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Latest Comments by F.Ultra
XZ tools and libraries compromised with a critical issue
31 March 2024 at 10:07 am UTC

Quoting: nenoroWell back to Gzip or use ZSTD when i compile the kernel then

Does this mean every package ending with tar.xz have risks ?

No, the infection happens when xz itself in installed, not when you open xz files. So the danger is the presence of the compromised version of libxz on your system in combination with the usage of ssh.

GitLab takes down Nintendo Switch emulator suyu due to the DMCA
22 March 2024 at 2:16 am UTC Likes: 1

Quoting: kerossin"previously received a DMCA notice"

But was it an actually legit DMCA? Does the project contain any copyrighted material?

At the same time I actually doubt they would bother to properly check. They can't even be bothered to fix well known 5 year old bugs so they're probably not gonna do something for someone else when it also could go into legal matters.

There are basically no checks done on a DMCA. According to how the DMCA is written, a hosting site like GitLab have to take the property down when they receive a DMCA notice, then the people targetted by the DMCA (aka suyu) have to either accept it OR they have to tell GitLab that they believe that the DMCA is filed in error at which point GitLab is forced to bring the property back online but this then allows the part that issued the DMCA (aka Nintendo) to file a civil lawsuit against suyu so you would only counter a DMCA claim if you either think that #1 the DMCA really is invalid or #2 that who ever filed the DMCA is faking it and don't want to open an actual civil lawsuit.

Saber Interactive splits off from Embracer Group taking various studios with them
19 March 2024 at 10:12 pm UTC

Quoting: GuestI am not privy to internal Swedish politics to tell you exactly.

So in other words you are just shitposting. Well that tells me everything I need to know and that will be the end of my engagement here since there are no reason to argue with bad faith trolls.

Saber Interactive splits off from Embracer Group taking various studios with them
19 March 2024 at 10:09 pm UTC Likes: 1

Quoting: Alm888
Quoting: F.UltraSo let me get this straight, Embracer themselves and all media is lying for some unknown nefarious reason?
Like that is something new to them…

Lying? Yes, absolutely. "Nefarious"? Not at all! Just protecting Public Image by trying to mask their nearly catastrophic financial state. You know, Shareholders won't be pleased if PLAION's stock market value plummets.

Quoting: F.UltraAlso not entirely sure why you are conflating layoffs with finding buyers for valuable assets that you suddenly have to sell off? Remeber that Saber was a founding member of Embracer so this is not something that they really wanted to do.
They need cash. Embracer has purchased a lot of dead gamedev studios in order to make an impression of a really big company. They are broke. Most of the dead weight they've got can not be re-sold in a timely manner. These studios are the only ones Embracer could find a buyer for.

So Embracer being in need of cash decides to (instead of making a normal announcement about it like they have done the entire time during their restructuring) go in conspiracy with the entire media landscape of Sweden including the public broadcast company that did the discovery of their Russian properties and the fact that the CEO of Embracer leases out property to the Swedish defence industry?

I think that you should stop seeing conspiracies everywhere and just accept the fact that a company that brought a studio that have resources in Russia indeed have resources in Russia. I mean is is as simply as it can get and yet you believe that there is a huge conspiracy here involving hundreds of journalists...

edit: sorry about a very late edit, but there are some important details about Crystal vs the rest that has been missing this entire time and that really changes this.

The Dark Crystal Games case is also very different in that they came to Embracer via the aquision of EIDOS and was/is an entity that Embracer controls in full.

The russian assets that came in via Saber however is different, from the pressrelease when Embracer aquired Saber it is made clear that Saber was to remain as an independent entity inside Embracer with full autonomy. This means that Embracer could not get rid of those assets themselves, they had to ask Saber to do it, and for reasons that we don't know, Saber said no. So the only way forward for Embracer was to sell of Saber, there simply was no other possible way.

Saber Interactive splits off from Embracer Group taking various studios with them
18 March 2024 at 8:15 pm UTC Likes: 2

Quoting: Guest
Quoting: F.Ultra
Quoting: Guest
Quoting: F.Ultra
Quoting: Guest
Quoting: F.Ultra
Quoting: Guest
Quoting: Alm888I despise Embracer Group and PLAION while not particularly caring for Saber Interactive or other studios mentioned in the news.

