The Gamers Arms

This is a really interesting article about refunds and short indie games.

https://gamerant.com/before-your-eyes-d ... m-refunds/

An indie developer of a game called Before Your Eyes is pissed someone played it to the full, it was a 90 min experience, than got a refund, I presume it was in the time limit set by Steam. I am with the indie maker, he now lost revenue. That does not happen with movies. You cannot go back to the box office and insist you get your £10 back because the film was shite. Similarly with books, although I reckon that does happen a lot more than I imagine. If I bought a game and genuinely liked it I would not seek a refund, that smacks of arsyness.

Yeah, I wonder if they could make it so it's two hours or 50% of a game, whichever is shortest, something like that.

I think it probably happens so rarely that it isn't a huge issue. Yeah there will be the outliers that are abusing the system but the majority use it correctly, a bit like our benefits system.

In this case, after the dev reached out to them, the player apologised and repurchased the game:

https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/before-your- ... two-hours/

Discord has ended buyout talks with Microsoft, preferring to stay independent.

And they offered a fuck ton of money for it

I think that is a mistake. The owners think they can build on what they have but the market is already saturated with Teams, Zoom, Google Meet, Skype and Facetime.

I've never heard of any gamers using any of those apps though. I think there's plenty of scope for them improving their user experience whilst drawing in even more gamers rather than face a buyout and just being absorbed into the massive conglomeration of Microsoft like Skype was.

Discord seems to have broader appeal among non gaming communities too. I know a fair few artists, sub reddits, Instagram influencers, musicians and even forums who all have their own Discord channels. You never hear any of those communities saying "Hey, come join our Google Meets group!". The functionality of it surpasses every competitor in pretty much every way possible.

Yeah, the last thing Discord needs is any 'help' from Microsoft, particularly after what they did with Skype.

Discord has a lot of users, the problem is they are yet to find a way to make a profit from them. They have tried multiple things like the store and Nitro subscriptions but none of them have worked. As with a lot of tech companies their best option is to get bought out before they run out of money.

Unreal 5