Gaming the Smiling Curve | Hacker News Reader

Gaming the Smiling Curve

stratechery.com

29 pointsmmmmkay10 comments

> In the pre-ATT world everyone from e-commerce sellers to app developers could effectively offload the collection and analysis of conversion data and subsequent targeting of advertising to Facebook, to the benefit of everyone involved: individual developers and retailers did not need to bear the risk or expense of collecting and analyzing data, and could instead collectively outsource that job to the Facebook data factory, which had the benefit of making Facebook advertising that much more effective, not only to the benefit of Facebook’s bottom line but also to that of those that relied on its advertising platform.

It is incredibly common to talk about advertising as if it at no point involves the user. But the initial statement is clearly false, it did not benefit everyone, it benefit all of the commercial parties at the expense of the user.

In a conversation specifically about App Tracking Transparency blocking Google Analytics for a particular app, the client wanted a technical work around. I pointed out that the user was asked if they wanted to be tracked, and they specifically requested not to be. The client responded with "But we have to track them!". No, you don't! When actually asked if they want to be tracked (by ATT), 97% of people said no, because of course they fucking did! These business models have only worked thus far because users lacked the knowledge, motivation and tools to stop them from working. That's slowly changing.

You WANT to track them, so that you can make some money, be honest with the motivation. But is that the only way to make money from apps? We've tricked ourselves into thinking advertising and ubiquitous tracking is some kind of inherent property of app and web development, an entirely intrinsic business model with no other option. Well get prepared, because if your business model will fall apart if you actually have to ask for permission to track people, you're going to have a tough time in the highly regulated future. Heck, Apple isn't even being regulated to do this, they just want a competitive edge.

“There’s only two ways I know of to make money,” Barksdale answered. “Bundling and unbundling.”

Where does Steam fit in the evolving landscape?

Steam is directly mentioned in the article as a content aggregator.

ɢᴀᴍᴇ ᴘᴀss is the auto-tune of gaming.

What? If anything, it's the netflix of gaming. I don't even get the auto-tune comparison.

Sound engineers will always deny it but changes in music production including auto-tune have ended the connection that people used to have with music. If you hear 1970s music in the background you find people (even 20 year olds) know the musicians, know the songs, and have opinions. Contrast that to modern music playing at the gas station where people can't say anything about it and sometimes can't even tell if it is country or rap.

Go ask people to name a Kanye West song on the street on the other hand and the vast majority can't name a single one -- his body of work is excellent and you might find 1 person in 5 who will talk your ear off about him but modern music really washes over people without leaving any impression.

Cable TV has gone downhill for years because there is no line between quality programming and you spending a dollar. The weather channel or CNN is going to keep getting shovels of cash no matter how bad they are.

We see this happening with Netflix. It was good once but people are losing interest in it. The "All You Can Eat" model breaks the line between quality content and money so it goes to pot. (For now Disney+ is looking better but when the honeymoon ends it too will pass.)

The subscription music services seem great now. Except for Spotify they all have Neil Young. If you want to listen to old music you'll be very satisfied. 20 years from now you'll notice you're still listening to the music you are listening to now because the line between quality music and money was erased so no good music got made.

So it boggles my mind that people think GAME PASS is anything but the end of gaming. When you pay for individual games you have a voice, you have power, you have input into the games that get made. When you play GAME PASS, the game plays you.

We saw it happen with cable TV, Netflix and Music, I just wish people would see what is front of them instead of being brainwashed into thinking any logo Microsoft is shoving up your nose is a good thing.

Youre right, of course, but there is a silver lining. When these things happen, it's a bit like a bubble bursting, only instead of an industry collapsing, it's you and I who collapse. We give up trying to convince the masses they're losing something special, and move into a niche with other like minded folks where creativity thrives. Just like you can still go to a carpenter and get custom hand made chairs, indies will always develop outside the corporate nonsense. When a developer sells out to Microsoft or Sony, what that developer is signaling is that they've run out of ideas and are retiring from creativity to instead produce chum.

It sucks but it's also kind of helpful to know who cares and who doesn't.

Streaming killed The radio; music is doing fine. There's plenty of good music that's also well produced, and it's easy to find people with similar taste. You don't need lots of money to make music anymore because the production equipment and skills have been democratized

They just don't use the radio to do it anymore, so you've been left out of their filter bubbles.

Netflix's real problem is that all their content disappeared when content owners realized that they could make their own streaming service. Theres nothing to watch on Netflix now, rather than all you can eat.

People have more voice in gaming now than when their purchase defined their interactions with games. Making YouTube videos, tweets, and chatting with devs on reddit is where the real voice, power, and input. Once you've bought something, the developer has no reason to care about you anymore. On game pass, they need you to keep playing

Wow. Bold take. I don't agree. I think you are conflating choice with quality.

There is more music now. There are more games. There are more TV shows. The reason people cant name a single Kanye song, which I find to be a dubious claim at best, is because their options are not limited to the top 10 artists that the radio plays anymore. They can listen to whatever they want on spotify.

If I'm still listening to The Who and Kanye in 20 years its because I like The Who and Kanye. Not because no new music of quality has been released. Young people love their shitty new music just how I loved my shitty new music that my parents didnt understand.

Pokemon and the yearly EA titles (COD or any sports games) are the closet 1:1's that exist in gaming to the weather channel and cnn. They are just good enough that people will keep paying for them and nothing more.

I watched The Forgotten and The Terminal about 20 times a piece growing up. Why? Because its the two dvds that we owned that were not absolute ass. There are certainly worse movies out there but there are a lot of better ones too. Especially after watching Tom Hanks eat a mustard and cracker sandwich gets old.

Less choices doesnt equal higher quality. More choices doesnt equal higher quality. But it does mean I have more to pick from and of all the choices I have now I'm positive I can find something better than what I grew up with.

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