Restaurant Wars

I write this a mere three hours after Microsoft's big Xbox press conference. It represents my collected thoughts at the time, not a Nostradamus-esque foretelling of exactly how it's going to be. Everyone else is busy talking about specs, games, rawkin' graphix, connectivity, online issues … fine little details that will change a hundred times before any actual launch. I'd rather take a few steps back and see where Microsoft has decided to steer the ship.

I had two thoughts Tuesday while watching the Xbox One reveal. The first thought was that Microsoft and the rest of these console companies really need a fashion consultant to properly dress them before they go out on stage. Seriously, Donny baby, call me! I'll even do it pro bono. No longer will you have to face the shame of your jacket flapping in the breeze as you walk across the stage, or sharing the stage with a Doctor Who underling who paired a suit with Chuck Taylors.

The second and more relevant thought I had while watching the press conference was that Microsoft has chosen to pursue a very specific core demographic with this launch. I am not in it.

And that's okay.

Console gaming has traditionally been like eating a family-style meal: Everyone sits at the same table, eating from the same dishes. Sure, there may be some variety —  Platform Beans definitely taste different than Country-Fried RPG — but ultimately, it's the same people sitting down to the same meal. We could argue about why this has been the case: technical limitations, a relatively small pool of gamers, teeny tiny marketing budgets. But this is clearly no longer the case. New restaurants open up every day, promising new cuisines. Not just cuisines, but entirely new styles of eating. Imbibe by touch screen! Waggle your waiter! Share an asynchronous meal with someone halfway 'round the world!

New restaurants naturally bring in new diners. Those who found the family-style Grandma's Kountry Cookin' unappetizing find ever more options to entice them to the table. As the pool of diners expands in both size and demographic makeup, it allows increasingly specialized restaurants to break into the market and remain financially viable. Who would have thought ten years ago that AngryBucks would be on every street corner in America?

To finally break this tortured analogy, the game is changing. The combination of growth, demographic shift, and technological innovations allow for more profitable specialization that diverges from the main Console Borg. The Wii U doubles down on the Wii's insistence of carving its own niche and converting Octogenarians and families at the expense of "core gamers." The Xbox One, judging by Tuesday's reveal, pushes that divergence even further.

The first niche of gamers Microsoft excluded in the unveiling was, well, everyone outside of America. Perhaps turning the console into a honest-to-goodness cable box appeals to some people, but functionally it's not going to be very applicable across the board — even more so when you add on things like fantasy league integration (depending on which specific sports they target). Considering the 360's truly abysmal sales in the Eastern Hemisphere, this is not a surprising move — but it is still one that targets a much tighter demographic than a standard "game console" would do.

The second section that they eschewed in the conference was the, uh, "non-dudebro" demographic. Unlike some here on the writer staff who shall remain nameless, [Ed. note: He means Sean Sands.] I don't typically participate in things like Corona keg stands. I'm not passing judgement on those who do, [Ed. note: Yes, he is.] but highlighting nothing but major EA Sports titles and the new Call of Duty — to say nothing of a Halo TV series — clearly targets a very particular person.

And that's okay.

I get why Microsoft is drilling down this far. My day job is as a marketer and product manager, so I understand the important concept of accurately identifying and promoting to your core consumer. Microsoft will likely sell fewer consoles with this tactic, but they will also decrease what it costs them to market it. I don't begrudge them their decision. I may feel a twinge of pathos as I bid a fond adieu to my beloved console, but I can't deny it's simply where the market is headed. It's not like they haven't telegraphed this decision, with Halo-branded Mountain Dew and Doritos, or pictures of people playing Halo while eating Mountain Dew-flavored Doritos and drinking Dorito-flavored Mountain Dew.

I'm sure that the Xbox One will have other game types on it. The built-in upgraded Kinect — an announcement that my Dance Central-loving brain cheered — poises the console to break new ground just as the Wii U did. However, the complete and utter lack of Kinect integration into any of the actual games shown was disturbing. Will such games exist? I'm sure they will eventually, but it would be nice to see the Kinect thrive as more than a glorified remote control. I almost wish that it was on a different console, as I think the XBro One!!1!1 and the Kinect don't have much in common.

I guess there's always the PS4. Or Ouya. Or … who knows? The market is growing.

