neilalanbarbour.bsky.social
@neilalanbarbour.bsky.social
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I'm here for @jamesaltonsanders.com music posts.
Jonathan Blow is an interesting creative force in gaming worth paying attention to, even if he talks a bunch of shit and blows up everyone's spot.
December 11, 2025 at 2:01 PM
Just checked in with the team. 630k lifetime; 300K from 11/16 to 11/30 alone
Back in March I was sent a press release about the Nex, stating that

“In just its first holiday season last year, Nex Playground sold nearly 150,000 units, completely selling out on Black Friday at Amazon, Target, Walmart, and Best Buy”

I failed to investigate further
US best-selling hardware SKUs for week ending Nov 22, 2025, ranked on units sold:

1) NS2 Mario Kart World Bundle
2) NEX Playground Interactive Gaming System
3) PS5 Slim Digital 1 TB

So that's neat.

Source: Circana Retail Tracking Service
December 4, 2025 at 6:29 PM
Barron's really letting Roblox off the hook here. All game companies operate with a deferred revenue schedule and most of them have found a way to be profitable.
December 3, 2025 at 1:48 PM
November 20, 2025 at 5:07 PM
Apple's AI service implementations may lag some of its peers, but that does not appear to be hurting unit sales. Shipments of Apple devices tracked by S&P Global Market Intelligence Kagan grew an estimated 5% year over year in the third quarter.
November 17, 2025 at 3:31 PM
Check out my colleague Stefan Modrich's excellent reporting on the role of AI in game development.

www.spglobal.com/market-intel...
www.spglobal.com
November 14, 2025 at 2:58 PM
Why are gamers excited for the Steam Machine? It's about bringing a vast PC gaming library into the living room. Steam has more than 100,000 games published or with scheduled release dates before the end of 2025, according to an analysis by S&P Global, 10x the count on PS Store.
November 13, 2025 at 5:00 PM
I don't mean to call out anyone specifically, but the public has gotten into a strange habit of thinking this way. Private companies care about margins! Where do you think Gabe gets his yacht money?
They have the advantage of not needing to give a shit about margins, so I imagine it’ll be competitive at least.

I wonder how functional they’ll be as regular desktops.
November 12, 2025 at 7:54 PM
Valve is more deeply entrenched in gaming culture and vernacular than it was 10-15 years ago. Does that mean Valve can sell expensive hardware at Sony- or Nintendo-level volumes? So far it hasn't.
November 12, 2025 at 7:46 PM
If developers are using Gen AI to ideate or refine code, I don't necessarily see that as deleterious to the creative process. When you start to move into asset generation, it would be easier to lose sight of the inherent benefits of human creativity.
November 12, 2025 at 5:41 PM
The moment when the great @jeffgerstmann.com almost said my name on his podcast! (I was quoted in the Bloomberg report. So, maybe I wasn't very close to being mentioned at all.)

youtu.be/8IpuaE6fhLg?...
The Jeff Gerstmann Show 177: An Enthusiastic Four-Year-Old Tells You About Katamari
YouTube video by The Jeff Gerstmann Show
youtu.be
October 30, 2025 at 2:57 PM
Huh... I missed the era of Steam where you could buy Mike Epps: Under Rated.
October 28, 2025 at 1:22 PM
EA's new owners will want to keep costs in check, but current licensing agreements cost $500 million a year and are likely to grow with renewals before the end of the decade.
October 28, 2025 at 12:38 PM
I'm here for @jamesaltonsanders.com music posts.
May 8, 2025 at 2:53 PM