1 00:00:04,440 --> 00:00:12,399 Speaker 1: Welcome to Tech Stuff, a production from iHeartRadio. Hey thereon 2 00:00:12,560 --> 00:00:16,239 Speaker 1: Welcome to Tech Stuff. I'm your host, Jonathan Strickland. I'm 3 00:00:16,239 --> 00:00:19,920 Speaker 1: an executive producer with iHeart Podcasts and how the tech 4 00:00:20,120 --> 00:00:23,560 Speaker 1: are you? You know, it's a tough time to work 5 00:00:24,120 --> 00:00:27,400 Speaker 1: in the tech industry, unless, of course, you're an executive, 6 00:00:27,800 --> 00:00:30,840 Speaker 1: in which case you probably can't hear how tough it 7 00:00:30,920 --> 00:00:32,960 Speaker 1: is because of the sound of huge bags of money 8 00:00:33,040 --> 00:00:36,080 Speaker 1: hitting your desk. It's drowning everything else out socept maybe 9 00:00:36,080 --> 00:00:38,600 Speaker 1: the demands of your shareholders. But if you're not some 10 00:00:38,840 --> 00:00:41,720 Speaker 1: suit who is laying waste to the ranks of your 11 00:00:41,800 --> 00:00:44,680 Speaker 1: staff in an effort to secure payouts to the folks 12 00:00:44,720 --> 00:00:48,240 Speaker 1: who hold stocks in your company plus a hefty compensation 13 00:00:48,360 --> 00:00:52,080 Speaker 1: package for yourself, times are pretty scary. Now. That's true 14 00:00:52,159 --> 00:00:55,880 Speaker 1: across multiple industries. But today I want to talk a 15 00:00:55,920 --> 00:01:00,960 Speaker 1: bit about the video games sector in particular. Idea came 16 00:01:01,000 --> 00:01:03,920 Speaker 1: to me when I heard about Microsoft, which is a 17 00:01:04,080 --> 00:01:08,760 Speaker 1: three trillion dollar company, and how it was shutting down 18 00:01:08,920 --> 00:01:13,280 Speaker 1: several notable video game studios, which included some that are 19 00:01:13,319 --> 00:01:16,520 Speaker 1: known for a pretty wide spectrum of games. And some 20 00:01:16,600 --> 00:01:21,560 Speaker 1: of those games, yes, were clunkers. They performed less well 21 00:01:21,640 --> 00:01:25,280 Speaker 1: than expected in the market. Games like Redfall, which came 22 00:01:25,319 --> 00:01:28,440 Speaker 1: from R. Kane Austin. That's a notable example of a 23 00:01:28,480 --> 00:01:32,360 Speaker 1: game that was met with a fairly lukewarm reception. R 24 00:01:32,440 --> 00:01:35,720 Speaker 1: Kane Austin would find itself as one of the studios 25 00:01:35,720 --> 00:01:39,640 Speaker 1: that got shut down by Microsoft recently. And to be 26 00:01:39,720 --> 00:01:43,320 Speaker 1: fair to R. Kane Austin, my understanding is that Redfall 27 00:01:43,959 --> 00:01:47,760 Speaker 1: was a project that had a lot of shifting priorities 28 00:01:48,200 --> 00:01:51,840 Speaker 1: that were placed upon the development team. So I'm not 29 00:01:52,400 --> 00:01:55,960 Speaker 1: laying blame here. I think the Redfall was a pretty 30 00:01:56,040 --> 00:02:00,400 Speaker 1: complicated story. I'm not sure that what came out of 31 00:02:00,440 --> 00:02:03,440 Speaker 1: that project was the same thing as what people were 32 00:02:03,520 --> 00:02:07,600 Speaker 1: hoping for when they first started it. Anyway, those cuts 33 00:02:07,600 --> 00:02:10,679 Speaker 1: that Microsoft made, they also included studios that have produced 34 00:02:10,720 --> 00:02:14,200 Speaker 1: games that got a lot of recent critical acclaim. Tango 35 00:02:14,320 --> 00:02:18,000 Speaker 1: GameWorks is one of those studios. I mean it developed 36 00:02:18,120 --> 00:02:21,120 Speaker 1: a game called Hi Fi Rush last year, which released 37 00:02:21,280 --> 00:02:25,520 Speaker 1: to no real announcement, like it was a surprise release, 38 00:02:25,760 --> 00:02:29,520 Speaker 1: and people really clicked with that game, sometimes literally because 39 00:02:29,520 --> 00:02:33,080 Speaker 1: it's a rhythm based game. That was an unexpected pun 40 00:02:33,120 --> 00:02:36,640 Speaker 1: from me. Now, these cuts are really rough, and the 41 00:02:36,680 --> 00:02:38,640 Speaker 1: first thing I really want to say is that I 42 00:02:38,680 --> 00:02:40,799 Speaker 1: hope all the people who have been affected by those 43 00:02:40,840 --> 00:02:43,320 Speaker 1: cuts are able to land on their feet. Because it's 44 00:02:43,360 --> 00:02:47,240 Speaker 1: a really tough world out there for game development, particularly 45 00:02:47,560 --> 00:02:51,160 Speaker 1: among the big studios, which we've seen a lot of 46 00:02:51,160 --> 00:02:56,040 Speaker 1: big companies make some drastic cutbacks. I hope those who 47 00:02:56,200 --> 00:02:58,919 Speaker 1: perhaps have found themselves out of employment are able to 48 00:02:59,040 --> 00:03:04,520 Speaker 1: land a really rewarding gig soon, both professionally rewarding and 49 00:03:04,600 --> 00:03:08,640 Speaker 1: personally rewarding. But today I wanted to talk about what 50 00:03:09,040 --> 00:03:14,079 Speaker 1: might be behind Microsoft's strategy, at least to an extent. Now, 51 00:03:14,120 --> 00:03:16,440 Speaker 1: I want to preface this by saying I don't have 52 00:03:16,480 --> 00:03:20,080 Speaker 1: any special insight. It's not like I was brought into 53 00:03:20,120 --> 00:03:23,640 Speaker 1: the boardroom to talk about these things. The impressions I 54 00:03:23,720 --> 00:03:27,400 Speaker 1: get are similar to those proposed by other outside observers, 55 00:03:27,600 --> 00:03:31,200 Speaker 1: so I'm not also saying that I have a unique 56 00:03:31,240 --> 00:03:34,880 Speaker 1: perspective on this. By far is not unique. If you 57 00:03:35,000 --> 00:03:39,120 Speaker 1: do a search online, you will find countless articles and 58 00:03:39,280 --> 00:03:42,440 Speaker 1: videos of people giving their take on what's going on 59 00:03:42,560 --> 00:03:46,000 Speaker 1: in the industry. But by looking at Microsoft's recent moves, 60 00:03:46,040 --> 00:03:49,240 Speaker 1: I think I can make some general guesses. So, for 61 00:03:49,320 --> 00:03:52,240 Speaker 1: one thing, after many months of trying to close a 62 00:03:52,360 --> 00:03:56,240 Speaker 1: truly massive deal, while regulators around the world were raising 63 00:03:56,280 --> 00:04:01,440 Speaker 1: concerns about it. Microsoft finally acquired another enormous game studio 64 00:04:01,640 --> 00:04:04,960 Speaker 1: called Activision Blizzard, and that was for sixty eight point 65 00:04:05,040 --> 00:04:09,240 Speaker 1: seven billion with a B dollars. Now, it's not unusual 66 00:04:09,640 --> 00:04:13,440 Speaker 1: to see layoffs in the wake of a large acquisition 67 00:04:13,640 --> 00:04:18,479 Speaker 1: or merger because typically you do have overlap between the 68 00:04:18,520 --> 00:04:21,839 Speaker 1: two entities, right, and you say, well, why do we 69 00:04:22,520 --> 00:04:27,840 Speaker 1: want these these roles duplicated. That's bloat, that's unnecessary. So 70 00:04:27,920 --> 00:04:30,920 Speaker 1: we do need to make some hard choices in order 71 00:04:30,960 --> 00:04:34,960 Speaker 1: to run an efficient operation. That stinks for the people 72 00:04:35,000 --> 00:04:38,280 Speaker 1: who are affected. But from a business perspective, you can 73 00:04:38,400 --> 00:04:42,400 Speaker 1: understand that that there's no need to employ twice as 74 00:04:42,440 --> 00:04:46,320 Speaker 1: many people that are needed to do a specific task. However, 75 00:04:46,800 --> 00:04:50,080 Speaker 1: these studios that Microsoft just recently shut down were their 76 00:04:50,080 --> 00:04:54,440 Speaker 1: own individual organizations. They were not part of some heterogeneous whole. 77 00:04:54,560 --> 00:04:59,600 Speaker 1: It's not like Microsoft has one truly enormous room just 78 00:04:59,640 --> 00:05:02,560 Speaker 1: filled with video game developers who are all working on stuff. 79 00:05:02,800 --> 00:05:08,599 Speaker 1: These are largely separate and semi autonomous game studios. They 80 00:05:08,640 --> 00:05:12,000 Speaker 1: just have Microsoft as sort of their parent company umbrella. 81 00:05:12,440 --> 00:05:15,560 Speaker 1: So one possible reason for these shutdowns is that Microsoft 82 00:05:15,680 --> 00:05:18,840 Speaker 1: just needed to make some cutbacks to decrease the impact 83 00:05:19,200 --> 00:05:24,640 Speaker 1: of this incredibly large transaction they made to acquire Activision Blizzard, 84 00:05:24,880 --> 00:05:26,680 Speaker 1: and so like they like, well, we bought it, we 85 00:05:27,040 --> 00:05:29,719 Speaker 1: got what we said we wanted, but now we need 86 00:05:29,760 --> 00:05:33,960 Speaker 1: to cut back so that it doesn't have as large 87 00:05:33,960 --> 00:05:36,240 Speaker 1: an impact on our balance sheet at the end of 88 00:05:36,240 --> 00:05:39,760 Speaker 1: the year. I'm guessing another reason is that Microsoft is 89 00:05:39,800 --> 00:05:43,600 Speaker 1: pushing toward a game model that has become increasingly popular 90 00:05:43,720 --> 00:05:47,760 Speaker 1: because of its ability to continue to generate revenue after 91 00:05:47,839 --> 00:05:50,720 Speaker 1: a game is released, and that's the games as a 92 00:05:50,760 --> 00:05:56,600 Speaker 1: service approach, and more specifically live service games, which you 93 00:05:56,680 --> 00:06:01,479 Speaker 1: could argue is like a subcategory of games as a service. Now, 94 00:06:01,640 --> 00:06:05,440 Speaker 1: the as a service model is one that's really taken 95 00:06:05,520 --> 00:06:08,680 Speaker 1: hold of tech in general, not just the games industry, 96 00:06:09,080 --> 00:06:13,960 Speaker 1: and that has both good and bad consequences as a result. 