Nov 24, 2017 - The WAN Show Document

[LinusTech]

 

 

https://soundcloud.com/thewanshow/net-neutrality-must-survive-wan-show-nov-24-2017

 

iMac Pro to feature A10 Fusion coprocessor

Source 1: Posted by RedRound2 https://linustechtips.com/main/topic/861675-imac-pro-to-feature-a10-fusion-coprocessor-possibly-for-low-power-tasks/

Source 2: https://9to5mac.com/2017/11/18/imac-pro-a10-fusion-chip/

 

• The new iMac Pro is supposed to launch before the end of the year, and it now appears that it will feature an ARM coprocessor in the form of an A10 Fusion chip.

• This would mark the first time that a Mac has used an A-series chip designed by Apple.

• The chip would let “Apple experiment with tighter control” of macOS, without frustrating developers and users.

  • The chip would be responsible for handling low-power tasks that currently rely on Intel’s processor.

• It could be used for always-on “Hey, Siri,” a feature that’s currently missing from the macOS version of Siri.

  • It appears that the chip even runs when the iMac Pro is completely shut off.

  • “Hey Siri, turn on my iMac”

 

Intel finds critical holes in secret Management Engine

Source 1: posted by CubesTheGamer https://linustechtips.com/main/topic/863391-intel-issues-security-alert-for-processors-vulnerable-to-remote-attack/

Source 2: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/11/20/intel_flags_firmware_flaws/

 

• Intel has confirmed the worrying findings of external security experts: its Management Engine (ME), Server Platform Services (SPS), and Trusted Execution Engine (TXE) are vulnerable to multiple security flaws.

• The firmware-level bugs allow logged-in administrators, and high-privilege processes, to run code beneath the operating system to spy on or meddle with the computer completely out of sight of other users and admins.

  • The holes can also be exploited by network administrators, or people masquerading as admins, to remotely infect machines with spyware and invisible rootkits, potentially.

• Meanwhile, logged-in users, or malicious or commandeered applications, can leverage the security weaknesses to extract confidential and protected information from the computer's memory, potentially giving miscreants sensitive data to kick off other attacks.

• The processor chipsets affected by the flaws are:

  • 6th, 7th and 8th Generation Intel Core processors

  • Intel Xeon E3-1200 v5 and v6 processors

  • Intel Xeon Scalable processors

  • Intel Xeon W processors

  • Intel Atom C3000 processors

  • Apollo Lake Intel Atom E3900 series

  • Apollo Lake Intel Pentiums

  • Celeron N and J series processors

• The flaws could allow an attacker to impersonate the ME, SPS or TXE mechanisms, thereby invalidating local security features; "load and execute arbitrary code outside the visibility of the user and operating system"; and crash affected systems

 

Rumour: Samsung Galaxy X, a bendy phone

Source 1: http://bgr.com/2017/11/20/galaxy-x-release-date-close-samsung-support-page/

Source 2:

 

• The Galaxy X- a name Samdung did NOT steal from Apple- is Samsung’s first bendable smartphone, whose existance Samsung has seemingly confirmed.

• A support page went up on Samsung’s website for an SM-G888N0 handset

  • There’s no information on what this device is, but that model number has been associated with the Galaxy X many times in the past.

  • SM-G888 already received various certifications from regulators, including the Bluetooth SIG, the Wi-Fi Alliance, and South Korea’s National Radio Research Agency.

• The device is so complicated to manufacture that it might see a limited launch before Samsung is able to produce it en-masse.

 

What’s Coming Out on Floatplane? Go Over Current Week.

Rapid Fire

Google admits it tracked user location data even when the setting was turned off

Source 1: Posted by DrMacintosh https://linustechtips.com/main/topic/862888-google-admits-it-tracked-user-location-data-even-when-the-setting-was-turned-off/

Source 2: https://qz.com/1131515/google-collects-android-users-locations-even-when-location-services-are-disabled/

 

• Google has confirmed that Android phones gather your location data and send it to Google, even if you’ve turned off location services, don’t use apps, and don’t have a SIM card.

• Since the beginning of 2017, Android phones have been collecting the addresses of nearby cellular towers—even when location services are disabled—and sending that encrypted data back to Google.

