I’m a software developer, so I simply empathise with the position

I understand that “half caf” is supposed to be one-eye-asleep and one-eye-awake, but to me he instead gives the impression of being in that intensely pissed-off zone where he wants to drink coffee and is gagging for a full strength cup, but he’s been having heart palpitations recently and his doctor advised him to cut back and he promised his wife that he would but it’s Monday and there’s so much fucking work to get done but there’s this stupid two hour meeting and don’t even fucking dare talking to me about your bullshit Karen or I’m going to fucking snap I swear to God

No idea if that specifically is related.

But a lot of fields have convention of ranking A,B,C,D etc with A being better just because it’s the top/first.

The line has to go up.

More engagement = more views = more ads = more money for the shareholders

Doesn’t matter how that engagement is generated, whether it’s human content or AI trash.

Late stage capitalism is hell.

Exactly this, it’s a within-industry term that has leaked out to members of the public. It simply means “we put a lot of money into this, and we expect to make a lot back (for our investors)”

As for where the ‘A’ terminology came from then that itself is likely a reuse of other entertainment industry terms.

In the old days when you released a record album, you’d put the best tracks on the ‘A’ side and the less popular ones on the ‘B’ side.

Similarly, we talk about ‘A-list’ celebrities abs ‘B-list’ celebrities, and use the term ‘B-movies.’ to denote low budget.

And so what happens wben something gets “bigger and better than A?” Well, you just add more A’s!

Most space probes try not to get too close to the Sun, because it’s extremely hot [citation needed]

“Not a retro company,” but yet the stated “something new” is all about reviving classic IPs.

Maybe try building some new IPs, if you really want to be new.