97 00:06:14,320 --> 00:06:16,440 Speaker 1: I am not going to make a blanket statement and 98 00:06:16,560 --> 00:06:19,800 Speaker 1: say that all games as a service or live service 99 00:06:20,000 --> 00:06:23,320 Speaker 1: games are bad. I don't feel that way, but I 100 00:06:23,400 --> 00:06:26,080 Speaker 1: will say that a lot of the elements of games 101 00:06:26,120 --> 00:06:28,960 Speaker 1: as a service have had a disruptive and from at 102 00:06:29,040 --> 00:06:32,440 Speaker 1: least some points of view, harmful impact on the industry. 103 00:06:32,440 --> 00:06:35,600 Speaker 1: As a whole. Now as a service model has been 104 00:06:35,720 --> 00:06:39,240 Speaker 1: used for lots of stuff. You have security as a service, 105 00:06:39,480 --> 00:06:43,760 Speaker 1: computing as a service, storage as a service. The list 106 00:06:43,800 --> 00:06:46,080 Speaker 1: goes on and on, and essentially all of these boil 107 00:06:46,200 --> 00:06:51,320 Speaker 1: down to a provider company offering certain services over the 108 00:06:51,360 --> 00:06:54,640 Speaker 1: Internet so that the customer doesn't have to run stuff 109 00:06:54,680 --> 00:06:58,360 Speaker 1: on their own hardware, so instead the customer uses their 110 00:06:58,400 --> 00:07:02,800 Speaker 1: hardware to access this online service over the Internet. That 111 00:07:02,839 --> 00:07:06,760 Speaker 1: can be a huge help if you are launching a 112 00:07:06,839 --> 00:07:10,880 Speaker 1: startup and it's an Internet based business, using some as 113 00:07:11,000 --> 00:07:15,160 Speaker 1: a service stuff can really help you meet customer and 114 00:07:15,240 --> 00:07:18,360 Speaker 1: partner expectations. But you don't have to take on the 115 00:07:18,400 --> 00:07:21,600 Speaker 1: expense and effort of building everything from scratch on your 116 00:07:21,640 --> 00:07:26,160 Speaker 1: own premises, so there is a benefit to this approach. 117 00:07:26,520 --> 00:07:29,640 Speaker 1: With games, things can be a little bit different. Games 118 00:07:29,640 --> 00:07:32,960 Speaker 1: as a service or live service games are ones that 119 00:07:33,080 --> 00:07:37,600 Speaker 1: have a long tail revenue opportunity. The game itself might 120 00:07:37,680 --> 00:07:40,960 Speaker 1: cost money upfront, or it could be a free to 121 00:07:41,000 --> 00:07:44,640 Speaker 1: play title where gamers don't have to spend any money 122 00:07:44,720 --> 00:07:48,040 Speaker 1: to access the game initially. A lot of mobile games 123 00:07:48,080 --> 00:07:51,160 Speaker 1: fall into this category, where downloading the game is free, 124 00:07:51,320 --> 00:07:53,800 Speaker 1: but players are given incentives to spend money on the 125 00:07:53,800 --> 00:07:56,880 Speaker 1: game in return for some sort of in game benefit 126 00:07:57,120 --> 00:08:00,960 Speaker 1: or cosmetic option. Often those games could also be supported 127 00:08:00,960 --> 00:08:04,080 Speaker 1: by advertising. That's pretty typical in a lot of these 128 00:08:04,120 --> 00:08:07,040 Speaker 1: games where ads will pop up. We've also heard recently 129 00:08:07,360 --> 00:08:10,920 Speaker 1: that some Triple A studios have been talking about putting 130 00:08:11,040 --> 00:08:14,160 Speaker 1: ads into games, and that again is not a new thing. 131 00:08:14,440 --> 00:08:17,800 Speaker 1: It's happened in the past, often to disastrous results because 132 00:08:18,320 --> 00:08:20,880 Speaker 1: generally speaking, gamers are not a big fan of that. 133 00:08:21,400 --> 00:08:24,600 Speaker 1: But we're hearing Triple A studios talk about that again 134 00:08:24,680 --> 00:08:28,800 Speaker 1: as a way to continually generate revenue off of a sale, 135 00:08:29,200 --> 00:08:36,120 Speaker 1: So again it's another potential revenue changing strategy for games. 136 00:08:36,520 --> 00:08:40,360 Speaker 1: For some games, players actually see a benefit in this 137 00:08:40,920 --> 00:08:45,520 Speaker 1: arrangement in that the developer will occasionally release new content 138 00:08:45,880 --> 00:08:49,400 Speaker 1: and expand the game itself in some way. So there's 139 00:08:49,440 --> 00:08:52,880 Speaker 1: an incentive to be part of this long tail revenue 140 00:08:52,920 --> 00:08:57,280 Speaker 1: generation system because the game continues to generate value and 141 00:08:57,320 --> 00:09:01,160 Speaker 1: you're not just playing the same thing perpetual. The method 142 00:09:01,200 --> 00:09:04,120 Speaker 1: of extending revenue generation does vary. It could be a 143 00:09:04,120 --> 00:09:08,280 Speaker 1: subscription service. It might be pay for content where you've 144 00:09:08,320 --> 00:09:12,320 Speaker 1: got pay walls that block certain types of content and 145 00:09:12,400 --> 00:09:16,880 Speaker 1: you can't access it until you have paid. There are 146 00:09:16,920 --> 00:09:21,080 Speaker 1: even games that kind of get the derisive label of 147 00:09:21,160 --> 00:09:25,360 Speaker 1: pay to win. Generally speaking, that particular strategy, it's not 148 00:09:25,480 --> 00:09:27,679 Speaker 1: looked upon favorably by most of the people in the 149 00:09:27,720 --> 00:09:30,960 Speaker 1: gaming audience. Pay to win essentially just means that you 150 00:09:31,080 --> 00:09:34,280 Speaker 1: get access to things in the game that give you 151 00:09:34,360 --> 00:09:37,840 Speaker 1: an advantage over other players, and it's typically something that 152 00:09:37,920 --> 00:09:42,120 Speaker 1: you would hear about in player versus player type games. 153 00:09:42,160 --> 00:09:44,600 Speaker 1: You know you're going up against other humans and you 154 00:09:44,679 --> 00:09:50,600 Speaker 1: have paid for advantages that can help offset any imbalance 155 00:09:50,679 --> 00:09:54,200 Speaker 1: and skill you might have against other players. Generally speaking, 156 00:09:54,240 --> 00:09:57,119 Speaker 1: people hate that, but there are a lot of different options. 157 00:09:57,360 --> 00:10:00,959 Speaker 1: But the idea itself is not new at all. It's 158 00:10:01,000 --> 00:10:03,760 Speaker 1: almost as old as video games themselves are. In fact, 159 00:10:03,800 --> 00:10:07,880 Speaker 1: you could argue that the arcade machine model, which predates 160 00:10:07,920 --> 00:10:10,760 Speaker 1: the home video game, that kind of falls in line 161 00:10:10,920 --> 00:10:15,199 Speaker 1: with games as a service. Right, whether you're traditional arcade machine, 162 00:10:15,240 --> 00:10:18,360 Speaker 1: you pay to play, and when your play session is 163 00:10:18,400 --> 00:10:22,120 Speaker 1: over because you know, a ghost gobbled your pacmand three times, 164 00:10:22,240 --> 00:10:24,920 Speaker 1: or you missed one too many centipedes or whatever, you 165 00:10:25,000 --> 00:10:27,480 Speaker 1: got to cough up another quarter, or you got to 166 00:10:27,520 --> 00:10:31,839 Speaker 1: move along. But while that model would work for companies 167 00:10:31,840 --> 00:10:34,760 Speaker 1: that made arcade cabinets, or, to be more accurate, it 168 00:10:34,800 --> 00:10:38,120 Speaker 1: actually worked for arcade owners who would typically purchase an 169 00:10:38,200 --> 00:10:41,400 Speaker 1: arcade cabinet and then use that cabinet to generate revenue, 170 00:10:41,400 --> 00:10:44,280 Speaker 1: with the obvious goal meaning being that you know, you 171 00:10:44,800 --> 00:10:48,200 Speaker 1: make more in quarters than you paid for the machine, 172 00:10:48,559 --> 00:10:50,440 Speaker 1: and it would just take a certain amount of time. 173 00:10:50,840 --> 00:10:54,480 Speaker 1: While that same model would prove a little more elusive 174 00:10:54,559 --> 00:10:58,560 Speaker 1: for the home market. Initially, the way the home video 175 00:10:58,600 --> 00:11:02,360 Speaker 1: game market would work is that a video game development 176 00:11:02,440 --> 00:11:05,960 Speaker 1: company would create a game and then either it would 177 00:11:06,040 --> 00:11:08,400 Speaker 1: publish that game, or it would work with a third 178 00:11:08,480 --> 00:11:12,360 Speaker 1: party publisher to do so, to actually manufacture the game 179 00:11:12,800 --> 00:11:15,240 Speaker 1: and package it and market it and ship it to 180 00:11:15,360 --> 00:11:19,280 Speaker 1: retailers and then hope that the game sells really well. 181 00:11:19,520 --> 00:11:22,120 Speaker 1: I'm not going to dive further into that business model. 