Copyright law needs a major overhaul

[Zenpai]

6 hours ago, AJ_-_808 said:

What a load of horse shit.  Dont try to justify the theft by saying they're rich and can afford it.  And if a large company has to downsize because they didnt meet sales expectations on part due to piracy, then what? Tell the employees it's ok because the huge company can afford it?

 

We needn't go any further than one of the biggest companies in gaming, Activision, who less than a month ago fired 8% of its work force... despite boasting of record profit in the same investor's conference. The problem here isn't piracy, they're clearly making more than enough money, hell, they're making record revenue. The problem here is insanely high expectations that couldn't possibly correspond to reality, considering that economic growth has to hit a ceiling eventually - and the faster you grow, the faster you're going to hit that ceiling.

 

Oh, and did you know that not only Activision but also EA have two of the most grossly overpaid CEOs in the US? Yeah. Clearly the problem here isn't piracy or lack of profit, it's terrible management.

 

P.S: Any company with management worth its salt will always take piracy into account and adjust their expectations and budget accordingly.

[starcrunch061]

I'm in opposition to the OP on pretty much everything here. I'm a staunch supporter of copyright law. If changes are to be made, they should be specific, and should be forced to show massive societal gain (such as a company trying to stifle research that could save lives simply because they can't get anywhere with it).

 

I would compare my defense of copyright to limiting eminent domain.

[AJ_-_808]

10 hours ago, jrdemr said:

 

We needn't go any further than one of the biggest companies in gaming, Activision, who less than a month ago fired 8% of its work force... despite boasting of record profit in the same investor's conference. The problem here isn't piracy, they're clearly making more than enough money, hell, they're making record revenue. The problem here is insanely high expectations that couldn't possibly correspond to reality, considering that economic growth has to hit a ceiling eventually - and the faster you grow, the faster you're going to hit that ceiling.

 

Oh, and did you know that not only Activision but also EA have two of the most grossly overpaid CEOs in the US? Yeah. Clearly the problem here isn't piracy or lack of profit, it's terrible management.

 

P.S: Any company with management worth its salt will always take piracy into account and adjust their expectations and budget accordingly.

 

And you're still trying to justify it by saying they made enough money as it is.

Theft is theft dude, it's black and white.

 

Companies downsize & restructure all the time in between projects, and it's not limited to video game makers either. Why would you keep a full staff on payroll when there's no active project for them? 

 

Not all sales expectations are unrealistic and piracy, by it's very nature, does in fact damage sales and potential sales, which in turn can cause the company's next project to be delayed or even cancelled (incoming layoffs). If you think otherwise, you're lying to yourself.

[Zenpai]

5 minutes ago, AJ_-_808 said:

 

And you're still trying to justify it by saying they made enough money as it is.

Theft is theft dude, it's black and white.

 

Companies downsize & restructure all the time in between projects, and it's not limited to video game makers either. Why would you keep a full staff on payroll when there's no active project for them? 

 

Not all sales expectations are unrealistic and piracy, by it's very nature, does in fact damage sales and potential sales, which in turn can cause the company's next project to be delayed or even cancelled (incoming layoffs). If you think otherwise, you're lying to yourself.

 

If you'd watched the videos I linked to, you'd know that those layoffs were due to nothing other than completely unrealistic expectations. Again: they made record profits. This is not some indie company making pennies, this is a company that makes guaranteed billions every single year, a company that has one of the most overpaid CEOs in America, a company that gave its new CFO 15 million dollars merely for taking the job and you're telling me that they're living project to project and that these firings were justified?

 

I'm not buying that. It'll be a long time before you hear me defending the mega rich for wanting to be ultra mega rich.

[majob]

10 minutes ago, jrdemr said:

 

If you'd watched the videos I linked to, you'd know that those layoffs were due to nothing other than completely unrealistic expectations. Again: they made record profits. This is not some indie company making pennies, this is a company that makes guaranteed billions every single year, a company that has one of the most overpaid CEOs in America, a company that gave its new CFO 15 million dollars merely for taking the job and you're telling me that they're living project to project and that these firings were justified?