Yes, still growing. It's true that video game revenue has cooled from its meteoric rise a bit, but it's still increasing at a healthy clip. This growth creates more room for growing market segmentation. One person compared it to a muscle, which in order to grow stretches and creates fissures in the tissue itself, which are later filled in by newly-created cells. In order for growth to continue, it's not unreasonable to expect a more segmented console space.

And that's, well, I guess it's okay.

At some point we may feel that our favorite hobby has left us behind, abandoned us by the roadside while they chase people with more money or more highly prized by advertisers. We could become a "gap generation," if you will. But, as with muscles, those gaps will fill in eventually. Personally, I'm not worried about being left behind, even though I too sometimes feel the sting of a single tear as I wave forlornly at the Doritos Bus passing me on the street.

We will all get picked back up by someone, at some time. I don't know what that will look like. It could be a console specifically engineered to enjoy point-and-click adventure games in the most ergonomic way possible; it could be a premium service that selectively culls and cultivates games with the most thoughtful, engaging narratives; it could be whatever the PS4 winds up being. At this point it's impossible to tell.

And that's okay.

Comments

MrShoop wrote:

Also, exclusives are even more important because Sony and MS have very similar hardware. I will be able to get GTA on either and it will look good on both. So exclusives are the most important differentiator to me.

Amen. It always baffles me to see people say that exclusives don't matter. They may not have much impact when it comes to the broader, casual market, but they are the factor that will most strongly impact which platform I buy in the next gen, same as they were for me this gen, and the last... Saying there are plenty of games to play on the XBO doesn't mean anything if I can play all of those same games on PS4 in addition to several great exclusives that I couldn't play otherwise.

Maybe Microsoft will have a bunch of killer exclusives to reveal at E3. I would seriously love that. There is no point jumping to conclusions before then, but if they trot out Kinect garbage, shooters, and EA sports games for an hour, that will seal the deal pretty quickly for me.

Can we not have this be a post-for-post rehash as the reveal thread? We've already debunked the 2007- to 2012- Xbox exclusives ruse, for example.

As a AAA gamer, who is planning a day-one purchase - I think this is a remarkably fair assessment of the Xbrone. This console was built for me - but for a lot of you, it seems Microsoft has an almost callous disregard for your money. I am actually shocked at the audacity that they have displayed here (almost as shocked as I am at how mixed their message, and how inconsistent). The info that we have now suggests that they are very aggressively attempting to be a steam-box for your TV, and to lock out used game sales/customer. Just wow.

Regarding games/markets - I don't feel like I have enough information to judge what kind of exclusives to expect at this point. I personally don't care for exclusives - but Sony and MS are businesses not charities, so if that is what makes them money, I wish them luck/success (so long as they keep feeding my hobby with quality product). I don't think we can accurately predict at this point that this will be a console strictly for Kinect Dance Party and Call of Duty-style FPS games. If there is a market demand - you bet your bippy there will be Final Fantasy on the One.

For my part, I am quite excited. There are so many options out there for gamers right now, so even if MS completely dropped the ball on me - there would be multiple options out there for me to game on. And that is more than OK.

Gravey wrote:

Ha, and I interpret that as a good thing: if the consoles become virtually indistinguishable in gaming-relevant hardware, then let them be identical in their catalogs. One thing I hate about this hobby is how certain games can be held hostage by a specific platform. I don't have $250 to spare so I'll never play Journey, that sort of thing. But I got to play Dishonored, Metro: Last Light, Xcom, Mark of the Ninja, etc.

Death to exclusives! Let Sony and MS wage the war for their consoles in terms of their other entertainment features. (And as in all things, I seem to give Nintendo a free pass here.)

As someone who bought all three consoles, and who plans to buy both the PS4 and Xbox 1, I relish the differences. I liked the 360 as my "PC games on my TV" console, and Sony as my bridge to Japan. I hated the motion controls on the Wii but I loved Mario Galaxy. So bring on the exclusives, but don't make it a bunch of casual Kinect junk.

Keithustus wrote:

Can we not have this be a post-for-post rehash as the reveal thread? We've already debunked the 2007- to 2012- Xbox exclusives ruse, for example.

It wasn't debunked. It's is complete and unedited form wikipedia. People can look at the list and judge for themselves.

Honestly, you and couple other Xbox defenders have such a dismissive attitude it is getting a litte silly here. People who disagree with you aren't trolls. "No" isn't an argument. And my observation that the 360 got a lot more casual over its life isn't a "ruse".

