It’s not sustainable.
In the same way that slot machines and roulette wheels aren’t sustainable, sure. Once you figure out they’re a scam, you stop playing them.
But you don’t need to trick all the people all the time. You just need to trick enough people to turn a steady profit. Firms like Microsoft and EA have figured out a formula that’s worked for a long time and now they’re just running the playbook. Like any good bookie in Vegas, they make money off the suckers. And they reinvest a sizeable chunk of their profits into marketing to bring in new marks. And there’s always new marks.
No-one will enjoy where that leads
There will be a dozen senior executives in a VIP lounge absolutely enjoying where this goes in another five or ten years.
MentalEdge@sopuli.xyz 3 weeks ago
If your market is small enough.
You bring up gambling. It’s de-regulation and consequent proliferation via online gambling has made the problems it causes more likely to be addressed than ever.
The bigger your market grows, the more aware the cultural zeitgeist becomes, the more likely you are be ousted entirely.
A bookie in Vegas could keep running their casino forever, because there didn’t use to be a casino in every persons pocket, that might’ve already taught every new mark to be wary.
UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
You’d like to think so. But look at Robinhood. Five years ago, everyone was screaming about how it was a rigged game. Citadel Investments was manipulating the options markets. Fidelity was getting insider deals. Everything was rigged. People needed to protest. Close out your account. Yadda yadda yadda.
What happened after that? As far as I can tell, Robinhood is more popular than ever. They’re certainly more profitable than ever. There was never any reform or regulation. Mostly, Reddit and similar big name social media firms just purged all the whinners and inflated the profiles of the shills and hacks.
DraftKings has been making money hand over fist. They’re desperately trying to find new things for people to bet on. This isn’t one bookie in one city, it’s an international conglomerate that’s expanded its market share around the globe. It is a worldwide bookie.
No shortage of marks. They all keep coming back.
MentalEdge@sopuli.xyz 3 weeks ago
Remember when gamers found out Suicide Squad, which at time had real hype behind it, would be live service BS…
And people literally just didn’t play it.
People. Even entire demigraphics, can a do learn.
UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
I honestly don’t. Was never a SS head.
But I’ll take your word for it