182 00:11:22,160 --> 00:11:24,640 Speaker 1: There is more to it than that. It's a little 183 00:11:24,640 --> 00:11:27,800 Speaker 1: more complicated, but that's the basic idea. But the important 184 00:11:27,800 --> 00:11:30,520 Speaker 1: thing with that business model is that we're really just 185 00:11:30,600 --> 00:11:36,040 Speaker 1: talking about individual transactions. Right. That happened one time someone 186 00:11:36,080 --> 00:11:38,959 Speaker 1: a customer comes up and buys a copy of the game, 187 00:11:39,240 --> 00:11:43,040 Speaker 1: and that sale is the one and only transaction between 188 00:11:43,160 --> 00:11:47,480 Speaker 1: the gamer and the retailer and represents the one purchase 189 00:11:47,559 --> 00:11:51,200 Speaker 1: that matters to the video game developer. Now, that gamer 190 00:11:51,280 --> 00:11:54,600 Speaker 1: might later choose to give their copy of the game 191 00:11:54,760 --> 00:11:57,920 Speaker 1: away to somebody, or to sell it, you know, used 192 00:11:58,040 --> 00:12:01,400 Speaker 1: to someone else, or to trade it into a retailer 193 00:12:01,520 --> 00:12:04,199 Speaker 1: for credit, and the credit would just be a you know, 194 00:12:05,160 --> 00:12:09,160 Speaker 1: a percentage of what the original value of the game 195 00:12:09,280 --> 00:12:11,079 Speaker 1: used to be, and then the retailer would go around 196 00:12:11,080 --> 00:12:12,840 Speaker 1: and sell it for more than that because that's how 197 00:12:12,880 --> 00:12:15,400 Speaker 1: you make money as a retailer, But the video game 198 00:12:15,440 --> 00:12:18,600 Speaker 1: developer and publisher wouldn't see any of that money in 199 00:12:18,640 --> 00:12:23,480 Speaker 1: those transactions, right. The aftermarket leaves those companies out, so 200 00:12:23,559 --> 00:12:27,120 Speaker 1: they only get a slice when it's a sale of 201 00:12:27,200 --> 00:12:31,199 Speaker 1: a new copy of their game to someone. And eliminating 202 00:12:31,240 --> 00:12:34,600 Speaker 1: the aftermarket was really something that was pretty enticing to 203 00:12:34,679 --> 00:12:38,520 Speaker 1: video game companies from the get go. Like it's largely 204 00:12:38,559 --> 00:12:42,880 Speaker 1: been done now because digital distribution is largely the way 205 00:12:42,920 --> 00:12:46,880 Speaker 1: that games are distributed these days. There aren't that many 206 00:12:47,240 --> 00:12:49,680 Speaker 1: versions of games where you're going out and buying a 207 00:12:49,679 --> 00:12:53,800 Speaker 1: physical copy anymore. Heck, a lot of computer systems don't 208 00:12:53,840 --> 00:12:58,760 Speaker 1: even have optical drives, so there's like no physical medium 209 00:12:58,880 --> 00:13:01,920 Speaker 1: you would purchase in order to play on your PC. 210 00:13:02,360 --> 00:13:05,160 Speaker 1: There are exceptions, obviously, there are games where you can 211 00:13:05,200 --> 00:13:09,480 Speaker 1: still buy on cartridge based systems and such, but largely 212 00:13:09,480 --> 00:13:13,600 Speaker 1: we're talking about digital downloads these days. That has really 213 00:13:13,679 --> 00:13:18,880 Speaker 1: cut into the aftermarket, but that's fairly recent. Way back 214 00:13:18,960 --> 00:13:22,120 Speaker 1: in the early eighties, there were already efforts to figure 215 00:13:22,120 --> 00:13:25,560 Speaker 1: out ways to kind of eliminate the aftermarket, because it 216 00:13:25,679 --> 00:13:28,400 Speaker 1: sure would be better for these companies if they could 217 00:13:28,400 --> 00:13:31,520 Speaker 1: convince folks to only buy new copies of the game 218 00:13:31,760 --> 00:13:34,560 Speaker 1: instead of going and purchasing a used copy at like 219 00:13:34,600 --> 00:13:38,720 Speaker 1: a flea market or a retailer or something. And it 220 00:13:38,720 --> 00:13:42,680 Speaker 1: would take some time to essentially achieve that goal, but 221 00:13:43,080 --> 00:13:46,720 Speaker 1: there were some early attempts. One of those had its 222 00:13:46,880 --> 00:13:51,640 Speaker 1: birth way back in the late nineteen seventies, although it 223 00:13:51,679 --> 00:13:54,800 Speaker 1: would not debut until the nineteen eighties, and it would 224 00:13:54,840 --> 00:13:59,640 Speaker 1: involve a home video game console called the in television. 225 00:14:00,120 --> 00:14:03,040 Speaker 1: I'll talk more about that, but first let's take a 226 00:14:03,120 --> 00:14:15,360 Speaker 1: quick break to thank our sponsors. Before the break, I 227 00:14:15,480 --> 00:14:19,560 Speaker 1: mentioned the Intellivision, a home game console. I actually had 228 00:14:19,760 --> 00:14:23,520 Speaker 1: an intelevision, although the one I had I inherited from 229 00:14:23,680 --> 00:14:25,920 Speaker 1: a cousin who had just sort of, you know, was 230 00:14:25,960 --> 00:14:27,960 Speaker 1: going off to college and had given it up. So 231 00:14:28,520 --> 00:14:31,360 Speaker 1: my Intellivision was not a brand new one. It was 232 00:14:31,960 --> 00:14:36,040 Speaker 1: already an obsolete console at that point. But I did 233 00:14:36,040 --> 00:14:39,800 Speaker 1: have probably a couple dozen games, as I recall, although 234 00:14:40,000 --> 00:14:43,320 Speaker 1: the intelevision controller was like almost like a remote control, 235 00:14:43,400 --> 00:14:46,000 Speaker 1: and you would have overlays you could slip into it 236 00:14:46,080 --> 00:14:49,600 Speaker 1: that matched the games that you played. I remember distinctly 237 00:14:50,080 --> 00:14:53,720 Speaker 1: that I had overlays for cartridges I did not own, 238 00:14:53,880 --> 00:14:56,760 Speaker 1: and vice versa. I had cartridges where there was no overlay, 239 00:14:56,800 --> 00:14:58,920 Speaker 1: and I would have to use trial and error to 240 00:14:58,960 --> 00:15:01,640 Speaker 1: figure out what the the different buttons did in that 241 00:15:01,680 --> 00:15:06,600 Speaker 1: particular game. Anyway, the Intellvision was a cartridge based game system, 242 00:15:06,840 --> 00:15:09,440 Speaker 1: so you would typically go to your local toy store 243 00:15:09,600 --> 00:15:12,320 Speaker 1: or electronics store whatever you and you go and purchase 244 00:15:12,360 --> 00:15:16,120 Speaker 1: a new game. Now, back then cartridges cost about thirty dollars, 245 00:15:16,280 --> 00:15:19,000 Speaker 1: but that's in nineteen eighty dollars, so if we adjust 246 00:15:19,080 --> 00:15:22,080 Speaker 1: for inflation, that's around one hundred and fifteen bucks today. 247 00:15:22,360 --> 00:15:24,400 Speaker 1: So just in case you thought video games are too 248 00:15:24,480 --> 00:15:27,640 Speaker 1: expensive these days, you know, some Triple A titles start 249 00:15:27,720 --> 00:15:30,400 Speaker 1: off at seventy dollars a pop. And then go up 250 00:15:30,440 --> 00:15:33,480 Speaker 1: from there if you want a special edition. Just know 251 00:15:33,600 --> 00:15:37,800 Speaker 1: that video games have always been expensive, it's just that 252 00:15:37,960 --> 00:15:41,280 Speaker 1: a dollar doesn't go as far as it used to anyway. 253 00:15:41,600 --> 00:15:44,320 Speaker 1: The folks that in television came up with a pretty 254 00:15:44,320 --> 00:15:48,760 Speaker 1: clever idea. Why not create an add on in which 255 00:15:48,960 --> 00:15:53,120 Speaker 1: players could subscribe to an ongoing service provided by a 256 00:15:53,160 --> 00:15:57,800 Speaker 1: local cable TV company so the players could end up 257 00:15:57,880 --> 00:16:02,080 Speaker 1: accessing encoded games in television would encode the games using 258 00:16:02,160 --> 00:16:06,520 Speaker 1: the FM band frequencies and send those frequencies over cable 259 00:16:06,560 --> 00:16:09,520 Speaker 1: lines because the frequencies wouldn't interfere with all the other 260 00:16:09,520 --> 00:16:12,480 Speaker 1: stuff that was traveling over cable. The players would be 261 00:16:12,520 --> 00:16:16,400 Speaker 1: able to connect their intelevision systems up to their cable 262 00:16:16,440 --> 00:16:19,640 Speaker 1: service using a special adapter. The plug right into the 263 00:16:19,680 --> 00:16:22,240 Speaker 1: cartridge slot of the Intellvision, so it was like it 264 00:16:22,280 --> 00:16:26,360 Speaker 1: was an oversized game cartridge with wire that could attach 265 00:16:26,560 --> 00:16:31,040 Speaker 1: to your cable and to access a game using the service, 266 00:16:31,080 --> 00:16:34,280 Speaker 1: the player would turn their television to a particular channel. 