The State Of Gaming Is Terrible - WAN Show July 8, 2022

Episode Summary

Executive Summary: The episode focused on gaming industry anti-consumer practices, especially Ubisoft decommissioning online services and DLC access for older games, and argued that users need stronger ownership rights or open-source fallbacks. The hosts also covered YouTube’s erroneous kid-safety labeling, NVIDIA’s wafer overbooking after crypto demand, Meta’s loosening Quest account requirements, Apple’s repair-hostile M2/M1 MacBook design, and broader monetization trends in games and platforms.

Main Topics: Ubisoft decommissioning older games (Priority: 5/5): The hosts criticized Ubisoft for shutting down online services and DLC access for numerous games, arguing the policy disproportionately breaks PC multiplayer while consoles often remain functional. They framed it as a symptom of publishers controlling software access rather than users owning games. Games as a service, monetization, and consumer fatigue (Priority: 5/5): The discussion broadened into how gaming has shifted from a product to a service, with microtransactions, pay-to-win, cosmetics, and DLC normalization. The hosts argued gamers have slowly accepted worse business models, enabling companies to keep extracting more money. YouTube’s mistaken child-safety labeling and spam issues (Priority: 4/5): A horror creator’s explicitly 18+ content was reportedly marked as made for kids, raising concerns about bad AI moderation, creator harm, and accidental exposure of children to inappropriate material. Linus also updated viewers on YouTube’s response to spam comments. NVIDIA and TSMC wafer allocation (Priority: 4/5): The hosts discussed reports that NVIDIA overbooked 5nm wafers based on crypto-driven demand and now may be stuck with allocations they no longer want. They noted this likely reflects broader GPU market demand distortions, not just NVIDIA-specific behavior. Meta Quest account policy changes (Priority: 3/5): Meta removed the requirement for a Facebook account on Quest 2, replacing it with a Meta account, which the hosts said is still a Facebook-owned identity system but slightly less invasive. They also discussed the Quest Pro rumor and VR market direction. Apple’s M2 MacBook Pro repair limitations (Priority: 4/5): iFixit’s teardown showed the M2 MacBook Pro is mostly an M1-era design with minimal changes, but swapping in an M2 logic board breaks trackpad, keyboard, and Touch ID functionality. The hosts treated this as a deliberate anti-repair choice. Community, merch, and LAN planning (Priority: 3/5): The show included updates on LTT Store merch, the upcoming Whale LAN event, and company/community engagement. They described the LAN as local-focused, with limited seats and game/tournament activities rather than a major travel event.

Key Arguments: Older games being decommissioned exposes the core problem that buyers do not truly own software; they own a license subject to publisher control. If publishers refuse to maintain online services, they should at least open source or release the tools so communities can preserve functionality. The gaming industry’s shift toward microtransactions, cosmetics, DLC, and pay-to-win is not just driven by publishers; player behavior has also normalized it. YouTube’s automation can harm both creators and child safety when 18+ content is mislabeled as made for kids. NVIDIA’s wafer overcommitment suggests crypto mining inflated demand and distorted supply-chain planning. Meta’s account policy change is an improvement only in degree; it remains a centralized identity system tied to the same parent company. Apple’s design choices on the M2 MacBook Pro appear intentionally hostile to repair and reuse, despite hardware similarity to the M1 model.

Data Points: Ubisoft games decommissioned: multiple titles including Anno 2070, Assassin’s Creed 2/3/Brotherhood/Liberation HD/Revelations, Far Cry 3, Space Junkies, Driver San Francisco, Ghost Recon Future Soldier, Prince of Persia Forgotten Sands, Rayman Legends - List of games affected by Ubisoft’s shutdown of online services and/or downloads Space Junkies age at decommission: 3 years old - Used to illustrate how quickly online-only games can be abandoned Space Junkies PC price: $27 - The game was still being sold on Ubisoft’s store while decommissioning was scheduled Nintendo Switch insurance-like plan: $15/year or 200 yen/month - Wide Care plan in Japan for repairs and accidental damage Nintendo repair coverage: up to $750 or 6 repairs per year - Wide Care coverage details Diablo Immortal revenue claim: over $1 million/day - Referenced as evidence of how profitable aggressive monetization can be Diablo Immortal annualized estimate: about $333 million/year - Derived in conversation from the daily revenue figure Quest Pro estimated price: $800 to $1,000 - Estimate for Meta’s next high-end VR headset Quest 2 launch date: October 13, 2020 - Used to discuss the headset’s market impact LTT multi-nep t-shirt price: $24.99 - New merch item discussed during the episode Whale LAN capacity: approximately 200 tickets - Planned attendance size for the local LAN event Whale LAN dates: July 29 to July 31 - Announced event window Whale LAN duration endpoint: July 31, 10 a.m. - Official end time for the event Whale LAN value bundle idea: $500 tickets (proposed, not adopted) - Discussion of bundling hoodie, admission, tours, food vouchers, and more Quest 2 account change deadline: January 2023 - Oculus account users must move to Meta account/profile by then YouTube creator response time: nearly 40 hours - Time it took for a mislabeled 18+ video issue to be publicly addressed/reverted

Pivotal Quotes: "What we need is legislation that forces these companies to, if they are not going to maintain it, we can't force them to maintain it." — Linus: On game preservation and the inability to access decommissioned online services "You must either maintain the tools or release the tools." — Linus: Summarizing the desired legal remedy for game preservation "Gaming may be poo now. But as gamers, at least we can take comfort knowing it's all our fault." — Linus: On gamer behavior enabling exploitative monetization models

Implications: Consumers should expect more pressure for software ownership, preservation rights, and repairability laws. The episode suggests gaming, VR, and platform moderation will keep drifting toward centralized control unless users, regulators, or communities force better practices.