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# Bayjinger

Musings on tech & video games

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## Posts

- ["Breakneck", Setbacks, and 996: What the West Should (and Shouldn't) Learn from China](https://www.bayjinger.com/2025/11/01/breakneck-setbacks-and-996-what-the-west-should-and-shouldnt-learn-from-china/) - There’s been a bunch of discrete but interconnected topics that have been on my mind, and I wanted to attempt to write a post that strings my thoughts on them together. And as a teaser, I promise to explain the meaning of this caption photo below! Breakneck First, let’s start with some quick commentary about
- [Common price-discrimination tactics and warped consumer psychology in China](https://www.bayjinger.com/2025/10/07/common-price-discrimination-tactics-and-warped-consumer-psychology-in-china/) - This is not a post about gaming. I wanted to jot down some observations about daily life in China, starting from the topic of pricing related to restaurants. Let me describe a typical flow at a casual restaurant: You seat yourself; You scan the menu QR code (often in Wechat, but could also be other
- [Valorant Mobile, and Evolving Player Expectations](https://www.bayjinger.com/2025/09/16/valorant-mobile-and-evolving-player-expectations/) - Valorant Mobile has been out for about a month now in China. It’s still too early to know if it has legs, but it’s a decent start. Per Sensor Tower iOS estimates, on a launch-aligned basis, it’s ahead of last year’s Delta Force in downloads and revenue; but it’s a far cry from the pre-pandemic launch of PUBG Mobile in
- [Shooters: Tencent Hits, Lilith Misses](https://www.bayjinger.com/2025/08/14/shooters-tencent-hits-lilith-misses/) - Tencent announced its 2025 Q2 results this week, and one game it has consecutively mentioned is Delta Force: monthly average DAU exceeded 20 million in July, versus 12 million in April (both China domestic figures). Elsewhere on Steam, Delta Force has slowly but steadily gained on Marvel Rivals since both games launched last December, and is now neck and neck with Apex Legends.
- [AI gives you wings](https://www.bayjinger.com/2025/07/12/ai-gives-you-wings/) - PC, internet and mobile are 3 tech platform shifts I’ve lived through in my lifetime. It’s clearer than ever that AI is now the 4th. A few years back during the initial mass market craze over chatGPT, my sentiment was “this is novel and seems promising (and inexplicable), but how will it actually matter?” But
- [Book review: Play Nice (2024)](https://www.bayjinger.com/2025/05/04/book-review-play-nice-2024/) - Play Nice: The Rise, Fall, and Future Of Blizzard Entertainment - I finally got around to finishing Jason Schreier’s account that spans the 3+ decades of the storied company. I was left with a variety of feelings, loosely captured below. A trip down memory lane I have to start with my relationship with Blizzard as a
- [Some thoughts about Netease’s Seattle layoffs](https://www.bayjinger.com/2025/02/22/some-thoughts-about-neteases-seattle-layoffs/) - I don’t write frequently enough to effectively cover recent events, but I thought the Netease layoffs story deserved a quick write-up. If you are out of the loop - eyebrows were raised in the player community (as well as the game-dev community) this week when Marvel Rivals game director Thaddeus Sasser announced on linkedin that he and
- [2024 year in review](https://www.bayjinger.com/2025/01/03/2024-year-in-review/) - Previous yearly reviews: 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2015. Industry stuff Some shifts in mobile I recently did some quick analyses using Sensor Tower data, and found a few surprising bits worth discussing here. Some caveats to all statements in this section first, mostly noting the limitations of Sensor Tower: These are 3rd party estimates for App Store and Google Play,
- [Living with Post-Truth](https://www.bayjinger.com/2024/11/18/living-with-post-truth/) - The outcome of the 2024 US election wasn’t what I hoped for, nor what I predicted. This is a personal reflection post on this event. It involves a political topic, though my goal isn’t to focus on discussing politics. Since the topic is so divisive, I expect you to disagree with some (or even most)
- [Black Myth: Wukong (2024)](https://www.bayjinger.com/2024/09/19/black-myth-wukong-2024/) - After spending 55 hours in Black Myth: Wukong (BMW below) for a first playthrough, I’ve finally gotten around to this write-up. At this time - 4 weeks since the game’s launch - a lot has been said already about the game from many different angles. So I won’t elaborate too much on areas where a lot of good
- [Chinese app stores ecosystem, revisited](https://www.bayjinger.com/2024/07/01/chinese-app-stores-ecosystem-revisited/) - Several years ago I wrote about how China’s Android app stores ecosystem took a different path after Google’s exit. It’s time to briefly revisit this topic, thanks to some recent news. The first news is related to Dungeon & Fighter Mobile’s China release. It’s been widely reported that the game generated $270M of iOS gross revenue in its first
- [The futility of predictions (and a path for seizing success)](https://www.bayjinger.com/2024/03/23/the-futility-of-predictions-and-a-path-for-seizing-success/) - I’ve now worked in the games industry for well over a decade. And with the accumulation of experience (and hopefully some wisdom), I’ve formed a few convictions. One thing I feel strongly about is that “hits” (massive successes) are fundamentally unpredictable. What do I mean by this? The industry’s biggest hits (in terms of engagement
- [2023 year in review](https://www.bayjinger.com/2024/01/30/2023-year-in-review/) - Previous yearly reviews: 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2015. Industry stuff The global games industry had a peculiar year in 2023. Pandemic-delayed production resulted in one of the most stacked years in memory in AAA releases (and I’m ashamed to say my backlog is so long I might as well just declare bankruptcy). Meanwhile, mobile didn’t grow, and China arguably
- [Final Fantasy XVI (2023)](https://www.bayjinger.com/2023/07/31/final-fantasy-xvi-2023/) - I’ve been down with Covid again the past week (second infection, I still had a nasty fever and sharp throat pain for several days), while the family is out of town. The downtime did give me the opportunity to play through Final Fantasy XVI. I should state that I’m not a loyal fan of the series
- [GDC 2023 impressions](https://www.bayjinger.com/2023/04/05/gdc-2023-impressions/) - I was in San Francisco for GDC 2023. The last time I was at GDC was 2011, as a poor student, so I won't pretend to be intimately familiar with the conference. I didn't do much networking, though I did catch up with a few friends I haven't seen in a while. Good talks I
- [Marvel Snap (2022)](https://www.bayjinger.com/2023/02/19/marvel-snap-2022/) - I've played Marvel Snap for about two seasons (Dec / Jan). I was late to check it out, out of laziness and lack of personal interest in turn-based card games. My quick verdict is it deserves all the praise it got, and has unexpectedly filled a "casual" competitive-PVP need that I was ready to give
- [2022 year in review](https://www.bayjinger.com/2023/01/27/2022-year-in-review/) - Maybe there is some sunlight at the end of the road? Previous yearly reviews: 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2015. Industry stuff 2022 felt like a good time to review some macro trends / predictions / hyperbole, past and present. To start, I'm rather glad that crypto is in a deep winter, and I remain convinced that the whole
- [The "skill-based matchmaking" backlash](https://www.bayjinger.com/2022/11/22/the-skill-based-matchmaking-backlash/) - I came across a Washington Post article from May of this year that presented a nice summary of the simmering backlash against "skill-based matchmaking" (SBMM), and it became a good writing prompt for me to organize my thoughts on the topic. I think most players will agree that matchmaking is one of the biggest benefits
- [Summer travels](https://www.bayjinger.com/2022/10/06/summer-travels/) - I was on the road for most of August and September in the U.S. and Finland. It was primarily for work, but I snuck in a short vacation as well. It's the first time since late 2019 that I've traveled internationally. I was not sure what to expect. Before the outbound flight, I had read