267 00:16:34,680 --> 00:16:37,600 Speaker 1: This would only be available in around a dozen cities 268 00:16:37,640 --> 00:16:40,640 Speaker 1: in the United States, but they could choose from different 269 00:16:40,720 --> 00:16:44,520 Speaker 1: video game titles that would switch out each month, So 270 00:16:44,960 --> 00:16:48,360 Speaker 1: typically there was somewhere between fifteen and twenty games on 271 00:16:48,480 --> 00:16:53,600 Speaker 1: this I saw different versions of that depending on the source, 272 00:16:53,760 --> 00:16:56,240 Speaker 1: and I didn't have access to this when I had 273 00:16:56,360 --> 00:16:59,520 Speaker 1: in television, so I don't really have direct experience with it. 274 00:16:59,760 --> 00:17:03,440 Speaker 1: The idea was that you could choose a game available 275 00:17:03,480 --> 00:17:06,960 Speaker 1: on this service and it would tell the terminal to 276 00:17:07,080 --> 00:17:10,760 Speaker 1: accept the game code the next time the cable channel 277 00:17:10,880 --> 00:17:16,360 Speaker 1: transmitted that specific game, so the channel was constantly transmitting code, 278 00:17:16,600 --> 00:17:19,960 Speaker 1: your terminal just didn't pick it up because the terminal 279 00:17:20,000 --> 00:17:22,600 Speaker 1: was only waiting for a specific signal based upon whichever 280 00:17:22,600 --> 00:17:25,480 Speaker 1: game you wanted to play. And once that transmission started, 281 00:17:25,480 --> 00:17:28,080 Speaker 1: the terminal would say all right and would download that 282 00:17:28,240 --> 00:17:33,359 Speaker 1: code into memory on the adapter, and that's where it 283 00:17:33,359 --> 00:17:36,000 Speaker 1: would live. And it was just in memory, volatile memory, 284 00:17:36,160 --> 00:17:40,240 Speaker 1: so once it shut off or once you wanted to 285 00:17:40,280 --> 00:17:43,280 Speaker 1: play a different game, that information would get whited. So 286 00:17:43,320 --> 00:17:46,879 Speaker 1: you wouldn't have access to this title forever, just for 287 00:17:46,960 --> 00:17:50,440 Speaker 1: however long your play session was going. Really so instead 288 00:17:50,480 --> 00:17:52,520 Speaker 1: of going out and buying a copy of the game 289 00:17:52,760 --> 00:17:55,959 Speaker 1: and in television, owner could subscribe to the service and 290 00:17:56,000 --> 00:17:59,120 Speaker 1: pay a monthly fee and then play games that way 291 00:17:59,400 --> 00:18:02,280 Speaker 1: and again. Because the games were just stored in memory, 292 00:18:02,320 --> 00:18:06,159 Speaker 1: they weren't permanently part of the player's library. In television 293 00:18:06,240 --> 00:18:10,320 Speaker 1: called this technology the play cable. Now, this was really 294 00:18:10,359 --> 00:18:13,520 Speaker 1: forward thinking, but you could argue it was two forward 295 00:18:13,560 --> 00:18:15,840 Speaker 1: thinking and it was ahead of its time. Now. According 296 00:18:15,880 --> 00:18:19,680 Speaker 1: to Stuart Schlay of CED magazine, way back in two 297 00:18:19,760 --> 00:18:23,240 Speaker 1: thousand and five, in television was only able to secure 298 00:18:23,359 --> 00:18:28,160 Speaker 1: about three percent of all households that could access this service. 299 00:18:28,400 --> 00:18:31,399 Speaker 1: So while the Intellivision had a decent install base for 300 00:18:31,480 --> 00:18:34,240 Speaker 1: the time, like more than two million units were sold 301 00:18:34,240 --> 00:18:38,240 Speaker 1: by nineteen eighty two, for example, only around six hundred 302 00:18:38,280 --> 00:18:41,919 Speaker 1: and fifty thousand of those even would have access to 303 00:18:41,960 --> 00:18:45,119 Speaker 1: the play cable service. And then of those six hundred 304 00:18:45,119 --> 00:18:47,840 Speaker 1: and fifty thousand, not that many people took the plunge 305 00:18:47,840 --> 00:18:50,399 Speaker 1: to pay four dollars ninety five cents per month to 306 00:18:50,560 --> 00:18:53,280 Speaker 1: actually use it. Now, there were some problems with the 307 00:18:53,280 --> 00:18:56,280 Speaker 1: business model from the get go, because gamers weren't the 308 00:18:56,320 --> 00:18:58,240 Speaker 1: only folks who had to cough up a decent amount 309 00:18:58,240 --> 00:19:00,240 Speaker 1: of money to be part of play cable. Right, you 310 00:19:00,280 --> 00:19:03,000 Speaker 1: had to buy the adapter, and then you had to 311 00:19:03,240 --> 00:19:06,359 Speaker 1: pay a subscription to the service. But the cable television 312 00:19:06,400 --> 00:19:10,240 Speaker 1: providers also had to pay in order to be able 313 00:19:10,359 --> 00:19:13,479 Speaker 1: to use this service. They would have to purchase a 314 00:19:13,560 --> 00:19:18,639 Speaker 1: really expensive computer to run the transmission side of this 315 00:19:18,760 --> 00:19:22,479 Speaker 1: service because it wasn't provided by Intellvision, So the cable 316 00:19:22,520 --> 00:19:25,960 Speaker 1: companies would have to pay like twelve grand for these 317 00:19:26,680 --> 00:19:31,480 Speaker 1: really expensive and particular computer systems. By nineteen eighty four, 318 00:19:31,960 --> 00:19:36,040 Speaker 1: in television had decided to unplug the play cable because 319 00:19:36,040 --> 00:19:39,000 Speaker 1: it just hadn't caught on plus in nineteen eighty four. 320 00:19:39,320 --> 00:19:43,440 Speaker 1: That's obviously after the video game crash of nineteen eighty three, 321 00:19:43,760 --> 00:19:46,520 Speaker 1: the home video game market in the United States was 322 00:19:46,560 --> 00:19:48,359 Speaker 1: in ruins. In other parts of the world it was 323 00:19:48,400 --> 00:19:52,080 Speaker 1: a different story, but the entire market crashed for the 324 00:19:52,200 --> 00:19:55,399 Speaker 1: US in nineteen eighty three. It's what would create the 325 00:19:55,480 --> 00:19:59,679 Speaker 1: opportunity for Nintendo to kind of resurrect that market. But 326 00:19:59,680 --> 00:20:03,639 Speaker 1: for all a good year, it was desolation in the 327 00:20:03,640 --> 00:20:06,959 Speaker 1: home video game space. Computers were kind of taking up 328 00:20:07,000 --> 00:20:10,760 Speaker 1: some of the gaps. Yeah, it was grim. In television, 329 00:20:11,040 --> 00:20:14,000 Speaker 1: games had been getting more complex, and that was also 330 00:20:14,080 --> 00:20:17,000 Speaker 1: part of the problem because the play cable system could 331 00:20:17,000 --> 00:20:21,000 Speaker 1: only support transfers of up to six kilobytes. So as 332 00:20:21,080 --> 00:20:24,440 Speaker 1: games were getting more sophisticated, the play cable couldn't keep up. 333 00:20:24,520 --> 00:20:28,760 Speaker 1: It physically was limited to six kilobytes of data for 334 00:20:28,880 --> 00:20:31,960 Speaker 1: these transfers, so if a game required more than that, 335 00:20:32,200 --> 00:20:34,800 Speaker 1: it would not be eligible for play cable. It just 336 00:20:34,840 --> 00:20:38,200 Speaker 1: wouldn't work. So, no matter what, the play cable had 337 00:20:38,359 --> 00:20:42,200 Speaker 1: probably a pretty limited lifespan. Even if the video game 338 00:20:42,240 --> 00:20:45,800 Speaker 1: market had not crashed in nineteen eighty three, it's unlikely 339 00:20:45,880 --> 00:20:48,240 Speaker 1: that in television would have kept it going that it 340 00:20:48,240 --> 00:20:51,000 Speaker 1: would have remained relevant, So it went could put unless 341 00:20:51,040 --> 00:20:53,920 Speaker 1: you think in television was the only example of an 342 00:20:54,000 --> 00:20:57,800 Speaker 1: early go at the games as a service model. Allow 343 00:20:57,880 --> 00:21:00,359 Speaker 1: me to tell you about the Atari game lie Line 344 00:21:00,600 --> 00:21:04,639 Speaker 1: from a company called Control Video Corporation. So this wasn't 345 00:21:04,720 --> 00:21:09,760 Speaker 1: from Atari itself, but from this CVC company, which interestingly 346 00:21:09,880 --> 00:21:14,800 Speaker 1: was founded by a guy named Bill von Meister, so 347 00:21:14,960 --> 00:21:19,480 Speaker 1: Bill the Mister. He he also co founded one of 348 00:21:19,520 --> 00:21:23,119 Speaker 1: the earliest online services called the Source, so really really 349 00:21:23,160 --> 00:21:26,960 Speaker 1: forward thinking dude. Similar to the play cable, GameLine was 350 00:21:27,000 --> 00:21:29,600 Speaker 1: a product and a service that would let Atari twenty 351 00:21:29,640 --> 00:21:32,920 Speaker 1: six hundred owners connect their console, by this time using 352 00:21:32,960 --> 00:21:36,160 Speaker 1: their phone line with an adapter that would plug into 353 00:21:36,200 --> 00:21:39,320 Speaker 1: the cartridge slot of your Attari twenty six hundred and 354 00:21:39,400 --> 00:21:41,560 Speaker 1: so it was similar to the play cable, but play 355 00:21:41,600 --> 00:21:45,399 Speaker 1: cable obviously connected to cable. Game Line connected to a 356 00:21:45,440 --> 00:21:49,360 Speaker 1: phone line, and so gamelines transmissions were over the telephone 357 00:21:49,359 --> 00:21:52,880 Speaker 1: system instead of cable TV frequencies. Now. According to Dan 358 00:21:52,960 --> 00:21:57,200 Speaker 1: Skelton in the Atari Compendium, this adapter cost forty nine 359 00:21:57,240 --> 00:22:00,720 Speaker 1: dollars and ninety five cents, and that included a year 360 00:22:00,840 --> 00:22:05,120 Speaker 1: of service. I'm not sure how much service was after that, 361 00:22:05,640 --> 00:22:07,960 Speaker 1: but that's not the only fee we'd be talking about, 362 00:22:08,119 --> 00:22:11,400 Speaker 1: because the way game line worked is that you would 