• The data is included in information sent to the system Google uses to manage push notifications and messages on Android, and there’s no way to turn it off.

• Google says it doesn’t use the location data it collects using this service

  • “They were never used or stored and the company is now taking steps to end the practice”

  • By the end of November Android phones will no longer send cell-tower location data to Google, at least as part of this particular service, which consumers cannot disable.

• “In January of this year, we began looking into using Cell ID codes as an additional signal to further improve the speed and performance of message delivery,” the Google spokesperson said in an email. “However, we never incorporated Cell ID into our network sync system, so that data was immediately discarded, and we updated it to no longer request Cell ID.”

• But in theory the addresses of multiple towers could be used to triangulate a phone’s location to within about a quarter-mile radius, or to a more exact pinpoint in urban areas, where cell towers are closer together.

• The location-sharing practice does not appear to be limited to any particular type of Android phone or tablet; all modern devices behaved this way

• Devices with a cellular data or WiFi connection appear to send the data to Google each time they come within range of a new cell tower.

• When connected to WiFi, devices will send the tower addresses to Google even if they don’t have SIM cards installed.

 

intel 8 and 9 gen processors leaked

Source 1: posted by VegetableStu https://linustechtips.com/main/topic/864330-anandtech-intel-8-and-9-series-processor-list-leaked/

Source 2: https://www.anandtech.com/show/12077/intel-8th-generation-and-9th-generation-processor-lists-leaked-coffee-lake-refresh

 

• Anandtech has received, from multiple sources, a full list of Intel’s 8th Generation processor stack as well as some elements of Intel’s next 9th generation products.

• The first Core i9 Coffee Lake processor is a mobile processor.

• All the i7-H and i7-HK processors will be based on Coffee Lake-H hardware, rather than Kaby Lake Refresh

• Core i3 will be quad-core, Core i5 will be six-core and Core i7 parts will be six-core with hyperthreading.

 

Belgian DoJ calls for Europe to ban loot boxes

Source 1:  posted by SC2Mitch https://linustechtips.com/main/topic/863038-updated-v2-belgium-doj-calls-for-europe-to-ban-loot-boxes/

Source 2: https://nieuws.vtm.be/vtm-nieuws/binnenland/geens-wil-gokken-games-verbieden

 

• The Belgian DoJ has finished its inquiry into Loot Boxes and Star Wars Battlefront II and ruled: "The mixing of money and addiction is gambling"

• The commission is now seeking to ban loot boxes in Belgium and the rest of Europe.

 

Apple served with warrant to unlock Texas shooter’s iPhone

Source 1: posted by hey_yo_ https://linustechtips.com/main/topic/862273-update-apple-served-with-warrant-to-unlock-the-texas-shooter%E2%80%99s-iphone-se/

Source 2: https://9to5mac.com/2017/11/19/unlock-texas-shooter-iphone-se/

 

• Apple has officially been served with a search warrant for access to the iPhone SE and  iCloud account used by the murderer responsible for the Sutherland Springs, Texas shooting.

• If the murderer does in fact have iCloud, Apple generally helps law enforcement access that data, providing the iCloud data, as well as the tools needed to decrypt it

• Although Apple has yet to officially respond, they are to assist in unlocking the iphone itself.

• Investigators did not reach out to Apple within a 48-hour period during which the perpetrator's fingerprint might have unlocked the phone via Touch ID.

• The shooter also used an LG feature phone, which investigators also issued a warrant to search.

• The FBI has used the Sutherland Springs shooting to argue that strong encryption is hurting law enforcement’s ability to investigate crimes

  • How did they solve crimes before smartphones, just a few years ago?

 

Apple iPhone 11 Chipset Being Made By Intel

Source 1: posted by TurbulentWinds https://linustechtips.com/main/topic/862485-apple-iphone-11-chipset-being-made-by-intel/

Source 2: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/apple-iphone-11-chipset-being-made-by-intel-report/ar-BBF6mGg?li=AA4Zoy&ocid=spartanntp

 

• Amid lawsuits with Qualcomm, the 5G chipset for upcoming iPhones will be made by Intel.