- [Quick thoughts on the Xbox - Riot deal](https://www.bayjinger.com/2022/06/14/quick-thoughts-on-the-xbox-riot-deal/) - Xbox announced a Game Pass deal with Riot Games (my previous employer, I left in 2019). The deal covers all of the live service games in Riot’s portfolio, across PC and mobile platforms. I have a few thoughts in reaction to this news. The first is the surprisingly large value Riot is putting on the
- [The curious case of the game "Sheep a Sheep"](https://www.bayjinger.com/2022/09/20/the-curious-case-of-the-game-sheep-a-sheep/) - I'm on a late summer vacation and wanted to get back to writing. Sheep a Sheep provides an easy topic, even though it's not usually the type of game I would comment on. The short story: Sheep a Sheep is a hyper-casual match-3 puzzle game, available as a mini-program (roughly HTML5-based) within WeChat. The game
- [Elden Ring (2022)](https://www.bayjinger.com/2022/05/20/elden-ring-2022/) - To write about Elden Ring feels almost as daunting as it is to finish it. My first play-through clocked in at around 135 hours, which is the longest of any FromSoftware game I’ve played, and really, any game I remember ever finishing. And so for a few days after that play-through, I sat around thinking about writing,
- [2021 year in review](https://www.bayjinger.com/2022/01/13/2021-year-in-review/) - Previous yearly reviews: 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2015. Industry stuff If 2020 was a year where the global games industry got drunk on pandemic growth, 2021 was the hangover. Consumption growth stalled, as expected. Supply chain disruptions have meant a difficult transition for the new console generation. And developers also wrestled with production delays and ongoing uncertainties of office
- [Thoughts about 2019](https://www.bayjinger.com/2020/01/13/thoughts-about-2019/) - An unfashionably late (as usual) post about 2019 and the big games industry themes that I found interesting. Similar to last year's post this will be focused on the China perspective. Further global footprintsA continuation of the past several years - 2019 saw Chinese devs & publishers continue to expand globally. Representative titles such as
- [Communications as gameplay](https://www.bayjinger.com/2021/12/10/communications-as-gameplay/) - I recently watched the 2008 HBO mini-series Generation Kill for the first time. Focusing on realistically portraying the grunt’s perspective of war, it’s a great modern combat rendition of themes previously explored in works such as Platoon, Band of Brothers and Saving Private Ryan. I quite recommend it. Aside from the brutal horrors of war (and the senseless of it -
- [F.I.S.T.: Forged in Shadow Torch (2021)](https://www.bayjinger.com/2021/09/22/f-i-s-t-forged-in-shadow-torch-2021/) - F.I.S.T.: Forged in Shadow Torch is a Metroidvania game made by Shanghai developer TiGames, and released first on PlayStation recently (coming to PC in future). The team is about 20 people. With a Metacritic score of 81, this game is in my opinion a good example of a new breed of Chinese games that are
- [Death's Door (2021)](https://www.bayjinger.com/2021/07/28/deaths-door-2021/) - I played through Death's Door on Steam this past week. It's a highly enjoyable action adventure that lasts about 10 hours, and to my surprise it was made by a 2-person studio (Acid Nerve - the full game credits list 8 people). To me, the game is heavily inspired by Soulsborne and Zelda games, presented
- [Hades (2020)](https://www.bayjinger.com/2021/03/24/hades-2020/) - I've had an interesting relationship with Hades. I purchased in Early Access in late 2019, on the Epic Games Store, when I felt it was already very hyped. I played about 20-30 runs (no clears) on 2 different saves (1 at work and 1 at home - this was before they integrated Epic Game Services for
- [2020 year in review](https://www.bayjinger.com/2021/01/07/2020-year-in-review/) - My recap posts on 2019, 2018, 2017, 2015. I don't remember writing with such consistency (my son was born Jan 2016, I guess that explains the gap?). Skimming these prior posts, I do see I'm repeating myself an awful lot, but it's still rewarding to see how the same themes (and my attempts at framing
- [Genshin Impact (2020)](https://www.bayjinger.com/2020/10/09/genshin-impact-2020/) - Genshin Impact has had a great global launch - indeed, I struggled to come up with some good comps on Sensor Tower as it has really stormed out of the gates. In terms of launch revenue, I actually couldn't recall a better game than Pokemon Go. See below launch-aligned revenue graph: If we just look
- [Assessing China’s game development capabilities](https://www.bayjinger.com/2019/10/05/assessing-chinas-game-development-capabilities/) - This seems to be a re-occurring discussion I have on this blog, but with the release (and early positive reception) of Call of Duty Mobile (developed by Tencent Timi - J3 studio; published worldwide by Activision and Garena in respective markets), it's worth refreshing this conversation. Similar to PUBG Mobile, Call of Duty Mobile seemed
- [Epic vs. App Stores](https://www.bayjinger.com/2020/08/18/epic-vs-app-stores/) - The ongoing fight between Epic and Apple / Google is one of the biggest tech stories of the year. The situation is very fluid, with a lot of developments since last week, and a ticking time bomb by end of August. Not surprisingly, there’s been a lot of “takes”, most of which is candidly not
- [The Last of Us Part II](https://www.bayjinger.com/2020/07/07/the-last-of-us-part-ii/) - Some notes on the controversial blockbuster sequel. ***Spoilers warning*** I’ll be liberally discussing all aspects of the game, so please do not read further if you want to avoid spoilers. First a quick note about my play experience - I got the disc a week after the launch date, by which time there was already
- [设计师的执念](https://www.bayjinger.com/2020/05/17/设计师的执念/) - 把最近读到、听到的一些东西串起来写篇感想。 最近在听的一档游戏播客，接连两期都是很赞的访谈。先听的一期是访谈Control的Game Director Mikael Kasurinen。Game Director，我想通常翻译为游戏总监，不过我认为游戏导演在这里更为贴切——Kasurinen在被问到职责时，大意说“我是捍卫游戏愿景的人”。 Control是去年相当出彩的游戏，我写过英文点评。Kasurinen整个访谈最令我回味的是，他提到在项目一开始，他就提出了游戏里一切物件皆可被玩家操纵的核心概念，这给技术团队带来了大量的挑战。我想，当时团队大概率是有反对声音或者质疑的，技术同事很可能会问，“真的需要所有场景物件都可被抓取吗？为什么不能是一部分定义好的物件？这个玩法到底是怎样的？” 的确，这里很容易被扣上“策划需求不明确”的帽子，尤其是这样一个似乎找不到参考玩法的主意（并且，也只是玩家若干技能中的一条）。对这样一个需求兴师动众，似乎性价比极低。然而Remedy的这个团队就是把它原原本本地做了出来，把连带的各种细节雕琢到了极致。 我不知道这个团队的氛围是怎样的：这个需求是导演以强大的意念强压出来的，还是团队从一开始就有共鸣去给自己挖这样一个坑。仅从结果看，他们显现出了我标题所谓的“设计师的执念”。 听的第二期节目是访谈Valve的设计师Robin Walker，他参与了VR游戏新标杆Half-Life: Alyx的设计。Walker有几段分享很有见地。 他提到了团队为了找到VR独有玩法的一个研究过程：他们早期做的一件事，就是把当年Half-Life 2的资源在VR场景里加载出来，然后邀请玩家试玩，他们去观察玩家的行为。他们注意到，玩家会走到敌人很近的地方，去全方位近距离观察角色模型——这是在非VR中玩家少有的猎奇行为。于是，团队就试图以此作为启发去打造一个体验，结果是一个玩家不得不近距离接触的boss。他说这个boss战，在很长的时间里面都是有严重问题的，他们也差点放弃了。似乎又是一处“执念”的例子。 他还有一个很实在的项目观点，那就是项目做到了前中期，其实这个阶段你开发的内容越多，离终点就越远。（开辟的战线越多，打磨的工作量就越大。） Walker还说了这样一句：novel game design is a search problem. 新奇的玩法设计是一个搜索问题。也就是说，新鲜玩法是要通过大量尝试搜寻出来的。他说这是为什么Valve坚持开放的生态：有更多的modder和独立团队去创作，就有了更多的实验尝试，也就离穷举出下一个新鲜玩法更近了一步。（这的确是Valve的游戏创新理念——他们绝大多数的项目，都是把社区里的团队转正而来的。） 他这个讲法，也让我想到了另外一个观点。我前阵子终于读完了Stephen King那本讲写作的书On Writing。King认为，故事不是构造出来的，而是像考古挖化石那样慢慢挖掘出来的。也就是说，故事本身是客观存在的，创作者是在按照蛛丝马迹把这个故事搜寻出来。听起来有点玄学，但和Walker那个搜索玩法的描述不谋而合。
- [(Early) Thoughts on Valorant](https://www.bayjinger.com/2020/05/08/early-thoughts-on-valorant/) - I've wanted to write this post for a few weeks now, but have not yet had time to extensively play the game. Finally I decided I should just jot my current thoughts down (or these thoughts will just be lost in time), noting that it is founded on a dangerously shallow understanding of the core
- [Platform alliances and fragmented user experiences](https://www.bayjinger.com/2020/03/10/platform-alliances-and-fragmented-user-experiences/) - As a bit of funny context, I’m writing this post amidst one of the biggest stock sell-offs in recent decades. US stock markets actually triggered their circuit-breakers after opening 7% down, and paused trading for 15 minutes. I thought I’d try to be a bit more constructive with my time (while sipping some scotch), instead
- [Microsoft's future](https://www.bayjinger.com/2013/07/20/microsofts-future/) - I don't think I've ever written a post on Microsoft (it's usually Apple or Google), but the past 10 days they've certainly been interesting to watch. First off, Microsoft announced a major corporate restructuring and strategy update. For a company of its size, this is certainly not a trivial matter. What was interesting to me
