- 1 Post
- 286 Comments
I love the data callout so much. I wish I remember the article I read this in, but there was a researcher who said we’re living in an age of data-driven stupidity and that’s stuck with me ever since.
It’s not that data is bad in all cases, but data aggregation is inherently reducing fidelity of detail in the process. When you’re approaching human-centric issues, such as making something fun and meaningful, data really can’t help you that much. You’ve boiled the messy human elements, the elements most crucial to a powerful result, out of the conversation.
Thanks! I think you’re right that there could definitely be more granularity to what I said. I was trying to go as broad as I could, which of course leaves out a lot of detail. Good thoughts about other possible categories. I don’t disagree with any of it.
I actually haven’t ever seen the roleplayer category you’re talking about, but I’m intrigued. Is there anyone you’d recommend?
If I had to give a name to the joke streamers you mentioned, I’d probably go with challenge streamers. I think that definitely falls outside of the categories I said, but I also see a lot of streamers that do fall into the three I made up dabbling with that kind of content here and there, so there’s probably some crossover too.
I think there are broadly speaking three main categories of let’s players: hypemen, analysts, and tryhards.
Hypemen focus on being boisterous, high energy, and fast paced. They focus on entertainment value above all else, even above the game itself.
Analysts take things a bit slower. They aren’t trying to be the best at the game, but instead like to play a variety of things and talk about their experience playing or insights related to the game.
Tryhards are usually either pro gamers or very close to it. They usually play a smaller number of competitive games trying to be very skilled at them. The enjoyment of these streamers comes more from seeing someone excel, and potentially learning from them if you play the same game.
My point with this is all of these routes are proven ways to engage an audience, so having interesting things to say isn’t a necessity.
That being said, this is an entertainment medium we’re talking about. If you aren’t entertaining in some form then I don’t think you’ll find much success. It’s a learnable skill, so don’t be discouraged if it doesn’t come without practice
The Devcom speaker survey has revealed that 33% of respondents want to use AI as little as possible – but 32% see a use for AI in code and production.
Just 11% want to see AI used in art and animation, while fewer than 10% want to see it used in marketing and communication, and the figures fall to around 3% for narrative design.
The ousted leadership of video-game developer Unknown Worlds said parent company Krafton Inc. fired them after the executives presented the company with upbeat revenue projections that would have triggered most, if not all, of a $250 million bonus payment, according to a copy of their lawsuit which was unsealed Wednesday.
Former Unknown Worlds Chief Executive Officer Ted Gill and founders Charlie Cleveland and Max McGuire said Krafton sought to delay the release of their new game, Subnautica 2, after realizing they would have to pay that large a sum, according to their complaint. The South Korean game publisher offered the executives a lower payout before terminating their employment earlier this month, the lawsuit alleges.
Gill, Cleveland and McGuire filed a lawsuit for breach of contract on July 10. A representative for Krafton declined to comment on the suit. In a statement to press last week, Krafton said the three studio leaders had “abandoned the responsibilities entrusted to them” and that “the absence of core leadership has resulted in repeated confusion in direction and significant delays in the overall project schedule.”
Krafton purchased Unknown Worlds in 2021 for $500 million, with as much as $250 million more due to be paid in 2026 if the company hit certain revenue targets. The complaint argues that all was well between the two sides until a series of meetings in early 2025 when Gill was negotiating with Krafton about paying bonuses to employees who weren’t eligible under the original acquisition terms. About 40 people employed by Unknown Worlds at the time of the sale were told they would receive payouts, mostly in the six-or-seven-figures, but the executives also wanted to offer bonuses to those who had joined later.
During those meetings, Gill said that their revenue projections for the coming year had been conservative and that with the upcoming releases of the original Subnautica on mobile and Switch 2, they were expecting significantly higher numbers. Subnautica 2 was also expected to be a big hit, with nearly 2.5 million people adding the game to their wishlists on the PC platform Steam.
“After Krafton’s leaders reviewed Gill’s projections and evaluated the anticipated revenue and earnout numbers, everything changed,” they said in their complaint.
The leadership group said that in subsequent meetings, Krafton began pushing for Unknown Worlds to delay Subnautica 2. In the weeks that followed, Krafton employees told Gill they believed the company was trying to get out of paying the earnout, the complaint alleges.
During one lunch meeting, according to the complaint, Krafton Chief Executive Officer Changhan Kim told Cleveland that releasing the game in 2025 “could be disastrous financially and hugely embarrassing” for the company. Krafton later said that had been a mistranslation.
Throughout May and June, the two sides continued to battle as Krafton halted publishing duties such as marketing and adapting the game for local markets, as well as paying vendors, according to the complaint. The former leadership team said that the publisher refused to support the game’s imminent summer release and that Unknown Worlds missed out on “highly valuable” promotional opportunities because Krafton didn’t respond to emails. Gill said he was told by one of Krafton’s top executives that “pulling these resources was a permissible way for Krafton to avoid supporting the earnout,” according to the complaint.
By the end of June, the relationship had deteriorated. During various meetings, Krafton asked the leadership group to accept a lower earnout, according to the complaint. Around the same time, Kim wrote a letter to the leaders, reviewed by Bloomberg, accusing them of “failing to fulfill the responsibilities with which you were entrusted” and saying that Subnautica 2 had faced “slow and underwhelming progress.”
On July 1, Krafton fired the three studio leaders, who are now seeking damages “in an amount to be determined at trial,” according to their suit. Krafton has said it willextend the bonus period until next year, with Unknown Worlds employees able to share in a $25 million payout if revenue targets are hit.
One main point of contention between the founders and Krafton was whether the game was ready for release this year under the company’s early access model, which allows outsiders to play the game and submit feedback. Presentation slides from Krafton reviewed by Bloomberg, which included quotes from the company’s internal testers, argued that Subnautica 2 lacked content and didn’t feel innovative enough.
The lawsuit alleges otherwise. Pre-release tests involving hundreds of users “drew high marks and confirmed that the game was ready to meet those lofty expectations," it said.
Developers at Unknown Worlds speaking to Bloomberg said they believed the game was in good shape, as did some external parties, who asked to not be identified. One developer at a separate company who played Subnautica 2 and requested anonymity because they signed a non-disclosure agreement told Bloomberg they enjoyed the game and that it “seemed way more robust” than other titles in early access.
The other point of contention was the roles that Cleveland and McGuire played at the studio. In public statements and in documentation reviewed by Bloomberg, Krafton accused the two founders of neglecting their duties because they were minimally involved with the development of Subnautica 2.
In their suit, the founders said that Krafton was aware of their new roles and that Cleveland had spent a large amount of time working on a Subnautica film, which Krafton had asked the studio to develop.
I’m happy to see someone else pushing back against the inevitability line I see so much around this tech. It’s still incredibly new and there’s no guarantee it will continue to improve. Could it? Sure, but I think it’s equally likely it could start to degrade instead due to ai inbreeding or power consumption becoming too big of an issue with larger adoption. No one actually knows the future and it’s hardly inevitable.
That’s cool! I made tons of stuff but most of it never got finished or released cause I just kept starting the next thing. Probably the wildest thing I ever made was a prototype for a sidescrolling platformer in wc3. It had keyboard movement and ability usage, jumping, a heart counter in the top left, enemies, powerups… It was kind of janky but it worked surprisingly well considering what I built it in.
- @[email protected] to
- •
- lemmy.today
- •
- 2Y
- •
Crashed like it was buggy? Never.
I played it a while after release though.