Author: JoeThreeZero
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Action Audit: What Happened To The “Exclusive” Game?
In previous eras (1980s, 1990s, early 2000s), hardware differentiation and game exclusivity were part of the same equation. Why? Developing for a wide variety of hardware configurations was exceedingly difficult and a significant component of cost. If a studio developed a game for the Xbox 360 (for example), it took significant re-engineering (if not impossible)…
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Analyzing Steam’s 2024 Best Seller List
I posted a 24 minute analysis of Steam’s 2024 Best Seller List (by revenue) over at my podcast (Concise Game Reviews).Podcast Host: https://concisegamereviews.podbean.com/ YouTube Link: https://youtu.be/6xPwbFJE2BY I post the podcast under my YouTube gaming account name: RallyCarDelta. If you would like to comment on it, please let me know over on X (Twitter) or Blue…
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Mailbag: Game Budgets Versus Movie Budgets
I have toyed with the idea of running a mailbag feature here on my website. I never opened it up for that, but this recent question, posed to me on X (formerly Twitter), made sense as a mailbag topic. Thus, I am sharing it here. If you’d like to see me open this up as…
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Action Audit: Revenue Is Not Profit
Every time we see the hyper connected, online, games community discuss the very unfortunate event of layoffs, I’m reminded of a very real problem when it comes to gaming discussion: Revenue is not profit, and people often confuse the two financial metrics because they don’t know what they actually mean. “How can we have layoffs…
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Game Business Misconceptions: Pricing
It’s definitely an interesting time in the games industry. There are numerous acquisitions in the market, certain products are still difficult to find, and dozens of games are just over the proverbial horizon. That said, today I’m here to talk about the concept of pricing. As you may be aware, the standard “MSRP” of a…
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Introducing – Concise Game Reviews
I’ve always wanted to try my hand at game reviews. If you follow this site, you know that I have used this domain to write out reviews in different formats (short, medium, long), but certainly text-based. While I’ve enjoyed writing those reviews, it always felt like I could serve my time better (and yours) by…
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An Interview with the CEO of Whitethorn Games – Part 1: Our Fair City
Editor’s Note: This is part one of a two part series. We spend over two hours talking about the games industry, the role of publishing, and challenges with certain platforms. The first part of the series (this article) is focused on the experience of founding a tech company in a small city, and the general…
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Action Audit: Thoughts On E3 2021
E3 2021 is over and I’ve had some time to collect my thoughts. The normally in-person event was virtual only this year (due to Covid-19 concerns) but all things considered, the show went off without being dragged down by technical challenges. We don’t know the full details on E3 2022 [update: cancelled for 2022], but…
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Our Take: The Best Games We Played In 2020
The year 2020 will long be remembered as a tumultuous year. As a global pandemic raged on, social unrest and the United States political system brought even more news to the table. Regardless, the video game industry marched on, realizing record revenues (partially thanks to stay-at-home orders) and ushering in a new generation of hardware…
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Our Take: WB Patents The Nemesis System – It Is Unlikely To Affect The Industry
On February 5, 2021, IGN reported that Warner Brothers Interactive Entertainment (WB) secured a patent for the Nemesis system used in their Lord of the Rings “Shadow” games (Shadow of Mordor / Shadow of War). At first glance this might seem like nefarious attempt to lock down a video game mechanic, potentially using patent law…