Every successful indie game dev ever would have probably never had their names known in a world where Epic games could just take their work and resell it on their platform.
But here’s the thing: When you can find everything pirated (doubly so in this hypothetical no-IP world), why would you buy a game if not to support the developers? If the developers aren’t getting money either way, there’s no merit to buying off an alternative platform compared to piracy.
Counter-question: Why would you buy it? Why would they even make it while starving?
Developers get paid now. Turning that into a creator economy reliant on donations is silly.
I admit it is a fun mental excersize to imagine a world where corporations would struggle to monetize something, but I think it’s wholly unrealistic given distribution has costs.
For the same reason anyone buys games now: Because they believe developers deserve compensation for their work and/or to support the devs. Anyone who doesn’t think so can and does already pirate, and the thriving indie dev industry is thriving despite the existence of a completely free alternative.
Why would they even make it while starving?
Because they believe they can make money. See above for why they’d think so.
Turning that into a creator economy reliant on donations is silly.
That’s pretty much what it already is. Anyone who doesn’t want to pay can get the game in question without paying; it’s just that plenty of people do decide to pay despite the existence of this option. I mean, hell, pretty much any game you coild possibly want exists on any of the dozens of pirated game sites. It’s impossible for anauthorized corporate resales to even attempt to compete with this.
Point being: If you’re an indie game dev who is able to make money from their games, you’re making that money because your players support you and want you to succeed snd make more games, not because state violence has successfully restricted access to channels that will mske you money. Therefore, an increase in channels that don’t mske you money wouldn’t compete with channels that do make you money, because making you money isn’t a coincidence; it’s the whole point.
Indie game Devs who make money do so because people like their games, and that’s it. Mediocre games get no money even if the Devs are very nice and good people.
Personally I feel your idea pushes people to sell the “studio”, the “Devs” etc like stars, instead of selling “the game”.
Indie game Devs who make money do so because people like their games, and that’s it.
I mean, that’s true but it doesn’t contradict what I said. “I like this game” -> “I want the people who made this game to succeed and make more games” and/or “the people who made this game deserve compensation for their work” -> “I should buy this game rather than pirate it” is how the logic goes. I mean, you’ll see this in any indie game fandom.
Yes and true, but I doubt it is enough to sustain a developer team nowadays (with the exception of the rare outlier). It’s already hard even with money from big distributors.
Not really,
Every successful indie game dev ever would have probably never had their names known in a world where Epic games could just take their work and resell it on their platform.
But here’s the thing: When you can find everything pirated (doubly so in this hypothetical no-IP world), why would you buy a game if not to support the developers? If the developers aren’t getting money either way, there’s no merit to buying off an alternative platform compared to piracy.
Counter-question: Why would you buy it? Why would they even make it while starving?
Developers get paid now. Turning that into a creator economy reliant on donations is silly.
I admit it is a fun mental excersize to imagine a world where corporations would struggle to monetize something, but I think it’s wholly unrealistic given distribution has costs.
For the same reason anyone buys games now: Because they believe developers deserve compensation for their work and/or to support the devs. Anyone who doesn’t think so can and does already pirate, and the thriving indie dev industry is thriving despite the existence of a completely free alternative.
Because they believe they can make money. See above for why they’d think so.
That’s pretty much what it already is. Anyone who doesn’t want to pay can get the game in question without paying; it’s just that plenty of people do decide to pay despite the existence of this option. I mean, hell, pretty much any game you coild possibly want exists on any of the dozens of pirated game sites. It’s impossible for anauthorized corporate resales to even attempt to compete with this.
Point being: If you’re an indie game dev who is able to make money from their games, you’re making that money because your players support you and want you to succeed snd make more games, not because state violence has successfully restricted access to channels that will mske you money. Therefore, an increase in channels that don’t mske you money wouldn’t compete with channels that do make you money, because making you money isn’t a coincidence; it’s the whole point.
Indie game Devs who make money do so because people like their games, and that’s it. Mediocre games get no money even if the Devs are very nice and good people.
Personally I feel your idea pushes people to sell the “studio”, the “Devs” etc like stars, instead of selling “the game”.
I mean, that’s true but it doesn’t contradict what I said. “I like this game” -> “I want the people who made this game to succeed and make more games” and/or “the people who made this game deserve compensation for their work” -> “I should buy this game rather than pirate it” is how the logic goes. I mean, you’ll see this in any indie game fandom.
Yes and true, but I doubt it is enough to sustain a developer team nowadays (with the exception of the rare outlier). It’s already hard even with money from big distributors.