Join @shroud @TenZOfficial @just9n as they attempt to take down elite community players in the 1st ever Spectre Divide Community Invitational—live TOMORROW, 11AM PT on twitch.tv/spectredivide 🤝 4 Teams, Double Elim Bracket 🤑 $5k Prizepool 🎙️ Casters @InVerumGaming @cammmyd 📣 Hosted by @itsBrodrian

We understand music and movies to be artistic endeavors. Studios and labels don't let artists outright lose money all day, but as long as the record is good, it's worth. We celebrate indie artists and ones that make small scale profit, because they're "more about the art than the money", and we view that as a positive. Giant record labels will sometimes fund smaller labels that don't necessarily turn a profit themselves, in an effort to support (patronize) artists that wouldn't be able to do it otherwise. That's considered a normal thing to do in the industry, and at times, a necessary thing to do. If you're making billions off of Drake/Taylor/Flavoroftheweek, you can afford to lose a little bit on Earnest Artist that Pitchfork Loves, and the world is a better place for it. We see movies do this all the time as well. So, why not video games? Hi-Fi Rush is an artistic slam dunk of a game, and one that brought in millions of dollars in revenue. The Vice-President of Xbox Marketing himself said, "HFR was a breakout hit for us and our players in all key measurements and expectations. We couldn't be happier with the team at Tango Gameworks." So why on earth is the team behind it being punished? Why aren't they enabled to make a sophomore album that can catalyze their fans? Why isn't their unique entry into the world of games celebrated as the artistic victory that it is? Because the powers that be don't look at studios as artists--they look at them as employees. The mentality is that these employees are cogs, just TPS report filers that can be replaced by any recent graduate eager enough to be underpaid. Anyone can "just code" and export a game-of-the-year nominated masterpiece. There is no understanding of video games as an art form. There is no desire to learn of it, or speak of it. Only to profit from it. There is no concept of patronage. No support. No sowing. The message is grim. These companies are reapers. The message from the corporate world is clear: Games are a commodity, not an art form.

TIPPING CULTURE IS TRASH It's a guilt trip designed by corpos to trick you into giving workers money for simply doing their job - a job they are criminally underpaid for - so they don't have to. Employers should pay a living wage. That's it.

Airports are the least serious places on earth.

Pampas & Selene is coming to Steam May 21st! From the mind that brought you UnEpic, Ghost 1.0 and UnMetal... Join Pampas and Selene as they overcome monsters, demons, and the Dark Priest with the help of the gods themselves! Explore this co-opvania 8-bit platformer as both heroes or team up with a friend. This retro game is a loving tribute to MSX2 classics and a hard-hitting dose of childhood nostalgia. You can download the demo today and wishlist on Steam to help others find this modern classic! #indiegames s.team/a/1966220

Clover is one of the best in the business, if you're looking for work in the talent management space, you should absolutely throw your hat in.

I hate that I have to repeat this every six months. DO NOT get a degree, diploma, certificate or any other nonsense in 'esports'. Almost no one teaching these is qualified to do so. Get a standard degree in your field and pursue esports as an extracurricular.

If you're a fan of retro games or metroidvanias, go check this one out. I've had the pleasure of assisting the dev team with the demo launch (first game credit, let's go), and it's been an eye-opening experience to see just how much work goes into a project like this.

Someone please help

The worst part about this image is that it was made in Jan 2023.

What do you even say about this? My entire feed is red. Our industry is bleeding out. So many talented people in the cold and it sucks, and it sucks even more because we're powerless to do anything about it. I wish I had something constructive to say, but I don't. I'm just mad.

Teams NEED those guaranteed eyeballs to sell to sponsors, it's literally the only thing keeping esports afloat right now, and without that we're going to see orgs dropping out left and right over the course of the year, especially in NA & EU.

They're going to fundamentally going to kill the bubble scene with this, making it harder—not easier for new talent to rise to the top. Additionally, by reducing the number of LANs (and making every one open qual) you make it dramatically harder for teams to ensure ROI.

So I understand the thought process here but unfortunately this format is going to have the exact opposite result of what they are intending. By spreading out the prize pool so much you're taking away the ability for T2/T3 teams to sustain themselves.

Reminder for creators as we get into the next season and orgs may be looking to work with creators. Don't "sign" to an org for free. Don't promote an org for free. If an org wants to create a partnership with you, you should be compensated for your time and influence.

Riot does it again. WOW. What a return to form with this one. Real emotions watching this. Probably the best song/video combo to date. The storytelling in this was phenomenal. Setting the bar for music in esports.