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A walled garden cuts a platform it doesn't like, news at 11. I don't even like Twitter, but this is yet another reason I stick to PC gaming.

by snvzz 3y ago

0x6c6f6c 3y ago
Twitter applied a ton of pricing changes around working with their API, and simply connecting users and offering an integration with it may not be worth their time considering the sheer number of users. Accusing PlayStation of being the walled garden here is laughable considering Xs practices.
- 542458 3y ago
  Yeah, I work for a company that offered a product that (among many other features) was used by medium-to-large institutional customers to post to and query Twitter… even getting a quote from X was a journey, but when it finally arrived it was a very very large amount of money for heavily restricted API access. We had to drop the feature. I wouldn’t be surprised in Sony was offered a similarly unrealistic quote. Opinions are my own.
  - shiroiuma 3y ago
    >but when it finally arrived it was a very very large amount of money for heavily restricted API access. I'm glad to see that X has taken this route, and I look forward to seeing the fruits of their ingenious business acumen. I hope they raise their prices even more.
    - threeseed 3y ago
      Raising their prices even more won't make a difference. It's already too expensive which is why all the useful integrations have dropped off the platform.
    - krmboya 3y ago
      Bot activity had been an issue on the platform for years. Perhaps they've decided to cut off all bots so that only humans are left there
      - ThatPlayer 3y ago
        Problem bots don't use the provided API. Also if that was the goal, they'd disable the API altogether.
      - naet 3y ago
        The bot problem has not even slightly been solved by charging for API access, while lots of real value drivers have left the platform. I have tons of crypto and NFT bot spam waiting for me every time I log back in.
    - 542458 3y ago
      To be clear, this isn’t Cambridge Analytica or spammer stuff. This was about publishing low-volume high-value content, and we didn’t have any sort of data gathering or analytics features.
- Firmwarrior 3y ago
  > Twitter applied a ton of pricing changes around working with their API, and simply connecting users and offering an integration with it may not be worth their time considering the sheer number of users. The first chunk of your comment provided a lot of useful context > Accusing PlayStation of being [a] walled garden ???????????????????????? is this argumentative fanboyism really helping anyone here? Did they add some way to sideload your own apps or do what you want with photos and videos on the device at some point while I wasn't paying attention? This is why people hate walled gardens. If everything is some half-assed walled garden, your ability to do interesting stuff gets painfully curtailed.
- snvzz 3y ago
  >Accusing PlayStation of being the walled garden... There was no accusation. It is merely a statement of fact.
ericmay 3y ago
It’s not a good reason. Steam for example can also make these changes as they see fit. They aren’t required to support a 3rd party integration if it doesn’t suit their business. Sony is no different here.
- Seb-C 3y ago
  In the developer tools, Steam already disabled the button to add a Twitter account to a game actually
- snvzz 3y ago
  >Steam for example can also make these changes as they see fit. Yes, but it's my computer and it is much easier for me to get the job done relative to doing it on some PlayStation, even without any help from steam.
godelski 3y ago
I'm not sure how this is a Sony problem. Isn't it Twitter integrating pricing? I mean it would be one thing if Sony is scraping and downloading a bunch of shit, but if it is just uploading then shouldn't Twitter be encouraging that? Because it's a feature that helps users stay on __their__ platform?
p1necone 3y ago
I don't think it's really relevant here whether PlayStation is a walled garden or not. As other commenters have pointed out, Sony would have been paying Twitter for API access in order to provide this service to customers and they have no control over Twitter changing pricing or TOS - which was probably the reason for this feature going away. Sony not giving you a way to easily extract your own data from the system is a consequence of it being a walled garden, but there's no onus on Sony to integrate specifically with other arbitrary third parties.
naet 3y ago
Twitter charges 42 thousand a month for enterprise API access. Why would Sony pay 500 thousand a year to make posting screenshots to Twitter slightly easier? It has nothing to do with whether or not the PS5 is a walled garden or their feelings on Twitter as a platform. They liked it enough to add the feature in the first place, and when it didn't make financial sense, due to some highly questionable choices by the new CEO, they discontinued it. If Musk had any business sense he would have let them keep posting for free to drive up engagement, but he's obviously made some bad decisions and dramatically tanked the value of Twitter compared with what he paid for it so I can't speak to what drives his decision making process. You still can easily post your PS5 media to Twitter, you just have to do it yourself instead of use the built in PS5 sharing feature. Much like most PC games that function without a dedicated Twitter sharing feature.