So… Is it good news? If anything, this shows that Embracer/PLAION is struggling to stay afloat and in desperate need for cash. Good.
Quoting: F.UltraThe selling of Saber have nothing to do with the financial status of Embracer or with their previous missed investments. This is simple done because Saber is Russian and the CEO of Embracer is also involved with renting out property to (among others) the Swedish Defense and they simply have let him know that he should either cut ties with Russia or with them, he can't have both. And it also looks like their business with Saber is infringing on the export embargo on Russia.
[sarcasm]So, Nimble Giant, 3D Realms, Slipgate, New World Interactive, Fractured Byte, DIGIC, Sandbox Strategies and Mad Head Games are Russian too. Good to know.[/sarcasm]
If Embracer/PLAION could absolutely not have any dealings with anything "Russian" (yeah, sure, like such a thing as "Russian Game Studio" exists… ) then why now? Not, let's say, two years ago?

Yeah don't think it has anything to do with Russia either. Probably Embracer selling off studios that aren't profitable (and Saber hasn't been exactly profitable in the last little while).

In the article the CEO's name is Matthew Karch, which is not a Russian name

Russia does have game studios like 1C or Mundfish

Quoting: Guest
Quoting: Alm888I despise Embracer Group and PLAION while not particularly caring for Saber Interactive or other studios mentioned in the news.

So… Is it good news? If anything, this shows that Embracer/PLAION is struggling to stay afloat and in desperate need for cash. Good.
Quoting: F.UltraThe selling of Saber have nothing to do with the financial status of Embracer or with their previous missed investments. This is simple done because Saber is Russian and the CEO of Embracer is also involved with renting out property to (among others) the Swedish Defense and they simply have let him know that he should either cut ties with Russia or with them, he can't have both. And it also looks like their business with Saber is infringing on the export embargo on Russia.
[sarcasm]So, Nimble Giant, 3D Realms, Slipgate, New World Interactive, Fractured Byte, DIGIC, Sandbox Strategies and Mad Head Games are Russian too. Good to know.[/sarcasm]
If Embracer/PLAION could absolutely not have any dealings with anything "Russian" (yeah, sure, like such a thing as "Russian Game Studio" exists… ) then why now? Not, let's say, two years ago?

Yeah don't think it has anything to do with Russia either. Probably Embracer selling off studios that aren't profitable (and Saber hasn't been exactly profitable in the last little while).

In the article the CEO's name is Matthew Karch, which is not a Russian name

Russia does have game studios like 1C or Mundfish

Did you two even look at the text I quoted from the news article? Aka "Lars Wingefors is the real owner of the gaming group Embracer, which, according to the Kyiv School of Economics, is the Swedish company with the largest turnover in Russia"?

So let's look at the history of Saber:
QuoteSaber Interactive was founded in 2001 by Andrey Iones, Matthew Karch, and Anton Krupkin.[5][6] Together they created a 3D engine from scratch, gathered a team of artists from Saint Petersburg, Russia and began working on their first game
...
On August 1, 2016, Saber Interactive opened its first internal studio outside of Russia

Ok so was created in Russia and had a Russia only presence for 15 years. Still convinced that Saber have zero to do with Russia?

For crying out loud, it was national news over here when SVT exposed all of this.

7 sep 2023: Gaming billionaire Lars Wingefors is designated as a security risk - has business in both Russia and the Swedish defense industry

7 feb 2024: After SVT's reveal: Embracer wants to liquidate in Russia

14 mar 2024: After SVT's reveal: Embracer is leaving Russia

And press release from Embracer: Embracer Group ceases all operations in Russia through the divestment of selected assets from the operative group Saber Interactive

The last link in English, all others in Swedish.

We now quote the "Kiev School of Econoimcs" as a remotely reliable source?