- [Surprise: Sohu leads the copyright attack on Youku](https://www.bayjinger.com/2009/09/16/surprise-sohu-leads-the-copyright-attack-on-youku/) - The Chinese online video space has long been dominated by a number of local youtube clones, among which youku.com is a leader. Like so many other web spaces, the international players have not been able to beat their local Chinese clones, mostly due to cultural differences (and therefore quality of localization) and often policy issues
- [Career advice from Qi Lu, President of Microsoft Online Services](https://www.bayjinger.com/2009/10/20/career-advice-from-qi-lu-president-of-microsoft-online-services/) - Qi Lu, President of Microsoft's Online Services Division, was at Berkeley this evening to have a casual talk with students. He gave a very interesting recap of his own career so far, why he joined Microsoft last year, and what he envisions his division to accomplish. And he shared plenty of career advice. Qi gave
- [PS3 levels the Netflix playing field with Xbox 360](https://www.bayjinger.com/2009/10/28/ps3-levels-the-netflix-playing-field-with-xbox-360/) - The announcement yesterday the Ps3 now also supports Netflix streaming to the TV just made the console wars a little bit more interesting. Xbox 360 has supported Netflix streaming for the past year, but the caveat was that you needed a Xbox Live Gold account, which costs $49.99 a year (or $39.99 on Amazon right
- [The Strategic Implications of Chrome OS](https://www.bayjinger.com/2009/11/21/the-strategic-implications-of-chrome-os/) - Excuse me for the grand title, but I've been writing too many marketing papers recently... Google held a press release for Chrome OS today. All the major tech blog properties are covering it. Just check out the first page on techmeme and you'll get a good rundown of all the discussions going on. What I'd
- [Haas MBA Google Trek and initial impressions of the Droid](https://www.bayjinger.com/2010/02/11/haas-mba-google-trek-and-initial-impressions-of-the-droid/) - Last Friday, a group of 50 Haas MBA students visited the Googleplex. During the 3-hour afternoon visit, we had an enjoyable tour of the campus, and engaged a panel of Googlers (many of them Haas alums!) from various products and functions in a lively round of discussions. A big shout-out for my classmate and former
- [Will Flash ever work on mobile?](https://www.bayjinger.com/2010/02/23/will-flash-ever-work-on-mobile/) - There's been a couple of interesting posts on implementing Flash on mobile devices in the last few days. First, An Adobe Flash developer on why the iPad can't use flash looks at the issue from a UI perspective - namely how some of the UI design elements we take for granted on desktops / laptops,
- [Holding off from buying iPad 1.0; eager to buy iPad 2.0?](https://www.bayjinger.com/2010/04/07/holding-off-from-buying-ipad-1-0-eager-to-buy-ipad-2-0/) - I think I qualify as an Apple fan. I bought an iPod in 2004, back when it was still black and white displays. I also have bought two different generations of iPod nanos, an 2nd gen iPod shuffle, a 1st gen iPod Touch, and I finally made my first MacBook purchase last year. I've also
- [Twitter, Facebook and Google: the competition under convergence](https://www.bayjinger.com/2010/04/23/twitter-facebook-and-google-the-competition-under-convergence/) - Last Wednesday I attended the first Twitter developer conference (Chirp), at the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco. While Chirp is very much being shadowed by today's Facebook f8 conference (both companies seem to see each other as major competitors), it was still a coming-out party of sorts, a declaration that Twitter is now
- [The complexities of the Android eco-system, and its implications](https://www.bayjinger.com/2010/07/26/the-complexities-of-the-android-eco-system-and-its-implications/) - Google's Android OS for mobile handsets is arguably Apple's strongest competitor in the marketplace. The most recent numbers from Google are 160k activations daily, which implies a run-rate much bigger than iPhone's recent quarter of 8.4 MM units. There is no doubt that Android has been a success, especially in terms of offering consumers more
- [Starcraft 2 and the e-sports eco-system, part I](https://www.bayjinger.com/2010/10/15/starcraft-2-and-the-e-sports-eco-system-part-i/) - I have been playing a lot of Starcraft 2 recently. A LOT. So not really a surprise I haven't blogged at all the past 2 months (the game launched end of July). But I thought I should put on my MBA hat (on top of the nerdy gamer hat), and analyze a bit the gaming
- [Starcraft 2 and the e-sports eco-system, part 2](https://www.bayjinger.com/2010/10/24/starcraft-2-and-the-e-sports-eco-system-part-2/) - In the first post in this series, I gave a very high level summary of professional gaming. In part 2, I will cover in some more detail the Starcraft 2 pro-gaming scene. The Game Starcraft 2 officially launched at the end of July this year, but really, gamers have been beta playing starting February of
- [Starcraft 2 and the e-sports eco-system, part 3](https://www.bayjinger.com/2010/12/13/starcraft-2-and-the-e-sports-eco-system-part-3/) - In the third post of this series, I want to discuss how Starcraft 2 is interrelated with web social media. The original Starcraft was born pre Google, blogs, and of course Youtube and Facebook. Starcraft 2 was developed through the years of the web 2.0 scene. This led to both in-game designs that incorporate web
- [What if Apple launched a TV?](https://www.bayjinger.com/2011/01/26/what-if-apple-launched-a-tv/) - First off, a hat tip to the Apple Finance Board, which if you don't know already, is home to the best Apple analysts, people whose forecasts routinely beat Wall Street "professional" analysts. A thread on that forum inspired me to think about this topic over the past few days. The original topic, simply put, is
- [Can Chromebook be more than a "noble experiment"?](https://www.bayjinger.com/2011/06/16/can-chromebook-be-more-than-a-noble-experiment/) - David Pogue's review of the new Google Chromebook hardware by Samsung calls it a "noble experiment". The question is, can Google's Chrome OS ever be more than that? For one thing, if hardware vendors and distribution partners find consumer interest lacking, Google will have to sweeten the incentives for them to keep churning out hardware
- [The Legacy of Steve Jobs](https://www.bayjinger.com/2011/11/01/the-legacy-of-steve-jobs/) - Like most people interested in technology and business, I picked up a copy of the Steve Jobs biography by Walter Isaacson. It is a good book and will mostly satisfy any outsiders' curiosity at the man's life, his idiosyncrasies (there were many), his faults and fallacies, and his achievements. What I want to talk about
- [2012 / 2013 tech thoughts](https://www.bayjinger.com/2013/01/08/2012-2013-tech-thoughts/) - Here's a quick and dirty post to capture some of the thoughts that I've been brewing. 2012 to me was a year of continued trends in tech. Looking back, I couldn't name any major disruptions in the major consumer-facing sectors of tech. The continued trends that I see are: Rise of tablets vs. decline of
- [Engadget reviews Pixel (or, how not to design for real-world users)](https://www.bayjinger.com/2013/02/25/engadget-reviews-pixel-or-how-not-to-design-for-real-world-users/) - http://www.engadget.com/2013/02/25/chromebook-pixel-review/ Sums up what I think of the device nicely with these two sentences: For an MSRP that is on par with some of the best laptops in the world, the Pixel doesn't provide anywhere near as much potential when it comes to functionality. It embraces a world where everyone is always connected and everything
- [How the West was Won (or, another round of "open" vs. "closed")](https://www.bayjinger.com/2013/03/04/how-the-west-was-won-or-another-round-of-open-vs-closed/) - John Gruber posted a critique of a Tim Wu piece in The New Yorker. The ideas in the Gruber post are nothing new, but it's interesting to see this topic come up time and time again. Wu's basic argument is "open beats closed," with the modifier that "closed can beat open, but you have to
- [Google Keep's reception woes a lesson in community management](https://www.bayjinger.com/2013/03/21/google-keeps-reception-woes-a-lesson-in-community-management/) - Google launched a new product called Keep today, and the tech commentary has been quite negative. What's interesting about this narrative is how little of it is about the actual product itself. Om Malik's post is very representative in this regard, with a pun jab in the title. And the responses on Twitter aren't much