 

I'm not buying that. It'll be a long time before you hear me defending the mega rich for wanting to be ultra mega rich.

Companies perform layoffs for other reasons aside from lack of growth. Profits do not precede growth and lack of profits don't necessarily inhibit it. Activision cut positions it most likely felt it no longer needed. Sad, but that's business and it happens. As for the CEO part, how does one determine what's "overpaid"? The chairmen of Activision paid what they thought was worthwhile to a person whom has steered their company towards increased profits. That's also business. 

[Zenpai]

33 minutes ago, majob said:

Companies perform layoffs for other reasons aside from lack of growth. Profits do not precede growth and lack of profits don't necessarily inhibit it. Activision cut positions it most likely felt it no longer needed. Sad, but that's business and it happens. As for the CEO part, how does one determine what's "overpaid"? The chairmen of Activision paid what they thought was worthwhile to a person whom has steered their company towards increased profits. That's also business. 

 

Again, watch the videos I linked to:

 

 

 

[MosesRockefeller]

20 hours ago, gameoverDude189 said:

With all due respect, Nintendo's Switch could use more power for it's $300 price.  Don't get me wrong, it's not like I expect PS4 Pro or Xbox One X level hardware in it, but they should make it at least on par with a vanilla PS4 for that money.

How would that work? The Switch already burns through the battery when a game really taxes the hardware. If it was not a hybrid, using higher-end hardware could work. But it was specifically designed to be a hybrid. Also don't forget that the Xbox One launched for $500 and the PS4 launched for $400.

Edited March 4, 2019 by MosesRockefeller

[Wavergray]

18 minutes ago, jrdemr said:

 

Again, watch the videos I linked to:

 

 

 

Linking Jim Sterling stuff doesn't help because a lot of the time Jim doesn't know what he is talking about on many of the topics he talks about. 

[AJ_-_808]

3 hours ago, jrdemr said:

 

If you'd watched the videos I linked to, you'd know that those layoffs were due to nothing other than completely unrealistic expectations. Again: they made record profits. This is not some indie company making pennies, this is a company that makes guaranteed billions every single year, a company that has one of the most overpaid CEOs in America, a company that gave its new CFO 15 million dollars merely for taking the job and you're telling me that they're living project to project and that these firings were justified?

 

I'm not buying that. It'll be a long time before you hear me defending the mega rich for wanting to be ultra mega rich.

 

Jim Sterling is not an authority on the inner workings of these companies.  I'd bet there are a few other factors in that specific layoff.  Developers know what they're getting into when they sign on with these companies.

 

You're still trying to justify theft by saying they made plenty of money, so it's ok.  Even if said reason was the sole cause of the downsizing, it's still theft. Fight the Robin Hood fight all you want, in the end, it's still illegal and in most cases immoral.

[RadiantFlamberge]

7 hours ago, MosesRockefeller said:

How would that work? It already burns through the battery when a game really taxes the hardware. If it was not a hybrid, that approach could work. But it was specifically designed to be a hybrid. Also don't forget that the Xbox One launched for $500 and the PS4 launched for $400.

Besides dialing down resolution to 720p like the Switch already does when undocked, some of the graphic effects could be toned down to a lower level or even shut off to further reduce the GPU's power demands.

Now something good is how Nintendo lets you use microSDXC cards, instead of an expensive proprietary format. $45 for 256 GB? $27 for 128 GB? Those memory card prices are not bad. In fact Switch is supposed to allow 2TB mSDXC cards when they're available.

Edited March 5, 2019 by gameoverDude189

[Zenpai]

12 hours ago, soultaker655 said:

Linking Jim Sterling stuff doesn't help because a lot of the time Jim doesn't know what he is talking about on many of the topics he talks about. 

 

10 hours ago, AJ_-_808 said:

 

Jim Sterling is not an authority on the inner workings of these companies.  I'd bet there are a few other factors in that specific layoff.  Developers know what they're getting into when they sign on with these companies.

