Re:How the Nintendo Switch prevents downgrades by irreparabl...
by mikepurvis on Tuesday June 16, 2020 @08:32AM
(#23538352)
> if you were making a Minecraft clone, would you target Switch or PC?
This depends a lot on your monetization strategy. If your plan is a free or low-cost game with skins for sale, having a wild west story for modding may not be at all what you want.
Re:How the Nintendo Switch prevents downgrades by irreparabl...
by monadic2 on Tuesday June 16, 2020 @02:00PM
(#23542073)
Ahh, the drug dealer model.
Re:How the Nintendo Switch prevents downgrades by irreparabl...
by mikepurvis on Tuesday June 16, 2020 @03:07PM
(#23542844)
Well yes. Not at all condoning it, but I mean, this is how Fortnite and friends work.
I don't think it's quite as cut-and-dry as this.
- The draw of a "hack free" platform varies by genre. For competitive multiplayer games, it's a big draw. For single-player and creative games, you might find a larger market in less restrictive, more moddable, platforms (eg, if you were making a Minecraft clone, would you target Switch or PC?).
- If the platform is popular enough, the level of lockdown may not affect the calculus that much.
- And, of course, it depends on how successful these measures are at preventing hacks. There's a big difference in draw between 50%, 90%, and 100% hack prevention, because of how the knowledge of cheaters affects player perception. Eg, in a competitive game, knowing cheats exist can taint the experience of being outplayed, as you wonder whether your opponent was cheating.
Overall, I'm not saying that GP's viewpoint is an invalid one, just that the tradeoffs are a little more nuanced than "more lockdown more games".