- [How long can content region-locking last?](https://www.bayjinger.com/2013/03/27/how-long-can-content-region-locking-last/) - One of the questions I've pondered a lot recently is the topic of content region-locking. I'm mostly talking about the practice of TV/film rights owners reselling their content to different local providers across the world, with each local provider only having license to distribute the content in their local territory. Examples of this are the
- [Interoperability as signal of relative market performance](https://www.bayjinger.com/2013/05/15/interoperability-as-signal-of-relative-market-performance/) - There were two thematically similar pieces of news today - the first, Blackberry announced that it would add the once-popular BBM messaging service to iOS and Android; the second, Microsoft announced that outlook.com now supports chatting with Google accounts. Going back a few years, both pieces of news would be bombshells, with bloggers likely proclaiming
- [To B or to C, that is the question](https://www.bayjinger.com/2014/05/01/to-b-or-to-c-that-is-the-question/) - Jon Russel of TheNextWeb had this interesting tweet the other day: Twitter: $250M revenue & 198M mobile users Line: $338M revenue & estimated 185M mobile users Ad-based monetization not such a great model. — Jon Russell (@jonrussell) April 29, 2014 To paraphrase Ben Evans' excellent post a couple of weeks ago, this is an unfair
- [The difficult Google play in China](https://www.bayjinger.com/2015/10/14/the-difficult-google-play-in-china/) - Early last month there were some news circulating about Google plotting a return to China. The past few days there were also increased speculation after Chinese netizens discovered some changes to what are being hosted domestically by Google. So far most of the above are just speculation. But it's worth doing a quick thought exercise. First,
- [Vinod Khosla Speaks at Haas](https://www.bayjinger.com/2009/09/10/vinod-khosla-speaks-at-haas/) - This evening I attended the Dean's Speaker Series at Haas. Tonight's guest speaker was Vinod Khosla, who was, among other titles, one of the co-founders of Sun Microsystems, a partner at Kleiner Perkins, and the founder of Khosla Ventures (his bio here). Mr. Khosla's speech is lengthily titled "The Innovation Ecosystem and Its Role in
- [Why navigation apps suck (a product thought exercise)](https://www.bayjinger.com/2018/04/18/why-navigation-apps-suck-a-product-thought-exercise/) - A departure from the usual games-related posts. This is a extremely tactical post (and frankly, quite crudely refined notes) about a bunch of product thoughts I had. I live in the west Los Angeles metro area and have roughly a 10-mile daily commute. My work hours are quite flexible (thanks Riot Games!), which means I
- [Sekiro, after 80 hours](https://www.bayjinger.com/2019/05/04/sekiro-after-80-hours/) - *** This post contains game spoilers *** I've dumped most of my free time into Sekiro over the past month. Here are some thoughts. Apologies for the sprawling wall of text - "I didn't have time to write a short letter, so I wrote a long one instead." Combat evolution Dark Souls, Bloodborne and Sekiro
- [Arknights](https://www.bayjinger.com/2019/05/19/arknights/) - Arknights is a new mobile F2P game from Hypergryph, a studio founded in 2017 in Shanghai. There's not a lot of info about this young studio, aside from "the founding team are from Google, Massive Black and Cygames." I'd guess it's about 50 people in headcount. The reason I'm writing about this game / studio
- [Thoughts on WWDC 2019 Keynote (games-specific)](https://www.bayjinger.com/2019/06/05/thoughts-on-wwdc-2019-keynote-games-specific/) - This was all around a very exciting WWDC Keynote, that I feel advances the entire Apple ecosystem in various ways. In this post though, I'll primarily focus on the relevant parts with impact to the games vertical. Xbox One and PlayStation 4 controller supportThe facts: Apple announced Xbox One and PlayStation 4 controller support across
- [Photo magic](https://www.bayjinger.com/2019/09/01/photo-magic/) - My first camera was a gift from my dad, when I was about 10 years old. I vaguely remember it was a Pentax point-and-shoot, and it cost around £200 (?), which would be $300 in the mid 90s and over $500 today. I was not an avid photographer, but I did burn through some rolls
- [New Adventures](https://www.bayjinger.com/2019/09/14/new-adventures/) - I’ve been writing this blog (infrequently and inconsistently) for many years now. I rarely (perhaps never) write about my actual work - not due to disinterest, but rather I’m weary of over-sharing. This post is an exception. A personal career announcement: after 8 years at Riot Games in Los Angeles and Hong Kong, I’ve recently
- [Why the Palm Pre has been subpar](https://www.bayjinger.com/2009/09/06/why-the-palm-pre-has-been-subpar/) - As the inaugural post for this blog, I wanted to summarize some thoughts on why the Palm Pre has not lived up to the hype. There has been recent discussions how the Pre is far from meeting Sprint's sales targets; earlier back there were also some talks of Palm cutting back on production. This is
- [Apple's major releases today](https://www.bayjinger.com/2009/09/09/apples-major-releases-today/) - There's an Apple event today, and as expected all the major tech blogs have been flooded with coverage from the iPod-only event. I skimmed through the coverage on Techcrunch, Engadget, VentureBeat, Silicon Alley Insider, TUAW etc. The gist of the announcements are these: Hardware side: New iPod Touches. Pretty expensive at $399 for the 64GB
- [Why Amazon won't necessarily win the e-book wars](https://www.bayjinger.com/2010/06/23/why-amazon-wont-necessarily-win-the-e-book-wars/) - I got into a fairly heated debate with a friend (like I always do) today over recent developments in the e-book market. Namely, some industry analysts are making bold statements that Amazon will win the e-book wars (case in point, Om Malik's post). I'm generally skeptical of such predictions, because the technology market evolves at
- [Why predictions of the iPhone's death (at the hands of Android) are greatly exaggerated](https://www.bayjinger.com/2010/07/28/why-predictions-of-the-iphones-death-at-the-hands-of-android-are-greatly-exaggerated/) - The comparison of the growth rates of the iPhone and Android phones is continually a topic of hot debate, in no small part propelled by the highly vocal and emotional fans of both camps. It almost seems conventional wisdom that iPhone vs. Android will be Mac vs. Windows, Part II. Personally, I believe that on
- [The flaws to Google's Android strategy](https://www.bayjinger.com/2011/01/05/the-flaws-to-googles-android-strategy/) - Kyle Baxter has written an excellent post dissecting Google's Android strategy. On the whole I agree with most of his analyses, but I would like to point out what I see to be flaws in the strategy. I don't claim ownership to all of the following; a lot of it was covered in the "Strategy
- [Regarding Amazon's Kindle Fire...](https://www.bayjinger.com/2011/09/28/regarding-amazons-kindle-fire/) - There's only a few things I would say. First, Google, not Apple, should be very, very concerned about this development. Amazon has basically taken Google's engineering resources / output and said "thank you for your free work, we'll take it from here." How many times did Amazon mention Android in the device description? Does the
- ["Open" vs. "Closed", another example](https://www.bayjinger.com/2012/02/28/open-vs-closed-another-example/) - One of the beauties about the world of high tech strategy is the complex relationship between contrasting business models. In business school, I learnt about two such pairs of core strategy choices: "open" vs. "closed", and horizontal vs. vertical integration. What is truly interesting about these contrasting choices is how they propagate (or not) throughout
- ["Google controls too much of China's smartphone sector"](https://www.bayjinger.com/2013/03/05/google-controls-too-much-of-chinas-smartphone-sector/) - Reuters published an article that summarizes a recent white paper from China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. In the white paper, the ministry expressed concern that Android has too much market share in China, and that Google has discriminated against local companies in the ecosystem, as well as restraining their development in certain cases.
