Jimquisition: Companies Exist To Make Money

dragongit

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Feb 22, 2011
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I'd like to first say, charming poetry. Second, stating what we all know, but the industry continues to shovel onto us. Just because they want money, doesn't mean they gotta be dicks about it.
 

DrunkOnEstus

In the name of Harman...
May 11, 2012
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I like this one a lot, a shift from preaching to the choir to drawing a line on a divisive issue. And you're right, the phrase shouldn't really permit justifications for any damned means to make said money. I hope EA catches wind of that beautiful poem and realizes where they need to take the franchise, assuming they got their 5+ million sales (check out VgChartz for every other game, I highly fucking doubt it.)
 

scw55

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Nov 18, 2009
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I agree.
I believe in ethical business practise for the consumers and manufacturers.

Yes, by being a dick you may make a lot of money now. But by being not-a-dick you ensure income for the future, long term. For some reason (which is strange), human beings like people who are not dicks. And tend to hate dicks.

It's funny. Steam used to get a lot of slack for Hats. And stupid keys to unlock chests. Now they're eclipsed by everyone else.
 

leviadragon99

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Jun 17, 2010
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Not that much of a stretch to extend the same agument to any corporation that people try to defend that way come to think of it.
 

LifeMakesMeLOL

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May 12, 2012
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I've always ignored people who pull the "but it's their job!" argument, but it's always nice to see Jim call others out on their BS.

By the way, best fanfic 2013.
 

themilo504

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May 9, 2010
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I kind of expected you to talk about how the behavior of company?s like ea is not only bad for the consumer but also in the long run the company but this is fine too.
 

Jimothy Sterling

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Apr 18, 2011
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themilo504 said:
I kind of expected you to talk about how the behavior of company?s like ea is not only bad for the consumer but also in the long run the company but this is fine too.
I've touched on that subject in other videos. This one is a more purely focused argument.

The short-sighted self-destruction of companies may be worth an entire video too.
 

Jimothy Sterling

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Apr 18, 2011
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Companies Exist To Make Money

Jim goes deep into the minds of publishers in this week's episode of Jimquisition.

Watch Video
 

VanQ

Casual Plebeian
Oct 23, 2009
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Thank God for Jim, at least someone with a voice in the industry sees some sense. The amount of times I've had people jump down my throat for disapproving of EA's or Ubisoft's or Namco's or whoever's DLC and DRM policies is staggering. I still can't believe people so avidly defend such practices.

As someone who has been playing Japanese games for quite a while now, it's quite easy to see that developers here are attempting to ease us into the same pricing structure that is dominant in Japan. That is, pay $15 US to buy one song or dress in a DLC pack.

I recommend everyone take a look at the kind of prices Namco of Japan squeezes out of their customers over there. It's not hard to believe publishers here would want a piece of that big, juicy pie.

http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/637325-the-idolmster-2/64938697

Each of those prices is in yen, making up for a rather hefty fee of 8860yen or the equivalent of roughly $100US if you want it all. The original game costs in the range of 6000yen. Yeah, it's actually common practice over there that a DLC pack should cost more than the original, standalone game. And catalog 15 is one of the cheaper packs to be released.

There is good reason to be very scared of the future we're heading towards.
 

Marik2

Phone Poster
Nov 10, 2009
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I may have missed this when playing through the MGS series, but why exactly was Solidus using child soldiers in that war? Did it have to do with fighting the Patriot system, what?

New to MGS here
 

Legion

Were it so easy
Oct 2, 2008
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Well said.

The whole "Stop making excuses for companies" thing, not the poop part. That was just... odd.

I've never liked the argument that existing to make money means anything goes. It makes it sound like we need the companies more than they need us, where if they make a crap product or do not act in a way that makes us want to buy from them, we can go elsewhere, while they are the ones who are screwed if we don't.

It also reminds me of the point you made about isms recently. I get the impression that a lot of people who defend shoddy businesses and their practices are secretly afraid that if we don't suck up to them and defend them they might stop making games for us.
 

Jennacide

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Dec 6, 2007
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Glad you got to this one Jim, I've always hated this strawman argument. I've never understood how so many people will defend bullshit business practices with this weak defense. "Capitalism is about making money." Well, no, not really. Capitalism is about offering the best service for a competitive price. Not "How badly can we gouge users for the least amount of effort?"
 

Hitchmeister

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Nov 24, 2009
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Companies exist to make money. But when they drive to make more money leads to shitty products, over-priced with expensive add-ons to bleed more money from consumers the proper response is not to keep giving them money and vilifying them or apologizing for them. But to not give them any more of your money.

"You are charging too much for your shitty, incomplete game and your over-priced DLC to make the game somewhat less incomplete, but simultaneously more shitty, therefor I will not play it and you won't get any of the money you want." That is the message we need to send publishers.
 

TheLastFeeder

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Oct 29, 2012
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Well a nice recap there Jim.

But I'm past all my problems with EA, Square Enix, Konami, and Capcom. Because at some point I stopped buying games these companies publish, subconsciously just thinking maybe later I'm not in the mood to see what kind of business decisions or half finished game I'm going to get to know this time.

Now I'm spending the same amounts on the Indie bundles as I did on the games from those companies and I'm happy with what I'm getting for my money.
 

xPixelatedx

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Jan 19, 2011
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I appreciate your efforts to try and bring a reasonable light to this topic, but I feel your pleas fall upon deaf ears. As the last few years have proven, (particularly with bioware, EA and Capcom), some companies butthole's are so insanely clenched around their sycophants, even superman couldn't pull them out. And that is the reason why these companies still exist and do the things they do, regardless of how bad their business practices are or how terribly they view their own fanbase. Seriously, I have never seen any other industry actually call their customers names. Objectively speaking, that should be the death of any company right there... so why isn't it?
 

SNCommand

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Aug 29, 2011
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The argument is more complex than just "companies exist to make money"

It also means that companies need to make money, if a practice is deemed unprofitable they will of course try to steer away from it, they might not be correct in their assessment, but then it's up to the consumer to buy the product or not

The argument isn't about someone having to like or even accept why a company does what it do, but it is to make someone understand why they do it