• There is a chance that we may see this chipset in the next generation of iPhones,

• even though the chipset will likely not be made available to most other smartphone makers until 2019

  • The adoption of 5G as a wireless standard is expected to begin around the same period.

• The new 5G paradigm may also mean the elimination of CDMA as a mobile standard for carriers such as Verizon and Sprint.

 

Uber Paid Hackers to Delete Stolen Data on 57 Million People

Source 1: posted by BlueChinchillaEatingDorito https://linustechtips.com/main/topic/863046-uber-failed-to-disclose-major-breach-back-in-2016-until-now/

Source 2: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-11-21/uber-concealed-cyberattack-that-exposed-57-million-people-s-data

 

• Last October, hackers stole the personal data of 57 million customers and drivers from Uber...but no one said anything until now.

• Compromised data from the attack included names, email addresses and phone numbers of 50 million Uber riders around the world,

• The personal information of about 7 million drivers was accessed as well, including 600,000 U.S. driver’s license numbers.

  • No Social Security numbers, credit card information, trip location details or other data were taken

• This week, the ride-hailing firm fired its chief security officer and one of his deputies for their roles in keeping the hack under wraps, which included a $100,000 payment to the attackers.

• At the time of the incident, Uber was negotiating with U.S. regulators investigating separate claims of privacy violations.

• Uber now says it had a legal obligation to report the hack to regulators and to drivers whose license numbers were taken.

  • Instead, the company paid hackers to delete the data and keep the breach quiet.

• Uber said it believes the information was never used but declined to disclose the identities of the attackers.

• Uber did disclosed its the breach to prospective investor SoftBank Group Corp. before they put 10B into the company.

 

Hire a 'professional gamer' to play CoD for you

Source 1: http://www.pcgamesinsider.biz/news/66381/you-can-now-hire-a-professional-gamer-to-play-call-of-duty-for-you/

 

• UK company Bidvine lets consumers hire professional Call of Duty players for £15 an hour to rank their characters up, unlock extra features within the game, improve their kill/death ratio and more!

• Professional players have to provide an ID, as well as prove their ability before being able to take part

• “The Call of Duty game franchise is one of the biggest in the world, and every time they release a new game it’s a race to unlock the best weapons, characters and camos – as well as seeing who can prestige first," said Bidvine co-founder Russ Morgan.

 

Oneplus goes (almost) anti-Black Friday

Source 1: posted by Default_Idiot https://linustechtips.com/main/topic/864416-oneplus-goes-almost-anti-black-friday/

Source 2: https://oneplus.net/ca_en/black-friday-2017

 

• OnePlus is mostly opting-out of Black Friday, though they are offering a discount on the new OnePlus 5T: $0.01 off!

• Instead, they’re going with an ‘everyday low pricing’ approach, “whether it's Black Friday or Taco Tuesday.”

 

Elon Musk wins bet, finishing massive battery installation in 100 days

Source 1: https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2017/11/elon-musk-wins-bet-finishing-massive-battery-installation-in-100-days/

 

• After pledging to ‘build the world’s largest battery in 100 days or it’s free’, Tesla has actually pulled it off.

• Boasting the largest megawatt rating for any grid-connected battery installation in the world, Tesla has completed construction of the massive 100 megawatt, 129 MWh battery installation in South Australia less than two months after the contract was signed

  • This is possible the first time Elon has ever delivered anything on time, let alone early!

• Musk has said it would cost Tesla "$50 million or more" if the company failed to meet the deadline.

• The state of South Australia decided to beef up its electricity infrastructure after a September 2016 storm caused a state-wide blackout.

• Tesla won a competitive bidding process in July and signed the contract in September.

• The system is expected to be put into operation in early December.

 

Rumour: Samsung to unveil Micro LED TV at CES

Source 1: http://www.zdnet.com/article/samsung-to-unveil-micro-led-tv-at-ces-report/

 

• Samsung is reportedly planning to unveil a Micro LED TV at the Consumer Electronics Show in January.

• The TV will be 150 inches and is aimed at the home theatre market.

• Micro LED displays have LEDs smaller than 100 micrometres, with each LED chip acting as a pixel.

