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Whenever a publisher says "We want the next Balatro" what this would literally mean is "We want to give money to someone who has never released a game before, and also it has to be a kind of game that has never been made before", and then not looking at any metrics or data because those don't exist.

It would all be based purely on vibes, which is good actually. And not the vibes of: "Oh this is neat". The vibes are required to be "Oh my god, I accidentally played all evening and forgot to do laundry", which @bippinbits.bsky.social did an awesome talk about: www.youtube.com/watch?v=ki-I...

Which isn't just a problem of publishers, it is a problem of most game developers. We are way too nice and kind about videogame feedback, for wrong impressions. If you play someone's game, it's better to be very explicit about the feedback (in the nicest way possible!) rather than be too kind.

And @bippinbits.bsky.social mentions this in his talk, from a player's perspective as well: If they are being overly kind, your game is probably bad without anyone being honest about saying it. If instead your players are being rabid about your game, that is a good thing: bsky.app/profile/ryst...

It makes total sense that game devs are kind about each other's games, because we know how much effort it is to create videogames. But it does not matter how much effort it was to create something! Lots of effort does not automatically indicate something is good!! bsky.app/profile/ryst...

In essence: Talkative users are active users, even if they seem to be negative at first. Or, as @spavel.bsky.social has phrased so well: "Mfer is bought in to the concept."