363 00:22:12,040 --> 00:22:14,360 Speaker 1: get one of these adapters, you'd plug it into your 364 00:22:14,400 --> 00:22:16,879 Speaker 1: computer and hook it up to your phone system, and 365 00:22:17,040 --> 00:22:19,800 Speaker 1: when you turned it on for the first time, game 366 00:22:19,880 --> 00:22:24,160 Speaker 1: Line would automatically dial in to a particular phone line 367 00:22:24,200 --> 00:22:26,760 Speaker 1: and a computer system, and you would be prompted to 368 00:22:26,880 --> 00:22:31,560 Speaker 1: register your GameLine system and to create a personal identification 369 00:22:31,680 --> 00:22:35,920 Speaker 1: number or PIN, and then you would get to enter 370 00:22:36,600 --> 00:22:39,119 Speaker 1: whichever game you wanted by putting in a three digit 371 00:22:39,320 --> 00:22:43,840 Speaker 1: code that correlated to that specific game, and then that 372 00:22:43,920 --> 00:22:49,000 Speaker 1: game would be sent to temporarily live on the memory 373 00:22:49,160 --> 00:22:52,159 Speaker 1: of the adapter you were using. The adapter you had, 374 00:22:52,200 --> 00:22:54,800 Speaker 1: by the way, also required a nine volt battery to 375 00:22:54,880 --> 00:22:57,879 Speaker 1: remain powered because again it's volatile memory, so if it 376 00:22:57,960 --> 00:23:01,720 Speaker 1: loses power, then the information and is wiped from the system. 377 00:23:02,080 --> 00:23:05,240 Speaker 1: So you wanted to create a pen for every person 378 00:23:05,240 --> 00:23:07,560 Speaker 1: in your household because, as it would turn out, the 379 00:23:07,600 --> 00:23:11,560 Speaker 1: service would grant a user unlimited plays on their birthday. 380 00:23:11,840 --> 00:23:14,119 Speaker 1: So if you made a pen for everyone and the 381 00:23:14,200 --> 00:23:17,920 Speaker 1: dog in your family, you could use that specific pen 382 00:23:18,040 --> 00:23:21,600 Speaker 1: to log into the service on the respective person or 383 00:23:21,680 --> 00:23:26,040 Speaker 1: animal's birthday for unlimited plays. You know, hack the system, 384 00:23:26,080 --> 00:23:28,639 Speaker 1: is what I'm saying. Like the play Cable game lines 385 00:23:28,720 --> 00:23:31,280 Speaker 1: lineup would change month to month, and it would include 386 00:23:31,320 --> 00:23:33,880 Speaker 1: new games as well as, you know, really the most 387 00:23:33,880 --> 00:23:36,400 Speaker 1: popular titles that were on the service. They also put 388 00:23:36,440 --> 00:23:39,240 Speaker 1: out a magazine that informed customers about which titles would 389 00:23:39,240 --> 00:23:42,439 Speaker 1: become available in the upcoming month. Games could be played 390 00:23:42,560 --> 00:23:45,240 Speaker 1: only a limited number of times before they would get 391 00:23:45,320 --> 00:23:48,800 Speaker 1: wiped from memory. At that point, you could choose to 392 00:23:48,880 --> 00:23:51,760 Speaker 1: download the code again or access the code again, but 393 00:23:51,840 --> 00:23:55,040 Speaker 1: it would be for another charge, another fee, and we're 394 00:23:55,080 --> 00:23:59,199 Speaker 1: typically talking about one dollar per title. So for a 395 00:23:59,359 --> 00:24:02,560 Speaker 1: dollar you could play titles on the service for up 396 00:24:02,560 --> 00:24:05,760 Speaker 1: to eight times or so before they would just disappear 397 00:24:06,000 --> 00:24:09,280 Speaker 1: from your cartridge. The instruction manual for the device argued 398 00:24:09,320 --> 00:24:12,879 Speaker 1: that the limit was only on game plays, not the 399 00:24:13,000 --> 00:24:17,040 Speaker 1: time spent while playing, which means if you're really good, 400 00:24:17,480 --> 00:24:20,840 Speaker 1: then you could play all night. Because it doesn't matter 401 00:24:20,880 --> 00:24:23,440 Speaker 1: that it's only for eight plays. You're a master gamer. 402 00:24:23,760 --> 00:24:25,679 Speaker 1: You're going to breeze through this game and have a 403 00:24:25,680 --> 00:24:29,240 Speaker 1: great time, and you're not going to die every three seconds. 404 00:24:29,520 --> 00:24:32,160 Speaker 1: If you were to take a break during your game session, 405 00:24:32,280 --> 00:24:35,800 Speaker 1: the manual stress that you should only turn off your television, 406 00:24:36,080 --> 00:24:39,639 Speaker 1: but not the Atari console, nor should you remove the 407 00:24:39,680 --> 00:24:42,160 Speaker 1: cartridge from the game system or else the play session 408 00:24:42,160 --> 00:24:46,600 Speaker 1: would terminate early before all the plays had been exhausted. Now, 409 00:24:46,600 --> 00:24:49,760 Speaker 1: I'm sure, when compared to arcade machines, which were typically, 410 00:24:49,840 --> 00:24:53,000 Speaker 1: you know, twenty five cents per play, this could seem 411 00:24:53,080 --> 00:24:55,560 Speaker 1: like a bargain. You would get twice as many plays 412 00:24:55,680 --> 00:24:59,080 Speaker 1: as your typical arcade machine for the same amount of money, 413 00:24:59,200 --> 00:25:02,560 Speaker 1: eight plays for a versus four. But then I would 414 00:25:02,600 --> 00:25:04,440 Speaker 1: say for it to be a real bargain, I would 415 00:25:04,520 --> 00:25:07,000 Speaker 1: argue Atari games would have to be at least half 416 00:25:07,040 --> 00:25:09,720 Speaker 1: as good as the kind of games you could find 417 00:25:09,760 --> 00:25:12,760 Speaker 1: in the arcade and as a former Atari twenty six 418 00:25:12,840 --> 00:25:16,080 Speaker 1: hundred owner, I can assure you the Atari games, even 419 00:25:16,119 --> 00:25:18,719 Speaker 1: the really good ones, were not as good as what 420 00:25:18,800 --> 00:25:21,919 Speaker 1: you could find in an arcade. They just weren't, not 421 00:25:22,119 --> 00:25:25,120 Speaker 1: graphically and most of the time not gameplay wise, even 422 00:25:25,119 --> 00:25:28,080 Speaker 1: though there were some true bangers on the Atari twenty 423 00:25:28,119 --> 00:25:30,639 Speaker 1: six hundred. To this day, I think River Raid and 424 00:25:30,760 --> 00:25:34,560 Speaker 1: Pitfall are some of my favorite games for my childhood, 425 00:25:34,760 --> 00:25:36,439 Speaker 1: but I don't think they were better than what you 426 00:25:36,440 --> 00:25:39,920 Speaker 1: could find in the arcade. Now, this company, CBC, had 427 00:25:39,960 --> 00:25:42,720 Speaker 1: some hurdles that were pretty hard to overcome, and one 428 00:25:42,720 --> 00:25:45,600 Speaker 1: of the biggest is that the larger game companies that 429 00:25:45,600 --> 00:25:49,200 Speaker 1: were making titles for the Atari refused to license their 430 00:25:49,240 --> 00:25:53,439 Speaker 1: games to CVC so they could carry those games on 431 00:25:53,480 --> 00:25:56,440 Speaker 1: their service, and this left out a lot of really 432 00:25:56,440 --> 00:26:00,560 Speaker 1: important companies like Atari itself would not sign on. Neither 433 00:26:00,640 --> 00:26:04,280 Speaker 1: did Activision or Mattel or Parker Brothers, and there were 434 00:26:04,280 --> 00:26:06,800 Speaker 1: some others that held out too, and that kept the 435 00:26:06,880 --> 00:26:09,680 Speaker 1: library of games that were available on the game line 436 00:26:09,720 --> 00:26:13,399 Speaker 1: system pretty limited to games that had less appeal. You know, 437 00:26:13,440 --> 00:26:16,320 Speaker 1: these weren't necessarily bad games, although I'm sure there were 438 00:26:16,400 --> 00:26:19,520 Speaker 1: some of those too, but they were not the games 439 00:26:19,560 --> 00:26:23,200 Speaker 1: that had the best marketing and the largest demand among 440 00:26:23,280 --> 00:26:25,760 Speaker 1: Atari twenty six hundred owners, so that was a big 441 00:26:26,160 --> 00:26:29,959 Speaker 1: challenge for game Line. Now, it's possible that these bigger 442 00:26:29,960 --> 00:26:33,679 Speaker 1: companies were working on their own competing service ideas and 443 00:26:33,720 --> 00:26:37,119 Speaker 1: that's why they held out. They didn't want to contribute 444 00:26:37,359 --> 00:26:40,160 Speaker 1: to a company that would then become a competitor. This 445 00:26:40,240 --> 00:26:43,200 Speaker 1: is kind of like the Netflix story. Right when Netflix 446 00:26:43,240 --> 00:26:46,520 Speaker 1: started to stream movies, it started to run into issues 447 00:26:46,600 --> 00:26:51,480 Speaker 1: getting licensing agreements with different studios because the studios would 448 00:26:51,520 --> 00:26:55,320 Speaker 1: prefer to hold out and have their own operated service 449 00:26:55,640 --> 00:26:58,399 Speaker 1: rather than allow their stuff to be carried by a 450 00:26:58,440 --> 00:27:01,520 Speaker 1: potential competitor. But the whole thing would become moot anyway, 451 00:27:01,560 --> 00:27:04,800 Speaker 1: because again, the nineteen eighty three video game crash happened, 452 00:27:05,119 --> 00:27:07,320 Speaker 1: and a lot of the smaller third party companies that 453 00:27:07,320 --> 00:27:10,600 Speaker 1: were creating the titles the game Line was relying upon 454 00:27:10,720 --> 00:27:14,320 Speaker 1: they went belly up. That disaster trickled down to GameLine 455 00:27:14,359 --> 00:27:17,880 Speaker 1: and CVC itself, so the service did not last much longer. 