- [The "Others"](https://www.bayjinger.com/2013/03/10/the-others/) - Techrice has a good recent post on China's army of hardware vendors creating competitive Android smartphones. Benedict Evans has also written about this some weeks ago, and I will borrow the category name from his eye-popping chart as the name of this post. Having spent a week back in China, I've had a chance to witness
- [high-end non-brand Android phones in the US](https://www.bayjinger.com/2013/03/18/high-end-non-brand-android-phones-in-the-us/) - following up on my previous post about the large contingent of non-brand (the "others") Android vendors in China, it's interesting to read this post in the Verge today. Essentially it's about a non-brand handset vendor in Florida, BLU Products, that will sell high-end Android phones for $299. What caught my eye was this intro paragraph
- [Google's long-term disconnect with Android](https://www.bayjinger.com/2013/03/19/googles-long-term-disconnect-with-android/) - Fred Wilson has an interesting opinion piece today. He specifically calls out the following tweet and goes on to argue against it: Last quarter, Samsung's net profit from its mobile division alone exceeded Google's total profit from all operations (including adwords). — dustin curtis (@dcurtis) March 14, 2013 Fred's argument is that Google is thinking
- [App Store "10x" download speed boost in China](https://www.bayjinger.com/2013/03/21/app-store-10x-download-speed-boost-in-china/) - A bit of news that has got minimal English coverage in the past couple of days: Apple seems to have rolled out a CDN update for their App Store in China, with folks talking about as much as a "10x" download speed increase for end-users. This is the type of unsexy but critical infrastructure work
- [What are motivations to fork Android?](https://www.bayjinger.com/2013/03/28/what-are-motivations-to-fork-android/) - There are a lot of discussions - and quite a few attempts - of forking Android. But why would a company try to fork Android in the first place? What are the strategic motivations? To try to get a comprehensive picture, let's put ourselves in the shoes of different players in the broader TMT value
- [Rise of the OTT messaging apps](https://www.bayjinger.com/2013/04/03/rise-of-the-ott-messaging-apps/) - One topic I have been mulling over the past week is Over-the-top (OTT) messaging apps and their impact on the broader TMT space. To start off, I would recommend a read of WSJ's piece last week, which provides a good summary and features some good quotes from key players. The short story is that riding on
- [Facebook Home: good for Android, bad for Google](https://www.bayjinger.com/2013/04/05/facebook-home-good-for-android-bad-for-google/) - Facebook unveiled the next major part of their mobile strategy today with the Facebook Home announcement. Let's talk about it from a few different angles. Presentation The event itself was quite compact, a no-fluff, well-rehearsed show (perhaps they took note of Samsung's controversial Galaxy s4 event in New York some weeks earlier). There seemed to
- [Why did desktop messaging apps fail on mobile?](https://www.bayjinger.com/2013/04/09/why-did-desktop-messaging-apps-fail-on-mobile/) - I'll start with clarifying the provocative title - when I say desktop messaging apps (referring to QQ, Skype, Live Messenger, Google Talk, Facebook Chat etc.) "failed" on mobile, I'm referring to their relative underperformance across the board compared to the pure mobile messaging apps (WhatsApp, Viber, WeChat, Line, KakaoTalk etc.). This defies conventional tech wisdom
- [Apple: all news is bad news](https://www.bayjinger.com/2013/04/19/apple-all-news-is-bad-news/) - Apple's stock has taken a rather spectacular dive the past 6 months. It's almost halved in value, and market sentiment is continually abysmal on the stock. To me it has reached the stage where all news is bad news. I'm not a proficient trader, so I won't comment on whether it's the right time to buy
- [The Waiting Game](https://www.bayjinger.com/2013/07/06/the-waiting-game/) - Reuters had an interesting article yesterday over NTT DoCoMo - Apple negotiations over the iPhone. While reports of tense negotiations between Apple and carriers are nothing new (China Mobile pops up in the news every few months about its tough stance to Apple), I thought there were a couple of juicy bits worth pondering on
- [Should Nokia have gone with Android?](https://www.bayjinger.com/2013/08/13/should-nokia-have-gone-with-android/) - Ben Thompson writing at Stratechery has a new post today on BlackBerry and Nokia. In the post he argues that both companies should have opted into Android, and that had they done so, the Android landscape could very possibly look dramatically different (with Nokia as the clear leader, and BlackBerry holding on to their enterprise
- [Mobile Card Games](https://www.bayjinger.com/2014/01/29/mobile-card-games/) - (A sort of free-flow post that goes all over the place in my attempt to get back to blogging) For the past couple of years, app stores around the world have been invaded with a range of casual card games. I'm not referring to card games of the poker / casino variety (though that's certainly
- [Mobile gravity, and what it may mean for games (part 1)](https://www.bayjinger.com/2015/09/04/mobile-gravity-and-what-it-may-mean-for-games-part-1/) - Ben Evans had a couple of posts several weeks ago that I've been chewing on: Microsoft, capitulation and the end of Windows Everywhere The smartphone is the new sun In particular, his central summary/analogy that "the smartphone is the Sun and everything else orbits around it" is both elegant and provocative. Combining his two posts,
- [Mobile gravity, and what it may mean for games (part 2)](https://www.bayjinger.com/2015/09/11/mobile-gravity-and-what-it-may-mean-for-games-part-2/) - Link to Part 1 In hindsight, a lot of my first post was about mobile gaming as the classic low-end disruption to PC&console gaming - mobile devices may be more constrained across the board (power, storage, screen size, input precision etc.), but they can compete along other dimensions (almost universal availability to play, wherever your
- [India as melting pot for China & Silicon Valley](https://www.bayjinger.com/2015/09/29/india-as-melting-pot-for-china-silicon-valley/) - A couple of recent articles to frame the context for this short post: With all the news in politics recently, it wasn't surprising to see this New York Times piece: “India Replaces China as Next Big Frontier for U.S. Tech Companies” Similarly, Caixin had this writeup: “Hard Passage to India for China's Phone Makers” I
- [2015 Games in China - the year in review](https://www.bayjinger.com/2015/12/28/2015-games-in-china-the-year-in-review/) - Partly inspired by this Game Informer piece I read over the weekend, I wanted to do a quick write-up of some of the big themes I felt specific to the games industry in China this year. Rise of the mobile core For me the biggest thing (and I was certainly late in recognizing this, though
- [Clash Royale - early review](https://www.bayjinger.com/2016/01/21/clash-royale-early-review/) - I've been playing Clash Royale from Supercell since it soft launched in a number of geographic markets. Personally I got it from the Hong Kong app store (which is where I live currently, though my main app store account is still back in the US). If you work in video-games or are passionate/serious about making games,
