Great analysis. Interestingly to me - a former Ubisoft employee - is the compare and contrast with EA. Ubisoft has so many admirable qualities, but being a nearly perfectly nepotistic entity is not one of them. C-level management prefers highly simplistic, self-centered strategies vs. classic economic and business logic, rooted in competition and markets.
EA, on the other hand, has weathered all the changes relatively successfully, has a stable and scaled business, and created significant shareholder over the last decade.
I'm deeply involved on Roblox and Fortnite, the new disruption is happening. But, I'd like to believe well-managed publishers with prestige franchises will continue to find ways to be valuable, while poorly run entities like Ubisoft will find themselves even more quickly and acutely destroyed by change.
Strong take on how publishers misjudged the shift toward community-driven ecosystems. The Minecraft catalyst argument is spot-on bc it wasn't just about lower dev costs but what ppl valued in a game altogether. Got pulled into a failed live-servcie attempt couple years back and the disconnect was painful to wtach. The Ozymandias closer fits perfectly.
Good post is good. What a weird time.
Nailed it. And totally agree Minecraft was the harbinger of a much bigger wave
Great analysis. Interestingly to me - a former Ubisoft employee - is the compare and contrast with EA. Ubisoft has so many admirable qualities, but being a nearly perfectly nepotistic entity is not one of them. C-level management prefers highly simplistic, self-centered strategies vs. classic economic and business logic, rooted in competition and markets.
EA, on the other hand, has weathered all the changes relatively successfully, has a stable and scaled business, and created significant shareholder over the last decade.
I'm deeply involved on Roblox and Fortnite, the new disruption is happening. But, I'd like to believe well-managed publishers with prestige franchises will continue to find ways to be valuable, while poorly run entities like Ubisoft will find themselves even more quickly and acutely destroyed by change.
Strong take on how publishers misjudged the shift toward community-driven ecosystems. The Minecraft catalyst argument is spot-on bc it wasn't just about lower dev costs but what ppl valued in a game altogether. Got pulled into a failed live-servcie attempt couple years back and the disconnect was painful to wtach. The Ozymandias closer fits perfectly.