Musk says he'll create an AI Game Studio

[CleverNickName]

"Oh goodie, just what we need."
- Nobody, ever

 

[trappedslider]

 

[OptionalRule]

I do not think public ownership is the defining feature of a corporation. Rather it is being a separate legal personality from its owner(s)?

Not sure if you're being obtuse, but people often use corporation to men publicly traded company.

Clearly the OP means xAI is a private company, not a public one. (which is true)

 

[TheAlkaizer]

They're already incredibly profitable, what on earth are you talking about?

Indie games make boatloads of cash. They're priced at typically 1/4 to 1/3rd as much as AAAs, but they're usually made by single individuals or small teams on very small budgets. Some sell millions of copies. Many sell tens of thousand to hundreds of thousands.

Most games are not profitable. Profitability has actually been difficult to hit. AAA games are costing more and more and reaching thresholds where you need a huge success to be profitable. Indie games is even worse. Of course there's a few dozen games every year that sell a good amount of copies and one of a handful of dev get a good payday. But the indie scene is mostly a graveyard of games and studios. The vast majority of games on Steam do not sell any meaningful number of copies.

The ceiling is high, but the floor is really low and the average is incredibly close to the floor.

If Musk actually wanted to make great games, he could - by financing them, whether or large or small. A huge AAA game costs like $100m. Musk could finance ten BG3s for a billion, and he's got 200+ of those. For what he paid for Twitter, which is now trash and dropping in value fast, $44bn, he could have 440 BG3s, or 440 possible BG3s.

Musk doesn't have 200 billions in liquidity. His net worth is in that range because of stocks and investments. But he'd have to liquidate assets to come up with that kind of money.

 

[nyvinter]

Musk doesn't have 200 billions in liquidity. His net worth is in that range because of stocks and investments. But he'd have to liquidate assets to come up with that kind of money.

Which is why he has to borrow from banks all the time. He can't liquidate a lot of assets either because the stocks will plummet, so it's basically group wealth hallucination for all the people involved and normal people isn't invited — because that would be unfair somehow.

If I were a betting person, I'd bet on Mark Kern being asked by Musk to run it and without a doubt making sure it will fail.

 

[OptionalRule]

Musk doesn't have 200 billions in liquidity. His net worth is in that range because of stocks and investments. But he'd have to liquidate assets to come up with that kind of money.

True. He could probably get financing for it, but then he's back in the "beholding to investors"thing.

I think this is the same faulty logic as Musk. It's not just a matter of resources. You can throw money at it or AI at it, but that doesn't make you a good game designer. Good games are hard to make, even for good designers. Musk isn't a game designer, so niether money or AI will help him.

 

[Kaodi]

Not sure if you're being obtuse, but people often use corporation to men publicly traded company.

Clearly the power means xAI is a private company, not a public one. (which is true)

You sound like you have never encountered any of the other uses of corporation. What a word is and what some random layperson thinks it is are not always in agreement. But in any case you have definitely overstepped by stating a corporation is a publicly traded company because of three somewhat obvious (to a non-American at least) examples: the British Broadcasting Corporation, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. State-owned/Crown corporations are definitely a thing, and while they may be public, they sure as Hell are not traded. I think the RAND Corporation may also not be publicly traded, and it is also a non-profit. And then there is also the issue of municipalities often being, technically, corporations in many places.

 

[OptionalRule]

You sound like you have never encountered any of the other uses of corporation. What a word is and what some random layperson thinks it is are not always in agreement. But in any case you have definitely overstepped by stating a corporation is a publicly traded company because of three somewhat obvious (to a non-American at least) examples: the British Broadcasting Corporation, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. State-owned/Crown corporations are definitely a thing, and while they may be public, they sure as Hell are not traded. I think the RAND Corporation may also not be publicly traded, and it is also a non-profit. And then there is also the issue of municipalities often being, technically, corporations in many places.

obtuse it is.

 

[Umbran]

You sound like you have never encountered any of the other uses of corporation.

obtuse it is.

Mod Note:
If you two wanna take pots shots at each other, do it on some other site, please. We don't need your personal jabs here.

 

[Umbran]

Musk tweeted today that he's launching an AI GameDev studio for video games.

His tweet "Too many game studios that are owned by massive corporations. @xAI is going to start an AI game studio to make games great again! "

There's something deeply ironic about a tech billionaire declaring he'll "make games great again" by creating an AI game studio.

I'd think the ironic thing is claiming the problem is "massive corporations", and then starting a game studio owned by... another massive corporation!