Plus Sweden is notoriously Russophobic, just because a few people with Russian sounding names opened a company does not make it "Russian". Besides, Saber has been an international company for ages - I am highly skeptical of claims it remains "Russian". Especially considering Russia doesn't have a gaming industry.
They might not be a reliable source of information for how to do things and such, but when it comes to information on which swedish company that have the largest economic investment inside Russia? Yes I would count them as a reliable source for that kind of information.

No one is claiming that Saber is "Russians", the claim is that Saber have studios and economic resources inside Russia, also no one is making that claim based on the names of the founders, it is based on the very fact that the company was founded in St Petersburg, you know that this is a city in Russia yes? They also opened their first studio outside of Russia in 2016 after having operated for 15 years (so obviously they have something inside Russia or do you suggest that they just sat there doing nothing for 15 years?)

And no gaming industry in Russia? The Russian gaming market was worth $3.4B in 2021. I'm not entirely sure what your point is here.

Quoting: Alm888Anyone who wants to see how Embracer/PLAION/Koch Media deals with true Russian gamedev companies can look at authors of "Encased: A Sci-Fi Post-Apocalyptic RPG" ("Dark Crystal Games"). It took Embracer less than a week to cut all contacts, stop all game support (including readied but never to be released patch 1.4) and run away with the money.

So no, I wont buy this "We can't deal with pesky Russians" story.

So let me get this straight, Embracer themselves and all media is lying for some unknown nefarious reason?

Also not entirely sure why you are conflating layoffs with finding buyers for valuable assets that you suddenly have to sell off? Remeber that Saber was a founding member of Embracer so this is not something that they really wanted to do.

Just because a company may or may not have been opened in St Petersburg, doesn't mean it is Russian. One of the founders of the company even has a non-Russian name! Look at companies like Mundfish or OwlCatGames, they opened in Moscow but are Cypriote companies and have no issues trading abroad. Same with Saber. Feels like its a purposeful targetting of companies on the claim they have "business in Russia" (which is unconfirmed).


You can join the discord channel for "Encased: A Sci-Fi Post-Apocalyptic RPG" and talk to the lead devs of the project. I can post the discord invite here. They said that they had prepared the patch and wanted to keep the project going as they were passionate about it, but Embracer held the 1.4 patch and started withholding all the money from sales so the company had no means of surviving and so had to close down. There were no "layoffs". There was purposeful and intentional killing of the company for things they didn't do. They said the patch is still in limbo and many people are asking them to upload the patch elsewhere to play but they don't want legal issues. So yeah, I also don't buy the claim that it has to do with "dealing with pesky Russians" as the other poster said.

If you think Russia has a gaming industry - name 3 large games similar to Call of Duty, God of War or WOW that has come out of there. You likely can't because Russia doesn't have a gaming industry.

So your theory here is that people falsely accuse Embracer of having studios, and resources in Russia just for the lulz. Then Embracer instead of denying this decides to go with the flow, sells of profitable parts which includes their founding company, Saber and releases a press release where they write "Through this divestment, Embracer ceases all operations in Russia"?

Still have zero clue what Dark Crystal Games have to do with any of this. Embracer did layoffs and project cancellations there as part of their restructuring after their large planned investment went to hell. This case with Saber is them selling off profitable studios for a total of $247M.

You argue like they should have just liquidated the Saber parts and thus loose $247M if they wanted to get rid of the Russia stuff. That doesn't make any sense in the world.

And sorry, didn't know that only games the size of Call of Duty counted, then lots of countries doesn't have game studios anymore if that is the definition.

This are the studios listed on Wikipedia that Saber have in Russia: Bytex, Saber St. Petersburg, SmartPhone Labs and Stuntworks. But I take it that this list is faked as well?

My "theory" is that for political reasons the owner/CEO of Embracer was having troubles and to force him to behave they blamed the dastardly Russians (after all what better excuse do they need).

What do layoffs have to do with Encased? Encased team wasn't laid off. They were working on the game prior to Embracer beginning to withhold payments and completed patches for the game. This just goes to show that Embracer had already "ceased operations" in Russia prior to this and that this is merely an official confirmation of what they did years ago for political reasons.