- [Clash Royale - one month in](https://www.bayjinger.com/2016/02/11/clash-royale-one-month-in/) - Writing a short update to my previous post about Supercell's new game Clash Royale. A lot has happened in the one month since I started this game: It's still in soft-launch mode, but a wide-release window has been set for March 2016, and for both iOS and Android. So clearly Supercell folks are quite happy with
- [Are mobile games disruptive?](https://www.bayjinger.com/2016/03/17/are-mobile-games-disruptive/) - I have written previously about the "rise of the mobile core" in China - traditional PC genres such as MOBA / MMO / FPS being fairly successfully converted to mobile. With the launch success of Clash Royale (see my impressions here, here), I think 2016 could turn out to be the year that synchronous multiplayer games (what
- [Thoughts on Top Eleven](https://www.bayjinger.com/2016/10/24/thoughts-on-top-eleven/) - As a casual player of football sims, I've been very impressed with the thoughtfulness of Top Eleven, and here are some thoughts to sum up what I found interesting. (For an overview of the game - check out this review. This is a game that's been around for 6 years and surpassed 100M registered players in early
- [Innovating beyond Clash Royale](https://www.bayjinger.com/2017/01/21/innovating-beyond-clash-royale/) - Some short thoughts here, after sampling Netmarble's Star Wars: Force Arena, which can be described as a hybrid between Clash Royale and Vainglory. First of all, it's no surprise devs are looking at Clash Royale and trying to build upon its success formula. From the initial wave of cheap Chinese knockoffs, we are now beginning to see the more serious
- [Revisiting mobile platform advantage](https://www.bayjinger.com/2017/05/25/revisiting-mobile-platform-advantage/) - This post, which is mostly a rehash of ideas I've written about previously, is inspired by the following two gaming industry stories: "Overwatch had one of the best first years ever" (and similarly, GQ's "How Overwatch Totally Changed Shooting Games in Just One Year") "Can Tencent's MOBA Strike of Kings carry Honor of Kings' China momentum
- [2017 year in review](https://www.bayjinger.com/2017/12/30/2017-year-in-review/) - Going to try to talk about the 3 most interesting themes I felt, reflecting on the past year. As always, these themes take a heavy China perspective. The rise of PUBG and the even bigger rise of mobile PUBG-likes Globally in gaming, PUBG was the biggest breakout success of 2017, coming out of left-field (what
- [2018 year in review](https://www.bayjinger.com/2019/01/05/2018-year-in-review/) - This post is unfashionably late by a week, but anyhow, here are a few major themes for 2018 in my view. Chinese apps conquer the world Hard to resist the hyperbole, but 2018 saw some incredible progress for Chinese apps' global ambitions. To be sure, the biggest successes were predictably from emerging markets (very notably,
- [Supercell's challenge](https://www.bayjinger.com/2019/02/19/supercells-challenge/) - Supercell's CEO Ilkka Paananen published an open letter / annual outlook that had some fantastic and honest discussions of his company and its products. I don't know if gamers would care too much, but as a fellow game developer, I loved it, and had some points to comment. Before I dive in, a meta recap
- [“Two Billion Gamers”](https://www.bayjinger.com/2019/03/12/two-billion-gamers/) - I’ve been meaning to write a post about cloud gaming for a while now - there’s a rather long draft sitting in my editor from several months ago (hope I can dust it off and ship it), back when Google generated some headlines with the Assassin’s Creed Odyssey streaming beta. Anyhow - the topic picked
- [Let’s talk 996 / crunch and GaaS](https://www.bayjinger.com/2019/04/28/lets-talk-996-crunch-and-gaas/) - This is going to be a difficult topic to write about, and one outside my usual product strategy focus. However, it is an incredibly important topic, and one that I have some frontline exposure to, thus I do want to exercise my mental muscles to put together some coherent points. A brief recap 996 refers
- [Archero](https://www.bayjinger.com/2019/07/17/archero/) - This simple mobile game has been quietly popular in my part of the Riot office recently, and I found myself quickly spending 2 hours a day on it, so I thought it deserved a quick write-up. Reading the credits and the publisher's website, Archero is developed by a small indie team (11 people listed in
- [Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain - a short review](https://www.bayjinger.com/2015/09/27/metal-gear-solid-v-the-phantom-pain-a-short-review/) - Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain is the latest and maybe the last game in the franchise to have Hideo Kojima's name attached to it. This is a franchise I've heard about quite often but frankly played very little: my last interaction was a PC port of Metal Gear Solid some 15 years ago, and
- [The Last of Us (2013) - a review](https://www.bayjinger.com/2015/10/06/the-last-of-us-2013-a-review/) - The Last of Us was on sale recently on the PS4 store, so I got it for HK$120 (~$15). The main storyline made for a pretty compact play-through (maybe a dozen hours?), and my main thoughts are as follows. What makes this game stand out is its top-notch writing. In my opinion The Last of Us is
- [Consoles in China](https://www.bayjinger.com/2015/11/04/consoles-in-china/) - Recently the Chinese game site Gamecores did a couple of podcast interviews with the respective China heads of Xbox & Playstation. These podcasts are well worth a listen (if you speak Mandarin) not only because of the topic (how are the console platforms doing in China?), but also because of the insight into the people
- [Fallout 4 - a half-review](https://www.bayjinger.com/2015/12/08/fallout-4-a-half-review/) - I've pretty much been living in a cave the last month due to Fallout 4, and I think I'm "done" with the game for now, despite not "finishing" it per se. I don't have a strong history with the series. I think I played the original Fallout for like 15 minutes, got stuck somehow and never went back.
- [China's unique core mobile games](https://www.bayjinger.com/2015/12/16/chinas-unique-core-mobile-games/) - This is clearly old news, but Chinese publishers and developers have been hyper-focused on the mobile market the past couple of years, and it has come to a point where at a macro level the Chinese mobile games market is looking significantly different from the western markets. To present some simple data - according to
- [Quick anatomy of a great Bloodborne boss fight](https://www.bayjinger.com/2016/01/04/quick-anatomy-of-a-great-bloodborne-boss-fight/) - I'm not a game designer, so this is a fairly "amateur" opinion piece, but I really enjoyed the Lady Maria boss fight in the recent Bloodborne: The Old Hunters DLC, and thought I would try to summarize what I thought made it so great. First, a quick video of the fight from Youtube: Why is this fight