456 00:27:18,119 --> 00:27:20,840 Speaker 1: In fact, you could see why it wouldn't because you 457 00:27:20,920 --> 00:27:25,159 Speaker 1: suddenly had this glut of Atari twenty six hundred cartridges 458 00:27:25,280 --> 00:27:28,560 Speaker 1: on the market and they were at insane markedown prices, 459 00:27:28,920 --> 00:27:31,639 Speaker 1: so you could go out and scoop up a dozen 460 00:27:31,720 --> 00:27:35,359 Speaker 1: or more cartridges for like twenty bucks, and then you 461 00:27:35,359 --> 00:27:37,640 Speaker 1: would have the cartridges, you could play the game as 462 00:27:37,680 --> 00:27:40,199 Speaker 1: many times as you wanted all day, and you wouldn't 463 00:27:40,240 --> 00:27:42,760 Speaker 1: have to worry about spending a dollar on just eight 464 00:27:42,800 --> 00:27:46,720 Speaker 1: plays or whatever. So game Line's business model was entirely 465 00:27:46,800 --> 00:27:50,639 Speaker 1: undercut by this industry crash. Now, that was not the 466 00:27:50,640 --> 00:27:53,720 Speaker 1: fault of CBC, and as time would show, the idea 467 00:27:53,720 --> 00:27:56,679 Speaker 1: of creating a service rather than focusing on just a 468 00:27:56,760 --> 00:28:00,840 Speaker 1: game would continue to be a goal for the industry. Okay, 469 00:28:01,240 --> 00:28:04,480 Speaker 1: we've got so much more to cover. We're going to 470 00:28:04,560 --> 00:28:17,840 Speaker 1: be back after a quick break to thank our sponsors. Okay. 471 00:28:17,840 --> 00:28:20,800 Speaker 1: So that was the sad tale of the play cable 472 00:28:20,880 --> 00:28:24,440 Speaker 1: from in Television and game Line from Atari. But there's 473 00:28:24,480 --> 00:28:28,640 Speaker 1: still more early attempts we could talk about. Nintendo itself 474 00:28:29,080 --> 00:28:32,480 Speaker 1: had such a service. It was called the Stela View 475 00:28:32,800 --> 00:28:36,480 Speaker 1: or Sateleeview, I guess because it's after satellite. But this 476 00:28:36,600 --> 00:28:39,040 Speaker 1: service was only in Japan and it was during the 477 00:28:39,120 --> 00:28:44,880 Speaker 1: Super Nintendo Entertainment System era. Subscribers to the Stelaview service 478 00:28:45,160 --> 00:28:48,479 Speaker 1: would get access to more than one hundred games using 479 00:28:48,520 --> 00:28:52,760 Speaker 1: an SNS Super Nintendo Entertainment System and add on an 480 00:28:52,800 --> 00:28:56,600 Speaker 1: adapter that could access these games via satellite as the 481 00:28:56,680 --> 00:28:59,360 Speaker 1: name suggests, and they could also access other stuff too. 482 00:28:59,400 --> 00:29:02,080 Speaker 1: It wasn't just games. You could actually use your SNS 483 00:29:02,200 --> 00:29:05,360 Speaker 1: to do stuff like read magazine articles and other media, 484 00:29:05,560 --> 00:29:08,560 Speaker 1: which is kind of cool, Like it really predates the 485 00:29:08,640 --> 00:29:13,120 Speaker 1: era of consoles, video game consoles becoming media centers, right. 486 00:29:13,320 --> 00:29:17,800 Speaker 1: Microsoft really stressed that when the Xbox three sixty came out, 487 00:29:18,160 --> 00:29:20,800 Speaker 1: really the Xbox One, I should say the Xbox One 488 00:29:20,920 --> 00:29:24,080 Speaker 1: was where the media center stuff really became front and center, 489 00:29:24,120 --> 00:29:27,160 Speaker 1: to the point where Microsoft kind of alienated the gaming 490 00:29:27,320 --> 00:29:32,080 Speaker 1: crowd as a result of that. Anyway, the teleview service 491 00:29:32,160 --> 00:29:35,720 Speaker 1: only lasted a few years before Nintendo withdrew support for 492 00:29:35,800 --> 00:29:39,800 Speaker 1: it due to some corporate shenanigans between it and a 493 00:29:39,840 --> 00:29:43,080 Speaker 1: company called st Giga or I don't know if it's 494 00:29:43,120 --> 00:29:46,800 Speaker 1: Saint Giga, but it is big S, little t period, 495 00:29:47,160 --> 00:29:50,840 Speaker 1: all caps Giga. Anyway, this company operated the actual satellite 496 00:29:50,840 --> 00:29:55,920 Speaker 1: service and Nintendo in this company got into some corporate 497 00:29:55,960 --> 00:30:00,320 Speaker 1: disagreements and ultimately Nintendo decided that it was done, and 498 00:30:00,760 --> 00:30:04,520 Speaker 1: once it left, Giga continued to operate the service for 499 00:30:04,560 --> 00:30:08,760 Speaker 1: a little while, but without Nintendo's support it was unsustainable. 500 00:30:09,040 --> 00:30:12,400 Speaker 1: So apparently, even before this corporate relationship soured between the 501 00:30:12,440 --> 00:30:15,480 Speaker 1: two companies, the service had a pretty limited rollout. I 502 00:30:15,560 --> 00:30:18,480 Speaker 1: mean again, it was just in Japan, it wasn't outside 503 00:30:18,520 --> 00:30:22,800 Speaker 1: of that market, and it was an expensive subscription, so 504 00:30:23,680 --> 00:30:26,600 Speaker 1: you know, not that many gamers were necessarily in a 505 00:30:26,640 --> 00:30:29,400 Speaker 1: position where they could even subscribe in the first place. 506 00:30:29,520 --> 00:30:31,240 Speaker 1: And it also came to a time when the next 507 00:30:31,280 --> 00:30:34,800 Speaker 1: generation of consoles was coming out, So why would you 508 00:30:34,840 --> 00:30:39,120 Speaker 1: spend more money to play games on the previous generation's 509 00:30:39,160 --> 00:30:43,120 Speaker 1: consoles when a new one is right on the horizon. Meanwhile, 510 00:30:43,240 --> 00:30:47,080 Speaker 1: competitor Sega created a service that harkened back to the 511 00:30:47,120 --> 00:30:51,640 Speaker 1: play cable system from in television. They introduced the Sega Channel. 512 00:30:51,960 --> 00:30:54,920 Speaker 1: So like the play Cable service, the Sega Channel relied 513 00:30:55,000 --> 00:30:59,120 Speaker 1: upon the cooperation of cable television carriers and Sega Genesis 514 00:30:59,160 --> 00:31:02,720 Speaker 1: owners could use an adapter to connect to this service 515 00:31:02,960 --> 00:31:07,240 Speaker 1: through their cable provider, so each month, players would be 516 00:31:07,320 --> 00:31:10,840 Speaker 1: able to try out somewhere between fifty and seventy titles 517 00:31:10,880 --> 00:31:14,280 Speaker 1: a month as options. Various sources disagree on exactly how 518 00:31:14,280 --> 00:31:16,800 Speaker 1: many titles were available, so I can't give you a 519 00:31:16,840 --> 00:31:20,040 Speaker 1: firm number. I saw one that said, definitively it was 520 00:31:20,080 --> 00:31:23,840 Speaker 1: seventy and another that said, definitively it was fifty. Whether 521 00:31:24,320 --> 00:31:26,360 Speaker 1: these are both true and at different times it was 522 00:31:26,400 --> 00:31:29,360 Speaker 1: different numbers, I don't know, because I never had a 523 00:31:29,400 --> 00:31:33,920 Speaker 1: Sega Genesis, but these games changed out month to month. However, 524 00:31:34,400 --> 00:31:37,719 Speaker 1: the timing on this launch was terrible because the Sega 525 00:31:37,760 --> 00:31:41,720 Speaker 1: Saturn debuted essentially the year after Sega Channel went live, 526 00:31:42,200 --> 00:31:45,160 Speaker 1: and since the Sega Channel was for the Sega Genesis, 527 00:31:45,200 --> 00:31:49,200 Speaker 1: the previous generations console, that was not ideal. Plus, the 528 00:31:49,200 --> 00:31:52,800 Speaker 1: subscription fee was something like fifteen dollars a month, and 529 00:31:52,840 --> 00:31:55,360 Speaker 1: there was a twenty five dollars activation fee at the 530 00:31:55,440 --> 00:31:58,640 Speaker 1: very beginning anyway, so not that many gamers were eager 531 00:31:58,680 --> 00:32:01,680 Speaker 1: to spend a recurring fifteen dollars a month to play 532 00:32:01,720 --> 00:32:05,080 Speaker 1: games on the previous generation hardware. So just a few 533 00:32:05,120 --> 00:32:08,880 Speaker 1: years after its debut, the Sega Channel fizzled out. The 534 00:32:08,920 --> 00:32:12,760 Speaker 1: strategy for the services I mentioned so far mostly revolved 535 00:32:12,800 --> 00:32:16,320 Speaker 1: around granting players access to games that otherwise they could 536 00:32:16,400 --> 00:32:19,720 Speaker 1: just go outside and buy right like. These were games 537 00:32:19,760 --> 00:32:23,959 Speaker 1: that also existed in cartridge or disc form so you 538 00:32:24,000 --> 00:32:26,520 Speaker 1: could go to your store and buy a copy. So 539 00:32:26,600 --> 00:32:29,720 Speaker 1: really these were for people who wanted to try out 540 00:32:29,800 --> 00:32:33,880 Speaker 1: games but didn't necessarily have the money to commit to 541 00:32:34,520 --> 00:32:37,440 Speaker 1: making a full on purchase. It was really a lot 542 00:32:37,480 --> 00:32:40,120 Speaker 1: like the video rental model, you know, where you would 543 00:32:40,160 --> 00:32:42,960 Speaker 1: go to a place like like Blockbuster