MrShoop, you left out the years in between in both posts. That's the journalistic and academic equivalent of a deceptive misquotation.

It doesn't matter whether I agree with you, which I generally do, or would ever consider myself an Xbox defender, which I don't. Don't mistake positing positive facts as a defender nor positing criticisms as a hater, please.

Keithustus wrote:

MrShoop, you left out the years in between in both posts. That's the journalistic and academic equivalent of a deceptive misquotation.

It doesn't matter whether I agree with you, which I generally do, or would ever consider myself an Xbox defender, which I don't. Don't mistake positing positive facts as a defender nor positing criticisms as a hater, please.

Then instead of posting "ruse" or "deceptive," how about, "I disagree, and here are some reasons why," so we can have a conversation. Here is the full list, you can pick any year from pre kinect and post kinect and see a casual shift.

The Microsoft shift to casual (which sony also tried unsuccessfully with the Move) seems so obvious I'm a little stunned to have to defend it. Here is an article from Paul Thurrott back in 2008 talking about how Microsoft was shifting to a casual strategy to chase the Wii.

http://windowsitpro.com/windows/too-late-microsoft-takes-xbox-360-new-direction

In a major strategy shift, Microsoft will focus less on the hard core gamers that have made its Xbox 360 a favorite with that crowd and will instead target a far more mainstream audience. The change is an implicit, if tardy, response to Nintendo's spectacularly popular Wii console, which lacks technical chops but has attracted hordes of casual gamers.
MrShoop wrote:

As someone who bought all three consoles, and who plans to buy both the PS4 and Xbox 1, I relish the differences. I liked the 360 as my "PC games on my TV" console, and Sony as my bridge to Japan. I hated the motion controls on the Wii but I loved Mario Galaxy. So bring on the exclusives, but don't make it a bunch of casual Kinect junk.

That's the difference between us then: as I wrote in the Xbone thread, I can't afford more than one platform. I acknowledge that gaming is an expensive hobby, so anything that can mitigate that cost is a boon as far as I and my household budget are concerned. But I also acknowledge that that's a totally personal reaction.

To tie this back to the OP, if the Xbone's shrinking circle leaves behind independents or mid-tier games, then I'm looking at PC and its de facto "exclusives". So now I'm arguing against my comments from the previous page. Because even if I know where to find the games I want to play, that's just academic: if they're split between platforms, then I can afford some but not others. Not a universal issue, but for some it's a weird and annoying problem with a mediated hobby.

I disagree: with your presentation of the data, and in your choice to repost it here, in a different discussion.

MrShoop wrote:

The Microsoft shift to casual (which sony also tried unsuccessfully with the Move) seems so obvious I'm a little stunned to have to defend it. Here is an article from Paul Thurrott back in 2008 talking about how Microsoft was shifting to a casual strategy to chase the Wii.

Your argument works for the retail channel. However, you're discarding the XBLA games, which skews away from the Kinect/casual crowd. You need to take the XBLA games into consideration because digital distribution increased greatly (especially the $10-20 game price point) in importance during that period. Plus, I think "core" gamers tend to be more tech-saavy and are willing to seek out games that aren't sold in the retail channel.

We're the ones who know what's coming out, when it's coming, and where it's coming out. Your average consumer only knows what's on the shelf at Target, Best Buy, or GameStop. Makes far more sense to put the casual titles on the store shelves and put the traditional games in XBLA.

Oh re-fried Jesus! More of this please...

"The first thought was that Microsoft and the rest of these console companies really need a fashion consultant to properly dress them before they go out on stage. Seriously, Donny baby, call me! [Reader's note: This is hilarious] I'll even do it pro bono. No longer will you have to face the shame of your jacket flapping in the breeze as you walk across the stage, or sharing the stage with a Doctor Who underling who paired a suit with Chuck Taylors."

And less of this...

"(something about something about something that's-not-a-PC-something)"

IMAGE(http://www.ozzoomgames.com/images/ozzoom/games/restaurantempire/restaurantempire_181x260.jpg)

This was well written, and expressed some of my doubts about the system more clearly than I have been able to do. Thanks!

duckideva wrote:

This was well written, and expressed some of my doubts about the system more clearly than I have been able to do. Thanks!

Aw, you're a dear. Feel free to express your gratitude via handmade soaps!

Minarchist wrote:
duckideva wrote:

This was well written, and expressed some of my doubts about the system more clearly than I have been able to do. Thanks!