You're still trying to justify theft by saying they made plenty of money, so it's ok.  Even if said reason was the sole cause of the downsizing, it's still theft. Fight the Robin Hood fight all you want, in the end, it's still illegal and in most cases immoral.

 

 

Then go to Kotaku and read Jason Schreier's articles on the matter. He's a longtime gaming journalist and has a lot of insider info on pretty much anything that goes on in the industry. He's even a lot more positive than Jim Sterling on most issues, so go read what he wrote in case you want the perspective of someone with a different mindset.

 

Spoiler alert, though: regarding layoffs specifically, he's going to say the exact same thing Jim said.

 

And, just like I said before, we all know piracy is illegal. That's not the issue here because you can't argue with facts. But I just wrote a massive 5000-word article on why I think piracy isn't a big deal, an article with plenty of research, sources, arguments and even links to other sources. "Betting there are a few other factors" isn't much of an argument. That's just how you want to feel. Counter argument with argument and source with source, not just your gut feeling.

[Wavergray]

1 hour ago, jrdemr said:

 

 

 

Then go to Kotaku and read Jason Schreier's articles on the matter. He's a longtime gaming journalist and has a lot of insider info on pretty much anything that goes on in the industry. He's even a lot more positive than Jim Sterling on most issues, so go read what he wrote in case you want the perspective of someone with a different mindset.

 

Spoiler alert, though: regarding layoffs specifically, he's going to say the exact same thing Jim said.

 

And, just like I said before, we all know piracy is illegal. That's not the issue here because you can't argue with facts. But I just wrote a massive 5000-word article on why I think piracy isn't a big deal, an article with plenty of research, sources, arguments and even links to other sources. "Betting there are a few other factors" isn't much of an argument. That's just how you want to feel. Counter argument with argument and source with source, not just your gut feeling.

Except outside of "scoops" he gets from "knowing people" Jason Schreier is just as bad as almost every other game journalist. When he's not reporting on something his sources told him, all he is doing is stating his opinion. Opinion which only show how little he knows on certain topics. In this case he obviously has no idea how a multi-billion-dollar company is run.

Like many people who don't deal with a huge amount of money, both Jim and Jason made the mistake of thinking "record-setting profits for COD", "New CFO get's $15 million", and "800 people getting laid off" had anything to do with each other in a huge way. 

If you listen to the Activision conference call, you can here them clearly state that since they do not have any big release coming up anytime soon they are taking the time to restructure the company by getting rid of redundant positions. Also even though they made record-setting profits for COD, they still did not meet sales projections. Not meeting sales projections is a big deal for any company let alone ones with multi-million dollar investors. 

Now with the CFO it gets a little messy, because it seems like naming a new one is something they were forced to do because of a internal scandal with the old CFO Spencer Neumann.
Looks like he was doing something dirty with Netflix without telling Activision. So the $3.75 million sign on was probably all they were willing to give him in such short notice. The other $11.3 million of the $15 million is in restricted stocks. Which to put it plainly means that money doesn't actually exist yet. It is money he can potentially earn if the company does well while he is the CFO, on top of that he can't cash all that out that stock for real money until a set number of time has passed. Could be in 1,5, or even 10 years. Since we can't see his contract we have know idea how long it will be before that money will be "real". 

So the idea that Activision fired those 800 people, so that they could pay a new CFO makes no actual sense if you have any idea how a business of that size is actually run.
Also those 800 people worked for a large tech company, so don't make the mistake of thinking they work minimum wage or something. They most likely earn somewhere around $60,000+ a year. Just using $60,000 as a base they would have need at least $48,000,000 ($60,000 X 800) a year to pay them at least and that does not include benefits such as Healthcare for them and the family. Plus from what I could find most of these people who got laid off were not developers, they were middle management and that they got their severance packages. So even if the whole $15 million was real it would not have been enough to pay for those people to stay at Activision.

