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74 responses to “Ask Kotaku”
Regardless of whether or not one likes their content, it’s difficult to not to agree that they manage their brand and run their site extremely well.
They have probably the most successful webcomic of all time, 2 extremely successful conventions (Pax East and West), and they run a charity which raises millions every year (Child’s Play). If a webcomic was to adopt a premium model of any sort, their’s is both the most likely to succeed and the most likely to implement it correctly (or as correctly as possible).
Although it is the lifeblood of all the free internet services we use, people hate advertising. I am the only person I know who deliberately doesn’t run an ad-blocker. Giving people the option to pay and make the site ad-free, so long as it is an option, and not mandatory, can only be a good thing.
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Again, I just don’t understand the way it is framed. If people want to support the creation of content, then that is a worthy cause. Essentially, you support the things you like by allowing the creators to make more of the things you like. Instead of framing it as an exercise in content-creation, they are framing it as if they just want to be done with advertising without giving their audience the clarity they deserve. Again, where does the money usually go? How much do they make from advertising per year? If they end up getting 1 million dollars and they usually got 500,000, then we have doubled the money they earn with only the promise of extra shit. The rewards that are offered are still ridiculous and for the most part, don’t really cost them anything to produce. Needs more transparency – explain a little more how you get more time to create if you have $500,000 in the bank? I just don’t get it.
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Remember, something is worth whatever people are willing to pay for it.
IF they made $10M from this, where they would usually make $100k in a year, one could interpret that as “We’ve just paid them 100 times too much”, or “They’ve been paid 1% of what they should have been for all these years”, both are equally valid interpretations.Whatever the PA fanbase is willing to give them, so long as it’s clear what said fanbase get out of it, then that’s what they’re worth
I agree with your point about transparency, it would be nice to know that this money isn’t going to fund puppy slaughter factories or a massive cocaine-and-hookers parties or whatever.
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All of that being said, people giving money to them would likely do so without the ads being removed. Hell, all of what they’re doing re: ads could be equally well accomplished with a bookmarklet or browser extension.
IMHO, they’re expecting to make many of the stretch goals quite easily, and will use it to increase the amount of content that can be published (and the funders might get to see this content earlier than anyone else)
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Oh, I just checked the FAQ… they have a staff of fourteen. Earning 50k each, that’s 700k already gone. Take another 100k of for kickstarter (10%), and theres about 200k remaining for company expansions. That seems reasonable
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That’s advertising money. They still make money from other sources, you know.
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I have to do a talk infront of 200+ school students tomorrow, any tips?
And no, “Picture everyone naked” doesn’t count.
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School kids can smell a fake from a mile away. Don’t try to be cool or try to be straight laced, just be natural.
Do you guys watch any online video game shows like JonTronShow, The Completionist or Continue? Have you got any other great ones that you’d like to share?
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My favourites are the Angry Video Game Nerd, Zero Punctuation, and Red Letter Media’s Game Station 2.0.
Why is it that when games get famous people to do their voice acting, that fact is hardly ever used in the marketing (at least not prominently)? If you’re going to shell out to get Kiefer Sutherland and Gary Oldman to voice your main characters, why not plaster their names on the cover, or at least mention them in the trailers?
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Yeah, I’ve often wondered about this as well. Especially for new IP. Call of duty is already a brand in itself, so I don’t think it needs the celebrity pull. On the other hand for a game like Beyond:two souls I think using the celebrity for TV ads and such would be useful. Something like:
‘Sony computer entertainment presents…A triumph in interactive storytelling, a new way to play your games-Beyond two souls. Starring Ellen Page and Willem Dafoe(rumoured) experience an interactive Journey like never before . Coming soon.’
Something to that extent.
Fourth week running with this question but when you gotta know you gotta know.
Why no sequel to Naruto: Broken Bond?
I have heard that Ubisofts Naruto license expired, the developers split from Ubisoft and that the Ultimate Ninja Storm series stole their players away when UNS2 was cross-platform but have no confirmation of any of them.
Does someone, anyone, out there know exactly why or why not?
Is there any way to sign up for some kind of automatic notifications about XBLA sales? Ideally for specific games? I always forget to check the site, so it’d be great to get an email to tell me when, say, Trials Evolution or Wrecked get discounted.
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