Aw, you're a dear. Feel free to express your gratitude via handmade soaps!

The soap is a lye!

Keithustus wrote:
dejanzie wrote:
Minarchist wrote:

The first niche of gamers Microsoft excluded in the unveiling was, well, everyone outside of America.

This. Twenty pages of blabber in the Xbox One thread, and not a word on this. All hail the Minarchist!

Of all the new features Microsoft chooses to stress, not one is available in Europe. Not only do we not have access to Netflix, Hulu, ESPN and so on (or maybe the UK and Ireland do?), I wonder if the Xbox One will work with local set top boxes.

It was discussed in our thread. XBO cedes ground to PS4 for anyone who plays outside the US: folks from and living in other countries (especially those with little to no internet), as well as folks like me who our government sometimes sends to other countries periodically.

In addition to that, Microsoft already missed the race for the entertainment hub around here to http://de.playstation.com/ps3/peripherals/detail/item103284/PlayTV/

Not to mention that this also offers DVR capabilities.

Obbiously, this is from the past generation, but as someone who already owns stuff like this, I was pretty baffled that no one pointed out that there isn't really a lot of innovation going on despite the entire conference reiterating on it.

Did Microsoft actually clarify what the base requirements for their OS VMs are? I stumbled across rumors that 3GB of the RAM are actually reserved for the hypervisor itself, leaving only a max of 5GB for content to access. Being a cynical PC user, I would almost believe that just for the mention of a Windows 8 kernel running in there somewhere.
While 5GB RAM would still be huge in comparison to what we have now, I wouldn't want to underestimate the carelessness of the devs of tomorrow to use up every resource as soon as it is there simply for not having to care.

All in all, I was pretty underwhelmed by a presentation that simply wasn't for me - even to the point that they said on stage that this is a product for a new generation. While this makes not much sense for me, considering that our generation is most likely the one that is the one typically spending the money for ourselves or our kids. Living in Germany makes this entire thing even less appealing considering that Microsoft already has the reputation for charging money on gold subscriptions to finance services which aren't available here at all.
Adding US cable tv to the list of those services doesn't make the case better for them here and an exclusive Fifa virtual card game will most likely not turn the tide there.

While I have to agree that Fifa is super popular around here, most people simply enjoy playing as their team with friends and not so much as strategize in a fantasy league, but I may be the wrong audience for that as well.

First of all, I don't know about Hawaii or Alaska, but I'm pretty sure the only place you can waggle your waiter here in the lower 48 is a few counties in Nevada.

I'm not sure if I agree that MS was targeting their core consumer in this little made-for-TV extravaganza. While they did bust out the big-name Dudebroey games you mentioned in the second half of the presentation, I actually felt like they spent an awful lot of time in the first half trying to appeal to people who aren't in their core demographic right now. It feels to me like they were putting their core consumers (gamers (arguably?)) on the back burner for the most part, and instead were trying to appeal to pretty much everybody with a cable subscription and/or Netflix account. Granted, they've been going in this direction as this current console cycle has wound down, but I still would argue that they're casting a much wider net than what we would traditionally call the core consumer for a video game system.

I wonder if they feel like, as the current top dog here in North America, they've already got enough credit with the harder-core gaming set and could afford to put them (us!) on the backburner for an hour (or a few weeks, with E3 looming) while they went hunting for new recruits?

Speaking of hunting, it all seems a bit Hunt for Red October to me:

Gamers: "Was it...ego, Captain?"

MS: "I know the tactics! I have the advantage!"

But maybe I'm just arguing the semantics of what the "core consumer" is. I guess from Microsoft's perspective, you could say the core consumer is whoever they target as the core consumer. Chicken...egg...oh, god, there's blood running out of my ear.

shoptroll wrote:

Your argument works for the retail channel. However, you're discarding the XBLA games, which skews away from the Kinect/casual crowd. You need to take the XBLA games into consideration because digital distribution increased greatly (especially the $10-20 game price point) in importance during that period. Plus, I think "core" gamers tend to be more tech-saavy and are willing to seek out games that aren't sold in the retail channel.

We're the ones who know what's coming out, when it's coming, and where it's coming out. Your average consumer only knows what's on the shelf at Target, Best Buy, or GameStop. Makes far more sense to put the casual titles on the store shelves and put the traditional games in XBLA.