and rent a 544 00:32:43,000 --> 00:32:45,200 Speaker 1: movie as opposed to going out and buying a copy 545 00:32:45,240 --> 00:32:47,800 Speaker 1: of it, because you know, you didn't have to go 546 00:32:47,840 --> 00:32:51,040 Speaker 1: and get a physical copy of that and purchase it. 547 00:32:51,120 --> 00:32:53,040 Speaker 1: You didn't even need a physical copy at all. You 548 00:32:53,080 --> 00:32:56,120 Speaker 1: would just download the stuff onto the memory of the 549 00:32:56,240 --> 00:33:00,240 Speaker 1: adapter or whatever. But then we would see developers move 550 00:33:00,240 --> 00:33:03,680 Speaker 1: to create games specifically to tap into a recurring subscription 551 00:33:03,840 --> 00:33:08,920 Speaker 1: revenue stream and bypass the whole physical copy or having 552 00:33:08,920 --> 00:33:12,840 Speaker 1: it being available in some other format entirely. They said, well, 553 00:33:13,160 --> 00:33:16,280 Speaker 1: this model is going to work, but only if we're 554 00:33:16,320 --> 00:33:18,880 Speaker 1: not making it an alternative to just going out and 555 00:33:18,960 --> 00:33:22,160 Speaker 1: buying the game. So we're going to change tracks a 556 00:33:22,200 --> 00:33:26,600 Speaker 1: little bit, because subscription service and live service these are 557 00:33:26,600 --> 00:33:30,720 Speaker 1: two terms that are related, but they're not necessarily synonymous. 558 00:33:31,000 --> 00:33:34,000 Speaker 1: I want to first mention a game called Air Warrior, 559 00:33:34,240 --> 00:33:37,280 Speaker 1: which I had never heard about until I had researched 560 00:33:37,360 --> 00:33:42,000 Speaker 1: this topic. Air Warrior was a flight combat simulator game 561 00:33:42,040 --> 00:33:45,640 Speaker 1: released by a company called Kesmi in nineteen eighty seven. 562 00:33:46,040 --> 00:33:50,800 Speaker 1: You could argue this was an early MMOG with actual graphics. 563 00:33:50,800 --> 00:33:55,760 Speaker 1: So MMO stands for massively multiplayer online and g stands 564 00:33:55,760 --> 00:33:58,320 Speaker 1: for game. And there's a lot of different MMOs. Right, 565 00:33:58,360 --> 00:34:01,640 Speaker 1: There's MMO RP, which I would argue are probably the 566 00:34:01,640 --> 00:34:06,719 Speaker 1: most famous massively multiplayer online role playing games, but there 567 00:34:06,760 --> 00:34:09,760 Speaker 1: are a lot of games that are massively multiplayer online games. 568 00:34:10,000 --> 00:34:12,520 Speaker 1: The case with Air Warrior was, you know, it was 569 00:34:12,560 --> 00:34:15,960 Speaker 1: a game with very primitive graphics. It actually had graphics. 570 00:34:16,520 --> 00:34:19,480 Speaker 1: It was an early MMO that had graphics that was 571 00:34:19,520 --> 00:34:22,880 Speaker 1: pretty incredible. And this is in the late nineteen eighties 572 00:34:22,920 --> 00:34:26,960 Speaker 1: where not many people even had dial up modems at 573 00:34:27,000 --> 00:34:30,040 Speaker 1: that point, and those who did often had dial up 574 00:34:30,080 --> 00:34:32,920 Speaker 1: modems that had a pretty low bad rate, which meant 575 00:34:33,280 --> 00:34:37,360 Speaker 1: you couldn't make a really, you know, deeply sophisticated game. 576 00:34:37,520 --> 00:34:41,480 Speaker 1: It just wouldn't be a good experience because the transmission 577 00:34:41,520 --> 00:34:44,080 Speaker 1: speeds would be far too low. So this was like 578 00:34:44,360 --> 00:34:49,680 Speaker 1: a monochromatic wire frame air combat simulator. The eighties saw 579 00:34:49,719 --> 00:34:54,359 Speaker 1: some really early MMOs besides Air Warrior. Ones that came 580 00:34:54,400 --> 00:34:57,600 Speaker 1: out before Air Warrior, but those were text based, so 581 00:34:57,640 --> 00:35:00,759 Speaker 1: they were often dungeon crawlers called MUDs, which stands for 582 00:35:00,920 --> 00:35:05,320 Speaker 1: multi User dungeon. These are descendants of early text based 583 00:35:05,400 --> 00:35:09,280 Speaker 1: computer games, stuff like the Old Old Old Zork series 584 00:35:09,400 --> 00:35:13,880 Speaker 1: or Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy or Leather Goddess of Phobos. 585 00:35:13,920 --> 00:35:15,799 Speaker 1: Those are the ones I think of when I think 586 00:35:15,800 --> 00:35:19,200 Speaker 1: of the text based adventure games. Air Warrior was different. 587 00:35:19,239 --> 00:35:22,200 Speaker 1: It was a game with real but primitive graphics, and 588 00:35:22,239 --> 00:35:24,719 Speaker 1: to play Air Warrior, gamers had to subscribe to a 589 00:35:24,800 --> 00:35:28,200 Speaker 1: service and they paid a fee of around eleven dollars 590 00:35:28,239 --> 00:35:31,880 Speaker 1: an hour to play this game online. So there was 591 00:35:31,960 --> 00:35:36,040 Speaker 1: a dedicated but small fan base for this game, not 592 00:35:36,120 --> 00:35:39,000 Speaker 1: really surprising considering the limitations of the game and the 593 00:35:39,080 --> 00:35:42,839 Speaker 1: expense that went along with it. The first computer role 594 00:35:42,880 --> 00:35:47,200 Speaker 1: playing game to really tap into this model was arguably 595 00:35:47,400 --> 00:35:52,960 Speaker 1: Never Winter Nights. This debuted as part of America Online's offerings. 596 00:35:53,040 --> 00:35:56,879 Speaker 1: So AOL's business model was essentially to charge users by 597 00:35:56,920 --> 00:36:01,640 Speaker 1: the hour for accessing online services. So it benefited the 598 00:36:01,680 --> 00:36:05,920 Speaker 1: company to create features on their service that were compelling 599 00:36:06,000 --> 00:36:08,840 Speaker 1: and you know, sticky for lack of a better word, 600 00:36:09,040 --> 00:36:11,719 Speaker 1: It's really not that different from how social platforms like 601 00:36:11,760 --> 00:36:16,520 Speaker 1: TikTok and Facebook use algorithmic strategies to keep people on 602 00:36:16,680 --> 00:36:19,680 Speaker 1: those apps for as long as possible to drive engagement. 603 00:36:19,800 --> 00:36:23,400 Speaker 1: It's the same idea, what can we offer that is 604 00:36:23,520 --> 00:36:27,200 Speaker 1: compelling to our customers so that they keep using our 605 00:36:27,239 --> 00:36:30,399 Speaker 1: services and drive up the amount of money they owe 606 00:36:30,440 --> 00:36:35,040 Speaker 1: us in that per hour charging. So Never Winter Nights 607 00:36:35,080 --> 00:36:37,400 Speaker 1: was part of this strategy. It was based off the 608 00:36:37,440 --> 00:36:41,120 Speaker 1: Forbidden Realms mythology of the Dungeons and Dragons game. It 609 00:36:41,200 --> 00:36:44,200 Speaker 1: also followed in the footsteps of some computer role playing 610 00:36:44,239 --> 00:36:48,480 Speaker 1: games or CRPGs, not Internet based ones, but just computer 611 00:36:48,560 --> 00:36:51,600 Speaker 1: based ones, like Pool of Radiance. By the way, that 612 00:36:51,680 --> 00:36:53,839 Speaker 1: was one of my favorite games as a kid. Pool 613 00:36:53,880 --> 00:36:57,480 Speaker 1: of Radiance I thought was a truly brilliant adaptation of 614 00:36:57,600 --> 00:37:02,239 Speaker 1: Dungeons and Dragons rules andthologies, and I loved playing it. 615 00:37:02,520 --> 00:37:07,160 Speaker 1: AOL initially introduced two different tiers of pricing for game 616 00:37:07,239 --> 00:37:10,160 Speaker 1: sessions on Never Winter Nights. If it was during an 617 00:37:10,200 --> 00:37:13,279 Speaker 1: off peak hour, you would be expected to pay five 618 00:37:13,320 --> 00:37:16,520 Speaker 1: dollars an hour. For play sessions during peak service, that 619 00:37:16,560 --> 00:37:19,800 Speaker 1: would double to ten dollars an hour in order to 620 00:37:19,840 --> 00:37:22,960 Speaker 1: be able to play this game. Later on, AOL would 621 00:37:23,000 --> 00:37:26,160 Speaker 1: switch the game to be a free to play option 622 00:37:26,680 --> 00:37:30,000 Speaker 1: in the overall subscription service of AOL, so you didn't 623 00:37:30,040 --> 00:37:32,640 Speaker 1: have to pay extra just to play this game. It 624 00:37:32,680 --> 00:37:35,319 Speaker 1: was part of the overall offering, and that moved to 625 00:37:35,320 --> 00:37:37,080 Speaker 1: free to play is also something we would see a 626 00:37:37,120 --> 00:37:40,280 Speaker 1: lot more of in the next decade and a half 627 00:37:40,360 --> 00:37:44,400 Speaker 1: or two decades or actually three. I am in denial 628 00:37:44,440 --> 00:37:48,440 Speaker 1: about how long ago the nineteen nineties were because to 629 00:37:48,520 --> 00:37:52,560 Speaker 1: think about it is really disheartening when I realized how 630 00:37:52,719 --> 00:37:55,240 Speaker 1: much of my life was in the nineties a decade. 631 00:37:55,480 --> 00:37:58,640 Speaker 1: As it would turn out anyway, Never Winter Nights would 632 00:37:58,960 --> 00:38:02,919 Speaker 1: would sun at by the late nineties. It didn't stick 633 00:38:02,960 --> 00:38:07,680 Speaker 1: around forever. Obviously, AOL itself transformed quite a bit throughout 634 00:38:07,719 --> 00:38:10,680 Speaker 1: the nineties, so it is no longer an active thing. 