See you even support my claim - Saber is not a Russian company. Saber may have a studio in St Petersburg, but so did Microsoft. Did that make Microsoft a Russian company? The fact that Saber bought its freedom from Embracer doesn't have anything to do with Russia and has everything to do with Embracers financial problems/internal Swedish politics.

And what are those political reasons?

And it would help if you where reading what I write, I did not say that Saber was a Russian company (my very first comment might have been a bit badly worded but I have written about this now in several comments to you), I did say that Saber was the owner of those Russian resources that where the problem for Embracer.

Layoffs have to do with it because Embracer was doing layoffs and cutbacks in some of it's subsidies, including Dark Crystal, at the time of the events that you describe happening to that game. And how on earth can you not see that there is a world of difference between cutting down + ceasing payments for a small subsidiary vs selling of assets worth $247M? Your argument here is that Embracer should just throw $247M in the trash to cease business in Russia instead of selling of the assets, you have yet to explain this part.

And btw, what are your problems with the Kyiv School of Economics? Is it just because they are from Ukraine? I think I might have started to get why you are so upset about my comments.

Saber Interactive splits off from Embracer Group taking various studios with them
18 March 2024 at 5:38 pm UTC Likes: 2

Quoting: Guest
Quoting: F.Ultra
Quoting: Guest
Quoting: F.Ultra
Quoting: Guest
Quoting: Alm888I despise Embracer Group and PLAION while not particularly caring for Saber Interactive or other studios mentioned in the news.

So… Is it good news? If anything, this shows that Embracer/PLAION is struggling to stay afloat and in desperate need for cash. Good.
Quoting: F.UltraThe selling of Saber have nothing to do with the financial status of Embracer or with their previous missed investments. This is simple done because Saber is Russian and the CEO of Embracer is also involved with renting out property to (among others) the Swedish Defense and they simply have let him know that he should either cut ties with Russia or with them, he can't have both. And it also looks like their business with Saber is infringing on the export embargo on Russia.
[sarcasm]So, Nimble Giant, 3D Realms, Slipgate, New World Interactive, Fractured Byte, DIGIC, Sandbox Strategies and Mad Head Games are Russian too. Good to know.[/sarcasm]
If Embracer/PLAION could absolutely not have any dealings with anything "Russian" (yeah, sure, like such a thing as "Russian Game Studio" exists… ) then why now? Not, let's say, two years ago?

Yeah don't think it has anything to do with Russia either. Probably Embracer selling off studios that aren't profitable (and Saber hasn't been exactly profitable in the last little while).

In the article the CEO's name is Matthew Karch, which is not a Russian name

Russia does have game studios like 1C or Mundfish

Quoting: Guest
Quoting: Alm888I despise Embracer Group and PLAION while not particularly caring for Saber Interactive or other studios mentioned in the news.

So… Is it good news? If anything, this shows that Embracer/PLAION is struggling to stay afloat and in desperate need for cash. Good.
Quoting: F.UltraThe selling of Saber have nothing to do with the financial status of Embracer or with their previous missed investments. This is simple done because Saber is Russian and the CEO of Embracer is also involved with renting out property to (among others) the Swedish Defense and they simply have let him know that he should either cut ties with Russia or with them, he can't have both. And it also looks like their business with Saber is infringing on the export embargo on Russia.
[sarcasm]So, Nimble Giant, 3D Realms, Slipgate, New World Interactive, Fractured Byte, DIGIC, Sandbox Strategies and Mad Head Games are Russian too. Good to know.[/sarcasm]
If Embracer/PLAION could absolutely not have any dealings with anything "Russian" (yeah, sure, like such a thing as "Russian Game Studio" exists… ) then why now? Not, let's say, two years ago?

Yeah don't think it has anything to do with Russia either. Probably Embracer selling off studios that aren't profitable (and Saber hasn't been exactly profitable in the last little while).

In the article the CEO's name is Matthew Karch, which is not a Russian name

Russia does have game studios like 1C or Mundfish

Did you two even look at the text I quoted from the news article? Aka "Lars Wingefors is the real owner of the gaming group Embracer, which, according to the Kyiv School of Economics, is the Swedish company with the largest turnover in Russia"?

