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Google’s ‘Project Hug’ paid out huge sums to keep game devs in the Play Store

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Re: Google’s ‘Project Hug’ paid out huge sums to keep game devs in the Play Store

#461

Post by ZoomerCretin »

echelon wrote: post #451
ZoomerCretin wrote: post #417

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You’re missing the point entirely. Microsoft monopolizes all Xbox stores. Sony monopolizes all Playstation stores. Nintendo monopolizes all Switch stores.

But I can buy the same game on all three major consoles. Plus PC. Plus Steam, GOG, Humble, Epic (where I can get it free), or even pirate it with little trouble (if I didn't have qualms with the ethics). None of these stores do my email, dating, finance, math, fitness, banking, web. They're not fitting the computer role like laptops and smartphones. Games are toys and have lots of healthy competition. Smartphones are…

>But I can buy the same game on all three major consoles. Plus PC. Plus Steam, GOG, Humble, Epic (where I can get it free), or even pirate it with little trouble (if I didn't have qualms with the ethics).

You're still missing the point. There is no way to buy a game for Xbox without going through Microsoft's official channels and giving them their huge cut. There is no way to buy a game for Playstation without going through Sony's official channels and giving them their huge cut. There is no way to buy a game for Switch without going through Nintendo's official channels and giving them their huge cut.

Being able to buy the same game on different consoles is immaterial. The stores themselves are the monopoly.

>None of these stores do my email, dating, finance, math, fitness, banking, web. They're not fitting the computer role like laptops and smartphones.

What difference does this make? If they did these things, would it suddenly matter that the only way to get software onto this platform was to give 30% of revenue to the console manufacturer?

Re: Google’s ‘Project Hug’ paid out huge sums to keep game devs in the Play Store

#463

Post by pjmlp »

IncRnd wrote: post #457
pjmlp wrote: post #432

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Which they are not.

As it turns out, they are. [1] [1] https://www.statista.com/statistics/266572/market-share-held...

You have 45% phones to chose from.

Re: Google’s ‘Project Hug’ paid out huge sums to keep game devs in the Play Store

#464

Post by TeeMassive »

depressedpanda wrote: post #365
TeeMassive wrote: post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've once worked for a large corporation that got hit hard by antitrust. Think a few tens of billions of dollars. Why? A seller was caught giving freebies if they bought their products. That's it. That's all it took. I know because due to that incident we had to follow online formation every god damn month about antitrust. You don't have to have a "monopoly" to trigger antitrust legislation. The mere mention of "deal…

What Apple and Google are doing is a lot worse than handing out freebies. Why aren't they getting hit hard by antitrust?

That was my point.

Re: Google’s ‘Project Hug’ paid out huge sums to keep game devs in the Play Store

#465

Post by IncRnd »

pjmlp wrote: post #463
IncRnd wrote: post #457

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As it turns out, they are. [1] [1] https://www.statista.com/statistics/266572/market-share-held...

You have 45% phones to chose from.

That's another switch of the goal posts. Clearly, any brand with 50% or more is considered dominant.

Re: Google’s ‘Project Hug’ paid out huge sums to keep game devs in the Play Store

#466

Post by hnlmorg »

41209 wrote: post #448
hnlmorg wrote: post #404

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I see the exact same duopoly as in Apple-Google world. There's Sony and Microsoft(with no independent app stores). Nintendo isn't in the same market as the other two. Nintendo might be a running joke amongst hardcore gamers but ironically they're the most successful console manufacturer out there. The Switch is going from strength to strength and I'd estimate it will outsell the Playstation 4 before Nintendo retire…

I consider myself a hardcore gamer, but I'm still buying an OLED Switch later this year. If anything 'hardcore' gamers are more likely to buy a switch since they'll be deeply invested in certain franchises, vs a causal gamers who would be on IPhone

There's a massive difference between gamers who don't have 200 hours a month to invest in the latest AAA title and people who are just as happy playing Candy Crush. This is the genius of the Switch: it's accessible enough that casual gamers are happy to take a punt, while still having enough content on there to satisfy some of the more hardcore gamers too. But don't mistake it as a device aimed specifically for hardcore gamers, if anything it's more of a joke to many of them due to older generation titles (like Skyrim) getting re-released and often with worse graphics yet sold for £50 while the same game is available on other platforms for <£10. This mocking gets said time and time again by some serious gamers.