  • If realised, Micro LED displays will consume less power and won't have burn-in problems like OLED.

  • If a plastic substrate is used, it can also be used for flexible displays.

• Application in smartphones will likely take longer, as the LED chips must be even smaller.

• Sony first demonstrated a 55-inch Micro LED TV back in 2012 and showed off many prototypes but is yet to commercialise them.

• The TV will be commercialised sometime next year

 

Rumor: Apple working on AR headset

Source 1: https://www.notebookcheck.net/Apple-working-on-its-own-AR-headset-believes-it-to-be-a-game-changer.264396.0.html

 

• Apple could well be on its way to debut its Augmented Reality (AR) headset sometime between late-2019 to early-2020.

• The Apple AR headset would feature its own screen, CPU, and OS. Most likely, it will be independent of the iPhone/iPad but will somehow tie in the Apple ecosystem via compatible apps.

• Apple has an AR team spread across its Cupertino and Sunnyvale offices, all working under the code name 'T288'

  • This team brought us AR Kit

• Apple engineers are also prototyping various methods of interacting with the headset viz. touch, Siri, and head gestures.

 

Pokémon Go creator raises $200 million ahead of Harry Potter game launch

Source 1: https://techcrunch.com/2017/11/24/pokemon-go-creator-raises-200-million-ahead-of-harry-potter-game-launch/

 

• Niantic has raised a new $200 million in funding ahead of its 2018 title, Harry Potter: Wizards Unite,

• The AR game, co-developed by Warner Bros. Interactive and its new sub brand Portkey Games allows players to roam the real world collecting power-ups, defending locations and exploring their environment.

• Can lightning strike twice?

 

8 core Ryzen 3

Source 1: posted by Jurrunio https://linustechtips.com/main/topic/864336-8-core-ryzen-3/

Source 2: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmijfqtNNqpUcXT13Eaq2aw

 

• Remember when a few lucky individuals found out their Ryzen 5 chips had 8 cores? Well it’s happening again but this time with an R3 chip!

 

[mpsparrow]

Hey Linus

[Progressor]

Can someone give a link to Wendell's KVM?

[MattMatt]

.

[milhazes]

what Portugal has to do whit U.S.A. net neutrality problem?

[apm]

1 hour ago, milhazes said:

what Portugal has to do whit U.S.A. net neutrality problem?

it shows what ISPs could do.

[ashypanda]

with linus's moaning about laptops, business laptops come with LTE modems, with proper mini-SIM slots, and most LTE modem cards have GPS on board, although most people just tether their phone.

[Kvother]

The screenshot of Meo, the company from Portugal that has now been bought by Altice is true BUT all buzz going on is fake. You pay to use that apps with 10GB of data to spend on them. But this is like the add-on to a previous pack that associates the TV + Mobile. For example: You pay € 56,99 for month and have a SIM card with 2GB for month BUT you can buy the add-on to have more 10GB to spend on just that apps.
In my opinion Portugal does not have a problem on the Internet. Look for example WTF and Yorn. You pay for the GB or more time to spend on calls BUT you have unlimited data to spend in a lot of apps and once in a while we receive new apps because carriers try to compete with each others.

Spoiler

[Stvslr]

I knew there was a good reason to hang on to my 5820k!   I was always confident in the advanced security of my 5th gen i7.  Its not because I'm broke or anything...

 

[yellow94]

are we ignoring the thermaltake mozart tx?

[Egg-Roll]

"you're Canadian I'm out"

"Later"

RIP User at 42:51

[JoostinOnline]

Can anyone explain this? 

[HimymCZe]

you know gaming is in deep shit, when LUKE finally makes sense...

[Egg-Roll]

Can someone explain what happened at 1:01:00? on youtube it cut out. Was it a simple connection issue or something?

29 minutes ago, JoostinOnline said:

Can anyone explain this? 

I remember watching a WAN show where they talked about a bunch of weird ban words/triggers.

[apm]

1 hour ago, Egg-Roll said:

Can someone explain what happened at 1:01:00? on youtube it cut out. Was it a simple connection issue or something?

linus hit the pc and that somehow resulted in a bluescreen. i think he even explained that in the second part.

