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

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

#491

Post by Siira » Mon, Aug 23, 2021, 9:52 PM UTC

lots2learn wrote: post #475

Jensson wrote: post #414

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why do people bring that up? Phone market is orders of magnitude bigger, bigger more important markets face more scrutiny.

Ok so no difference yeah?

I personally don't find the rent seeking in consoles acceptable either, but there are some important differences; Consoles are essentially subsidized PCs nowadays, so the seller is giving away the hardware and benefitting from long-term sale commissions. PCs are essentially open consoles, and most games are available on PCs as well. Just releasing a game for PCs is also a big enough market that companies can turn a profit without ever paying rent to the console platforms. Consoles also don't shamelessly spy on their owners, which is a most critical difference.

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

#492

Post by _xy8h » Tue, Aug 24, 2021, 1:02 AM UTC

pyrale wrote: post #490

techrat wrote: post #485

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Netscape was the dominant browser from at least 1995 to the end of 1998. It overtook Mosaic to become #1 with Mosaic being a very, very distant #2. At its peak it had 90+% of the market share. Firefox nearly overtook IE until Chrome was released. If Firefox had not been consistently a dumpster fire, I think it could have maintained at least 50/50 with Chrome. I switched to Chrome not because Google had good advertisi…

> If Firefox had not been consistently a dumpster fire, I think it could have maintained at least 50/50 with Chrome. It took 6 years for Chrome to gain 50% market share. In 6 years, firefox had barely taken 25% from IE. If you're arguing that this difference in success is explained by the technological gap between chrome and firefox being much larger than the technological gap between firefox and IE, you need a reali…

Firefox made it to about 32%.

https://www.visualcapitalist.com/internet-browser-market-sha...

Chrome took more away from IE initially than it did from Firefox.

And yes, I'm arguing a technical difference. I've used every version of every browser when it was still new, all the way back to Mosaic.

Chrome introduced per-tab instancing which was a HUGE leap ahead of everything else and Firefox took years to catch up to that one feature alone. Firefox was bloated, slow and unstable.

It still is.

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

#493

Post by ZoomerCretin » Tue, Aug 24, 2021, 3:11 PM UTC

echelon wrote: post #477

ZoomerCretin wrote: post #461

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>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…

You're not getting it either. Consoles are subsidized toys. And there are half a dozen choices on the market, not to mention legacy systems. Phones are life. You can't do without them. There are two choices, both locked down hard. PCs went from free and open to Google + Apple duopoly. And the rules are draconian. Maybe 1995-2005 was an era before your time (given that your username is Zoomer), but modern computing is…

You’re free to get a flip phone from 10+ brands, therefore Apple and Google don’t have any monopoly power over the phone market. Just get a different phone!

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

#494

Post by depressedpanda » Sat, Aug 28, 2021, 6:16 PM UTC

TeeMassive wrote: post #464

depressedpanda wrote: post #365

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I know, I was just adding an honest question to it. (I should probably have started the first paragraph with "Yes, and... :) )

I guess the reason that megacorps can get away with even worse behavior is that the system is corrupt.

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

#495

Post by _cs2017_ » Mon, Aug 30, 2021, 2:10 PM UTC

elliekelly wrote: post #441

_cs2017_ wrote: post #406

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While it makes an awesome headline for a tabloid or HackerNews, it's not necessarily imporant. See comments on Reddit that provide some thoughts on that: https://www.reddit.com/r/apple/comments/p970st/after_another... https://www.reddit.com/r/apple/comments/p970st/after_another... Obviously, I don't claim these two comments are correct. I do claim, however, that people are better served by not quoting random statemen…

Those Redditors don’t know what they’re talking about. Documented evidence of two competing companies agreeing to “operate as one” is absolutely damning in an antitrust trial. There’s almost no context that could be given to make that statement not damning unless it turns out this was some sort of antitrust training seminar put on by the legal department and it was given as an example of what not to say when you’re g…

By "damning", do you mean that the quote alone is obviously sufficient to materially tip the scales in favor of the government should the antitrust lawsuit occur?

If so, what is your best guess as to why the executives (who surely know that) might have chosen to use those words?