All of this that I just typed out just comes from having a basic understanding of how any real business works and like 30-45 minutes of basic research into what be going on at Activision as a business lately. Now if I can do that for free, why can't people like Jim and Jason who are payed to be "gaming journalist" do anything like this?  This is why gaming journalism is useless, it is never about actual facts of a situation. They always cherry-pick things they can fit into their agenda so they can just throw out stuff that gets clickbait money. They play on the ignorance and natural negativity that people have towards anyone who seems just big enough to be better then them.

Mister Jim "I make around $1 million dollars a year " Sterling going to sit on his high horse and tell me I should be mad at the CEOs, CFOs, and ect, of a multi-billion-dollar company because they get payed to do their job? Mister Jason "I am gaming journalism" Schreier going to tell me it's wrong that a man was so valued for his skills that he got a bonus and stock options to make sure he would come back to the company at the last minute?

Pardon my language, but fuck that noise.

All this to say when you try and use people who don't know what they're talking about to strengthen your point, you actually just weaken your point.
It is a standard case of Appeal to False Authority.

Sources:
https://www.investopedia.com/terms/r/restrictedstock.asp

https://www.bloomberg.com/technology
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/activision-blizzard-wants-to-fire-cfo-2018-12-31

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/activision-names-former-cfo-dennis-durkin-as-new-cfo-2019-01-02
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/silicon-valley-salaries_us_56d61ee6e4b0bf0dab33ce96
https://www.payscale.com/research/US/Job=Activation_Manager/Salary

 

 

Edited March 5, 2019 by soultaker655

[AJ_-_808]

10 hours ago, jrdemr said:

 

 

 

Then go to Kotaku and read Jason Schreier's articles on the matter. He's a longtime gaming journalist and has a lot of insider info on pretty much anything that goes on in the industry. He's even a lot more positive than Jim Sterling on most issues, so go read what he wrote in case you want the perspective of someone with a different mindset.

 

Spoiler alert, though: regarding layoffs specifically, he's going to say the exact same thing Jim said.

 

And, just like I said before, we all know piracy is illegal. That's not the issue here because you can't argue with facts. But I just wrote a massive 5000-word article on why I think piracy isn't a big deal, an article with plenty of research, sources, arguments and even links to other sources. "Betting there are a few other factors" isn't much of an argument. That's just how you want to feel. Counter argument with argument and source with source, not just your gut feeling.

 

Except I have to say "I'd bet" because I'm not an authority on their inner workings either.  However, common sense dictates that stolen profits due to piracy will contribute in some part.

 

And of course *you* wouldn't think it's a big deal. What piece of software or media have you produced?  If you dont have anything being stolen from you, then you aren't really affected by it.

 

Even pirating media that's out of production isnt exactly right, it's just less wrong.  It's still theft, just doesnt have any affect on sales

[AJ_Radio]

The copyright law is about 30 - 40 years out of date.

 

The law as it stands here in America doesn't really apply to newer forms of media such as the internet, our usage of social media, and of course, video games.

 

It badly needs an overhaul. I don't know about the laws in Portugal since I don't know the country that well.

[starcrunch061]

17 hours ago, AJ_-_808 said:

Except I have to say "I'd bet" because I'm not an authority on their inner workings either.  However, common sense dictates that stolen profits due to piracy will contribute in some part.

 

And of course *you* wouldn't think it's a big deal. What piece of software or media have you produced?  If you dont have anything being stolen from you, then you aren't really affected by it.

 

Even pirating media that's out of production isnt exactly right, it's just less wrong.  It's still theft, just doesnt have any affect on sales

 

Even if piracy doesn't contribute to loss of profit one whit, that doesn't make piracy right. I agree with all of this.

 

Often, I read people talking about how "entitled" gamers feel, and I cringe. It's not entitlement to complain about the value of a purchase you've made. But this? This is nothing but entitlement. You are not entitled to play games for free. Period. Maybe copyright law does need an update, although I don't see how it would matter to this case (the fact that there is a new delivery vehicle for stolen media of the 80s and 90s doesn't mean that we need to rethink whether it was stolen). 

 

Ignoring all of the in-between about layoffs, gross profit margins, and the like, the main statement here seems to be, "nintendo is bad because they shut down illegal use of their copyrighted products". That feels wrong to me.