[MXF5700]

Does anyone on Floatplane know when that Dell projector video will be posted?

 

That $1500 discount is "until supplies last" and I suppose it could be a week until the Floatplane upload and another week for Youtube?

[Razor512]

For Luke's game price argument, he is missing the fact that games are more profitable even without loot boxes than they have ever been in the past. You can't ignore things like production cost and delivery means as that plays a large part in why they are more profitable.

 

With a multi-stage distribution system where your factory makes a physical good, and it gets shipped to a regional distributor who will tack on probably 20-30% to the whatever they paid you for the items, who will then send it off to a wholesaler who will tack on another 20-30%, then to a retail store who will tack on their markup, resulting in an a certain retail price to the customer.

 

When games can be delivered through a platform owned by the publishing company, then they could take all of those historic markups and turn that into pure profit, just be going with a digital distribution.

 

Consider this also, even with the DRAM price fixing currently going on, building a computer today is far cheaper than it was in the 80's or early 90's. Prices have dropped even as R&D costs have increased as these companies work to push the limits of computing and technology. Prices go down because the market grew by a massive amount while production costs dropped significantly. Yields for ICs are multiple orders of magnitude better than they were in the past, while process node improvements helped to reduce material costs.

Forces like this also apply to the gaming market, they have fewer stages/ middle men between the production process and the consumer, thus they significantly increase their net income per sale without increasing the price to the consumer. They then have a market that has grown by nearly 20X since the days of the Nintendo, thus you have a relatively fixed price on the games, but reductions in production costs, increased the effective margin on the items in addition to having a larger market where more games are sold, this makes for far more net income in light of the higher development costs.

 

For the next issue, increasing the price of the games, will not do anything to stop loot boxes, as the goal of businesses like this and really the vast majority of businesses, is to make as much money as possible, and only stop when they reach the limit to what the market can handle. If they could safely sell the games for $5000 per copy and not lose any customers (thus making the same number of sales), they would still seek ways to make more money and seek bigger profits for the next quarter.

Most businesses run on an infinite growth model where they seek to make more profits each quarter for eternity. This means that in order for them to work in that model, they either have to increase sales, or find other ways to increase the margin. This is why with all things being equal, your grocery store will will still increase the price of milk. Businesses see success as increased net earnings for each quarter. There is no magical price where they will feel that they made enough money. If a game studio could get a billion dollars per copy of the game, they would push for 1.5 billion next quarter. The only thing that keeps pricing and these business practices in check are consumers pushing back and sending a message that the market at its limit for the amount of greed it can handle.

 

 

[Egg-Roll]

55 minutes ago, Razor512 said:

With a multi-stage distribution system where your factory makes a physical good, and it gets shipped to a regional distributor who will tack on probably 20-30% to the whatever they paid you for the items, who will then send it off to a wholesaler who will tack on another 20-30%, then to a retail store who will tack on their markup, resulting in an a certain retail price to the customer.

Yea like Steam is any better...

https://www.quora.com/Valve-company-What-percentage-does-Steam-keep-from-sales

 

No idea about the cost of handing out steam keys however...  But if they permit free issuing or some stupidly low cost, you have to have a server and speed to manage such a system on your end which also costs money, depending on how big said company is you're looking at possibly thousands of dollars a month for that. I have a simple server that costs $50 and it can bottleneck at times.

 

1 hour ago, Razor512 said:

The only thing that keeps pricing and these business practices in check are consumers pushing back and sending a message that the market at its limit for the amount of greed it can handle.

 

 Wrong, If they knew Whales could afford a billion they would give us all a middle finger just to mooch of the one or two whales that pay that price...

 

They have a more complex model where the model basically states last game sales where X amount this game's budget is this % more than last, however can only mark up the price x%. So we need to sell x number of games to break even, however knowing they would exceed that, it becomes how much profit to support next game could we make. Ultimately the amount of "extra" cash they bring in isn't just profit, it's the next game's future. I dont condone loot boxes in the way EA did it, however DLC's and Loot Boxes are one way of funding future games, and current games development.

