Whales Vs Sharks. And the Fallacy of Publisher Practices

[Aidy]

I'm saying it took 6 years from conception to delivery so the idea it is a generic cash grab is false.

[Aidy]

Apologies to Zoltor, I spoke before realising it wasn't you who replied but xadu. 100% my mistake.

[isturbo1984]

so you are ignoring that the development was restarted. when Metroid Prime 4 comes out in 2022, are you going to say it took 6 years too, when in reality it only took 3 from start to finish of the current project? yes, the journey took 6 years, but actual game development for the finalized product took a lot less. the last bit, was a cash grab, lol, by definition.

[Aidy]

I'd want confirmation the original quote is true first.

[Aidy]

From inception to release it took six years. It was not a cash grab. Nothing that takes six years is a cash grab.

[isturbo1984]

@xadu
what is your point? and RPG comes from the tabletop community, but is not the same ting when talking about the video game industry. the thread wasnt meant to be a history lesson.

[isturbo1984]

so when publishers and developers have said that they are developing and publishing a certain way because of investors... would that be having an effect on the game?

[isturbo1984]

they restarted development of the game, the current build did not take 6 years, lol. and the main campaign didnt sell. the generic, cash grab was free to play, riddled with MTXs and the only thing popular about the game.--how is that not a cheap, cash grab??

[isturbo1984]

exactly. its strange how the video game industry is so different than the rest of the business industry. their investors play the short game and the developers outright attack their fans. its all backwards compared to the movie, music or car industry.

[Aidy]

investors very much do influence the every day workings companies

You misunderstand. Give me specific examples of how investors influence the every day workings of a company.

[xadu]

Give me some specific examples.

This is very elemental finances:

Today the FED interest rate is 2.5%

It means that if you invest 100$, you get a payment of 2.5%

It means that if you, the investor, buy FED bonds, for each 1$ dollar of profit, you are willing to pay 40$

Those bonds are the safest investment, because the FED can print the money to pay it. No other investment is as safe. The shares of any gaming company must pay more than 2.5% in profit, or nobody would buy them.

So, for each dollar in profit that a gaming company makes, the shares are worth more than 40 times the profit.

If the company makes 10$ in profit from a game, the shareholders gain more than 40x10$=400$ (more 10$ in profit = 410$)

For that reason, companies are run to satisfy investors. Their opinions weight more than 40x the opinion of the consumer.

If investors believe that developers should make games for mobile, and the company does not makes games for mobile then investors sell the stock, and the company loses 40x times more money than if a gamer decides not to buy a game.



The value of a company is more than 40x of the profits that investors BELIEVE the company would make.

So, the function of the CEO, is to make the investors BELIEVE that the company would make a profit.

[Aidy]

investors very much do influence the every day workings companies

Give me some specific examples.

[Merlin]

I remember hearing a story that in one game, there was a a person who on spent something like 6 figures on the game, and the developers had an open line of communication with him, he had his own person he could contact and he would dictate the game's development and balance. I don't know. Anyhow, I knew that High roller was a gambling thing, never heard "whale" used for it though. Then again, I don't know.

[Zoltor]

Investors have no effect on game companies, their games, or the development of the games. You have stated that they do. They don't.

You're the most naïve person in the world, if you think they normally don't(In Nintendo's case they don't, because Nintendo outright ignores them due to how dumb they are), investors very much do influence the every day workings companies, and have been even influencing game design/development decisions for many years at this point. I don't know how you can claim they don't, none of the BS that happens in the "so called" AAA space would be a thing, if investors didn't have a say in how everything is run.

I personally believe investors shouldn't have any actual power in the company the are investing in, if they don't like what a company is doing, they should just sell off their shares, that should be the extent of the influence they have, but that's not how the evil stockmarket works. CEOs in publically traded companies are fired/replaced all the damn time for no other reason then the whims of investors, You can't honestly think investors don't control most of these companies.

[Aidy]

Yes, they do. If investors make the stock rise, the CEO gets a palm in the back. If investors sell the shares, the CEO gets the fire.

Proof? .