3 ms·

> Don't copyrights preclude meaningful competition here? No. The game developer, who owns the copyright, decides what channels it gets sold through. If game de

by pdonis 5y ago

> Don't copyrights preclude meaningful competition here? No. The game developer, who owns the copyright, decides what channels it gets sold through. If game developers knew that people wouldn't buy their games through channels that didn't give good guarantees of ownership and access, they wouldn't sell through those channels.

jbay808 5y ago
This sounds great on paper but I really don't think that feedback channel is effective in practice. First of all, when a game or a platform does poorly, the reason for that can be very hard to discern (unless there's some kind of coordinated vocal protest). "The customers are disagreeing with the fine print of our end-user license agreement" usually isn't high up on the list of reasons. Secondly, there are many degrees of incentive separation between the game developer and the customer. If the distributor offers the game developer a good lump-sum payment for a platform exclusive, they might not care about the EULA. The distributor might also own the developer. IP isn't fungible, so competition in the space is subject to much more inefficiency than a market for, say, wheat.
- pdonis 5y ago
  Your point about market inefficiency and misaligned incentives is a valid one, but government intervention, which is what many people in this thread are calling for, does not make market inefficiencies better; it makes them worse. Ultimately, people get the market they create through their buying decisions. The reason these market inefficiencies and misaligned incentives exist is that game distributors know that people will spend a lot of money on games and won't pay much attention to the fact that they are actually not buying ownership but only a subscription. The only way to "fix" that, if it's a problem, is for people to change their buying behavior so it is no longer lucrative to distribute games on those terms. > The distributor might also own the developer. Yes, fair point, I had forgotten that Ubisoft in this case is both.
  - watwut 5y ago
    Government being involved in issues like this is the point of government.
  - Dylan16807 5y ago
    Do you think the first sale doctrine makes the book market more inefficient? Because that's along the lines of what people want for digital goods.
  - josephcsible 5y ago
    > government intervention, which is what many people in this thread are calling for, does not make market inefficiencies better; it makes them worse. I agree in general. Remember, though, that copyright is government intervention too. Are you in favor of getting rid of that? That would solve this whole problem too, since just downloading a new copy without paying would then be perfectly okay.
lentil_soup 5y ago
In the case of the article Ubisoft is both the developer and owner of the store
- pdonis 5y ago
  Yes, you're right, I had missed that.

by pdonis 5y ago

jbay808 5y ago

This sounds great on paper but I really don't think that feedback channel is effective in practice. First of all, when a game or a platform does poorly, the reason for that can be very hard to discern (unless there's some kind of coordinated vocal protest). "The customers are disagreeing with the fine print of our end-user license agreement" usually isn't high up on the list of reasons. Secondly, there are many degrees of incentive separation between the game developer and the customer. If the distributor offers the game developer a good lump-sum payment for a platform exclusive, they might not care about the EULA. The distributor might also own the developer. IP isn't fungible, so competition in the space is subject to much more inefficiency than a market for, say, wheat.

pdonis 5y ago
Your point about market inefficiency and misaligned incentives is a valid one, but government intervention, which is what many people in this thread are calling for, does not make market inefficiencies better; it makes them worse. Ultimately, people get the market they create through their buying decisions. The reason these market inefficiencies and misaligned incentives exist is that game distributors know that people will spend a lot of money on games and won't pay much attention to the fact that they are actually not buying ownership but only a subscription. The only way to "fix" that, if it's a problem, is for people to change their buying behavior so it is no longer lucrative to distribute games on those terms. > The distributor might also own the developer. Yes, fair point, I had forgotten that Ubisoft in this case is both.
- watwut 5y ago
  Government being involved in issues like this is the point of government.
- Dylan16807 5y ago
  Do you think the first sale doctrine makes the book market more inefficient? Because that's along the lines of what people want for digital goods.
- josephcsible 5y ago
  > government intervention, which is what many people in this thread are calling for, does not make market inefficiencies better; it makes them worse. I agree in general. Remember, though, that copyright is government intervention too. Are you in favor of getting rid of that? That would solve this whole problem too, since just downloading a new copy without paying would then be perfectly okay.

lentil_soup 5y ago

In the case of the article Ubisoft is both the developer and owner of the store

pdonis 5y ago
Yes, you're right, I had missed that.