So let's look at the history of Saber:
QuoteSaber Interactive was founded in 2001 by Andrey Iones, Matthew Karch, and Anton Krupkin.[5][6] Together they created a 3D engine from scratch, gathered a team of artists from Saint Petersburg, Russia and began working on their first game
...
On August 1, 2016, Saber Interactive opened its first internal studio outside of Russia

Ok so was created in Russia and had a Russia only presence for 15 years. Still convinced that Saber have zero to do with Russia?

For crying out loud, it was national news over here when SVT exposed all of this.

7 sep 2023: Gaming billionaire Lars Wingefors is designated as a security risk - has business in both Russia and the Swedish defense industry

7 feb 2024: After SVT's reveal: Embracer wants to liquidate in Russia

14 mar 2024: After SVT's reveal: Embracer is leaving Russia

And press release from Embracer: Embracer Group ceases all operations in Russia through the divestment of selected assets from the operative group Saber Interactive

The last link in English, all others in Swedish.

We now quote the "Kiev School of Econoimcs" as a remotely reliable source?

Plus Sweden is notoriously Russophobic, just because a few people with Russian sounding names opened a company does not make it "Russian". Besides, Saber has been an international company for ages - I am highly skeptical of claims it remains "Russian". Especially considering Russia doesn't have a gaming industry.
They might not be a reliable source of information for how to do things and such, but when it comes to information on which swedish company that have the largest economic investment inside Russia? Yes I would count them as a reliable source for that kind of information.

No one is claiming that Saber is "Russians", the claim is that Saber have studios and economic resources inside Russia, also no one is making that claim based on the names of the founders, it is based on the very fact that the company was founded in St Petersburg, you know that this is a city in Russia yes? They also opened their first studio outside of Russia in 2016 after having operated for 15 years (so obviously they have something inside Russia or do you suggest that they just sat there doing nothing for 15 years?)

And no gaming industry in Russia? The Russian gaming market was worth $3.4B in 2021. I'm not entirely sure what your point is here.

Quoting: Alm888Anyone who wants to see how Embracer/PLAION/Koch Media deals with true Russian gamedev companies can look at authors of "Encased: A Sci-Fi Post-Apocalyptic RPG" ("Dark Crystal Games"). It took Embracer less than a week to cut all contacts, stop all game support (including readied but never to be released patch 1.4) and run away with the money.

So no, I wont buy this "We can't deal with pesky Russians" story.

So let me get this straight, Embracer themselves and all media is lying for some unknown nefarious reason?

Also not entirely sure why you are conflating layoffs with finding buyers for valuable assets that you suddenly have to sell off? Remeber that Saber was a founding member of Embracer so this is not something that they really wanted to do.

Just because a company may or may not have been opened in St Petersburg, doesn't mean it is Russian. One of the founders of the company even has a non-Russian name! Look at companies like Mundfish or OwlCatGames, they opened in Moscow but are Cypriote companies and have no issues trading abroad. Same with Saber. Feels like its a purposeful targetting of companies on the claim they have "business in Russia" (which is unconfirmed).


You can join the discord channel for "Encased: A Sci-Fi Post-Apocalyptic RPG" and talk to the lead devs of the project. I can post the discord invite here. They said that they had prepared the patch and wanted to keep the project going as they were passionate about it, but Embracer held the 1.4 patch and started withholding all the money from sales so the company had no means of surviving and so had to close down. There were no "layoffs". There was purposeful and intentional killing of the company for things they didn't do. They said the patch is still in limbo and many people are asking them to upload the patch elsewhere to play but they don't want legal issues. So yeah, I also don't buy the claim that it has to do with "dealing with pesky Russians" as the other poster said.

If you think Russia has a gaming industry - name 3 large games similar to Call of Duty, God of War or WOW that has come out of there. You likely can't because Russia doesn't have a gaming industry.

So your theory here is that people falsely accuse Embracer of having studios, and resources in Russia just for the lulz. Then Embracer instead of denying this decides to go with the flow, sells of profitable parts which includes their founding company, Saber and releases a press release where they write "Through this divestment, Embracer ceases all operations in Russia"?

