

Neato
link
fedilink
442Y

I’m not worried. They literally titled it “Vaporware”. If that doesn’t show how insanely out of touch they are then nothing will.

Dozens of companies have tried to make storefronts and launchers to claw back some market share but none have come close to feature parity with Steam.

Nipah
link
fedilink
252Y

The main problem is that its not enough to be competitive with Steam at this point… you need to put out something so good that it give people enough of a reason to leave the comfort of Steam… you need Steam and then another layer of goodness on top of Steam.

This is the same issue that a lot of MMOs had when trying to become a WoW killer. You not only needed to have pretty much everything Blizzard put into the game, but more on top because otherwise why would anyone bother to leave the comforts of Azeroth to play something that is maybe marginally better, or a possibly worse experience?

@[email protected]
link
fedilink
English
32Y

The thing is Amazon dosent exatcly need to be competetive.heck they could make it basicaly a Amazon prime semi-exclusive platform for games basicaly competing with xbox game pass instead of steam or with both of them at once

Neato
link
fedilink
32Y

Well, maybe? A Steam competitor could try what Epic did and offer better deals. This time to publishers and players if they actually want customers. Or they could try to offer things Steam doesn’t. Or they could just try for parity and see if it works? We haven’t seen a platform with parity yet so maybe people would want a new option?

@[email protected]
link
fedilink
English
42Y

But if Amazon does it, it will be a rushed out steaming pile with half the features and twice the price, as is their custom.

BudgieMania
link
fedilink
172Y

Yeah… A new store would need to have a handful of killer apps and significant feature superiority over Steam, all on release, just to have a chance at being a successful competitor. And it would probably need to maintain that momentum for a decent amount of time, and it would probably also need a fuckup on Valve’s part.

Freakin EA didn’t achieve it, freakin Sony didn’t bother trying it, Epic dropped a fuckton of cash just to barely move the needle. I can’t imagine what it would take.

@[email protected]
link
fedilink
English
12Y

Amazon already tried, with a Twitch branded game launcher and included game licenses for that platform in Amazon Prime.

@[email protected]
link
fedilink
English
02Y

Obligatory xkcd

@[email protected]
link
fedilink
English
172Y

Could they be any less original?

Their competitor to Steam is just… another word for Steam.

Dr. Moose
link
fedilink
English
132Y

My guess it’s just an internal name to boost morale, inside joke sort of thing. Many software projects do that. Would be funny if that was the name though

@[email protected]
link
fedilink
English
52Y

They already have one where the put most of the prime games called “Amazon Games App”. So if “Vapor” is something new it is more of another another launcher.

If they however just update the game app to also be a store front, it be fine I guess. I’m not thrilled about everyone needing there own launcher, but Amazon already has one, so can’t really blame them for spicing it up a bit, to be at they other launchers level.

@[email protected]
link
fedilink
English
122Y

Don’t worry, they havent made a game worth playing yet.

Create a post

Welcome to the largest gaming community on Lemmy! Discussion for all kinds of games. Video games, tabletop games, card games etc.

Rules

1. Submissions have to be related to games

Video games, tabletop, or otherwise. Posts not related to games will be deleted.

This community is focused on games, of all kinds. Any news item or discussion should be related to gaming in some way.

2. No bigotry or harassment, be civil

No bigotry, hardline stance. Try not to get too heated when entering into a discussion or debate.

We are here to talk and discuss about one of our passions, not fight or be exposed to hate. Posts or responses that are hateful will be deleted to keep the atmosphere good. If repeatedly violated, not only will the comment be deleted but a ban will be handed out as well. We judge each case individually.

3. No excessive self-promotion

Try to keep it to 10% self-promotion / 90% other stuff in your post history.

This is to prevent people from posting for the sole purpose of promoting their own website or social media account.

4. Stay on-topic; no memes, funny videos, giveaways, reposts, or low-effort posts

This community is mostly for discussion and news. Remember to search for the thing you’re submitting before posting to see if it’s already been posted.

We want to keep the quality of posts high. Therefore, memes, funny videos, low-effort posts and reposts are not allowed. We prohibit giveaways because we cannot be sure that the person holding the giveaway will actually do what they promise.

5. Mark Spoilers and NSFW

Make sure to mark your stuff or it may be removed.

No one wants to be spoiled. Therefore, always mark spoilers. Similarly mark NSFW, in case anyone is browsing in a public space or at work.

6. No linking to piracy

Don’t share it here, there are other places to find it. Discussion of piracy is fine.

We don’t want us moderators or the admins of lemmy.world to get in trouble for linking to piracy. Therefore, any link to piracy will be removed. Discussion of it is of course allowed.

Authorized Regular Threads

Related communities

PM a mod to add your own

Video games

Generic

Help and suggestions

By platform
By type
By games
Language specific
  • 1 user online
  • 196 users / day
  • 904 users / week
  • 2.33K users / month
  • 6.51K users / 6 months
  • 1 subscriber
  • 6.59K Posts
  • 133K Comments
  • Modlog