 

Will the future games get hindered in the loot box issues of today? No, because the initial figure wasn't about loot boxes as that's a variable income, the figure that hinders future game sales and current game support is the unit sales, and those sales figures are based on the past sales of similar games whether their own or others. Hence why they stated to their investors stopping loot boxes wont hinder their profits, it'll lower them, but it wont kill them.

 

Everything else you have said i can't disagree really.

 

9 hours ago, apm said:

linus hit the pc and that somehow resulted in a bluescreen. i think he even explained that in the second part.

I heard that part but was a little confused about it One of those days i guess...

[danwager11]

I think Rainbow Six Siege has the perfect setup for consistent money flow while not disrupting the consumers enjoyment. You pay for the basic game, either a standard addition or a cheaper addition that requires more of a grind to get all the operators (playable characters) in the game. Then once a year you have the option to pay an additional $30 for a season pass which gives you access to the new operators for free with a 7 day early access and you also receive a slight boost to the in-game currency you receive while playing the game.

[kv]

Luke also forgets that the inflation argument only works in a vacuum. I'm not against the idea of price wages - but just remember there are other factors at play. Average wages haven't kept up with inflation (in the US at least) which means that the cost, relative to the average wage has remained the same. Not to mention prices in other countries are way more than $60 after conversion, so good luck raising those prices.

 

Not only that but a flat raise on RRP would still not make as much money as keeping it at ~$60 and multiple smaller payments in the form of microtransactions. Firstly, microtransactions provide an avenue of recurring revenue you do not get with just a one-time purchase. Secondly, it's psychologically easier to overspend and not track your expenditure when it's lots of smaller transactions than one big transaction. Heck there's a reason even Blizzard will move heaven and earth to avoid China's legal requirement for disclosing drop-rates - because that would allow players to think twice before spending on that next lootboxes.

 

Now, with all that being said, there is a game (published by EA of all people) that has done post-launch monetisation in a really consumer-friendly way - Titanfall 2:

1. All premium/paid items are cosmetic only. Maps, modes, weapons and other gameplay items are delivered as free updates. This ensures the community is not split by those that have/have-nots and that gameplay balance isn't impacted by paying for advantages
2. All premium items can be purchased directly - i.e. A store-front where you can select and buy the items you want with real money. No loot boxes, grind-walls or any other slot-machine/skinner-box bullshit.

It's a shame not more people have highlighted that there is a good middle ground between having a form of post-launch revenue generation while still respecting the time and mind of the player. To me, if your games have to resort to bullshit tactics like lootboxes or grind-walls then it shows that you (the game creators) cannot stand behind the inherit value of your creation (that includes Overwatch's lootboxes as mentioned earlier with the disclosure loophole).

 

10 minutes ago, danwager11 said:

I think Rainbow Six Siege has the perfect setup for consistent money flow while not disrupting the consumers enjoyment. You pay for the basic game, either a standard addition or a cheaper addition that requires more of a grind to get all the operators (playable characters) in the game. Then once a year you have the option to pay an additional $30 for a season pass which gives you access to the new operators for free with a 7 day early access and you also receive a slight boost to the in-game currency you receive while playing the game.

I find the grind too steep in R6 Siege (and league of legends) which impacts gameplay when it comes to team composition due to having to worry that you or your teammates have the right roles to be competitive - especially if there are particular units that are considered OP or must-picks. Again - Titanfall 2 doesn't have that problem.

Edited November 26, 2017 by kv
Remove large quotation for easier readability

[danwager11]

21 minutes ago, kv said:

Luke also forgets that the inflation argument only works in a vacuum. I'm not against the idea of price wages - but just remember there are other factors at play. Average wages haven't kept up with inflation (in the US at least) which means that the cost, relative to the average wage has remained the same. Not to mention prices in other countries are way more than $60 after conversion, so good luck raising those prices.

 

Not only that but a flat raise on RRP would still not make as much money as keeping it at ~$60 and multiple smaller payments in the form of microtransactions. Firstly, microtransactions provide an avenue of recurring revenue you do not get with just a one-time purchase. Secondly, it's psychologically easier to overspend and not track your expenditure when it's lots of smaller transactions than one big transaction. Heck there's a reason even Blizzard will move heaven and earth to avoid China's legal requirement for disclosing drop-rates - because that would allow players to think twice before spending on that next lootboxes.