Still have zero clue what Dark Crystal Games have to do with any of this. Embracer did layoffs and project cancellations there as part of their restructuring after their large planned investment went to hell. This case with Saber is them selling off profitable studios for a total of $247M.

You argue like they should have just liquidated the Saber parts and thus loose $247M if they wanted to get rid of the Russia stuff. That doesn't make any sense in the world.

And sorry, didn't know that only games the size of Call of Duty counted, then lots of countries doesn't have game studios anymore if that is the definition.

This are the studios listed on Wikipedia that Saber have in Russia: Bytex, Saber St. Petersburg, SmartPhone Labs and Stuntworks. But I take it that this list is faked as well?

Saber Interactive splits off from Embracer Group taking various studios with them
18 March 2024 at 3:41 pm UTC Likes: 2

Quoting: Guest
Quoting: F.Ultra
Quoting: Guest
Quoting: Alm888I despise Embracer Group and PLAION while not particularly caring for Saber Interactive or other studios mentioned in the news.

So… Is it good news? If anything, this shows that Embracer/PLAION is struggling to stay afloat and in desperate need for cash. Good.
Quoting: F.UltraThe selling of Saber have nothing to do with the financial status of Embracer or with their previous missed investments. This is simple done because Saber is Russian and the CEO of Embracer is also involved with renting out property to (among others) the Swedish Defense and they simply have let him know that he should either cut ties with Russia or with them, he can't have both. And it also looks like their business with Saber is infringing on the export embargo on Russia.
[sarcasm]So, Nimble Giant, 3D Realms, Slipgate, New World Interactive, Fractured Byte, DIGIC, Sandbox Strategies and Mad Head Games are Russian too. Good to know.[/sarcasm]
If Embracer/PLAION could absolutely not have any dealings with anything "Russian" (yeah, sure, like such a thing as "Russian Game Studio" exists… ) then why now? Not, let's say, two years ago?

Yeah don't think it has anything to do with Russia either. Probably Embracer selling off studios that aren't profitable (and Saber hasn't been exactly profitable in the last little while).

In the article the CEO's name is Matthew Karch, which is not a Russian name

Russia does have game studios like 1C or Mundfish

Quoting: Guest
Quoting: Alm888I despise Embracer Group and PLAION while not particularly caring for Saber Interactive or other studios mentioned in the news.

So… Is it good news? If anything, this shows that Embracer/PLAION is struggling to stay afloat and in desperate need for cash. Good.
Quoting: F.UltraThe selling of Saber have nothing to do with the financial status of Embracer or with their previous missed investments. This is simple done because Saber is Russian and the CEO of Embracer is also involved with renting out property to (among others) the Swedish Defense and they simply have let him know that he should either cut ties with Russia or with them, he can't have both. And it also looks like their business with Saber is infringing on the export embargo on Russia.
[sarcasm]So, Nimble Giant, 3D Realms, Slipgate, New World Interactive, Fractured Byte, DIGIC, Sandbox Strategies and Mad Head Games are Russian too. Good to know.[/sarcasm]
If Embracer/PLAION could absolutely not have any dealings with anything "Russian" (yeah, sure, like such a thing as "Russian Game Studio" exists… ) then why now? Not, let's say, two years ago?

Yeah don't think it has anything to do with Russia either. Probably Embracer selling off studios that aren't profitable (and Saber hasn't been exactly profitable in the last little while).

In the article the CEO's name is Matthew Karch, which is not a Russian name

Russia does have game studios like 1C or Mundfish

Did you two even look at the text I quoted from the news article? Aka "Lars Wingefors is the real owner of the gaming group Embracer, which, according to the Kyiv School of Economics, is the Swedish company with the largest turnover in Russia"?

So let's look at the history of Saber:
QuoteSaber Interactive was founded in 2001 by Andrey Iones, Matthew Karch, and Anton Krupkin.[5][6] Together they created a 3D engine from scratch, gathered a team of artists from Saint Petersburg, Russia and began working on their first game
...
On August 1, 2016, Saber Interactive opened its first internal studio outside of Russia

Ok so was created in Russia and had a Russia only presence for 15 years. Still convinced that Saber have zero to do with Russia?