Re: Google’s ‘Project Hug’ paid out huge sums to keep game devs in the Play Store

#467

Post by hnlmorg »

ZoomerCretin wrote: post #417
hnlmorg wrote: post #404

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I see the exact same duopoly as in Apple-Google world. There's Sony and Microsoft(with no independent app stores). Nintendo isn't in the same market as the other two. Nintendo might be a running joke amongst hardcore gamers but ironically they're the most successful console manufacturer out there. The Switch is going from strength to strength and I'd estimate it will outsell the Playstation 4 before Nintendo retire…

You’re missing the point entirely. Microsoft monopolizes all Xbox stores. Sony monopolizes all Playstation stores. Nintendo monopolizes all Switch stores.

The argument of Sony and Microsoft not allowing 3rd party stores on their consoles is an open and shut case. There's no discussion needed there. Everyone already acknowledges that's the case. So the conversion moved on to a more interesting topic: whether Sony and Microsoft have a duopoly. The GP claimed they did and I was making the point that they don't.

The confusion here is you're reading my comment thinking we're discussing a different topic. So it's not me who missed the point :)

Re: Google’s ‘Project Hug’ paid out huge sums to keep game devs in the Play Store

#468

Post by smsm42 »

solarkraft wrote: post #223
bushbaba wrote: post #184

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s likely the payoff is also to prevent apple from building its own search engine to compete. As googles payoff is so lucrative

There have been reports and speculation that they’re doing just that. Of course it’s worth it for the negotiation threat alone, but Apple also really doesn’t seem to like depending on Google. I personally can’t see them switching any time soon, as DuckDuckGo’s search results are something between worse to terrible and I’m not sure they can do much better without collecting more data.

I've been using DDG for years now and the results are entirely adequate. There are some niches where Google still delivers better results but I need them no more than once a month, sometimes even less than that. I guess it depends on which part of the data set you're hitting...

Re: Google’s ‘Project Hug’ paid out huge sums to keep game devs in the Play Store

#469

Post by tomnipotent »

IncRnd wrote: post #431
tomnipotent wrote: post #287

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Even the judge This was Judge Jackson, who had his decision overturned by the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals. Also "the appeals court judges accused him of unethical conduct." A lot of grandiose things were said by people during these trials, many looking to enrich their careers.

Yes, but none of the findings of fact were overturned. The judge had been interviewed, which was the issue, not that the facts were in dispute. In the settlement, Microsoft also allowed PC manufacturers to adopt non-Microsoft software.

> none of the findings of fact were overturned

Absolutely they were, that's what it means that most of Judge Jackson's ruling was overturned, and a new judge was appointed to determine penalties. Jackson wanted to break Microsoft apart and slap them with operating restrictions.

Re: Google’s ‘Project Hug’ paid out huge sums to keep game devs in the Play Store

#470

Post by smsm42 »

stinos wrote: post #318
Renaud wrote: post #288

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>DuckDuckGo’s search results are something between worse to terrible I would like someone to make some objective research on that. My experience is the reverse, so I strongly suspect our reticence is just one of changing our habit more than an real thing. I switched to DDG years ago and it took a few weeks to wean out the tendency to compare searches, usually brought on by the fear of missing out something. I very ra…

Having used DDG for almost a decade now, I indeed doubt any objective research would come up showing the results are never up to par or even better than Google's (or other search engines for that matter). Of course I'm also not going to compare DDG results with others when DDG immediately finds what I need so never really checked that myself actually.. Still, no matter how much I like and promote DDG, I'm definitely…

As somebody who worked on search engines in the past, I think there are contradictory requirements from different people. Some people only vaguely know what they want, and want the search engine to be smart and give them as broad field as possible, and if it doesn't, they call it "dumb". Some people need very precise thing in a sea of similarly looking things, and they need the engine to be strict, up to following the exact word order and keeping "filler" words in (looking for "to be or not to be" with common words filter on might be hard :) and so on. And if the engine is not strict enough, they call it "full of junk". It's very hard to find the right balance between the two, especially if you don't build per-user profiles. I'm not saying there aren't solutions but it's a very tricky business with a lot of failure modes.
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