Fez is great, but isn't a substitute for Crackdown. There is nothing that MS has done with XBLA that is comparable to the bigger titles they've published. If the argument is that MS will serve the core gamers with $15 XBLA games, then that's exactly the neglect that I don't like.

A lot of the better XBLA stuff like Minecraft, Mark of the Ninja, and Fez are also the games I play on my PC, and pay less too. I want the big AAA exclusive hardware melting titles on my consoles (and a bunch of great small XBLA games).

The reveal did not surprise me. Neither did it disappoint me, because I wasn't expecting anything more than was shown. E3 is just around the corner. Gamers will be paying attention to E3. The casual audience will not be as interested. They, the casual audience, will have been casting a close eye over the console reveal as to determine whether it is worth spending their money on. To them it is a given that it will play the most popular games, which it shall. What they want to know is what else can it do to differentiate from the opposition consoles. If they were to focus solely on the games, or even first on the games, they risk losing the casuals due to a lack of interest. Let's be honest. Gamers are going to keep tabs on E3 no matter what, even if the reveal left us out in the cold. The opposite is not true for the casual crowd.

Maybe I'm in the minority, but they handled it exactly as I expected. We're not just talking about a games console anymore. Even if many of us intend to use it almost solely as a games console, there are a great many more folks who would like to make use of these modern entertainment based features. Many may spout claims that these features are not necessary, but it is a natural progression. You evolve or you get left behind. This is why consoles expanded in their repertoire to play the CD, the DVD, and later the Blu-ray. It is why an internet browser burst onto our consoles. The next step was always going to be an assault on the set-top boxes that provide movies and television. If Sony or Microsoft can generate extra sales based on features other than their games that is a huge bonus, even more so if it is at the expense of a set-top box because that is a sale they may never otherwise have achieved.

Is this a problem? Only if it is of detriment to game development. This should not occur because games have dedicated developers who earn their bread and butter on the merit of their games. It is irrelevant, to a degree, what breed of console their game is released on as that console is merely a vessel to transport their game to the consumer. What matters is how many units of that console, whatever breed it may be, have been sold, as the greater that number the greater the potential profit and plaudits for those developers.

If E3 is a bust then we, the gamers, will have a bone to pick. For a console reveal I think Microsoft done okay.

Tanglebones wrote:
Minarchist wrote:
duckideva wrote:

This was well written, and expressed some of my doubts about the system more clearly than I have been able to do. Thanks!

Aw, you're a dear. Feel free to express your gratitude via handmade soaps!

The soap is a lye!

I think I may love you both.

I watched The reveal like the rest of you, and I saw things which appealed to me, but I was troubled by the subtext of what Microsoft was saying: we're in the post-pc world, we'll help ourselves to your living room, and make it so you never leave our ecosystem.

The struggle that I have with the Xbox One is pretty much the same that I had with the 360-if I can run my laptop's HDMI out to my TV, what do I need you for?

The One certainly didn't present a coherent reply to that question. Voice commands? Multitasking? Three operations systems? My Laptop can do all of that, if I want it to.

But über graphics! You know what? I've played WoW for 6 years. You think I really care about graphics?

The One is largely irrelevant to me, as cool as the tech is.

So maybe they are marketing to the dudebros because they are the only ones who'd care?

duckideva wrote:
Tanglebones wrote:
Minarchist wrote:
duckideva wrote:

This was well written, and expressed some of my doubts about the system more clearly than I have been able to do. Thanks!

Aw, you're a dear. Feel free to express your gratitude via handmade soaps!

The soap is a lye!

I think I may love you both.

Thanks for the advice Mini! You prevented me from taking a bath on this product.

ccesarano wrote:

I kind of feel like we should be done with first-party exclusives.

I mean, would it really matter as much if we knew all the same games would be releasing on all the same devices? The last time anyone gave a damn about what brand DVD player they would purchase was the HD-DVD vs. Blu-Ray Kaiju Battle of the Formats, and that was partially fueled by us gamers anyway. But no one ever has to worry about "Will it play my favorite Warner Bros. films?"

When it comes to the XOne and PS4, I feel like I should be able to purchase a device based on its features. But the reality is, I may have to sacrifice a franchise I want to play. For example, the new Remedy Game, Quantum Break I believe it is called. I'd like to play that. But the XOne as a device just doesn't seem to be for me.

