>>40961
>after selling to server farmers turned out to be more profitable
It really hasn't. As it's only made things more expensive. Meaning that while that while more money is coming in, it's at the expense of far MORE money going out. At worst, causing these companies to go severely into debt. At best, they're just breaking even or seeing the same return had they done nothing in the first place.
>https://archive.ph/XeGAs
Dude, stop reading through random substacks, it's not good for your health. Though having read through it, I feel like the guy glosses over a lot of details. For example, he brings up doujins as an example of "modern Tijuana Bibles", but the problem is that Japan looks at copyright and ownership less stringent than the West (For example, I've seen everything from Speed Racer to Black Jack to Dirty Pair directly used on numerous official works outside of their original party's ownership, the companies see these works as adverts for their own products, and Japan doesn't exactly have the cleanest record when it comes to violating international copyright when you see the theft in everything from Metal Gear to Bubblegum Crisis), in addition to being more acceptable of sexual content (Though Harenchi Gakuen caused quite a stir, but that could be attributed to it being a sexual charged series in a "children's magazine"), and the fact that manga artists generally hold themselves to a higher standard (While Tezuka was a big Disney otaku, he still published many of his own original works even though he basically aped Disney's art style, and wrote a scathing piece in the end of Alabaster about how he and his contemporaries hated how sexually charge the 70's and 80's became with content because they had been wanting to make similar works but restrained themselves because they wanted to release quality content over "low brow" works that satsified an urge). Another is that there is zero mention of magazines like PlayBoy, despite it being such a "sexully charged" publication that Hughey had to buy his own printing company just to prevent moral busybodies from shutting him down with an outside publisher, and how it gained a reputation for publishing politically incorrect content, which is why people like J. Paul Getty (The oil king) saught them out for publishing some of his books.
>>40962
>There's the entire hardware barrier regarding the PS3 release
You do realize that PS3's are going for at most $150, right? Heck, I bought mine for $25. And it's a lot more economical to buy that and the Legacy Collection for $60 as opposed to spending the over $100 needed to buy both the modern Master Collection releases. As, in addition to almost the entire MGS series, you now also have access to all the games still exclusive to or are better/uncensored on the PS3, with everything from Twisted Metal to The Darkness to Yakuza 3-5.
>a huge reason why the game remains the most obscure entry in the series
What about Ghost Babel on the GBC or Snake's Revenge on the NES, or ACID on the PSP? MGS4 is just as well known as all the other mainline entries. And it was THE game back in the day that sold people on buying a PS3.
>Then the customer's desire for what it should cost shouldn't matter either
It does because the customer is the one witholding the money that the company wants. That's the entire reason why they develop video games, for the purposes of making money. And if the customer doesn't think that the game is worth the money, they'll refuse the exchange or give the money to another company making a different game that they believe is worth the money being asked.
>The customer might be correct about what he's willing to pay but not about what those things cost
That doesn't matter.
>Demand-side opinions about price rarely if ever have in mind the production costs of a labor intensive niche product
That's because they don't care, therefore it doesn't matter.
>Niche products would never survive the market if they just agreed to how much a customer is willing to lowball
Which is why those products often remain "niche".
>give them what they desire within reason and niche products will keep existing
If these people want to continue making "niche" productds, and NOT keep struggling for cash, then what they need to do is find ways to make a better product at a lower price. No one fucking cares how much "effort" you put in. We don't accept that bullshit excuse when it comes to trash like GTA6, what makes you think people will accept it elsewhere with a port of 16 year old game that sold people on buying a then-$600 console?
>This would apply if it wasn't for the fact I am seeing these opinions outside the realm of Xitter.
They get paid for that, too, as a "No such thing as bad news". If not a "hostage" situation of "Pay us money and all the bad press will go away".
>>40963
>you should accommodate demand only when its economically feasible
You're right, they should. These companies, however, don't. They instead blow the budget on inferior releases of past games, and then have the gull to create some sob story about how "hard" it is to make games, and then expect people to continue giving them money after nearly two decades of continuously pulling this shit.