Here is some math, using only Horizon Forbidden West as an example, showing only one thing...

The employees who build these games getting royally screwed while executives are lining their pockets (because I'll bet you my next 10 year's salary that if the game developers for these companies either unionized or created their own company through an exodus...they could continue developing games (doing something they love) while getting paid dramatically more for their time (valued). /// GROSS REVENUE CALCULATIONS
Total Units Sold to Date = 8,400,000
Per Unit Price (MSRP) = $69.99
Gross Sales = $587,916,000.00 (does not include sales tax) /// DEVELOPMENT TEAM COSTS
[According to (conflicting information, see NOTE BELOW) data available on https://www.salary.com/researc... ]
# Employees = 300
# Years to Build = 5
Avg. Salary per Employee at Guerilla Games ~= $125,000.00 (used tabular data to calculate average, excluding executives, not prose/copy at beginning...it is incorrect)
Total Estimated Game Development Cost ~= (5 years * 300 staff * $125,000 per year on average) = $187,500,000 //// NET REVENUE CALCULATIONS
Net Revenue ~= $400,416,000.00 // algorithm --> (gross revenue - development cost = net revenue)
Sales Margin ~= 68.11% // algorithm --> (revenue - cost) / revenue /// NET PROFIT CALCULATIONS
Assuming Sony makes 20% of (Gross Sales) as part of agreement to distribute ~== $117,583,200
Assuming marketing costs an additional 50% of build cost ~== $93,750,000
Assuming operational (server ) setup costs are ~== $2,500,000
Assuming 1st year operating costs of $5,000,000
NOT INCLUDING EXECUTIVE PAY, DIVIDENDS, DEPRECIATION, and INTEREST INTENTIONALLY FOR SIMPLICITY
TOTAL EST. 1st Year NON-DEVELOPMENT COST ~== $218,833,200
TOTAL EST. 1st YEAR COSTS !== $406,333,200 (DEV COST + NON-DEV COST)
EST. 1st YEAR TAXABLE INCOME ~== $181,582,800 (GROSS REVENUE - TOTAL 1st YEAR COSTS)
EST. 1st YEAR TAX ~== $38,132,388
1st YEAR NET PROFIT ~== $143,450,412

Est. NET PROFIT for just this one title ~== $143,450,412 (almost enough to fund 100% cost for development of a net-new title, or fund an ACTUAL PENSION for these people to incentivize them to stay on and be loyal to the company until they retire)!!!

Of course, we all know, that net profit is NOT benefitting the people who built the game, but rather...it is going into executive pay, bonuses to executives, kickbacks to board members and where applicable dividends to investors.

Wouldn't the world be a better place for everyone, if instead, that net profit was divided equally across the game development staff??

FOR EXAMPLE: If, for just this one title, Guerilla Games gave that net profit to the people that built the game, that would be ~== $478,168 (per employee), an amount that has the potential to dramatically change the lives of each of those three hundred (300) people forever for the positive!!!

No.

Precisely this!!!

Here's what we don't see. There is a battle going on, and it has nothing to do with which codec to use. The real battle is between Apple and Adobe. Apple wants to control everything on iOS (and everywhere else...can anyone say AppStore?), so Flash doesn't play so nice on those 64bit gizmos eh? Flash has embedded itself into the web because of video. Sooo...how do you beat Flash, in comes the MP4 wrapper for H.264 encodings (and Apple's on the patent bandwagon). Google is drawing a line firmly between them in many ways: Google Apps, Android, Chromium Tablet...and now they've closed the door on H.264 moving to WebM. Adobe will make the switch...why? Because f4v flopped, Flash Media Server bows down to MP4 encoding, which makes it an open target against Apple who doesn't support Flash on their cool little gizmos everyone buys. Hrmm...the real battle is over the mobile market and who dominates. Google is using their muscle to push open standards, which I for one will always vote for VS Apple's system (CoCoa, WebKit). We'll see who wins.

I was speaking with a colleague at another location about this very topic today. I believe that web development and design would be far more productive if ALL parties involved (Decision makers, Managers, Producers) worked a 4 hour day, here's how it would work: 8am - 12pm (Decision makers arrive, review previous days work, decide what they want done). 10am - 12pm (Managers arrive, speak with decision makers about what they want and define the day's goals) 12pm - 4pm (Producers arrive, get instruction from Managers and produce dilligently to accomplish the day's goals). If any one group needs to work beyond 4 hours...they can, and they're still ahead of the game. There would be 3 main challenges to overcome in order for this situation to be successful: 1. Priorities must be realistic. If a task takes more than one day to produce...break it down into smaller units which can fit into a single day's production. 2. High-caliber, hard-working, no-bullshit, uber-intelligent, ultra-talented, honest to the core, dedicated producers and managers. 3. Trust. Every person involved in the process MUST have faith, proven reliability and trust that the people they're working with can get the job done right the first time. The reason I brought this up and in this manner: Because there is a fundamental differing between the measurements of performance from all parties in the current scheme of life which makes owners, managers and even producers believe that more time equals better work.... THIS IS A FALSE CONCEPT!

Mugshot. Because anyone caught using the word face before any other noun will probably be persecuted like a teenager and RIAA! I wonder if they can lay claim to the word "Facade", that's close enough for trademark infringement isn't it!? This world is so screwed. Nobody should have rights to a word...EVER!

A friend of mine and I did some research about what causes the "Next BIG Thing" on the internet (or nearly any other product or service) to be the next big thing. Based on that research, I don't think that creating a sub-culture is going to evolve attitude; I feel that Diaspora (and any other social network) is only achieving that goal...creating a subset of a larger culture. I feel that MySpace inherited from Geocities, Facebook inherited MySpace, Diaspora inherited from Facebook...everyone seems to be percolating over how to become the next step in the chain, but no real innovation is occurring. This seems to be in opposition of where I really feel we should be growing as a global community. When we consume X, then barf up Y it is still X. Diaspora (and nearly any other "Social Network" engine) doesn't seem to be offering any true innovation...just a perspective on the same system with a few twists != INNOVATION