The thing is, you can find DVD/Blu-Ray players made by a dozen different companies. A DVD would never sell enough copies if they only worked on one brand. That's not the case with games...well, it wasn't yesterday, but it may be by tonight. As the market share gets split more and more exclusives will become less and less because they just won't make any sense. However, exclusives are the only thing that can save the Xbox One. If I found out that Left4Dead 3 and Xcom: Enemy Unknown 2 were going to be xbox exclusives, I would suddenly be interested in the One again.

And another problem is, all dvd players basically work the same; they read the same kind of code. Gaming hardward does not. If you want your game to come out on iOS and Android, you have to make changes to your code, not to mention having to work for every different Android device. Sometimes its not worth it to be on every possible platform, especially when one is willing to pay you a little extra to only be on theirs.

And Mateo, the console business has never cared about computer gamers. If you would rather play your game on a computer, than you are going to play your game on the computer. If you don't care about the hassle of using a computer, then you don't care about the convenience of playing on a console. That's been true for 20 years and is not going to change.

All I know, from the specs and focus of both of the major consoles, is that I won't be buying either one any time soon. Which is just find and well. More time to get comfy with my 6th generation (6th, is it? or is it 7th?) games on my 360 and PS3 for a few more years.

Tanglebones wrote:
Minarchist wrote:
duckideva wrote:

This was well written, and expressed some of my doubts about the system more clearly than I have been able to do. Thanks!

Aw, you're a dear. Feel free to express your gratitude via handmade soaps!

The soap is a lye!

[nerd glasses]Actually, the final soap should not have any lye left in it - it should have have broken all your fats down during the saponification process.[/nerd glasses]

McIrishJihad wrote:
Tanglebones wrote:
Minarchist wrote:
duckideva wrote:

This was well written, and expressed some of my doubts about the system more clearly than I have been able to do. Thanks!

Aw, you're a dear. Feel free to express your gratitude via handmade soaps!

The soap is a lye!

[nerd glasses]Actually, the final soap should not have any lye left in it - it should have have broken all your fats down during the saponification process.[/nerd glasses]

saponification? Not soapification process?

Anyways, they can give me as many extras as they want, even if I don't plan on using them, as long as don't have to be fingerprinted or give a blood sample every time I want to play one of the games I OWN.

Honestly, a big seller for me previously was streaming netflix on the xbox, when it was exclusive. I care more about being able to watch arrested development than playing a crappy JRPG. Let's face it, the best of them (Dark Souls, Dragon's Dogma, etc.) did come to the xbox, and there is no reason they won't continue to. The thing is, the fans of these games will find them; they don't have to be spoon fed info about the games like the...fine dangit! I'll say it...dudebros have to be.

agentwred wrote:

The thing is, the fans of these games will find them; they don't have to be spoon fed info about the games like the...fine dangit! I'll say it...dudebros have to be.

lol seriously? the whole superiority complex about who plays what type of games around here is starting to wear thin.

agentwred wrote:

Let's face it, the best of them (Dark Souls, Dragon's Dogma, etc.) did come to the xbox, and there is no reason they won't continue to.

Dark Souls and Dragon's Dogma might have been multiplatform, but it isn't difficult at all to name JRPGs that were PS3 exclusive, especially if your tastes are more niche. The trend in Japan has not been toward more multiplatform games but toward more exclusives for the PS3 and (increasingly) the 3DS, PSP, and Vita. Dark Souls and Dragon's Dogma are the exceptions, not the rule, and while some of those PS3 exclusives might fall under your umbrella of "crappy" JRPGs, they're important to some people and not so easily dismissed.

Although it's somewhat tangential to this discussion, Leigh Alexander's Gamasutra piece about the reveal is relevant. Trends are pushing people away from larger TVs and computers and more and more mobile. Didn't it feel a bit like many of the "extras" Microsoft pushed at the reveal are going to be outdated the second they hit store shelves? Or do you agree more with the guy who wrote the rebuttal, who oddly has almost the exact same initial viewpoint as I but goes off the rails a bit in inventing a target market that I'm not sure exists?

Minarchist wrote:

the rebuttal, who oddly...

Even more odd, he refers to the gaming market fracturing into a few blockbuster AAA games and...the F2P market apparently. By admittedly not being on iOS, or apparently a mobile player at all, he completely fails to realize that so much of the gaming industry's revenues have shifted to phones and tablets in the last 5-ish years.