635 00:38:10,719 --> 00:38:14,080 Speaker 1: There would be other games with the name Never Winter Nights, 636 00:38:14,120 --> 00:38:19,440 Speaker 1: but they are not directly connected to this early MMO RPG. Also, 637 00:38:19,480 --> 00:38:23,320 Speaker 1: it wasn't initially that massive, you know, the two MS 638 00:38:23,840 --> 00:38:27,840 Speaker 1: Stanford massively multiplayer, and at least initially Never Winter Nights. 639 00:38:28,160 --> 00:38:31,239 Speaker 1: While multiplayer was not massive, I think the servers were 640 00:38:31,239 --> 00:38:35,440 Speaker 1: limited to around fifty players at a time. Later on, 641 00:38:35,560 --> 00:38:38,440 Speaker 1: I think it expanded, but it didn't start out as 642 00:38:38,480 --> 00:38:44,359 Speaker 1: being truly massive, despite getting the name MMO RPG. But yeah, never. 643 00:38:44,400 --> 00:38:49,200 Speaker 1: Winter Nights was an early example, and other MMORPGs would follow. 644 00:38:49,360 --> 00:38:53,160 Speaker 1: There was Meridian fifty nine that was the first MMOORPG 645 00:38:53,320 --> 00:38:56,520 Speaker 1: with graphics rendered as three dimensional objects instead of just 646 00:38:56,560 --> 00:39:00,960 Speaker 1: two D icons or sprites. Meridian fifty was a game 647 00:39:01,080 --> 00:39:03,920 Speaker 1: that had a flat rate subscription fee, so you didn't 648 00:39:03,920 --> 00:39:06,839 Speaker 1: pay by the hour, you paid by the month, and 649 00:39:07,000 --> 00:39:09,760 Speaker 1: the servers from Ridy and fifty nine were also limited. 650 00:39:09,800 --> 00:39:13,359 Speaker 1: They could support fifty players per server, so you could 651 00:39:13,440 --> 00:39:17,240 Speaker 1: argue the first M didn't really apply for that one either. Also, 652 00:39:17,480 --> 00:39:20,040 Speaker 1: if the server you wanted to play on was really popular, 653 00:39:20,280 --> 00:39:23,160 Speaker 1: you would find yourself unable to connect, which could be 654 00:39:23,160 --> 00:39:25,600 Speaker 1: really frustrating. You'd have to just keep trying and hope 655 00:39:25,640 --> 00:39:30,240 Speaker 1: that someone had either quit their play session or lost 656 00:39:30,239 --> 00:39:32,640 Speaker 1: a connection, and you just take it. But yeah, it 657 00:39:32,719 --> 00:39:35,399 Speaker 1: was a somewhat of a limited experience and it would 658 00:39:35,480 --> 00:39:38,840 Speaker 1: only last for a few years before Sunsetting as well. 659 00:39:39,040 --> 00:39:43,600 Speaker 1: Lots more MMORPGs would follow. Ultima Online was a big one. 660 00:39:43,719 --> 00:39:46,560 Speaker 1: I actually remember when Ultima Online launched because I was 661 00:39:46,600 --> 00:39:49,640 Speaker 1: at a convention and Richard Garriott, the guy who created 662 00:39:49,680 --> 00:39:53,080 Speaker 1: the Ultimate series, was there and was introducing people to 663 00:39:53,200 --> 00:39:56,800 Speaker 1: an early build of Ultima Online. So they had an 664 00:39:56,880 --> 00:40:00,480 Speaker 1: instance running where we got a chance to kind of 665 00:40:00,600 --> 00:40:03,239 Speaker 1: just see where the game was in development. It was 666 00:40:03,280 --> 00:40:06,000 Speaker 1: an incredible experience because usually you don't get that kind 667 00:40:06,000 --> 00:40:08,920 Speaker 1: of insight. That's a really rare thing unless you happen 668 00:40:08,960 --> 00:40:11,719 Speaker 1: to be, you know, someone who's already in the industry. 669 00:40:11,920 --> 00:40:15,120 Speaker 1: Otherwise you just don't get that kind of access. EverQuest 670 00:40:15,200 --> 00:40:19,480 Speaker 1: was a really big, popular early MMO RPG that depended 671 00:40:19,520 --> 00:40:23,560 Speaker 1: upon the subscription service. EverQuest two would continue that, but 672 00:40:23,640 --> 00:40:27,719 Speaker 1: the powerhouse of the entire industry was World of Warcraft 673 00:40:27,800 --> 00:40:31,480 Speaker 1: and still is World of Warcraft that's still going on today. Obviously, 674 00:40:32,000 --> 00:40:35,000 Speaker 1: games of this nature didn't stop with World of Warcraft. 675 00:40:35,000 --> 00:40:37,319 Speaker 1: It's not like that came out and then you'd never 676 00:40:37,360 --> 00:40:41,919 Speaker 1: heard about any other MMO RPG. There are others out there. 677 00:40:42,040 --> 00:40:44,440 Speaker 1: You know, there's Fallout seventy six, which is just you know, 678 00:40:44,480 --> 00:40:47,600 Speaker 1: a few years old at this point, Elder Scrolls Online, 679 00:40:47,800 --> 00:40:53,600 Speaker 1: Final Fantasy fourteen, a Realm Reborn, and tons of others exist. 680 00:40:53,920 --> 00:40:56,080 Speaker 1: So those games go on and on, with the idea 681 00:40:56,120 --> 00:41:00,359 Speaker 1: being that players will occasionally get new content that keeps 682 00:41:00,400 --> 00:41:03,560 Speaker 1: them invested in the gameplay, and in return, they will 683 00:41:03,600 --> 00:41:06,640 Speaker 1: continue to subscribe to the service, or, in the case 684 00:41:06,640 --> 00:41:09,400 Speaker 1: of free to play games, they will be tempted to 685 00:41:09,440 --> 00:41:13,200 Speaker 1: spend real world money on things that will enhance their 686 00:41:13,360 --> 00:41:18,320 Speaker 1: online experience in some way, and that prospect would find 687 00:41:18,560 --> 00:41:22,560 Speaker 1: its way into other kinds of games outside of RPGs. 688 00:41:22,840 --> 00:41:25,760 Speaker 1: It would also be boosted by a trend toward requiring 689 00:41:25,800 --> 00:41:28,960 Speaker 1: players to have a persistent Internet connection in order to 690 00:41:29,000 --> 00:41:32,600 Speaker 1: play the game at all, even a game that did 691 00:41:32,600 --> 00:41:37,040 Speaker 1: not have some sort of online component to it, and 692 00:41:37,160 --> 00:41:41,040 Speaker 1: that would complicate things. We'll pick up there in our 693 00:41:41,080 --> 00:41:44,279 Speaker 1: next episode to continue to talk about games as a 694 00:41:44,320 --> 00:41:47,520 Speaker 1: service and live service games and why this move is 695 00:41:47,640 --> 00:41:50,359 Speaker 1: changing the industry. A lot of people feel that it's 696 00:41:50,440 --> 00:41:53,960 Speaker 1: changing the industry for the worst, that it's not it's 697 00:41:54,040 --> 00:41:57,480 Speaker 1: not a good thing. And certainly there are practices within 698 00:41:57,960 --> 00:42:04,759 Speaker 1: live service games that are predatory and exploitative and just 699 00:42:05,320 --> 00:42:09,200 Speaker 1: not good for the consumer, and they tend to feel 700 00:42:09,360 --> 00:42:13,560 Speaker 1: very cynical and crass and short sighted. But there are 701 00:42:13,600 --> 00:42:17,719 Speaker 1: also ways of doing live service games that even if Ultimately, 702 00:42:17,760 --> 00:42:20,759 Speaker 1: you're talking about ways to continue to generate revenue from 703 00:42:20,760 --> 00:42:24,799 Speaker 1: your game. Don't feel predatory. So we're going to talk 704 00:42:24,840 --> 00:42:28,000 Speaker 1: more about this in our next episode. We've got plenty 705 00:42:28,000 --> 00:42:31,440 Speaker 1: of other examples to talk about, and developments and evolution 706 00:42:31,719 --> 00:42:35,680 Speaker 1: of the business model to take into consideration to kind 707 00:42:35,719 --> 00:42:38,000 Speaker 1: of see how we got to where we are now 708 00:42:38,320 --> 00:42:41,920 Speaker 1: and why some people in the industry say stay alive 709 00:42:42,040 --> 00:42:45,680 Speaker 1: till twenty five, meaning twenty twenty five, because twenty twenty 710 00:42:45,760 --> 00:42:50,920 Speaker 1: four so far has been a really tough and scary 711 00:42:51,040 --> 00:42:55,160 Speaker 1: year for people in the games industry. Okay, we're going 712 00:42:55,239 --> 00:42:57,440 Speaker 1: to wrap up here for now. We'll be back on 713 00:42:57,520 --> 00:43:00,719 Speaker 1: Wednesday to talk more about this. And I hope all 714 00:43:00,760 --> 00:43:03,200 Speaker 1: of you out there are well. I hope none of 715 00:43:03,239 --> 00:43:09,040 Speaker 1: you are struggling with any concerns about your living because 716 00:43:09,160 --> 00:43:12,040 Speaker 1: I've been there and it sucks, and I hope that's 717 00:43:12,080 --> 00:43:15,480 Speaker 1: not the case for you. I hope you're flourishing and 718 00:43:15,560 --> 00:43:18,640 Speaker 1: doing way better than I am, because I want to 719 00:43:18,640 --> 00:43:22,480 Speaker 1: see y'all succeed and to just have a wonderful life. 720 00:43:22,840 --> 00:43:26,520 Speaker 1: That's my desire. Because I'm a SAP. That's it for me. 721 00:43:27,160 --> 00:43:36,719 Speaker 1: I'll talk to you again really soon. Tech Stuff is 722 00:43:36,760 --> 00:43:41,319 Speaker 1: an iHeartRadio production. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the 723 00:43:41,360 --> 00:43:45,000 Speaker 1: iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your 724 00:43:45,040 --> 00:43:49,280 Speaker 1: favorite shows.