I've got nothing but pure respect for the guys who made my favorite games. As a consumer, I gladly shell out every penny I own (well, not really...I still need some for food :P) to support such perfect digital craftmanship. I've got nothing but love for the guys who've kept my favorite franchises from 10 years ago still alive to this day with sequels that have never gotten stale, as well as always looking foward to new ideas that blow my mind. But the thing is, they have to stop their complaining when things don't turn out as good as I'd always want it to be.

It breaks my hear to hear about a quality game getting poor sales or pirated, but they should never put the blame on people's interest or assume our platform of choice is a thieve's den. I mean, when you're disappointed in selling 2 million copies (seriously, that's a DOUBLE PLATINUM! Freaking musicians envy this kind of achievement!!), then you really have to take in account that you just spent too damn much making a videogame :|. When you realize just how much it cost to make a videogame in general, it's mindblowing. I mean, it's shocking at times, that a seemingly low-budget game could run up a cost of a couple million :o. Even more insulting when you find out some games cost way less than it did to advertise the thing, and read an article that the company is "not satisfied by its performance."

Yes, at times the videogame biz is a "feast or famine" at days like these, because it's hard to figure out what the majority of the world has an interest in. But when you're spending more money trying to get people to buy the thing rather than giving them a reason to keep it, I hate to say it, but some companies are in the wrong business. As such, it's hard to take it seriously when studios get shut down, support for a platform gets dropped, or an anticipated game is DOA just to "cover the costs." I mean, who's running the show here, passionate programmers or the tobacco company? :|

There are developers out there that I feel would be more at home making Hollywood flicks than creating a videogame. I mean, you just spent the amount of money it cost to make Waterworld just to make me sit through five hours of awesome graphics and bland shooting. And you know what happened to Waterworld? A one-hundred-million-dollar-WTF-was-I-Thinking waste of time. There are indie developers who'd love to have that kind of cash to burn, and I think they'd know how to spend it wisely.

Now, I'm not saying all companies act this way, oh no. It just grates on me that multi billion dollar corporations spend less than a fraction on something, and expect it to be an instant goldmine, and give petty "reasons" why it's justifiable to fire hundreds of employees or express your disdain for a product just because they didn't exactly double up on the profits. It reminds me of those poker matches on TV where one guy goes all in and loses. Sure, he's pissed. But who's he going to blame for that kind of risk? No, it's always that one guy in the corner who doesn't say a word who stays at the table the longest. Because he's not the type to expect to win the jackpot at that moment by any means necessary, no...that's the type who wins some, loses some, and knows exactly when to raise the stakes to finally make some cash. In other words, devs should spend less money on making a huge gamble, and more time just delivering a game that for better or worse, nets some kind of profit. Doesn't have to end in an infinite loop of zeroes, just something the world can agree that is awesome and reaps a generous reward.