- [Firewatch (2016) - thoughts](https://www.bayjinger.com/2016/02/12/firewatch-2016-thoughts/) - Some directional spoilers in this post, discretion advised. I finished Firewatch in a 3 play-sessions totalling about 4-5 hours over the course of two days [1. may have played faster if not for some motion sickness issues - I think turning head-bobbing off helped for me]. Overall I would say I enjoyed this experience, and thought
- [Superhot (2016) - thoughts](https://www.bayjinger.com/2016/02/29/superhot-2016-thoughts/) - Superhot is the full game of the 7-day game-jam prototype that made waves a few years back. The core gameplay is more or less the same, but with a full (albeit short - a few hours) campaign's worth of content and a couple of new mechanics. If you don't know what the core gameplay looks
- [Microsoft's cross-network play](https://www.bayjinger.com/2016/03/15/microsofts-cross-network-play/) - A fairly big piece of news for gaming today: Microsoft has announced support for cross-network play on Xbox, including potentially other consoles. This is something console gamers have always naturally wanted, but to my limited knowledge never widely done (except in a few games?) in previous console generations. First of all, as a gamer this
- [Thoughts on Uncharted 1-3](https://www.bayjinger.com/2016/04/06/thoughts-on-uncharted-1-3/) - Over the past couple of weeks I rushed through the single-player campaign of the Uncharted series. As someone who owned a xbox 360 last gen this was one series I missed, and now I know exactly how much I've been missing. This series has a clear theme / identity: it is a console action adventure "tentpole" equivalent
- [The China Dilemma](https://www.bayjinger.com/2016/07/03/the-china-dilemma/) - In the past few weeks, there's been a flurry of updates with regards to the regulatory approval of mobile games in China. First, SAPPRFT (the agency formerly known as SARFT... the lengthened acronym reflects its growth in scope) mandated that from July 1 all mobile games must be pre-approved. Rumored details of the approval process (link in
- [Why PUBG is Fresh](https://www.bayjinger.com/2017/07/16/why-pubg-is-fresh/) - PUBG (PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds) is without a doubt the breakout PC game of 2017. Even though it's just in early access and offers only one map (and plenty of bugs / missing features), it has established itself firmly in the world of competitive online multiplayer games. As a relatively late adopter of the game, I've put
- [God of War (2018)](https://www.bayjinger.com/2018/04/30/god-of-war-2018/) - Some quick thoughts on the new PS4 exclusive God of War. This is my first play of any game in the franchise (was on xbox 360 last gen, and before then was in China during console ban era), so I'm looking at it with only a superficial understanding of the lore and no gameplay experience. The
- [Games from my childhood](https://www.bayjinger.com/2018/09/08/games-from-my-childhood/) - I've been on the beach (literally) in Hawaii this past week for some much needed time with family and away from work. Unfortunately, it's been hard to take my mind off work, and I've been tempted to do some soul-searching on the industry and career I've chosen. This post is a personal reflection on how
- [Games from my childhood (2)](https://www.bayjinger.com/2018/09/09/games-from-my-childhood-2/) - This is part of a free-flow series writing about the games that left my mark on my childhood. Previous post. Back to China My family returned to China in early 1995. This was a peculiar time to be a teenage gamer. Windows 95 would drop soon, but it would be another couple of years before
- [Dug up an old framework](https://www.bayjinger.com/2018/09/17/dug-up-an-old-framework/) - The following was an application of a framework ("8 sources of competitive advantage") I learnt from my favorite class in business school. I wrote this as a personal exercise one month after I joined Riot Games, back in August 2011. It was intended as a quick review of Riot's company strategy. Reading it today, I
- [Control (2019) review](https://www.bayjinger.com/2019/09/07/control-2019-review/) - I was a big fan of Max Payne and an even bigger fan of Max Payne 2 - I think it’s one of the best action shooters of the early 2000s, with immensely satisfying gunplay. I haven’t kept up with Remedy’s games since then though, so I can’t compare Control to Alan Wake or Quantum
- [Annual parties in China](https://www.bayjinger.com/2020/01/21/annual-parties-in-china/) - With Chinese New Year right around the corner, the annual ritual of burning a full month on corporate annual parties has thankfully come to a close. Here I'm jotting down some observations about the practice. First off, to state the obvious - Chinese New Year (CNY), which usually lands somewhere in January/February is a big
- [Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Wildlands (2017)](https://www.bayjinger.com/2020/02/02/tom-clancys-ghost-recon-wildlands-2017/) - I've been holed up at home due to the 2019-nCoV coronavirus outbreak. The news and social media coverage got really depressing really fast. This got me itching to play a laid-back, single player, third-person-shooter with modern military weapons. Turns out, there's not many games that fit all of the above. Max Payne 3 was the
- [Mass Effect 1 & 2: a design review](https://www.bayjinger.com/2012/02/26/mass-effect-1-2-a-design-review/) - Mass Effect is BioWare's critically acclaimed space opera RPG series. It features original IP in terms of narrative, and in terms of core gameplay it also has made some very interesting design decisions. Narrative The series is much praised for its excellent writing. I'm not a huge sci-fi buff so I won't dwell on this
- [Mass Effect 3 short review](https://www.bayjinger.com/2012/04/03/mass-effect-3-short-review/) - I spent the weekend rushing through Mass Effect 3. The game is quite well polished from a production stand-point, though I was irked that one side quest was buggy. The ending generated massive player backlash, for very good reasons - I won't go into details here as there are already excellent analyses elsewhere. In short,
- [Max Payne 3 - semi review](https://www.bayjinger.com/2012/07/08/max-payne-3-semi-review/) - I've been spending a few hours this past week on Max Payne 3. I'm a quite a fan of the series, and consider Max Payne 1 & 2 among two of the best action games I've ever played (which is a limited selection, I'll admit). As such, I was quite enthusiastic about the 3rd installment,
- [The making of Diablo](https://www.bayjinger.com/2013/11/01/the-making-of-diablo/) - I came across this gem of a book recently via video-games industry veteran Pat Wyatt's blog. It's a breeze to read and I finished the main chapters in a day (I say main chapters, as the book takes cues from its subject matter and contains a ton of optional extra reading). The book is mainly
- [What were the top-grossing video-games of 2013?](https://www.bayjinger.com/2014/02/05/what-were-the-top-grossing-video-games-of-2013/) - On reading some of the financials disclosed recently by games publishers, I had this question in my head: what were the top-grossing video-games of 2013? I'll do a simple write-up here using a few public sources and some ball-park estimates. To start off, let's define top-grossing as measured by player spending. That is, I'm not