For crying out loud, it was national news over here when SVT exposed all of this.

7 sep 2023: Gaming billionaire Lars Wingefors is designated as a security risk - has business in both Russia and the Swedish defense industry

7 feb 2024: After SVT's reveal: Embracer wants to liquidate in Russia

14 mar 2024: After SVT's reveal: Embracer is leaving Russia

And press release from Embracer: Embracer Group ceases all operations in Russia through the divestment of selected assets from the operative group Saber Interactive

The last link in English, all others in Swedish.

We now quote the "Kiev School of Econoimcs" as a remotely reliable source?

Plus Sweden is notoriously Russophobic, just because a few people with Russian sounding names opened a company does not make it "Russian". Besides, Saber has been an international company for ages - I am highly skeptical of claims it remains "Russian". Especially considering Russia doesn't have a gaming industry.
They might not be a reliable source of information for how to do things and such, but when it comes to information on which swedish company that have the largest economic investment inside Russia? Yes I would count them as a reliable source for that kind of information.

No one is claiming that Saber is "Russians", the claim is that Saber have studios and economic resources inside Russia, also no one is making that claim based on the names of the founders, it is based on the very fact that the company was founded in St Petersburg, you know that this is a city in Russia yes? They also opened their first studio outside of Russia in 2016 after having operated for 15 years (so obviously they have something inside Russia or do you suggest that they just sat there doing nothing for 15 years?)

And no gaming industry in Russia? The Russian gaming market was worth $3.4B in 2021. I'm not entirely sure what your point is here.

Quoting: Alm888Anyone who wants to see how Embracer/PLAION/Koch Media deals with true Russian gamedev companies can look at authors of "Encased: A Sci-Fi Post-Apocalyptic RPG" ("Dark Crystal Games"). It took Embracer less than a week to cut all contacts, stop all game support (including readied but never to be released patch 1.4) and run away with the money.

So no, I wont buy this "We can't deal with pesky Russians" story.

So let me get this straight, Embracer themselves and all media is lying for some unknown nefarious reason?

Also not entirely sure why you are conflating layoffs with finding buyers for valuable assets that you suddenly have to sell off? Remeber that Saber was a founding member of Embracer so this is not something that they really wanted to do.

Valve COO on Epic's Tim Sweeney "you mad bro?" when launching the Epic Store
16 March 2024 at 4:02 am UTC

Quoting: CatKiller
Quoting: F.UltraThat I think we all can agree, not sure I follow in Tim:s reasoning that it's up to Valve to change the cut so Apple might be forced to follow (why they now would be forced, I mean there is no law on what cut you can take and Apple have full monopoly on the iPhone app market).
Epic doesn't care about "30%". At all.

Sweeney said that if Apple had given Epic special favourable terms that left everyone else in the lurch, they'd have taken it.

What they are bothered by is Apple's control of Apple's platform, so that when, say, legislators in a country say "you've got to take these applications off your platform" then Apple can. And have. For Epic's applications.

What they wanted was for the other platform controllers to collude to drop prices so that Apple would be standing alone & vulnerable when Epic sent the regulators knocking on Apple's door. Humble went along with it, and it's pretty much killed their business. Microsoft went along with it (but only for Windows, not Xbox) because they really want the Windows Store on iOS and Android. They didn't disturb Sony because Epic is so reliant on PlayStation Fortnite money. Google wouldn't go along with it. And Valve wouldn't go along with it, so Epic decided to use their Fortnite money to open their own store to (fail to) compete with Steam.

ah, that makes so much more sense!

Valve COO on Epic's Tim Sweeney "you mad bro?" when launching the Epic Store
15 March 2024 at 8:47 pm UTC

Quoting: Purple Library Guy
Quoting: F.Ultra
Quoting: pleasereadthemanual
QuoteSweeney's point here is that Valve make a lot of money from that 30% cut and goes on to say "If you subtract out the top 25 games on Steam, I bet Valve made more profit from most of the next 1000 than the developer themselves made" and complains that when you add together Valve's cut, marketing and so on that the cut for developers is small.
So his first argument is that Valve is making more money from the games that sell really well than the publisher themselves.