A walled garden cuts a platform it doesn't like, news at 11. I don't even like Twitter, but this is yet another reason I stick to PC gaming.

by snvzz 3y ago

A walled garden cuts a platform it doesn't like, news at 11. I don't even like Twitter, but this is yet another reason I stick to PC gaming.

0x6c6f6c 3y ago

Twitter applied a ton of pricing changes around working with their API, and simply connecting users and offering an integration with it may not be worth their time considering the sheer number of users. Accusing PlayStation of being the walled garden here is laughable considering Xs practices.

542458 3y ago
Yeah, I work for a company that offered a product that (among many other features) was used by medium-to-large institutional customers to post to and query Twitter… even getting a quote from X was a journey, but when it finally arrived it was a very very large amount of money for heavily restricted API access. We had to drop the feature. I wouldn’t be surprised in Sony was offered a similarly unrealistic quote. Opinions are my own.
- shiroiuma 3y ago
  >but when it finally arrived it was a very very large amount of money for heavily restricted API access. I'm glad to see that X has taken this route, and I look forward to seeing the fruits of their ingenious business acumen. I hope they raise their prices even more.
  - threeseed 3y ago
    Raising their prices even more won't make a difference. It's already too expensive which is why all the useful integrations have dropped off the platform.
  - krmboya 3y ago
    Bot activity had been an issue on the platform for years. Perhaps they've decided to cut off all bots so that only humans are left there
    - ThatPlayer 3y ago
      Problem bots don't use the provided API. Also if that was the goal, they'd disable the API altogether.
    - naet 3y ago
      The bot problem has not even slightly been solved by charging for API access, while lots of real value drivers have left the platform. I have tons of crypto and NFT bot spam waiting for me every time I log back in.
  - 542458 3y ago
    To be clear, this isn’t Cambridge Analytica or spammer stuff. This was about publishing low-volume high-value content, and we didn’t have any sort of data gathering or analytics features.
Firmwarrior 3y ago
> Twitter applied a ton of pricing changes around working with their API, and simply connecting users and offering an integration with it may not be worth their time considering the sheer number of users. The first chunk of your comment provided a lot of useful context > Accusing PlayStation of being [a] walled garden ???????????????????????? is this argumentative fanboyism really helping anyone here? Did they add some way to sideload your own apps or do what you want with photos and videos on the device at some point while I wasn't paying attention? This is why people hate walled gardens. If everything is some half-assed walled garden, your ability to do interesting stuff gets painfully curtailed.
snvzz 3y ago
>Accusing PlayStation of being the walled garden... There was no accusation. It is merely a statement of fact.

ericmay 3y ago

It’s not a good reason. Steam for example can also make these changes as they see fit. They aren’t required to support a 3rd party integration if it doesn’t suit their business. Sony is no different here.

Seb-C 3y ago
In the developer tools, Steam already disabled the button to add a Twitter account to a game actually
snvzz 3y ago
>Steam for example can also make these changes as they see fit. Yes, but it's my computer and it is much easier for me to get the job done relative to doing it on some PlayStation, even without any help from steam.

godelski 3y ago

I'm not sure how this is a Sony problem. Isn't it Twitter integrating pricing? I mean it would be one thing if Sony is scraping and downloading a bunch of shit, but if it is just uploading then shouldn't Twitter be encouraging that? Because it's a feature that helps users stay on __their__ platform?

p1necone 3y ago

I don't think it's really relevant here whether PlayStation is a walled garden or not. As other commenters have pointed out, Sony would have been paying Twitter for API access in order to provide this service to customers and they have no control over Twitter changing pricing or TOS - which was probably the reason for this feature going away. Sony not giving you a way to easily extract your own data from the system is a consequence of it being a walled garden, but there's no onus on Sony to integrate specifically with other arbitrary third parties.

naet 3y ago

Twitter charges 42 thousand a month for enterprise API access. Why would Sony pay 500 thousand a year to make posting screenshots to Twitter slightly easier? It has nothing to do with whether or not the PS5 is a walled garden or their feelings on Twitter as a platform. They liked it enough to add the feature in the first place, and when it didn't make financial sense, due to some highly questionable choices by the new CEO, they discontinued it. If Musk had any business sense he would have let them keep posting for free to drive up engagement, but he's obviously made some bad decisions and dramatically tanked the value of Twitter compared with what he paid for it so I can't speak to what drives his decision making process. You still can easily post your PS5 media to Twitter, you just have to do it yourself instead of use the built in PS5 sharing feature. Much like most PC games that function without a dedicated Twitter sharing feature.