- [2013 Top-grossing Video-games Observations](https://www.bayjinger.com/2014/02/05/2013-top-grossing-video-games-observations/) - Yesterday I tried to put together a guesstimate list of the top-grossing video-games of 2013 (in terms of player spending, not dev/publisher revenue). To summarize, a top 10 list would look something like this (in ball-park descending order, sources are in the previous post): Grand Theft Auto V - $2B [EDIT3 Candy Crush Saga -
- [Video-games: the jobs to be done](https://www.bayjinger.com/2014/02/17/video-games-the-jobs-to-be-done/) - I had recently ran into @asymco in a private event, and I asked him his opinions on the future of PC gaming (given the context of the decline of PC hardware sales). He responded that I should think less of devices and more of "what is the job being done?" And hence I'll try to
- [Bloodborne - a short review](https://www.bayjinger.com/2015/05/05/bloodborne-a-short-review/) - Bloodborne is the first Souls game I've played, and it represents a wholly different experience from other games I've played the past few years. Below I'll summarize some quick thoughts I have after my first playthrough. Much has been said about the game's high difficulty, but to be honest I don't think that's why Bloodborne is unique. Diablo
- [The Witcher 3 - a review](https://www.bayjinger.com/2015/06/14/the-witcher-3-a-review/) - I've played The Witcher 3 probably for over 60 hours now, and just finished my first play-through. Some thoughts... From a systems/mechanics perspective, I found The Witcher 3 to not really hold any surprises: Large open-world layout, supporting immense amounts of open exploration. Even with 60 hours in it, my map holds more "?" marks than
- [从Stadia出师不利说起](https://www.bayjinger.com/2019/11/26/从stadia出师不利说起/) - [Note: the following post was originally posted on wechat last week Nov 20. I started a new wechat public account as an experiment, and will look to write posts in Chinese periodically. These posts will be posted here as well as backup.] 今早看到了谷歌Stadia在北美等市场首发后的第一波媒体评测，初步反响可谓惨淡（Metacritic只有寥寥几篇好评，大部分为中性和差评）。随便以techmeme上摘录的几个媒体标题为例： 纽约时报："Google Stadia Wants You to Replace Your Video Game Console. Don't."Eurogamer: "Stadia
- [Valve的平台困境](https://www.bayjinger.com/2020/02/05/valve的平台困境/) - This is a backup of a wechat account post, originally posted Dec 5 2019. （楔子：写这篇，起因是上周Steam Controller手柄停产的消息，在我看来也算是Valve此前的一套策略的一个完结，故作此文。） 2011年我在加州刚刚进入游戏行业的时候，同事们聊起Valve这家公司都是带着万分敬意的： 它不只是一个创造过数款划时代游戏的顶级游戏工作室； 它也是一个有着令人敬仰的独特企业文化的公司（我们都认真拜读过其员工手册，并将其与Netflix著名的culture deck相提并论），小而美的数百人公司规模，在行业里四两拨千斤； 另外在当时，其数字平台Steam已经初步确立了其PC游戏数字渠道霸主的地位，这也是一个令人艳羡的公司战略转型，之后的走势更是主导着欧美PC游戏行业的潮流（譬如近年来独立游戏的井喷，与其密不可分）； 延伸一点，既运作一个大型软件平台，又直接掌控了平台上最有价值的应用（Dota2和CS），这与微软当年左手Windows、右手Office两大利润中心如出一辙（不愧为从微软出来的创始人）。 在过去的近十年里，Valve这种奇特的小公司、轻资产、平台化的模式表面看起来依然靓丽，活跃用户数不断创新高，其它的指标（营收、平台游戏发行量等）画图大概也都是向右上方迈进。不过，我倒是觉得Steam陷入围城已久，种种破局的尝试也基本都宣告失败，未来十年的走势不容乐观。 对Windows强依赖 我不看好Steam的最大原因，就是因为其对Windows平台的强依赖。而Windows平台的影响力的式微，用A16Z的Ben Evans 2015年的一张经典的图可以概括（推荐拜读其原文"Microsoft, capitulation and the end of Windows Everywhere"）： （这里的点当然不是说Windows/PC业务崩盘了，而是在巨大的移动端增长面前，Windows平台已经退居次席，不再是整个生态的中心，也就与未来创新、新增长点大体无关了。在可预见的未来，Windows还会存在，缓慢衰老——这里可参考上上一代行业霸主IBM，大型机业务每年还在卖几十亿美元。） 过去十年里，Valve并非没有去积极尝试"去Windows化"。2013年的SteamOS（基于linux的操作系统），15年的Steam Machine（基于SteamOS的硬件），以及配套的Steam Controller手柄，概念上来说是已经垂直整合了整个终端体验，而且处处彰显着Valve借力打力、四两拨千斤的经典思维。 只是，在严峻现实面前，这套操作步步皆输。拥抱linux固然自由了，但作为面向大众终端消费者的操作系统，linux本身就是海市蜃楼（已经快20年了，linux消费终端爆发的春天似乎总是就在眼前）；SteamOS得不到开发者重视，做不起来也就毫不意外了。（前两天看到某外国开发者吐槽，没记错的话大概是这样说的："linux版本是我们游戏0.5%的销量，却占用了我们50%的客服资源。"） 而Steam Machine所期望的轻资产模式（让有意愿的硬件商来制造），也是很难走得通的。20年前微软进军主机市场，也曾寄希望于有外部厂商能负责硬件，但无人问津（商业模式上这是不成立的亏本买卖），微软只好自己砸钱。 至于Steam手柄，这本身倒是一个大胆的想法（怎样用一个手柄取代键盘、鼠标，以便于在沙发上对着电视玩游戏？），但也可以说是蛮典型的以公司痛点为出发点（而非消费者痛点）的产品——玩家并没有在电视上玩文明6的刚需，而是Valve抓耳挠腮在想怎样把自己的平台拓展到客厅里。 PC渠道的红海残局 回到Steam的主战场，本来似乎波澜不惊的残局（各大发行商的自有平台都只做得马马虎虎，Steam的大哥地位看起来很稳），但突然杀出了个Epic Games这样的程咬金。 Epic的路子迈得很大很野，而且似乎很清晰地就是在模仿Valve当年的策略，以一个现象级游戏堡垒之夜的用户量和利润为依托，强势拓展平台业务： 打分成价格战、花重金签独代来吸引开发者，这其中还自然利用了其UE4引擎的垂直整合； 坚持每周免费送一款游戏去拉玩家； 最野的一步是在安卓端，借堡垒之夜安装包自建渠道，无视Google Play。 面对Epic的搅局，以及一个没有什么大增长点的红海市场背景，Steam的市场份额与利润几乎必然下降（平台分成下调恐怕只是时间的问题）；如果应对不当，得罪了开发者或玩家，甚至可能让出龙头地位。 破局思路？ 那么Valve面对这样的局面，有哪些宏观策略选择呢？ 若继续坚持平台为核心的策略方向，那还是要回到"怎样在windows之外有存在感"这道题的解法，而在微软、索尼、任天堂、苹果和谷歌的主机/手机生态里面似乎都看不到什么明显的空间。（Steam的iOS app，存在很久了，基础的社交、购买体验实在是乏善可陈；而且稍微大胆一点的想法，比如通过app来云游戏玩自己steam上的游戏，也极易触及苹果平台规则的禁区。）哦，或许欧美安卓生态上，随着Epic对Google
- [漫谈内容渠道与平台](https://www.bayjinger.com/2020/02/05/漫谈内容渠道与平台/) - This is a backup of a wechat account post, dated Feb 5 2019. 这篇与游戏无关。 这些天，因为2019-nCoV疫情，想来中文网络媒体流量都是井喷的状态，也在微博、微信上都看到了不少的“强时效”内容（短暂存在散播，之后因各种原因被删除）。结合我自己公众号发布的粗浅体验，便有了以下感想。 微信公众号是个极度受限的内容平台此平台对个人创作者的限制是非常大的，内容不能添加“外链”（常规的html链接）、个人公众号没有评论功能（2017年以后注册的），单这两条就已经和主流的国外内容平台形成了巨大的反差。 制造如此苛刻的条件，其一当然有个极大的环境因素，就是中国的内容审查，无须多言。其二，也反映了中国网络商战的丛林法则，即正面战场上腾讯、阿里、头条系的严酷流量之争，以及地下灰产的各种奇葩游击战。 （顺带吐槽一句，公众号平台的内容编辑器的交互体验。。。可能是我用不惯吧，不过真有种15年前web1.0时代产品的感觉。） 那为什么大量内容创作者还是会牺牲这么多，选择公众号平台呢？因为另一边读者的体验的确不错：app内阅读体验、社交分享都是极其便捷的，而围绕公众号订阅的内容推送、发现也是对读者与作者皆有价值的体验。简而言之：流量啊！ 平台的权力说回到这些天大量的内容举报、删除。首先要说：私有的商业平台对内容进行审查、乃至删除，不管出于何种动机，在商业与法律规则上绝对是平台的权力。 有趣的是，美国的平台（如Facebook，Twitter和Youtube）过往是躲在“希望提供绝对的言论自由的平台”的挡箭牌后，而不去履行一些其在社会价值层面应扮演的审查角色——比如，对散播各种谣言、阴谋论、对受众进行极端化洗脑的内容放任自流，乃至2016年大选被境外势力（俄罗斯）利用操纵了选情。因此，近年来美国各界对这些平台的压力是迫使其更多地承担内容审查的义务，以消除其平台内容对社会的负面影响（经济学原理中的负外部性）。 中国的情况当然是有点反过来的：平台都是有强大的自审压力的。前面也说了，逻辑上我也尊重平台的权力。不过，作为一个创作者，我也当然会想有保护自己声音的权力。这便回到了经典的内容创作者（媒体）的两难选择：依附平台，有流量、没控制；自建渠道，有控制、没流量。 过去15年的起承转合以下思维有点发散、跳跃。 我在网上写博客已经至少15年了。最早是在水木BBS的博客（那时写的都是些没有营养的扯淡灌水）；经历了2005年初的接管事件后（巧了，今年正好15周年），曾经把内容东搬西搬到几家境内外的博客平台上。不过那些平台也各种不稳定，便萌发了自建博客的想法，一直持续至今。 15年前正是自建的黄金年代：开源的LAMP技术栈以及基于此栈的开源Wordpress，大幅拉低了入门门槛与运营成本；RSS的普及以及各类RSS聚合应用的兴起，努力引导着读者用户去定制自己的阅读列表。 其后的演变：一来是社交网络兴起带来对内容消费习惯的争夺，二来是海量媒体内容井喷后面临内容发现等问题（这也是为什么会有类似今日头条这样的智能推荐切入点），三来是PC到移动终端迁移引发阅读场景剧变。2013年Google Reader关闭，现也可视作RSS作为一种面向大众消费者的技术的墓志铭。 对于个人创作者，主观感受就是：还在自己的网站上写文章的人已经很少了，内容都在一些平台上（比如国内微信公众号、知乎专栏等等，国外硅谷科技圈似乎很多人都在Medium上写）；内容发现则几乎完全是在社交网络上。 有趣的是，科技圈似乎总是在经历一些轮回：国外近年来新兴的阅读习惯是订阅newsletter，即以邮件订阅的形式获得一些创作者新内容的直接推送。不得不说这有点搞笑：这不是RSS的推送体验，以更古老的email协议卷土重来吗？然而它的确颇为流行，比如我常看的Benedict Evans的周邮件，始于2013年，如今有超过13万邮箱订阅。这里还有一个付费的分支，即比如Stratechery、Above Avalon这样的内容创作者自建的付费会员推送。 说到newsletter订阅，也是有平台和自建之分的。其实古董的wordpress，原生就支持邮件订阅，但这种推送貌似很容易被邮箱平台的算法认定为垃圾邮件。故此邮件推送需要接一个mailchimp之类的管理服务。另外，如果希望对内容进行收费，也就需要整合一个支付系统。上面提到的Stratechery等，把自建渠道走到底，也算是走出来了，是其创作者的全职主业。而大多数创作者可能没有这样的时间与毅力——于是随着邮件订阅的流行，也就出现了比如substack这样的一站式平台：内容在上面发布，邮件订阅、推送，乃至付费，由其提供支持。 （中国大众用户的邮件使用习惯和国外差别很大，商业上来说，上面这些在国内会是另外的玩法。） 为什么要写作该收尾了。自我一点，说说为什么要写作？先做一个自我定性：我是一个内向的人，但又有闷骚的虚荣心，因此写作是一个获得关注与赞美的方式，这是15年前早期动力。动力之二，是写作是对逻辑思维与沟通能力很好的锻炼，一个复杂的事情，如果不能用简单的文字描述出来，也就是还没有融会贯通。我是很功利的，思维与沟通是平时工作的核心技能，这是为什么断断续续这些年也坚持写了下来。 这是公众号上我写的第三篇。本来开号也主要是希望把中文写作重新练起来，另外从语言上把博客聚焦为英文内容，公众号为中文内容。不过这个平台体验的确不太友好，后面我可能还是以发布到博客上为主，公众号同步为辅。打个广告，我的博客是bayjinger.com:)

## Pages

- [About](https://www.bayjinger.com/about/) - This is the blog of a Beijinger who spent a couple of lively years in the Bay Area, hence the little word-play of the title. The Bayjinger was formerly a management consultant in Asia, and has since moved on to the fun world of video-games after attending the Berkeley Haas MBA program. All writings here
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