Valve almost immediately reduces their cut of games that sell really well:

QuoteIt was only a few days later (quite cheekily then), that Valve suddenly publicly announced their plan to reduce their take for the top-selling Steam games.
And then Tim Sweeney complains about Valve not doing it for everyone and only the big publishers benefit (that isn't necessarily true; small developers occasionally ship hits).

If Valve reduced their cut for everyone, what would his next argument be?

I'm trying to take Tim Sweeney's side here because it's true that Valve has a near-monopoly on PC games (I wish they had a monopoly on Japanese VNs too) and monopoly power should not exist, but these arguments don't seem to be coming from a place where I can assume good faith.

What I find even more absurd is that it to me sounds like he actually is quite ok with Valve taking 30% but is having more of a problem with Apple doing it and wants Valve to lower their commission to thus somehow force Apple to lower theirs as well.
I could probably make an argument that Valve does deserve 30% but Apple do not. After all, one thing that's been pointed out repeatedly in this thread is that Valve does a lot more than be a store--they got all these features, community, support for modding, yadda yadda, and the claim many of us have made is that it's this extra stuff that makes Valve worth the 30%. I don't think Apple does any of that stuff, so it would follow they're not worth the 30%.

That I think we all can agree, not sure I follow in Tim:s reasoning that it's up to Valve to change the cut so Apple might be forced to follow (why they now would be forced, I mean there is no law on what cut you can take and Apple have full monopoly on the iPhone app market).

Quoting: CatKiller
Quoting: F.UltraAlso not sure how Valve who gets 30% could make more money than the devs that gets the remaining 70% as he claims (and even if we include the typical publisher who:s average cut is 10%-20%, the devs should still get > 30%).
His claim isn't about revenue, but about profit: specifically, that for "most" of the 26 - 1,025 top selling games, (30% - taxes - cost of doing Steam things) is greater than (70% - publisher cut - taxes - cost of doing game-making things). Which is still a pretty incoherent claim (it makes zero difference to anything whether the claim is true or whether the claim is false), and Valve don't take 30% off the biggest games any more anyway.

True that he talked about profits and the devs have quite an investment to pay off before they make a profit, and I guess that it's my non-US perspective that didn't consider that companies over there pay less taxes than a small dev team.

Valve COO on Epic's Tim Sweeney "you mad bro?" when launching the Epic Store
15 March 2024 at 12:51 am UTC Likes: 2

Quoting: pleasereadthemanual
QuoteSweeney's point here is that Valve make a lot of money from that 30% cut and goes on to say "If you subtract out the top 25 games on Steam, I bet Valve made more profit from most of the next 1000 than the developer themselves made" and complains that when you add together Valve's cut, marketing and so on that the cut for developers is small.
So his first argument is that Valve is making more money from the games that sell really well than the publisher themselves.

Valve almost immediately reduces their cut of games that sell really well:

QuoteIt was only a few days later (quite cheekily then), that Valve suddenly publicly announced their plan to reduce their take for the top-selling Steam games.
And then Tim Sweeney complains about Valve not doing it for everyone and only the big publishers benefit (that isn't necessarily true; small developers occasionally ship hits).

If Valve reduced their cut for everyone, what would his next argument be?

I'm trying to take Tim Sweeney's side here because it's true that Valve has a near-monopoly on PC games (I wish they had a monopoly on Japanese VNs too) and monopoly power should not exist, but these arguments don't seem to be coming from a place where I can assume good faith.

What I find even more absurd is that it to me sounds like he actually is quite ok with Valve taking 30% but is having more of a problem with Apple doing it and wants Valve to lower their commission to thus somehow force Apple to lower theirs as well.

Also not sure how Valve who gets 30% could make more money than the devs that gets the remaining 70% as he claims (and even if we include the typical publisher who:s average cut is 10%-20%, the devs should still get > 30%).