 

Now, with all that being said, there is a game (published by EA of all people) that has done post-launch monetisation in a really consumer-friendly way - Titanfall 2:

1. All premium/paid items are cosmetic only. Maps, modes, weapons and other gameplay items are delivered as free updates. This ensures the community is not split by those that have/have-nots and that gameplay balance isn't impacted by paying for advantages
2. All premium items can be purchased directly - i.e. A store-front where you can select and buy the items you want with real money. No loot boxes, grind-walls or any other slot-machine/skinner-box bullshit.

It's a shame not more people have highlighted that there is a good middle ground between having a form of post-launch revenue generation while still respecting the time and mind of the player. To me, if your games have to resort to bullshit tactics like lootboxes or grind-walls then it shows that you (the game creators) cannot stand behind the inherit value of your creation (that includes Overwatch's lootboxes as mentioned earlier with the disclosure loophole).

 

I find the grind too steep in R6 Siege (and league of legends) which impacts gameplay when it comes to team composition due to having to worry that you or your teammates have the right roles to be competitive - especially if there are particular units that are considered OP or must-picks. Again - Titanfall 2 doesn't have that problem.

It may be true the grind is pretty steep, but there is additional grinds of a similar nature in all FPS games. Commonly it is related to your level in the game that unlocks certain weapons as you progress, or maybe all weapons are unlocked but you need to gain weapon XP to utilize attachments. Regardless I agree that the grind can be really steep in siege, but at least that feels organic, they don't necessarily force you to pay for the operators not to mention if you do some research you can determine which operators you like and only buy those few. Even if it does give a big advantage to have the season pass and get the operators grind-free I feel that by buying the season pass it is supporting the continuation of the game and all the additional content we consistently receive from the developers. Anyone who doesn't help continue the game needs to grind for it, it seems like a trade off.

[MattMatt]

.

[Freeman]

41:48 - wow, the level of disrespect for everybody but his self-important self is astonishing.
 Different people have different opinions, see things in different light, realize different dependencies and connections and when you are willing to listen to them, you often learn a whole lot.

[fourwordsalluppercase]

twitch chats here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1OI-LJCg7_HAlmxZk8yZKs71shh2-_0ZQ/view?usp=sharing 

[Razor512]

10 hours ago, Egg-Roll said:

Yea like Steam is any better...

https://www.quora.com/Valve-company-What-percentage-does-Steam-keep-from-sales

 

No idea about the cost of handing out steam keys however...  But if they permit free issuing or some stupidly low cost, you have to have a server and speed to manage such a system on your end which also costs money, depending on how big said company is you're looking at possibly thousands of dollars a month for that. I have a simple server that costs $50 and it can bottleneck at times.

 

What about when EA sells a game through origin, or Ubsoft selling a game through uplay? If they own the entire distribution chain, then they will keep all of the profit.

Even if steam takes 30% (though they do have agreements where they take less from major publishers), it would be less than what the publisher would lose by going through a physical retail distribution system where you have multiple middle men taking a large cut of the profits.

 

Compared to the past, game companies effectively went from taking probably around $20 per game sale, to taking the full $60 as the gross income for the game sale.

 

As for digital distribution, as you go up in scale, you are able to significantly reduce the cost of distribution. For example, instead of paying for a VPS, on a large scale, it is cheaper to buy a 100 gigabit connection, and run your own server farm.

 

Beyond that, for a corporation, there is no concept of "enough" money, their goal is to always charge as much as the market can handle, and on top of that, loot boxes will still be used. The goal of loot boxes is to have a never ending payment system with no upper limit. For example http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2017-10-23-manveer-heir-bioware-mass-effect-ea-monetisation

 

With there being some people who are willing to dump thousands of dollars into microtransaction and loot boxes on top of a full priced game, they will not pass up that opportunity, They will charge a ton for the game, and keep the loot boxes just in case a few "whales" and others who do not understand the value of money also purchase the game where they can extract more money from them.