business
Lawful Neutral: Endorsements, disclosures, and the games industry
Infomercials are the worst. There's nothing quite as infuriating as turning on the TV only to find a 30-minute commercial about how people can't...
Mavericks’ abrupt July sunset was preceded by a revoked SpatialOS loan
Remember back in July, when Automaton Games announced it was shutting down Mavericks, a "massive" battle royal that was aiming to put 1000 people...
Harvard Business Review uses EVE Online corps for a study on country of origin and company structure
When the Harvard Business Review wanted to run a study on how people's place of origin affects how they structure a company, it homed...
Lawful Neutral: Examining Ashes of Creation’s controversial referral program
I have a really hard time taking anything seriously that refers to money as "bucks." You'll recall that I opened the Lawful Neutral column...
Lawful Neutral: The long fall of Project Copernicus’ 38 Studios
There are some MMO stories that are just unbelievable. They are so warped convoluted and confusing that we think there's no possible way it...
Lawful Neutral: Money laundering and micro-laundering in the MMO industry
Previously on Lawful Neutral, we talked about currency and how video game companies try very hard to not be classified as a currency because...
MMO Business Roundup: Video game gambling, toxicity, post-lawsuit reconciliation, and successful UX design
Welcome back to another mish-mash roundup of MMO-business-related happenings that just don't fit in anywhere else. To wit:
On game gambling: Remember the bizarrely bad...
Lawful Neutral: Mr. Krabs’ Wacky Bucks and currency in online games
I used to watch Spongebob religiously. I loved the days when I could put on Nickelodeon and have Spongebob on for hours. One of...
Lawful Neutral: Dance studios, canvas bags, and ‘false advertising’ in the MMO industry
As I was writing our Lawful Neutral expose of Nerd Kingdom a few weeks ago, I was pretty bothered by the conduct of the...
RuneScape studio Jagex contradicts claim that its Chinese owner resold it
OK, so maybe Jagex hasn't been sold again, yet.
The backstory: Earlier this year, we covered the news that RuneScape developer Jagex was being put up...
RuneScape studio Jagex has been sold, again, this time valued at $530M
Back at the beginning of 2019, we covered the news that RuneScape developer Jagex was being put up for sale by the Chinese holding company...
Lawful Neutral: TUG’s Nerd Kingdom is the Real Slim Shady
I hate being disappointed. I doubt I'm alone. In general, I try to temper my expectations and accept negative outcomes just as much as...
Lawful Neutral: Why Josh Hawley’s lockbox regulation Senate bill is dead-on-arrival
There's a special place in my heart for lootboxes and exploitative monetization, and that place is somewhere below the revulsion I feel for Martin...
Lawful Neutral: What DMCA exemption victories really mean for MMO preservation
You might remember back in October, we covered how the US Library of Congress granted expanded DMCA exceptions for preserving online games. The Library...
MMO Business Roundup: Bonfire Studios’ new multiplayer game, EA Access on PS4, and Pokebrains
Welcome back to another quick roundup from the land of games industry business...
Remember in 2016 when former World of Warcraft lead designer Rob Pardo...
Disney says Dis-nay to acquiring a controlling interest in Nexon
It made sense when we heard the rumor that Disney was interested in acquiring Nexon; the South Korean company has a large number of...
Lawful Neutral: The war over Star Citizen in Crytek v. Cloud Imperium Games
Hello citizens! Today, I'm going to talk about a little game that's been flying under the radar and I think deserves some air time:...
MMO Business Roundup: Apex Legends’ Twitch decline, PUBG’s funding, and crappy gaming myths
Welcome back to another roundup of smaller business stories affecting the MMO industry and orbiting genres.
It's not just your imagination: Apex Legends hasn't been...
Lawful Neutral: Is it safe to play on City of Heroes’ inevitable rogue servers?
You CAN play on the City of Heroes rogue servers you're about to see springing up. But should you? Our law columnist looks into the legalities of the City of Heroes emulation situation.
Lawful Neutral: The future of MMO game design in a streaming gaming world
It’s been an interesting few weeks for gaming. We saw the announcement of Google’s game streaming service, Stadia, and then Apple’s subscribe-to-access game service,...
